“What about her?” Dante pointed at Aurelia. “We can’t travel with her like that.”
“We have to. We’ll give her the phoenix elixir and she’ll ride with me.”
“They’ll keep her prisoner,” Hadriel said, the words tumbling from his mouth laced with fear. “They planned to take her to the place where they package everything because the productionvillage was compromised. That’s what the guy at the tavern said. He sent for Granny’s dog to come and collect her.”
“We were looking in all the wrong places for information,” Dante said as Nova returned with the little vial of glowing elixir. She removed the vial’s stopper and carefully handed it to me. Dante continued. “We were looking too close to Granny’s home near the castle. People were tight lipped there. Out in these backwoods towns where the product is flowing freely and they don’t have as much competition or trouble, they’re a lot freer with their words.”
“Agreed,” Hadriel said. “I think it would be better to send in a few people masquerading as merchants to visit pubs and taverns and talk to the locals to work out the location, rather than moving in a big pack that draws too much attention. Get the location,thensend in the muscle.”
“Hindsight,” someone in the back muttered.
I tucked all that into the back of my mind for later contemplation as I prepared to pour the elixir into Aurelia’s opened mouth.
“Wait!” Hadriel put out his hands to stop me. “No, no, this is wrong. She’s unconscious. She won’t swallow it. Inject it!” He clapped a few times, looking around. “You have to inject it.”
I froze. He was right.Stupid,I berated myself. We’d been in this situation in Granny’s cottage. We had precious few of these elixirs left, and I almost wasted one of them.
“I’ll do it. I got it,” someone said, and a moment later Niven stepped up, kneeling down beside us and taking the elixir from my hand. I stopped rocking so he could work. Niven hadn’t really been on her side since she’d cleaved him with the axe, but he hadn’t been thoroughly against her, either.
He pushed down the plunger on the syringe and stepped back, holding the empty materials and looking down on us.
“That’ll fix her,” Hadriel said softly, reaching forward to take her hand. Once again, I kept from growling at someone else touching my true mate when she was in this state. He cared for her. He only wanted to help. “It will. It’ll fix her. Finley and Hannon don’t make mistakes. They don’t put out bad medicine. It’ll fix her.”
“Get loaded up. We need to go,” I said while remaining still, intending to wait until the very last moment before I had to move her. She needed rest. She needed a bed. Unfortunately, those were two luxuries we didn’t have, not anymore.
It took three hours.I’d held Aurelia in my lap for three hours as my horse walked, having decided against travel in a cart in case someone attacked. I wanted to be in control of my mobility and be able to usher her away to safety immediately, if need be. It was three long hours before her eyes fluttered open and she moaned in obvious discomfort.
“Whoa,” I said, stopping the horse and dropping my focus to her beautiful face. Some color had returned to her cheeks along with a sheen of sweat, both good signs pointing to an eventual recovery.
I’d thought about releasing her animal to help her heal, but surprisingly, my wolf told me to hold off. If she planned to stay in this kingdom—something I dared not think about lest panic grip me—she shouldn’t have her animal’s power on full display. She should still hide it until she could get settled and find a pack to protect her before yanking it out. Either way, she’d have suitors a mile long. She was too pretty, too charming, too balanced and charismatic, not to mention smart and talented and funny...She’d have no trouble finding a mate Outside, as she called it.
Imagining her with another man was something else I couldn’t allow myself to think about. It wasn’t panic that reared its ugly head at those thoughts, but blind rage. I wouldn’t ever be able to see anyone else touch her, not without killing that person. She was mine, and mine alone.
Too bad she didn’t agree.
Her eyelids fluttered again just before a crease formed between her brows. She groaned, her head turning to burrow into my shoulder. Her other hand reached up weakly to clutch my shirt. She wiggled a little closer.
“Weston,” she whispered. “You came for me.”
“Of course I did.” My arms constricted around her. “I’ll always come for you, Little Wolf.”
Her relieved sigh made my heart soar before her hand relaxed and she fell back into unconsciousness.
Nightfall came earlyin the dense trees. We were forced to walk our horses single file, choosing a path barely large enough for our supply carts but too small for any larger wagons that might try to catch us. We planned to take a path that looped around, heading south for a while before returning east. It would eventually connect with a larger road not too far from the port where our ship waited to take us out of here. I’d already sent someone ahead with word that we were delayed but on our way.
Now we just had to get there.
Royal guards wouldn’t be a problem on a path like this; they didn’t travel light. Any sort of guard from the town where we’d rescued Aurelia or their allies also wouldn’t be a problem, not against my pack. They didn’t have enough power or people. It was Granny’s organization that worried me.
They now knew Aurelia’s last location, and it wouldn’t be hard to figure out we were heading east toward the ports. Therewere only a few options to travel—a large road, a few smaller ones, and this path. I’d need to plan for them sending out scouts. It’s what I would do. I’d also station my people on that large road by the port and wait there until our eventual arrival. I’d do it using all my connections with the king and queen, too.
As I was about to stop and make ready to camp for the night, Aurelia’s eyes opened. Her brow furrowed in discomfort, her accompanying moan emphasizing just how awful she felt.
“I don’t feel great,” she said softly, closing her eyes again. “You might want to put me down. I think I’m going to be sick.”
“It’s okay, just let me know. I’ll dangle you off the horse the same way you do it.”
Her little smile was a welcomed sight. It disappeared quickly.
