Chapter 48 Wanted & Needed
Chapter forty-eight
Wanted sharp and wary, like holding a tiny, hungry, living creature.
I pulled away from Devil and sat up on the bed, but he moved behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“It’s beautiful,” he murmured. “Probably quite deadly too.”
“Do you think it might help against the Rot?”
“It is a distinct possibility…”
“Then I ought to try it right away,” I said, quickly trying to stand up. But Devil grabbed me around the waist and shifted my hair to one side.
He pressed his lips to the love-bitemark he’d left on the side of my neck and murmured, “Yes, you ought to, but…”
I closed my fist and the dark fire vanished, then tipped my head back and let his hand roam over my exposed throat.
“Our friends need us now,” I told him. “So does the Arden.”
He let out a low grumble and pulled our bodies flush against each other.
A soft, warm sensation washed over me. Not desire, but safety, and contentment, and familiarity.
Something deeper and truer than anything I’d ever felt, but that still frightened me; something that planted a seed of desperation in my chest. Desperation to keep him safe, to protect the home and family I’d found.
Desperation not to lose anyone else, the way I’d lost Locksley.
Even though I knew desperation often led to disaster, I could not find it in me to root the seed out and discard it.
Instead, I buried it deeper—a last resort, should it ever come to that.
After cleaning up and getting dressed, Devil and I made our way down the hill toward Aliena’s cottage.
It was still quite early, and chilly, but even without my moth cloak, I could hardly feel it.
Another effect of the blood bond, I assumed.
As we walked, I played with my dark flames, testing them by tossing small fireballs between my hands.
I couldn’t help but smile at the joyful, dynamic feeling of the new power, but all that joy was erased as soon as we came within view of the cottage.
All fourteen of the Abbey girls were seated around Aliena’s fire pit, along with Larch and his family, Briony, Arachne, and almost two dozen other residents of the Hollow, all looking harried and frightened.
Jon was there too, in bear form, pacing and scraping his giant claws through the dirt.
On the other side of the creek stood Lord Balthazar and his herd, also clearly on edge.
“What’s going on?” Devil called out to Larch.
“The Rot is here,” said the faun quietly. “In the Hollow, up near the falls. No one’s been caught by it yet, but it’s spreading, albeit very slowly.”
Devil’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “Just like that? Overnight?”
“Yes,” Larch sighed, then he looked to me. “I am sorry for what happened to your Abbey.”
I opened my mouth to thank him, but Aliena interrupted with a cry of shock. “You’re alright!” She was standing in front of Devil, examining his now-closed wounds. “You nearly bled out last night and now all you have are scars? How?”
All eyes in the clearing turned toward us, and I looked at Devil, expecting him to answer. But he just took my hand and stayed silent, deferring to me.
“It’s…we…did something that let me heal him,” I tried to explain. “A blood bond.”
Aliena’s eyes went wide and I saw Arachne frown from where she was sitting.
“It has strengthened May’s magyk as well,” said Devil, “and we think, we hope, it could help her clear the Rot. We can go to the falls now and test that theory.”
“And what about Will?” came Jon’s hoarse voice. He had shifted back, but was crouched at the base of a tree, distress plain on his face as he struggled to maintain his human form.
“Alive,” I answered. “But he was arrested, along with Tuck. We have five days to plan a rescue before they’re…sent to the gallows.”
Jon let out a fearful bellow and shifted back, then tore away down the creek. Aliena put a hand over her mouth, grabbed a blanket off her wash line, and went after him.
Devil turned to Larch, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. “The Rot is being used against Nottingham’s citizens now too. If May can clear it, everyone will be safer. One less wolf at our door. But then, can we count on you to help us save Will and the friar? I know it isn’t your—”
“Consider it done,” Larch said. “Anything for Jon, and for the people who brought Cee back to us.” He glanced over at his wife and children, then put a hand on Devil’s shoulder. “Be careful with the Rot, my friend.”