Cal's car was waiting, and he slid into the driver's seat without a word. I sat next to him, still trying to process, and barely noticed the drive.
I only knew we were there when Cal parked and climbed out, gesturing for me to follow.
Inside, there were a few people patching up the injured pack members, but not an ounce of magic in the air. That made sense, considering they'd been so eager to run me out of town when my magic manifested, but it was obvious that they needed more help than mundane medical care could provide. At first, everything faded into the background, and the only person I found myself looking for was Noah. Despite the things he'd done to me, despite the life he was trying to force on me, the frantic need to make sure he was okay overrode everything else.
I cared for him. Denying it anymore was useless. I just had to keep reminding myself that affection wasn't an excuse for him to exert his will over me.
But dammit. I just had to make sure he was okay.
Finally, I spotted him coming out of the back room, and everything clicked back into place as my panic faded. He hadn't come away from the accident totally unscathed, with one sleeve of his flannel removed and a wound that obviously needed either stitches or magic haphazardly duct taped together, and a bruise forming on his cheek, but besides Cal, he was in the best shape out of the four of them.
The other two were a different story. One was laid out on a bed, his skin pale and his white t-shirt drenched in blood, and the other was on a chair, and I could see that he had a splinton his arm and three vicious slashes across his face. They both needed help, and fast, but the man on the bed looked more dire.
Noah came straight to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay?" "I'm fine," I insisted. "Cal told me the situation, and I'm here to help."
"Good. I'm going to let you take the lead, alright?"
I hesitated, looking around at the pack members there in the infirmary, and felt my magic curl up into a little ball inside of me. These people hated what I was, so why did Noah think they'd let me heal them?
"Noah, I—"
"I've already told them that trusting you is nonnegotiable. Please." When I looked closer at him, I could see guilt swamping his expression.
"What in the world happened?"
"The border disturbance wasn't someone trying to sneak into our territory. It was a mama bear and her two cubs making a home in a nearby cave. The attack came out of nowhere, and their scent had been washed away by the rainstorm last night. We didn't realize what was going on until we were practically right on top of them. I can't have two more pack members die, not when I could have prevented it. Not when you could save them."
He was pleading, and I couldn't believe it. But, looking at his expression, the pain and desperation there, I could tell he meant it.
"Okay. Let's do this."
I moved quickly, going first to the man on the bed. Cal assisted me in cutting away the man's shirt, and I gasped at how badly he'd been mauled.
"What's his name?"
"This is Dane," Noah answered.
"Hi, Dane, I'm Sage. Can you hear me?"
Dane's eyes struggled to open, and he managed a weak, "Yeah."
"You've been badly injured, but I'm a healer and I'm here to help. I'm going to get to work, but tell me if you need a minute or if something hurts too much, okay?"
Dane nodded, and I laid my hands over the worst of his wounds, calling my power forward as I settled into a calm place within my mind. My healing was messy when I was panicked, but I'd spent years learning how to be zen when the situation called for it.
As the minutes ticked by, the bloody gashes started to heal. Dane winched every once in a while, but his pulse barely rose. He was likely in shock and wouldn't remember most of what happened by the time I was finished.
I couldn't heal him completely in one session, especially if there was another man who needed healing, but Dane's wounds were closed, and he was stable when I pulled my hands away. He looked down at his previously injured body and then up at me in awe.
My confidence soared, and any worry I carried about the pack's opinion on my magic faded. I smiled at Dane and then turned to Noah. "Let's move on."
Chapter 9 - Noah
I had arrived on four legs, so Cal drove Sage and me home once the healing was done. The drive home was quiet, the silence and exhaustion heavy on all of us as the tires of my Beta's truck crunched across the gravel road. It was dark by then, stars dotting the sky, moonlight catching on Sage's flaming hair when it managed to cut through the trees.
My mate. She was so brave. She had healed my wolves like it was nothing, putting her hands on them and taking their pain away as if she hadn't been terrified of all of them just days ago. It was as if she slipped into a different persona, no longer just Sage, but Sage the healer. That confidence had never quite reached her eyes, which had still looked unsure every now and
then, but damn, I was impressed with her. Sage's hands never shook, and her magic never faltered.
