“Cassiel!” Dyna screamed.
He dodged a snap of teeth by a fraction, leaving the Other to crash headfirst into the tree trunk. The beast staggered over the roots, dazed by the blow. Cassiel raised the jar of wolfsbane. The beast roared, and he tossed the contents down its gullet. A horrid keening ripped through the forest. It fell back and thrashed, howling in agony.
Cassiel grabbed one end of the chains and flew around the tree rapidly, ensnaring them around the Other several times. Then he clamped the manacle around its free wrist. Bellows filled the forest. The beast thrashed against the restraints, growling and snapping its jaws at him.
He stumbled away, watching to see if the chains would hold. They didn’t budge. The Other yowled as its fur smoked beneath the chains. With a howl of defeat, it slumped against the tree.
Cassiel’s shoulders slumped as he breathed heavily, catching his breath. He shook his head at the creature he subdued. It held no semblance of Zev. “He’s gone.”
“No.”
Cassiel looked up at Dyna’s whimper. Tears streamed down her face. “That thing is not your cousin.”
“He will be himself again in the morning.” She climbed down the tree, blood pouring down her leg. She cried out from the strain on her wounded shoulder, and her bloody hands slipped from the branch she hung from. Cassiel launched up and caught her, bringing her to the ground. He set her down, and she took slow steps toward the beast.
“Zev, it’s me. You know me, don’t you?”
“What are you doing? Get away from it!”
Dyna shook her head, sobbing. “I know you’re still in there. You can defeat this. Please, please try.”
The Other stopped whining and focused on her.
“That’s right, it’s me.” She raised her bloody hand to caress its snout. The Other went into a frenzy and lunged at her.
“Get back!” Cassiel yanked her away.
“Zev is in there. He heard me.”
“He nearly tore you apart!”
Blood flowed from the deep gashes on her shoulder and waist. Her shredded dress barely hung on her small frame by strips. Zev had tried to kill her. Cassiel saw Dyna’s horror the moment she realized that. Her breath came in rapid bursts, her small body shaking.
“Breathe …” he said steadily.
She couldn’t. Her eyes rolled, and she toppled forward.
“Dyna!” Cassiel caught her and patted her face. It was no use. She had lost too much blood.
He swept her into his arms and soared into the air back to camp. He soon spotted the flickering orange flames in the dark ahead. He swooped down and laid her on the grass by the campfire.
Cassiel grabbed Dyna’s satchel and flipped it upside down. Azeran’s journal, her notebook, and dried plants fell out. There were no bandages, and the ceramic jars weren’t labeled. He wasn’t familiar with their uses, much less the plants. Like a fool, he hadn’t bothered to remember anything she had said about them.
“Damn it all!”
She was the Herb Master. He didn’t know what to do. The lack of bandages was beside the matter. He had to stop the bleeding.
Cassiel lifted the soaked kirtle to examine her mauled shoulder. The shredded fabric fell away in his fingers, revealing her bare body. Dark red trails spilled from the punctures in her shoulder where she’d been bitten. He parted her torn skirt to find the same was true of the serrated gashes running from her waist to her thigh. Cassiel pressed his hands over the wounds, applying pressure. Dyna’s pulse was faint and too slow.
Her warm blood seeped through his fingers, and he felt her life slipping away.
Cassiel lowered his head. “I do not know how to save you. I cannot stop this.”
No. His blood.
His blood could save her … but he couldn’t give it to her. It was illegal. And he was not a pureblood. He was a cursed half-breed. His blood might not even work!
Cassiel’s hands shook as he wrestled with his morality and celestial law. To break such a monumental law of giving divine blood to a human called for exile. They would take his wings, and he would never set foot in the Four Celestial Realms again.
