“Hold on,” I muttered. Then, praying I was doing the right thing, I held my hand over his stomach and began cauterizing the wound. Sam cried out beneath me, but he held still, chest heaving as I closed the wound. I worked as quickly as I could, but it still felt like a lifetime before I was able to fully close the wound.
“Done,” I said.
Sam didn’t answer, but he squeezed my arm as he continued panting.
Footsteps thundered behind me. I whipped my head around to see Elias barreling into the room with three other shifters. They looked around wildly until Elias’s attention locked on me.
“Where is it?” Elias asked.
I swallowed as tears welled in my eyes and a lump formed in my throat. He was going to hate me.
“It got away,” I said. “I’m sorry, Elias. I…I had to make a choice.”
He glanced down at Sam for the first time, then at the bloody piece of glass on the floor, and comprehension dawned on his features. He didn’t chastise me. He didn’t tell me I had overreacted or was stupid.
“You made the right one,” Elias said. “What happened?”
“The wraith. I turned its hand to glass, but it broke it, and then one of the shards…” I trailed off, gesturing at the bloody piece of glass next to me.
“How’s he doing?” Elias asked, coming to crouch next to me to look at Sam.
“Bad, I think,” I said. “I cauterized the wound because I didn’t want it to bleed more, but I’m worried it might have pierced something inside, and if it did, then maybe I ruined everything, and now he’s going to die, but I—”
Elias’s hand went to my shoulder. “It’s okay, sis. Breathe. We’re going to be fine. I promise.”
I sucked in a breath as my hands continued to tremble. I didn’t know how Elias could tell me it was going to be okay, not when Sam was on the ground, his fur matted with blood, and the ground beneath him dark with it. How much blood had he lost?
“Oz, get Lucas,” Elias said. How he managed to keep calm like this, I didn’t know. Turning back to me, he said, “Lucas is our best field medic. He’ll be able to help stabilize him. Then we’re going to get him to the underground spring. Sam’s going to be okay, all right?”
I nodded, but it wasn’t enough. This was my fault. If I had gone after the wraith, I might have been able to kill him. I had chosen Sam because I couldn’t forgive myself if anythinghappened to him. I wasn’t going to let our baby grow up without a father. But I had still thrown away our chance at ending this for good.
“Elias, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I had one job, and—”
“And you did it,” Elias interrupted. “We weren’t trying to kill the wraith today. We were just trying to get Emma out, and we’ve done that. She’s safe. We’ll worry about the wraith later, okay?”
The words didn’t sink in right away. Elias grabbed my shoulder, making sure I was looking at him.
“Right now, I care more about the fact that my best friend is in trouble than the wraith,” he said. “I would have made the exact same decision you did. Do you understand?”
Emotion continued to well up, that lump in my throat continuing to swell, but his words still soothed some of that anxiety and self-loathing. I took in a deep, gulping breath and nodded.
“Thank you for saving him,” Elias said.
I hadn’t saved Sam, not yet. He was still in danger; everyone could see that. And I couldn’t lose him. The thought of having to do any of this alone sent me into a blind panic. My wolf paced inside me, anxious as she smelled the blood, wanting to comfort her mate, to make sure he was okay. Even though I could tell through the mating bond that he was still alive, I could sense his pain as well, and I could barely stand it.
A lean shifter with long limbs hurried over with a med bag. He nudged me gently so that he could crouch next to me. He studied the blade of glass with a clinical eye. How he managed to see that without feeling panic was beyond me. Right now, all I could think about was how Sam could be dying in front of me,and what might happen in the next couple of hours because I wasn’t able to stop the wraith in time.
“It looks bad,” the shifter—Lucas—admitted, not bothering to sugarcoat it. “But it could be worse. Cauterizing the wound was the right choice, but I’m going to start checking his vitals, do you understand?”
I nodded, but I refused to let go of Sam’s hand until Lucas reached over and gently pulled my fingers away.
I hovered next to Sam the entire time, my wolf refusing to go more than a few feet away as I stared intently, watching every move Lucas made as I kept track of Sam’s breathing. He couldn’t die. He couldn’t. Because I didn’t know what I would do if he did.
“Right,” Lucas said, sitting back on his haunches as he studied Sam. “He’s stable enough to travel.”
“Great.” Elias nodded at Lucas, and the two of them hoisted him, one grabbing his legs and the other wrapping their hands beneath his shoulders. Together, they lifted, hauling him up.
“Where are you taking him?” I asked.
