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“I think I’m losing some blood.”
“Let me see!” Rory shouted and turned me so he could look at me. The moon slipped out from behind its cloud just then and Rory gasped out loud when he saw the gaping wound and pouring blood I’d caused by pulling the arrow out on my own. I had to admit it hadn’t been my sharpest move. I was feeling a little faint, actually. I’d tend to it as soon as I had the chance, but for now, I thought maybe I should sit down for a while.
I tried to but fell straight back instead, my ass hitting the ground hard. I heard Wyatt calling for Asher, and then I felt Rory’s hands fall on my shoulders. He gripped me hard, pulling me around to face him, his eyes intense and burning. And why were those pretty green eyes of his glowing red all of a sudden? What looked like little flames shot out of them and then leaped onto my shoulder, catching it on fire. I just sat there, watching the blue flames climbing higher and higher, a part of me observing as if from a distance. I was only vaguely aware that I must be hallucinating. I should have been screaming and trying to beat the flames out with my hands, but some still rational part of my brain told me it wasn’t real, andthere were no flames.
No blue fire was shooting down my arm nor upwards into my neck, but damn it, I couldfeelthe heat, though it didn’t burn me. If I concentrated hard enough, I could even see the fire crawling slowly up my shoulder to my neck. It was so intense and almost painful for a moment that I think I screamed out loud. Then the flames shot up my neck and reached my head. When my hair caught on fire, and my skin began to sizzle, I felt my eyes roll back in my head and the moon over our heads blinked out.
****
I woke up sometime later, slumped over onto the pommel of my saddle, with Brandon riding behind me and trying to hold me on the horse in front of him as best he could. I was much larger than he was, so he was having trouble keeping his arm around me. He shifted his arm higher as I blinked and tried to wake up. I felt groggy and weak, like my limbs weighed a hundred pounds each. I tried to talk, but only garbled words came out. A steady drizzle was coming down around us, and I felt thoroughly miserable.
Brandon noticed I was awake, and he adjusted his grip again, pulling me back against his chest, so that my head lolled on his shoulder. “Just try to be still, Lex, if you can. We’re riding a little way ahead to make camp or find shelter to spend the rest of the night, because Asher said it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay where we were. We seem to be on an unfamiliar track, and I think Asher is having to find his way.”
I nodded, or tried to, but I didn’t seem to have much control over my limbs. Brandon made soothing noises behind me, murmuring in my ear. “Those arrows were dipped in poison. I’m sorry, but your poor horse is dead. As soon as Asher realized what was happening, he came running to help you, but your omega had already saved you.”
He did what?I wanted to say, but I couldn’t get my mouth to fully cooperate. The idea was incomprehensible for a few reasons, including the fact that I hadbound his powers.
I knew the binding had worked—at least temporarily, or I could have felt his power if it had still been there. Yet my so-called hallucination of the fire moving up my arm when he laid his hands on me after the attack had apparently been all too real. Not the actual flames. I had no burns at all, but I knew that what I had seen was my brain’s interpretation of his power working on me. They were a metaphorical manifestation of his magic.
As much as I hated to admit it, it had to be because of our connection. He was my true mate, and I supposed I couldn’t keep denying it. Denying him. I longed for him now and wished for the thousandth time that night that I hadn’t been so stubborn about not riding with him. His absence from me was physically painful. But then again, it could have been because I was feeling so weak. That had to be it.
Asher was leading our procession along the track, and he pulled up his horse and signaled to the others to stop. The road was widening out a bit and he wheeled his horse around to come back alongside us. He looked relieved when he saw my eyes open.
“Lex, how are you feeling?”
I made a motion to indicate I’d been a lot better, and he frowned, looking concerned.
“Still can’t talk?” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll try another healing when we find a place to stop, though I have to be honest, I don’t know exactly what Rory did to stop the poison from reaching your heart. He saved you.”
I made some kind of sound, and he nodded. “Right. We have to get you somewhere so I can work on you. We’re not on the right road at all, but we’re not far off it, I think. We must have missed a slight turn off, or else someone is practicing magic against us. There’s a cottage up ahead, though, and we’ll stop and see if they can help us. We need shelter for the night, because a bad storm is coming.” Now that he mentioned it, I could smell the moisture in the air, and I had that prickly feeling in my skin that I got when lightning was close by. Asher patted me gingerly on my chest and turned his horse around.
Hadsomeone been practicing magic against us? Who the fuck would that be and more importantly, why were they doing such a thing? I’d thought those Alphas had been after Rory, and I still thought so. But had there been more to it? I’d traveled that road from Morovia just a couple of days before, and I had no idea how I’d gotten lost or managed to take a wrong turn off the main road. It made more sense that someone had used an obfuscation spell on me. They were easy enough to do. But who? To what purpose? Just to delay us?
We were close to Morovia, so it wasn’t at all inconceivable that it had been another pack—a Morovian one, since Igellans didn’t practice magic. Perhaps they had a talented practitioner who had used their magic to be able to lead us into an ambush, just to take my omega. They’d made a try for Rory, and if I was going to be able to keep him safe on the rest of this journey, I needed to know who was behind this attack and the attempt on my life.
I had so many questions about every aspect of the attack, but I was still literally reeling in the saddle in front of Brandon, and I was afraid we were both going to fall off this horse if I stirred myself to ask more questions. I fell back against Brandon and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate only on staying on the horse.
The next thing I knew I was being pulled carefully down from Brandon’s arms and carried over to a pallet of furs by both Asher and Wyatt. We were in some kind of dark shed, and the wind was trying its best to break through the flimsy walls and burst through the door. I looked around me, still feeling groggy and saw Rory beside me, holding my hand in his, his face scared, while the storm was raging outside. I was soaking wet, and as soon as whoever was carrying me put me down, I began to shiver.
Asher loomed over me and began stripping my clothes off me quickly and efficiently, then tucking me under some warm furs, while Rory quickly climbed in beside me. He had taken his clothes off too, and his body, though a little chilled, still felt wonderful against my skin. I felt immediate comfort just from his proximity and felt like I could finally take a deep breath. He wrapped himself around me, making soft little whimpering noises in my ear.
I raised my hand to pat his arm, and he startled and peered down in my face. “Are you awake, Lex?” he asked.
“Mostly,” I said, and though the word was still slightly slurred, my tongue didn’t slide around it like it would have before.
“I was so worried,” he said, kissing me on my cheek and nuzzling me. My eyes closed again and this time when I opened them and looked up, I saw Asher leaning over me.
“I’ve done another healing while you were sleeping. There’s black magic involved here, Lex, but I think I’ve overcome it. Try to rest so you can get better and help me. I believe we’re safe for now, but someone tried to follow us from the place we were attacked. I managed to lead them off in the wrong direction, and I’m pretty sure we weren’t followed here.”
“Pretty sure?”
He shrugged. “It’s still unclear. I think they may have split into two separate groups.”
“Where are we?”
“An abandoned peasant’s hut. Or I should say an outbuilding. The hut itself was in bad shape, though, so we’re in the shed. The roof and walls here are mostly intact, at least. We’ll stay here until morning so the storm can pass over. The good news is that if we can’t easily travel in the storm, neither can they.”
“True enough.”
