Chapter 19
I discovered with relief and joy that healing no longer drained my energy as badly as it did the first couple times I used it. No longer was I a novice at using magic who fainted every time I lifted a magical finger. But that didn’t mean my hours-long sessions with the Madame were easy. Since it was my first time straining myself so hard and for so long, I came out of each one feeling utterly exhausted.
What kept me going at the same pace and intensity was the Madame’s pure joy. At the sight of her lower body, once dominated by a landscape of scarred flesh now significantly healed with each session, she was like a different woman. She touched my hands and held them afterwards, which seemed to be the highest amount of affection a woman as stoic as her would display.
Despite our progress, I was keenly aware that we didn’t have much time--a few days, at most, to get this done. I got the sense that Neil came and went from the human settlement as he pleased, not so much a real member as an outsider who came by only when it suited his needs. He was truly a lone wolf now, and despite everything, I found myself pitying him. But maybe if he hadn’t acted so horribly, he wouldn’t be in his situation.
And he’s still assuming that one of the Madame’s people is on their way to the gryphons to offer me as a sacrifice,I thought. It wasn’t true, but it was one edge that we had right now--Neil still thought the humans were on his side.
But that wasn’t all. I knew Eric and Colton were out there planning our escape. It surprised Ramsay and I that it was taking so long. I wondered if maybe they were truly afraid of the humans. After all, both Ramsay and Noro came away from the trap with bloody injuries, and the Madame had a firearm. I remembered with a wince that she’d used it on Eric before, and just only grazed his front leg. It occurred to me now that she hadn’t missed by accident. It was only a warning shot.
I hovered over her now, my hands vibrating with magic as the cleansing energies flowed into her. Her skin had become clearer with each session, the scar receding away like an ebbing tide. But I still didn’t know what was happening to the organs beneath it. Was I going through all this effort just to heal a superficial scar? The budding hope in the Madame’s eyes was too much to bear if it turned out that was the case.
Finally, over the course of a couple days, the scar had almost completely vanished. Only a small dark pink sliver remained in the area that used to be a rough, large scar.
She sat up, examining her skin as if seeing it for the first time.
“Matheson, this is incredible,” she murmured.
I smiled. It was the first time she’d called me by name instead of the endearing term ‘pregnant wolf'.
“I think that’s as much as I can heal you. But I can’t see or feel inside you,” I admitted, rubbing my arm, “so I don’t know if your womb is actually healed. I’m sorry.”
To my surprise, she cupped my face and gave me a long, fond look. In the moment she reminded me of my mother, who I realized I missed dearly. The Madame gave me a hug and said, “Don’t apologize. What you’ve accomplished is extraordinary.” She patted my back briefly, then pulled away. “I’ll find out one way or another if it’s worked.”
I smiled meekly, really hoping it had.
“I think… my baby wanted it to work, too,” I told her. “Whenever I use my magic, it seems to come from deep inside my core, like the baby’s presence invigorates it somehow.”
The Madame glanced down my body and hesitantly raised a hand. “May I?”
I nodded. She gently pressed her palm to my belly. I still wasn’t showing yet, and the baby definitely wasn’t old enough to kick, but it almost seemed like the life inside me grew happier at the Madame’s touch.
“Amazing. So different than us humans, yet so similar. Here you are, a pregnant omega with a baby on the way,” she murmured. “Tell me. When we first met, you said the red wolf--Ramsay, is it?--you said he was one of your mates. What did you mean by that? Is it normal in wolf culture to take a harem of mates?”
I blushed. “I would say it's unusual. The packs didn’t understand when we told them about my pregnancy, how three different alphas got me pregnant.”
She nodded in understanding. Her open-mindedness was refreshing compared to the reaction we got from the wolf packs.
“Then you bear one child, or three?” she asked.
“I have no idea.”
“And the child’s father--all three alphas?”
“Yes. I know that in my heart.” I touched both my chest and my belly. “It’s some kind of magical knowledge. People might not believe me when I say it, but--”
“I believe you, Matheson,” the Madame said firmly. “You have wisdom beyond the norm.”
“Thank you,” I said, my cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. I chuckled softly. “I think that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me.”
* * *
That night,we rested. I lay in the guest bedroom of the Madame’s home, staring at the late evening sky through the window. Ramsay was curled up protectively next to me. With the Madame mostly healed, and with no idea of when Neil would return, Ramsay and I agreed it would be best to set out the following morning to avoid running into him, and to find Colton and Eric before they died from stress.
But as I lay there, a tight knot of stress still pulsed in my ribs.
“What’s wrong?” Ramsay asked.
