Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
P ain seared through Liam. He felt the twisting agony of the poison in Kade’s veins, and rage filled him. Fire formed in his hand before he processed what he was doing, and he threw it at the bastard who had stabbed Kade, at anyone he didn’t recognize as one of his own, driving them back, wanting nothing more than vengeance for what they’d done.
He reversed the tether as much as possible while still throwing fire, feeding Kade his magic with the meager skill he had. He couldn’t heal him, not from wolfsbane, but he might be able to slow its effects enough to sustain Kade until Miles saved him.
“Fall back!” he heard Victor yell, and wolves howled in response.
Above them, the spirit churned, hanging low in the sky.
Niall watched the chaos, and Liam threw a fireball at him, though Niall moved too fast, dodging it, only to stand there again, staring them down.
Elijah hooked an arm around Liam’s waist and pulled him backward.
“We have to go,” he said, but Liam kept throwing fire at anyone who approached, stumbling over the uneven ground as Elijah guided him toward the wards.
For the first time in his life, he was grateful for his affinities and their offensive capabilities, for them enabling him to protect his friends.
He sensed Miles’s magic pulsing through Kade, slowing the spread of wolfsbane, attempting to counteract its effects, but it wasn’t healing him. He glanced to the side and saw Grant carrying Kade, Miles’s hands on Kade’s neck as they backed across the border. The corrupted wards swept over them again.
Liam held Niall’s pack off, pausing at the edge of the wards, giving cover to the shifters from Victor’s and Grant’s packs. He waited one final beat before letting Elijah pull him across. When he tried to throw another fireball through the wards, it fizzled out against twisting blackness.
He ran to Kade, crossing into Victor’s territory behind Miles and Grant. Panic clamped around his lungs, making him unable to breathe.
When he reached Kade, he grabbed his hand and found it cold and limp. Kade was faint in his mind, no longer vibrant with life. Liam poured his magic through their bond, through his hands, knowing it wasn’t enough.
There was activity around them, and some part of Liam knew Victor was checking on his pack and Grant’s, ensuring they were safe, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kade.
Grant went to lay Kade down, but Miles shook his head, his eyes bright blue, channeling more healing magic into Kade, sweat beading on his brow even in the frigid night. “I can’t heal him here. Not properly. Elijah, is there—”
“Yes. There’s wolfsbane in the house,” Elijah said, his tone grim, already leading the way.
Victor rushed over, taking Kade from Grant. As soon as Grant’s hands were free, they were on Miles’s neck.
“My pack?” he asked Victor, his voice tight.
Victor confirmed what he’d likely sensed through his pack’s bonds. “They’re accounted for. Some injuries, nothing life-threatening.”
“Then let’s go.”
The journey back was longer and darker than the one there. Liam stumbled over the ground and through the snow, trying desperately not to slow Victor down. His numb hand clung to Kade’s, needing that connection with him as their bond dimmed and Kade faded.
Miles kept his hands on Kade too, counteracting the constant damage the wolfsbane was causing. Grant was there to steady him as he ran.
Wolfsbane harmed shifters regardless of how they were exposed to it, but it was deadliest when it was in their blood. It wasn’t about healing then. It had to be pulled from their veins using more wolfsbane, like calling to like, the strength of the plant—
“ Aran .” Liam faltered, half turning as he clutched Kade’s hand, but Victor continued moving, forcing Liam to follow. “They took Aran.” Horror welled in his chest.
Elijah spun around, his eyes flashing purple, anger and pain on his face. “We will get him back. We’ll rescue him. But we can’t do it now. Not like this. We have until the full moon.”
Liam’s stomach lurched at the thought of what Niall would do to Aran if they held him captive then. They wouldn’t kill him; mages were too valuable for that. What they’d do would be so much worse. Bond him against his will, take control of his magic. Bile rose in Liam’s throat.
The full moon. They had three weeks.
Kade had only hours, if that.
Liam’s lungs ached, the icy air whipping at his face as they ran. Kade’s presence grew fainter and fainter, even as Miles did everything he could to keep him alive.
After far too long, they reached the pack house.
Once they were inside, Victor laid Kade carefully on the kitchen floor. His expression was pinched with worry as he stepped away to give them space, and Elijah sprinted toward the workroom.
Liam knelt on one side of Kade, Miles and Grant on the other.
No matter how much magic Liam gave him, no matter what he did, Kade kept slipping further and further away. Liam inhaled shakily. When he exhaled, it came out as a sob. His eyes burned.
