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Color crept up Ruby’s neck, and again, the instinctive urge to help her swamped me as I blurted out, “Lillian forgot her crystals up in Mathias’s room. I was just dropping them back to the store.”
Ruby jumped in. “When I got your text, he came with me for moral support.” She peeked into the room. “Can I see her?”
“She’s probably still sleeping.” Amelia studied me for a second and added, “You can go with her…if you want to.”
I didn’t want to be in the hospital, but I was here. Ruby nodded so I followed her inside. Lillian looked tiny in the stark, white bed with an IV in her hand and oxygen tube in her nose.
Ruby went directly to her bedside and took Lillian’s hand. “I’m here.”
I brought a chair over so Ruby could sit and then turned to leave to give them some privacy. Ruby caught my arm. Her touch warmed me right through the fabric on my shirt sleeve. “Can you stay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be right here.”
She turned back to Lillian and started whispering something in Latin. A spell maybe? I really didn’t know as much about magic as I probably should have. In my defense, I never imagined I might be Alpha of the Salem Pack someday so hadn’t considered needing to work closely with the coven.
If anything happened to Lillian, Ruby would need to rise to the occasion and become the high priestess of the Coven of Light. Amelia seemed friendly enough, but would there be other witches who might want that power? I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath. I needed to slow my mind down. The witches weren’t my concern.
I had enough on my plate.
Suddenly, Lillian blinked her eyes open and turned her head to look at Ruby. “I hope you’ve come to take me home.”
“Thank the goddess you’re awake!” Ruby squeezed her hand. “Amelia sent me a text that you had a small heart attack.”
“I fainted, but I’m fine.” Lillian sighed and shook her head. Then she looked past Ruby to me. “How is Mathias?”
“Better.” I nodded. “Muchbetter actually. I think your spells really helped, and I did get him to take the first dose of antibiotics, too.”
“Good.” She let out a sigh. “Then it was worth it.”
Ruby stiffened in the chair. “What does that mean?”
Lillian reached over to pat Ruby’s hand. “I used an energy-transfer spell. I guess it worked.”
I came up next to Ruby. “You…gave him your energy?”
She nodded. “It’s a level-four emergency spell. I’ve only used it once before, but that was thirty years ago.”
“That was too risky.” Ruby frowned. “You should’ve told me. I could’ve cast it for you.”
“No. Don’t you see?” Lillian focused on Ruby. “You’re the future for our coven, and I’m the past. You’re too precious to risk on a temperamental spell like that.” Her gaze flicked over to me. “Mathias has been planning to step down, but I knew he hadn’t picked a new second since Kyle was taken by the hunters. We can’t let Mathias slip away and leave the pack without an Alpha.”
“I can’t believe this.” Ruby released Lillian’s hand and stood up. “You could havedied. Where would that have left the coven?”
Lillian’s lips curved into an exhausted but empathetic smile. “Everyone in our coven knows you’re ready for this except you. If I transitioned, I would be leaving the coven in very capable hands.”
Ruby swiped a tear from her cheek. “You promised you’d help us face the Coven of Shadows. I can’t do this on my own.”
Lillian let out a deep breath and her eyes drifted closed. “A bird doesn’t learn to fly from inside the nest, Ruby. When the moment comes, they defy gravity. Just…spread your wings.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat as her words hit me like a ton of bricks. She was right. There wasn’t going to be a test for either of us to know we were ready. We had to take a leap of faith.
It sounded so simple. But unlike the bird analogy, if we failed, it wouldn’t just be us crashing. We’d be letting down all the people we cared about.
Ruby turned around with tears in her eyes. “I need some air.”
We left the room just as Amelia came around the corner with a paper cup in her hand. “I found some hot tea. Did you want some?”
Ruby shook her head. “I have to get my head together, but I can’t leave her here alone.”
