“I’m not sure he’ll make it.” My mind spun at the thought of losing him. “Is there a garden center around?”
Christian stumbled. “What?” He looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Indoors. Warmth. Dirt, plants. It’s too dangerous to heal him right here, and I might freeze my ass off. Or die. Shit, I don’t know. I live in Texas, and it rarely gets below freezing for more than a few days at a time. The ground is frozen, and my magic feels more sluggish than normal.”
“There’s a hardware store with a garden center a couple of miles down the road,” Pax said.
I looked at Christian. His nostrils flared, but after a long moment, he gave a sharp nod.
We reached the vehicle. “Lord Caelan?”
Caelan would be furious if I waited on him when his best friend was near death. “He’ll be fine.”
Christian blinked.
“I’m serious. Let’s go.”
Pax took off at a furious run, but Christian scooped me in his arms, ignoring my undignified squawk, and chased after him.
“Apologies, Miss Quinn. Wolves run much faster, and if Ben doesn’t have much time, we can’t wait.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from bouncing everywhere. “No problem. I never was much of a runner.”
He bared his teeth in a smile. “No one expects that of Floromancers.”
We reached the vehicle in what felt like record time, and soon we were racing down the road while Pax and Christian dressed in extra joggers and t-shirts. I held Ben’s head in my lap, magic pulsing from the hand I held pressed to the stump of his right arm. With my other, I stroked his hair away from his face.
“I’m here, Ben,” I said quietly. “Probably not the one you were hoping would swoop in and help, but I’m what you got. So, maybe don’t die, okay? Because I’m going to be super pissed if we went through all we’ve gone through, and I can’t save you. And before you say, ‘Evie, this is not about you’, yes, it is, because it’s my turn to save you. Also, we might wake up in a cage, and we might be naked?—”
A choked laugh from the front.
“And that’s going to make Caelan really mad, but I can’t help it, and neither can you, okay? The earth wants what the earth wants.”
I couldn’t stop babbling. “Oh, and we might wake up in a hardware store, which will be really awkward if we’re naked, so maybe your nice wolves can bring us some extra clothing.”
The vehicle stopped. Pax and Christian barreled out. Someone opened the passenger door and helped me out. Pax scooped Ben up.
“Around back,” Christian said. “I’ll call the owner and let him know what we’re doing so we don’t get interrupted by the police.”
We ran around to the back. Christian unceremoniously broke the glass and forced his way in. My boots crunched over broken glass, and I winced as I thought about the costs involved in what we were about to do, but Ben wasn’t just a shifter. He was a Lord, and once upon a time, he’d been something more to me. Now, I consider him a friend. Whether he considered me one was up in the air, but I don’t think he hated me anymore.
Even if he did, I wasn’t going to let him die.
“By the potting soil is the easiest place,” I said, following Christian as he ran through the store. Pax followed close behind.
When we got there, I looked around. It would do. There was room enough for the cage that formed over me when I performed healings like this. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and shared my location with Caelan. He’d come when he was finished. However, it ended.
“Lay him down,” I instructed as I stripped off my jacket, sweater, and undershirt.
Christian swore and looked away. “Is that necessary, Miss Quinn?”
“That’s good Merino wool and cashmere, and I don’t want the earth to eat it. If one of you doesn’t mind sharing a shirt, I’m happy to wear it, but even so, I’m thinking about stripping my bra off, too. It was expensive.”
Without a word, Pax shrugged his jacket off and pulled the t-shirt over his head, handing it to me. Once I had it on, he stripped off his pants, too. Christian sighed as he pulled several bags of potting soil down.
“Organic is best. Nothing with chemical fertilizers, please.”
I put Pax’s joggers on and lay beside Ben, scooting until I was spooning him. “Cover every inch of us, except for our faces.”
