The shifters worked quickly. Moments later, my teeth were chattering like crazy. It was cold as hell inside the building, andthe dirt was moist. But we weren’t outside, and there was no longer a real danger of getting hypothermia.
“You might want to stand back. Once I go deep enough, I can no longer control how the magic works.”
“We’ll be close, Evie,” Pax said, his eyes burning as he watched.
I closed my eyes and sank into my Floromancy.
Ben was in agonizing pain. Bruises and broken bones lit the inside of his body up like a Christmas tree. So much damage it took my breath away. I started at the most crucial point first—his arm, sending power directly to the arteries and veins, tendons, and muscles, willing them to repair. I’d never grown any body parts back and had no idea whether that was even possible, but I followed my intuition and the magic, allowing it to wrap Ben tightly in the power of the Mother.
I’m not sure how long I worked on the missing appendage, but finally, the blood flow stopped, his arm glowing with green and pink magic. Keeping my senses open for any regression, I swept through his body searching for other pain points, slowly knitting bone and easing bruises and other damage. Nadia and Donovan, if that’s who hurt him, had done a thorough job.
Ben was a Healer, a powerful one, and if even he couldn’t keep up with the damage, he was lucky to be alive. I only hoped this was enough.
As I worked, knitting and soothing his hurts, my magic waned, my thoughts turning away from coherency into feelings and emotion, and the Mother swept in, taking over my watch and helping keep Ben tethered to this world, safe in her arms.
Chapter
Nineteen
CAELAN
Donovan was a sonofabitch, and I was going to kill him.
Again.
Walking into that building and seeing my friend unconscious and slowly bleeding to death had set off a dangerous rage, the likes of which I hadn’t felt since I was a young wolf coming into my power.
We circled each other, Donovan bleeding from multiple bites and claw marks. He was starting to limp, but I wasn’t in the mood to finish things. He’d gone after Evie and tried to kill her. He’d unsettled the Council, pitting us against each other. I’d watched him slowly and meticulously undermine every Lord, sometimes taking years to dismantle their authority so he could pass something on his still confusing agenda. I’d always hated the sonofabitch, and I didn’t mourn him when I’d killed him.
Or so I thought.
Donovan sat on his haunches and bowed, his body language asking for a break. As pissed as I was, even I didn’t have the heart to kill a weak man. I stepped back, keeping a careful eye on him.
He shifted in a flash of light and crouched in the darkness, weak moonlight reflecting off his pale skin. I did the same, carefully watching him.
“So it’s come to this,” he rasped.
“It’s come to nothing since you were supposed to be dead,” I said mildly. “I’m only trying to finish the job.”
He bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. “You always were too clever for your own good. How’d you figure it out?”
“I didn’t. Evie did.”
At the mention of her name, Donovan’s eyes flashed with fury. For some reason, he hated Evie with a passion I’d rarely seen the man show. “And how did the Floromancer find out?”
I shrugged. “What can I say? She’s a very clever girl.”
And gone, which was the reason I was continuing to bait him. It was only he and I, Nadia was long gone. Well, maybe not long gone. A swan could never outrun a wolf, and I still had a good bead on her location. When I finished here, I’d go after her next.
“Still protecting your Floromancer?” Donovan snorted and rose to his full height. “She will be the death of you.”
“And what a death it will be. To be led by a woman firm in her convictions and immune to the political bullshit we deal with on a day-to-day basis, most of it our damn fault.” I smiled. “I’d gladly die next to her if I meant I finally stood for something.”
Donovan snorted. “When did you become such a sap?”
I lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. “You’ve never been in love. Once you know the pain of your heart when it struggles to grasp the one who’s taken it, you will know why I speak the way I do.”
“Now you spout flowery poetry?” He scoffed. “You are nothing like the man I knew a few years ago.”