Elijah dashed back into the kitchen, landing beside Miles with an audible thud as his knees hit the floor. His hands trembled as he uncorked the vial he was carrying.
Miles held out his hand, and Elijah dumped a purplish-blue petal onto his palm. Miles’s other hand pressed against Kade’s side. He began to work, pulling the poison from Kade. It oozed out of his wound, between Miles’s fingers, a sickly black tainting the red of his blood.
Liam did his best to sustain the healing as Miles worked, giving all of his magic, all of his power to Kade, focusing as much on his vital organs as his limited skill allowed. He kept his heart pumping, his lungs working, while Miles extracted the wolfsbane.
It was slow, painfully slow. Each moment an eternity, each second agony. A fine purple dust settled on Miles’s palm around the petal as he called it from Kade’s body.
The scorching pain retreated one capillary, one vein, one artery at a time. Until finally, finally , the last traces of it left his system.
Miles slumped forward, caught by Grant’s hand on his shoulder, though Grant shied away from his open palm.
“I think I got it,” Miles said, his voice weak.
Liam nodded numbly, too drained for anything else. “You did.”
Kade’s presence had stabilized; still faint, but not fading further. Liam could only sit there and stare at his face, at the sallow tone of his skin.
Elijah helped Miles to his feet, taking him to the sink to wash away the wolfsbane on his palm.
“How is he?” Victor asked.
“He’ll recover.” Miles’s exhaustion was evident in every line of his body. “He just needs time to heal.”
“Oh, thank god.” Victor pressed his eyes shut.
Grant looked at Liam. “He wouldn’t have survived without your bond.”
Liam gave another nod. He’d felt that much, felt how quickly the wolfsbane had taken over Kade’s body, how quickly he’d been fading away. But to hear Grant say it, to think what would have happened if they hadn’t been bonded… He could scarcely breathe around the lump in his throat.
Miles slid onto the floor next to Kade again, his hand resting on his neck, checking him over once more, then roughly stitching together the wound on his side with his magic.
“Thank you,” Liam said in a cracked whisper.
“Sorry I couldn’t do more. I should—”
“No,” Liam cut him off. Miles would burn himself out healing others if they let him. “You’ve done enough. More than anyone else could have. We’ve got it from here.”
He already sensed Kade’s enhanced healing kicking in. It was sluggish, but working.
“How are you?” Miles asked, his expression concerned.
“I’ll be fine,” Liam reassured him. No one called him on the blatant lie.
“Let’s get him upstairs,” Victor said, and they stood. Miles swayed until Elijah wrapped an arm around him, supporting his weight.
Grant shifted on his feet, like he wanted to go to Miles, but he restrained himself.
Liam followed as Victor carried Kade up the stairs and set him on the bed. He squeezed Kade’s shoulder before stepping away. “Do you need help cleaning him up?”
“No, I’ve got this.” Liam was tired, they all were, but he could do this much. He could take care of Kade.
Victor slipped out of the room, leaving Liam and Kade alone.
Liam undressed and rinsed off the sweat from the fight, then stripped Kade out of his clothes and wiped him clean of blood. He crawled into bed with him, wrapping himself around Kade, careful of his wound. It looked fresh and raw, but it was closed, at least.
But even though he was exhausted, sleep didn’t come. He stared up at the ceiling as the darkness outside the window gave way to dawn, but he couldn’t stop dwelling on everything that had happened, everything that could have happened. Everything that might still occur.
He’d nearly lost Kade. Their bond was still so new, but it had almost been taken away from him. He’d realized he couldn’t picture his life without Kade, and then he’d been faced with that exact scenario. He breathed through the panic that thought caused. That reality had been too close for comfort.
How had things gone so wrong? They’d been suspicious of Pierce, of Niall and his pack, but Liam never would have imagined it would end up like this. Kade almost dying, and Aran…
Aran . Fuck.
That sick feeling bubbled up into his throat again. They had to get him back. Before the full moon. Liam gripped Kade’s hand. No one was going to take away any of the people he cared about again. He vowed that to himself and Kade.
But Elijah was right. They needed to recover and regroup. They were no good to Aran like this.
“I could use that magical ability of yours to shut off my brain,” he whispered to Kade.
It didn’t have to be sex, just something to distract him from the sickening worry that was spiraling through his thoughts.
There were books on his bedside table that he’d already finished. He’d been meaning to get more, but now he didn’t want to leave Kade alone, even for the few minutes it would take.
