Chapter 24 - Drake #2
“I know patience isn’t your best quality,” Emma said, her voice gentle and understanding while also teasing. “But this is one of those things you can’t change by glowering at it. The best thing you can do is just let the spring do its thing.”
I glanced past her to look at Liv’s too-still body as it drifted in the water. “What are her chances?”
“It’s healed injuries as bad as hers before,” Emma said. She bit her lip. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen, considering the spring was out of commission for some time. There’s no telling what those assholes did to it before we got here. So I can’t give you a solid answer. I’m sorry, Drake.”
I let out a frustrated exhale as I ran my fingers through my hair. At least she was being honest. I would have been more pissed off if she had lied and told me Liv would be perfectly fine in no time.
Elias appeared beside me. “Most people are going to go back to the town,” he said. “We need to go back and give the pack the news, and I want to make sure that Azaret hasn’t decided to take out his rage on the town.”
I let out a grunt, then thought about how Liv would have teased me for it.
“He’s going to go into hiding for a while,” I said, staring at Liv’s body instead of at Elias. “Liv did a number on him. He isn’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon.”
Elias nodded. “You’re probably right,” he said. “But we need to check, anyway, and give people an update on the town. I also want to check on the waterfall.”
I grunted again, my eyes still all but glued to Liv. She was still breathing, but I hated how shallow her breath was.
A gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I twisted around to see Rachel looking up at me.
“I’m guessing you’ll want to stay here?” Rachel asked. When I nodded, she added, “Do you want some company?”
I glanced down at Liv, then back up at her friends. “Liv likes you both. She’d want to see you to make sure you’re okay. So if you want to stay, then you can.”
They nodded, but still kept their distance. I stayed near the spring, but my restlessness refused to let me sit for any longer.
I stared down at Liv, looking to see whether the spring was still working. Some of the color had gone back into her face, but she was so still.
Huffing impatiently, I ran my fingers through my hair as I kept pacing back and forth. If something happened to Liv, I was going to hunt that demon down myself and tear him limb from limb without waiting for Elias or the others.
Emma stopped my pacing. “It’s going to be all right,” she said.
I growled. She didn’t know that. She couldn’t promise it, either.
A muttering sound came from the spring, then something that sounded like a moan. My head whipped around to the spring where Liv was stirring. She grimaced as her hand went to her side.
“What the—”
She blinked, looking at the now-wet bandages clinging to her side, her forehead scrunching in confusion.
Then she looked around at the hovering crowd, now all staring at her.
Her eyes widened, her memory seeming to flood back to her as she recalled precisely what had happened.
Her mouth parted in surprise as she glanced around.
“Um, did what I think happen actually happen?”
Relief flooded over me. The cavern seemed a thousand times brighter now that she was awake again, as if the spring and its mysterious home were celebrating that she was okay.
Or maybe it was just me. I didn’t care. I pushed past Rachel and Emma to come next to her, my feet stepping into the spring up to my ankles.
Liv stared up at me and smiled. Bags hung under her eyes, and she looked like she had just gotten over a month-long illness.
“Hey, you,” she said.
“Hello, yourself,” I said, crouching to her level. “Do you always like to give men heart attacks?”
An exhausted smile spread across her face. “Only the really grumpy ones.”
I snorted, reaching out and cupping her cheek, still stained with dirt and grime. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” I muttered.
She tilted her head, her cheek pressing into my hand even as she stared into my eyes, looking almost surprised. “You’re smiling. You almost never smile.”
“Well, considering I’ve been agonizing over you for the last century—”
“I haven’t been in here for a century,” she argued, then blinked. “Have I? Because if so, you look great for a nearly hundred-and-twenty-seven-year-old.”
“It sure as hell felt like a century,” I said, still stroking her hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I just got attacked by a demon, then thrown into a magical spring,” she replied.
“Probably a reason for that,” I said. “But considering I don’t have the context, how are you? Are you able to move? Do you need to sit, or do we need to call Lucas back? If we need to carry you somewhere—”
“Drake, I’m fine,” she interrupted. Her own hand reached out and squeezed my arm as she smiled up at me. “But it’s nice of you to worry.”
I cupped her cheek, loving the warmth in my palm that told me she was alive. “I’m always going to worry about you,” I said. “I’m sorry that I haven’t made that clearer over the years. I should have made sure you knew that years ago. I’m so sorry I didn’t.”
Surprise flickered across her eyes at the words, as if she had never expected something like that from me. She glanced around at the massive crowd. “Are you sure you want to do this here?”
She wasn’t asking because she cared about privacy. She was asking because she thought I might want it, like I always had.
“I don’t care if anyone knows,” I snarled. “I made that mistake once before, and it’s one of the biggest regrets of my entire life.”
Her breath caught. A bit of water clung to her eyelashes as she looked up at me, her eyes wide.
“The other mistake is turning you away when we were kids,” I said. “I was trying to listen to someone I should have ignored. I should have told my father to fuck off, because I should have known he was full of shit, even then.”
My words bounced and echoed around the cavern.
I knew that the others still lingering in the cavern were able to hear every word.
But I had waited long enough to tell her any of this that I wasn’t going to wait any longer.
I had waited this long and almost missed my opportunity entirely.
I wasn’t going to let her slip through my fingers again.
“I love you,” I said. “I should have told you years ago, when you first told me you thought we were mates instead of pushing you away. I’m sorry it took me this long to admit it.
I’m sorry for all the ways I hurt you, and for not saying any of this sooner.
And I’m so sorry that I missed out on years of getting to be with you because I was an absolute idiot. ”
Her breath hitched. For a moment, I thought that she was in pain. It wasn’t until I looked closer that I saw the depth of emotion on her face, as if she had been wanting to hear those words for years now.
“You really mean it?” Liv murmured.
“Of course I do,” I said. “I love you, Liv. I love your optimism, I love your wit, and the fact that you aren’t afraid to call me out on my bullshit. You’ve made me a better person, and you were right all along. I just wish I had figured that out sooner.”
The smile spreading across her face grew wider with each word. “I mean, you really should have,” she teased.
Before I could utter another apology or any sort of retort, she pulled me toward her and pressed her lips to mine.
My wolf roared in triumph. My hand went to the back of her neck and pulled her closer, cradling her head as I held her.
I could have stayed there for a lifetime.
A savage need for her began to wash through me despite the injuries, despite the place, despite everything else, as if I needed to make up for lost time.
I held her tighter, not wanting to let her go. I never wanted to let her go again.
After some time—I couldn’t tell how long—we pulled apart. Liv was still grinning.
“I love you, too,” she said.
I never would have thought that words could sound so sweet. I tugged her toward me again, pressing my lips to hers, wanting to taste her again, not caring how many people saw. Liv was my mate, and I wasn’t going to let her slip through my fingers again.