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The swirl of evilness wafted around me from all sides, but Elix’s weakened state drove me through any sense of danger and propelled me forward, through the mouth of the cave. For a fleeting second, I had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if I’d been here before, the trickling waterfall, the musky smell of old water. The gods whispered at me in echoes, warning me to leave, but I wouldn’t go anywhere without Elix.
A low, sputtering cough shattered the odd sensation, and I fixed my eyes on the darkness, immediately resting on the limp figure curled in the corner of the cavern. Relief and dread overtook me in unison, my paws pounding against the granite to find Elix semi-conscious on the cave floor.
I shifted back as she stared up at me, her eyes hazy and terrified. “J-Jace?” she whimpered. “Is that you?”
“It’s me,” I whispered tenderly, dropping to my naked knees and brushing her tangled chestnut waves away from her face. I feared for her health, the veins of her face fully visible. “You’re all right now. You’re safe.”
“Nooo!” she moaned, her body alarmingly hot.
“Shh, Elix, it’s me. It’s Jace,” I said again, but she tried to swat me away.
She’s got a fever,I realized, scooping her into my arms.I need to get her back to the castle for treatment.
“NOOO!” Elix moaned again, her delirium haunting me as I strode toward the cave’s exit. “Put me down! Put me down!”
“Shh, Elix. It’s me. You’re okay,” I promised her.
Three of my Royal Guards burst through the tree line as I retreated, their faces displaying identical expressions of relief to see me.
“Find me clothes. We need to get back to Silverhold Tower.”
“At once, Alpha!”
“NOOOO!” Elix wheezed, her brilliant, green eyes duller than I’d ever seen them. I held her closer to my naked form and urged her to be silent.
“It’s all right. You’re safe now,” I murmured. “We’re going to get you?—”
“No, Jace!” she mewled, the anguish in her voice cutting me off. “You need to run! Get away from me before she comes back and kills us both!”
Chapter 7
Elix
Lysandra called out to me from my fugue of darkness, the dream state combining with reality.
“Elix… you can’t run from me. We’re connected by blood.”
“Go away!” I mumbled, waving my fists feebly. “I don’t want to work with you.”
“I’m coming for you.”
“Go away!” I sputtered again, swatting the air.
“Her fever is breaking,” I heard Jace say. “But she’s still delirious.”
“She will be for a while,” Cirilla agreed on my right side. My mind fought to understand how Lysandra was in the same room as Jace and Cirilla.
“They can’t save you from your blood,” Lysandra insisted, her whispering urgent in my ear. “You belong with me. You know it’s true.”
“It’s not!” I sighed.
“What is she saying, Cirilla?” Jace muttered. “Who is she talking to?”
“She’s out of it,” the enchantress answered. “You can’t listen to anything she says while she’s like this. Her fever is guiding her.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” he growled. “You didn’t see the fear in her eyes when I found her in the woods.”
“How long are we staying here? This can’t help her recovery!”