His gaze landed on Kade’s nightstand. Maybe Kade could distract him after all. He reached over Kade and pulled open the drawer, grabbing the Kindle that was tucked inside.
“I hope you’re okay with this. Relationships are about sharing, right?”
He turned the Kindle on.
“Let’s see what you’ve got in here.”
Not wanting to lose Kade’s place in the book he was currently reading, Liam backed out to the home page. He was greeted by an extensive series of collections, starting with All-Time Faves and ending with Utterly Trashy Fun.
Knowing he’d regret every life choice that had brought him to this moment, he clicked on that last folder, his curiosity getting the better of him.
The first book in the collection was titled Love’s Hot, Throbbing Arrow.
Well, he was making questionable life choices today. Why not continue to do so?
He opened it and began to read chapter one aloud.
“‘Matteo shuttled his thick lovestick through his fist.’ Oh . We’re getting right into it, aren’t we?” Liam asked, glancing at Kade.
The collection’s name seemed thoroughly justified, and he hadn’t even gotten ten words in.
He swore Kade felt like he was listening. He’d read that coma patients supposedly heard what people said to them. This might do them both good.
“‘His turgid, fiery man-meat wept like a one-eyed widow as he stroked it with purpose.’ If his man-meat is fiery, he should see someone about that. You know, get that thing checked out?”
Liam exhaled. Alright, so maybe he wasn’t an utterly trashy kind of guy. At least not tonight. But there were other folders to explore, and he was impressed with Kade’s organizational system, even if he didn’t fully grasp the difference between fluffy spice and spicy fluff. Was this a bluish-green versus greenish-blue situation? And if so, where was the line between the two?
He scrolled to the top of the collections, noticing the folder labeled “Author: Y. Jesus.”
Could he deal with sweater shifters? He didn’t think he was mentally prepared for that. He’d have to work his way up to it. Instead, he opened the All-Time Faves folder and hoped for the… well, the best might not be accurate. He doubted Kade was miraculously hiding a bunch of academic texts in the collection, but he’d settle for anything that didn’t include the word lovestick.
He wasn’t surprised to find Howling Hearts and Hidden Heats in there.
“I’m reading this, but we are absolutely not telling Aran about it, okay? Okay.”
He forced his mind away from the fact that Kade couldn’t tell Aran, none of them could, and braced himself for what he was pretty sure would be the worst read of his life. But as he read the first chapter to Kade, he couldn’t say he disliked it. It had this whole sweeping, epic fantasy vibe. If sweeping, epic fantasies were allowed to have more sex than plot.
He could see why someone might enjoy it. There were two hot alpha princes who definitely hated each other. Loathed each other’s very being. Except they had to meet to negotiate an alliance between their kingdoms, and the moment they shook hands, they realized something neither would have predicted. They were fated mates. It was a twist that threatened to expose that one of them was not an alpha at all, but secretly an omega, hiding his designation because only alphas could inherit the kingdom.
It wasn’t Liam’s thing, but when there wasn’t any weeping man-meat by chapter eight, he counted it as a win.
Kade grew stronger with every word Liam spoke, until he wasn’t just a ghost of himself, but slowly healing, slowly returning to Liam, and that alone eased a fraction of Liam’s worry.
He tapped the screen and blinked at the highlighted text on the next page.
“‘A true bond is a fate one such as myself can only dare to aspire to. For as the moon casts its silvery glow upon tranquil waters, so does a true bond cast its luminous radiance upon the lives of those blessed enough to bathe in its glorious effulgence.’”
Where had he heard—
Wait. Wasn’t this what Kade had said to his mother on that video call? Kade had been quoting from this book? And his mother had recognized it? Well, no wonder she loved Kade so much. They had the same taste in books.
Oh god. His sister . She’d recognized it too. Did that mean she’d read this? He winced when he remembered chapter seven, which had made it exceedingly clear the two princes didn’t despise each other as vehemently as they claimed.
“Kade, I really need you to tell me my sister hasn’t read this.”
Instead of being reassured, another thought hit Liam.
Wasn’t this the book MateHub had adapted into its first original drama series? He just had to pray his sister hadn’t seen that .
“You wanted me to watch this?”
Kade didn’t deny it.
Shaking his head, Liam started reading out loud again. It didn’t erase the world outside their room entirely, but it distracted him enough that, eventually, he was able to doze off and get a little sleep.