“Can we—”
“Yes,” Rachel said before Emma could open her mouth. “Let’s not waste any more time.”
Going as fast as I could without hurting her further, I bundled Liv in my arms and carried her over. We dipped her into the shallow spring, making sure the water covered the injuries on her side and shoulder. The water sloshed slightly as we lowered her in, then stilled back into its normal, unnatural, gentle ripple.
“What now?” I asked.
“We wait,” Emma replied.
“That’s all?” I said impatiently.
Rachel’s hand rested on my shoulder. “I know it’s not easy,” Rachel murmured. “Trust us. We’ve both been where you are. But it takes time.”
“How long?”
Rachel and Emma looked at one another, then gave identical shrugs.
“It depends,” Emma said. “I’ve seen it take a few minutes or hours. I haven’t been able to figure out why, since it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the severity of the injury.”
I let out a snarl and glowered at the spring, as if an irritated stare would somehow convince it to work faster.
Another hand rested on my shoulder. I turned, doing my best to hold back the biting snarl I wanted to let out. Emma looked up at me, her face sympathetic and reassuring.
“I know patience isn’t your best quality,” Emma said, her voice gentle and understanding while also teasing. “But this is one of those things you can’t change by glowering at it. The best thing you can do is just let the spring do its thing.”
I glanced past her to look at Liv’s too-still body as it drifted in the water. “What are her chances?”
“It’s healed injuries as bad as hers before,” Emma said. She bit her lip. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen, considering the spring was out of commission for some time. There’s no telling what those assholes did to it before we got here. So I can’t give you a solid answer. I’m sorry, Drake.”
I let out a frustrated exhale as I ran my fingers through my hair. At least she was being honest. I would have been more pissed off if she had lied and told me Liv would be perfectly fine in no time.
Elias appeared beside me. “Most people are going to go back to the town,” he said. “We need to go back and give the pack the news, and I want to make sure that Azaret hasn’t decided to take out his rage on the town.”
I let out a grunt, then thought about how Liv would have teased me for it.
“He’s going to go into hiding for a while,” I said, staring at Liv’s body instead of at Elias. “Liv did a number on him. He isn’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon.”
Elias nodded. “You’re probably right,” he said. “But we need to check, anyway, and give people an update on the town. I also want to check on the waterfall.”
I grunted again, my eyes still all but glued to Liv. She was still breathing, but I hated how shallow her breath was.
A gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I twisted around to see Rachel looking up at me.
“I’m guessing you’ll want to stay here?” Rachel asked. When I nodded, she added, “Do you want some company?”
I glanced down at Liv, then back up at her friends. “Liv likes you both. She’d want to see you to make sure you’re okay. So if you want to stay, then you can.”
They nodded, but still kept their distance. I stayed near the spring, but my restlessness refused to let me sit for any longer.
I stared down at Liv, looking to see whether the spring was still working. Some of the color had gone back into her face, but she was so still.
Huffing impatiently, I ran my fingers through my hair as I kept pacing back and forth. If something happened to Liv, I wasgoing to hunt that demon down myself and tear him limb from limb without waiting for Elias or the others.
Emma stopped my pacing. “It’s going to be all right,” she said.
I growled. She didn’t know that. She couldn’t promise it, either.
A muttering sound came from the spring, then something that sounded like a moan. My head whipped around to the spring where Liv was stirring. She grimaced as her hand went to her side.
