“Thane's been poisoned with a lethal dose of wolfsbane,” he informs me, adding to my panic.
“Is he gonna survive? Please tell me he's gonna live!” I demand, and Elias nods.
“Rissa is healing him with her magic. She won't stop until she removes every last drop of poison from his system. You stay here with them.” Elias lifts his head to the others, his face hardening, piercing hazel eyes staring at his mate. “I just received a report from the betas. There's been a sighting near the lake.”
“I am so sorry, Alpha Elias,” I wail as I hang my head shamefully, but he shakes his head firmly, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Don't, Willow. Let's just pray Rissa succeeds. All that matters is Thane's life, and you did an excellent job at protecting your alpha.”
“My mate…” I murmur with tears in my eyes, and Elias moves aside.
“Go to him. Let him know you're here. It's what will bring him back.”
Without wasting more time, I bolt into the room, the walls filled with emerald light from Rissa's magic as she works on healing Thane. Both her hands hover over the wound on his neck as she extracts the venomous poison from the depths of his veins.
Her eyes are solid pits of green, and she doesn't acknowledge me, focused on healing Thane. I rush to the opposite side, grabbing Thane's cold hand and pressing his knuckles to my lips.
“Please, Thane…please! Fight it!” I cry out desperately, staring at his face. His mouth is wide open, as if his lips got stuck in that position when a scream ripped from his throat.
Clutching his hand, I can feel the deadly claws of the poison in his system, the pain, the anguish, the torture he's facing internally. Tears gush from my eyes, and I silently pray to the Moon Goddess that this works, that Rissa can extract the poison from Thane and save him.
With every breath comes a renewed prayer as I stare at Thane's face, watching the blueness of his veins seep into Rissa's warm green light. Whatever she's doing seems to be working, as the color of the poison disappears from his skin and vanishes into her magic, escaping like mist. I clutch Thane's hand tightly, holding on for his life, realizing in that moment how foolish I've been all this time.
How could I ever hate the man I once loved? The man who reawakened that love from the moment we met again in Seward.
He found me.
And he's been doing everything to support me and show me that what happened that night, five years ago, was a mistake.
A mistake he's since made up for.
But this is what I saw in my nightmares—Thane dying. Except, it was never because of me. It was for me. I've been wrong all this time, believing he'd face destruction at my hands.
Now that I'm faced with the horror of losing him, I can't see my life without him.
“Thane…please…you promised you'd fight by my side…” I whimper, squeezing his limp hand.
With my heart lodged in my throat, there aren't any tears left to cry by the time Rissa is done extracting the poison from his veins. A deafening silence unfolds as Rissa snaps out of her trance, panting as she regains consciousness. I hold my breathwith anticipation, watching, waiting for the moment he opens his eyes.
But it doesn't come.
“Thane…wake up, Thane,” I whisper, squeezing his hand again, but there's no movement. I look up at Rissa, utterly panicked. “Rissa…Rissa, what's happening? Why isn't he waking up?”
“I got it all out,” she frowns at Thane's face, pressing a finger to his neck, confused. “He should have woken up. I don't—”
The rest of what she says is a blur as I grab Thane's face and crush my lips to his with urgency. The kiss is desperate, a plea for him to wake up, but there's still no movement.
A sob escapes me as I fling my arms around him, weeping because I don't know how I'll ever go on living without him. My heart shatters, words falling from my lips like desperate prayers.
“Please, Thane…I can't do this without you…I need you, dammit! You can't leave me like this!”
Just as I'm about to pound at his chest with my fists, angry that he'd leave me like this, a croaked chuckle vibrates through his chest.
“Y-you n-need me…?”
“Thane?!” I lift my head from his chest, shocked, relieved, my heart fluttering. “Oh, my Goddess! You're alive!”
A series of coughs and broken chuckles comes as he reaches for my face.
