The key turned easily, clicking over. I pushed open the door and meant to step out of the way, but a glimpse of Aurelia had me running at her instead.
She lay on the ground beside a porcelain bowl akin to a chamber pot, vomit both in and beside it. Her eyes were closed and her cheek rested on the wood floor, her face deathly pale.
“Gods fucking goats, Aurelia!” I cried, sliding in beside her and bracing my hand on her forehead. “She’s burning up.”
“Get her things,” the alpha barked, the fear in his voice not showing in his movements. He knelt beside her quickly, scooping her up into his arms and cradling her delicately.
Her pack was by the bed and an empty wrapper lay on the nightstand.
“She tried some of the product,” I spat, my fear amping up. “She wouldn’t have known any better. She never believed us when we said how dangerous it was. Fuck!”
“It’s okay,” the alpha said, walking quickly now.
I snatched up the pack and barely remembered to check for her lantern. She loved that thing. She wouldn’t want to leave it behind. Locating and grabbing it, I ran after them.
“It’s going to be okay.” The fear in the alpha’s voice had grown into full-blown terror. “We’re going to get through this, baby. Stay with me.”
“Get a horse,” I told him, jogging by their side. He wasn’t running but his long stride quickly ate up the distance. His training forbade him to show obvious signs of panic. “She needs the phoenix’s healing elixir.”
He nodded, looking straight ahead, tall and broad and scared out of his mind. Or maybe that was just me.
“Horse, I need a horse,” I said, pausing to look around. “Dina, did you see the stables? Wait, the inn had stables?—“
She shifted, breathing fast. “Give me all that. The stables are just over there.” She took Aurelia’s stuff and pointed. “Hurry!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I sprinted through the town nude, spotting the stables quickly and wasting no time getting to them. A stable hand was just pulling in a horse, readying to remove the saddle. I punched him to get him away. In a moment I was crushing my bare fucking balls as I rode the mediocre-looking horse across the square and toward the procession of wolves.
After I jumped off, the alpha handed me Aurelia while he mounted the animal. She was scorching hot, burning up with fever. Even her limbs were on fire, completely limp. I had to fight back tears of worry.
He swung up into the saddle and reached for her, cradling her close after I’d handed her up. He grabbed the reins, dug his heels into the horse’s flanks, and yelled, “Hyah!”
The horse took off like a shot, its looks deceiving. All I could think was Aurelia had to be okay, and as I watched the horse disappear into the distance I couldn’t help but whisper, “You can’t die just when you’ve finally started to live.”
Chapter 28
Weston
Ibarely remembered getting back to the wagons. My thoughts were so frazzled I wasn’t thinking clearly, something that had never happened to me as an alpha, not even in the demon dungeons. My fear had me spiraling—I was worried about losing her, guilt-ridden that I’d left her to fend for herself without some sort of plan to keep her safe, and knowing I’d neglected my primal duty. What happened to her was my fault.
“Get me the phoenix elixir,” I shouted, the intensity of the command forcing my pack into action immediately.
It was Sylvester who went running as others hastened toward me, reaching for Aurelia to help me get down. I didn’t want to give her up, but I forced myself to hand her over long enough to dismount, grabbing her back and clutching her closely again the second both feet hit the ground. I carried her to the edge of camp, kneeling amongst a cluster of green shrubs with her in my arms. She’d like seeing nature when she woke up.
Please, mighty gods, let her wake up.
“What did you do to yourself Little Wolf?” I asked softly, smoothing her hair back from her burning forehead. “Why did you take it?”
A cluster of padded footsteps arrived in camp and within moments Hadriel was crouching down near us. He was too close for my comfort but when I looked up to tell him to fuck off, his expression of abject terror gave me pause. Dante and Nova kept close too, everyone having just shifted and looking on in worry.
“She would’ve wanted to see what was different about the product,” Nova said, looking around. “Where is the fucking elixir? It’s not that bloody hard to find.”
She took off jogging. The second we got back to the castle, she was absolutely getting a promotion.
Dante was nodding, looking on. “Nova’s right, she would’ve wanted to see what made Granny’s product different from hers.”
“She was probably trying to figure out a way to fix the situation,” Hadriel said, picking at his nail in worry. “She belongs in the dragon court with Finley and Arleth. They’re fixers, too. Give them a problem and they’ll try to fix it. They’d fix the world if they could.”
“Make ready to get underway,” I said, rocking Aurelia in my lap, my hand on her heart. It was beating too quickly. Her breath was too shallow. She was losing her fight. “We need to put as much distance between us and that town as possible. We’re going to alter our course. Granny’s organization is clearly looking for Aurelia, and now they have her last known whereabouts. A royal guard might investigate the attack on the town. We don’t want to run into either.”
