“You fear for your mate,”a deeper voice adds.
“It will cloud your judgment.”
“Wait, how many of you are there?”I say, cutting them off.
“Three,”they all reply in unison.
I take a deep, fortifying breath and center myself. The voices go quiet, and I close my eyes as we walk, focusing on the sounds around me. I hear the soft bubbling sound of water flowing over rocks in the distance, and smile.
“It’s not far,” I say, looking over my shoulder at Kai.
He nods in return.
“Maybe you should shift. It might help you to heal.”
I notice Kai’s hands flexing at his sides, a telltale sign of unease that he tries to hide. He shakes his head, his voice low and measured. “I’d rather not.”
“Why not?” I ask, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.
Usually, I can read people’s emotions and thoughts with ease, but Kai has always been an enigma. It’s not like he’s actively blocking me from his mind, unlike the Kotovs, who were taught from a young age to build mental defenses against people like me. But with Kai, there’s always been a barrier—a natural resistance that keeps his thoughts hidden from me, leaving me grasping at shadows.
“Because the longer I’m in my wolf form, the harder it is for me to return to this one,” he finally admits.
His words bring me to an abrupt stop, and I instinctively reach out to grab his arm, needing to ground myself in the reality of what he’s saying. “What do you mean?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
Kai meets my gaze, and I can see the struggle in his eyes, a conflict that runs deeper than I realized. “It means the magic here wants me to stay in my wolf form,” he says, his voice tinged with a hint of resignation. “This place . . . it’s different. The magic here is stronger, more ancient, and it’s pulling at me, trying to trap me in that state.”
“Are you serious?” I demand, my voice rising as I begin to pace back and forth.
Kairemains calm, though I can see the strain beneath the surface. “I’ll be fine. I’m just not going to shift unless it’s absolutely necessary,” he assures me, his tone steady but firm.
Frustration bubbles up inside me, and I mutter curses in my native tongue, the shadows at my feet responding to my agitation by pulsing with dark energy.
“Hey!” Kai growls, his voice sharp as he grabs my arm, pulling me to a stop in front of him. His grip is firm but not harsh, just enough to break through my spiraling thoughts. “One thing at a time, yeah? Let’s not borrow tomorrow’s problems.”
I stare at him for a moment, his words slowly sinking in. He’s right, we can’t afford to get lost in the what-ifs, not when we’re facing so much already. I take a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside me, and nod. “Okay, one thing at a time.”
Kai’s lips twitch into a smirk. “Good girl.”
A growl rises in my throat, a playful challenge. “If you weren’t injured, I’d show you just how not good I can be.”
“Promises, promises,” he teases, his eyes glinting with mischief, a brief respite from the tension that’s been weighing us down.
I shake my head, fighting back a grin. “Let’s go find the river, get cleaned up, and see if we can extract this poison,” I say, refocusing on the task at hand.
There’s no time to dwell on what might happen. Right now, we need to take care of the immediate threats, starting with the poison coursing through Kai’s veins.
Chapter twenty-eight
Ashwiyaa
“I was not made to be subtle.”
Within a few minutes, I spot it—a faint glimmering in the distance, barely discernible in the darkness of the trees. My relief is instant as I realize we’ve found it, and from the way Kai groans softly beside me, I know he sees it too. The sound of the flowing stream grows louder as we approach, the water appearing almost silver.
Without a second thought, I tighten my grip on his hand and drag him forward, quickening our pace until we reach the water’s edge. We don’t stop, not even for a second, as I lead him straight into the water, the coolness enveloping us as we wade into the stream.
The sensation is immediate, the icy water curling around my body, soothing the heat and exhaustion that’s been building up inside me. I’m stillin my crop top and underwear, the stream washing away all the dirt and blood coating my skin. The water is so clear I can see the pebbles beneath the surface when I look down.
