Keith was dead.
Her eyes found Dume’s, and her chest fractured down the middle.Keith was dead.
Caius held her as she screamed, wishing Aemas was still here so she could ask him why.
“I knew you were a supermystic.”
She would never see his beautiful blue soul again. Never hear one of his stupid jokes or be talked into drinking too much on a weeknight.
What would she tell Kordie and his parents?
Lauren led Stassi out of the office, and Dume approached Rory, crouching down to check on her.
“May I help you?” Adila asked someone at the door.
“I’m looking for my daughter,” Rory’s father said, searching the room. His eyes landed on her, and she watched his shoulders sag with relief. He jogged across the office and bent down next to Dume.
“Are you hurt?” he asked frantically, lightly touching her face. “Why is there so much blood?”
“I’m fine,” she hiccupped, unable to say anything else. Blood stained his clothes, but he didn’t look hurt.It was probably Keith’s.
“We need to tell Adila where Keith’s body is. She can have someone transport it to the city,” Dume said to Patrick. “I’ll call his parents and Kordie.”
Rory sat up and forced herself to stop crying. “I should be the one to call Kordie.”
Dume tried to stand, but Patrick grabbed his arm. “What are you two talking about?”
They stared at him.
“Stassi said Keith was killed,” Caius told Rory’s father. “And that you moved his body.”
Patrick’s eyes flared. “Keith is alive.”
Rory burst into more tears, unsure how she had any left to shed.
“Where is he?” Caius asked. “She needs to see him.” He stood and scooped Rory into his arms, and she continued to cry into his chest.
Patrick rose to his feet. “He’s in the infirmary. He was shot while in wolf form,” he explained to them as they walked. “I thought he was dead, but he had a faint pulse when I got to him. His body had shut down, making him seem dead. I picked him up and ran back the way we came until I passed a maid.
“The infirmary doesn’t have an operating room, but they had scalpels and sutures. The bullet nicked an artery, and he would’ve bled out without surgery. I had to work with what I had.”
“You performed surgery on a wolf?” Caius asked in disbelief. “Successfully?”
Patrick grinned over his shoulder. “I’m one of the best vets in Erdikoa, son.”
“That’s impressive,” Caius replied and kissed the side of Rory’s head.
When they arrived at the infirmary, Caius set her down, and she and Dume rushed to Keith’s side. He was still in his shifted form, and when he saw them, his tail thumped against the bed. The wolf tried lifting his head, but it dropped back onto the mattress.
“Why can’t he shift back?” Rory asked, petting him softly.
He licked her hand, and she pulled it back with a glare.
“His anatomy is different in wolf form,” Patrick explained. “The artery needs to heal before he can shift. He’ll be like this for a few weeks.”
Keith blew air out of his nose with a tiny bark. “We thought you were dead,” Rory said, petting him again, and he whined. “Stassi said she saw you die.”
“Is she okay?” her father asked. “We almost got that poor girl killed. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her.”
