It had been another day,and River still hadn’t returned with the witch. At times, I could hear Hendrix snapping at people and large crashes sounding out from around the mansion as Hendrix destroyed things.
I didn’t have the energy to check on him though. All I could manage to do was be curled up in my bed…with Caspian wrapped around me.
When Caspian had been updated with what was going on, he’d latched onto me like he was never going to see me again, nuzzling against my throat and gripping me tightly to him. Because he spent most of the time with his face buried against me, I didn’t have to see him transform into a monster over and over again like I did anytime Hendrix entered the room.
I drifted in and out of sleep, my body too exhausted to be awake for very long. At times, nightmares would slip through, and Caspian would begin purring against me. The sound would rouse me out of my nightmare and relax my body enough to fall back asleep.
I didn’t think too hard about what an Alpha’s purr meant. Tomorrow wasn’t promised, and he was just trying to comfort me…right?
I had given up trying to eat. Anything that went down immediately came back out.
There was no denying it. I was dying.
“Syn,” Caspian barked, the sound coming out desperate and scared.
My eyes opened with a snap. “Hmmm?” I mumbled sleepily.
“Your chest had stopped moving,” he said, clenching me so tight against him that it hurt.
“You have to stay with me. River will be here soon. Then everything will be fine. I promise. But you have to stay, Syn,” begged Caspian like I had a choice in any of this.
My heart fluttered inside of me as if it was answering him. I’d escaped death so many years ago, you would have thought that the idea wouldn’t have been as scary to me.
But the thought terrified me. There was so much I’d never been able to do in my life.
I’d never gotten the chance to fall in love.
The thought seemed superfluous. How could I even be thinking about something like that? Maybe it was because I was wrapped against Caspian right now, and somehow parts of me were still aware of how warm he was, how he smelled, how he felt. Caspian had been a sweetheart ever since our rather memorable meeting.
In a different world…in a different life, I could have easily fallen in love with him.
Hendrix strode through the door that instant, not bothering to knock anymore, and Caspian immediately tensed against me. “Any news?” Caspian asked. “I think—she’s getting worse,” he finished, like I wasn’t there and listening.
“I have scouts out a few miles away. They’ll radio in as soon as they catch sight of River. We’ll hear from them any time now.” Hendrix spit out the words confidently, like the whole world had no choice but to follow his orders.
He stared at the bed…and me, a longing look in his eyes like he wished he was in Caspian’s place.
I was going to ask if he wanted to join when I was suddenly hit with a wracking cough. A spurt of hot liquid burst out of my mouth, and I thought I had thrown up again…until I saw the crimson liquid splayed out in front of me.
It wasn’t vomit, it was blood.
“That’s new,” Caspian said worriedly, grabbing a wet cloth and starting to dab the blood off my face. It was a futile effort though, because I coughed again and another burst of blood splattered all over the cloth he had been holding.
Hendrix made a noise, a sound that somewhat resembled a groan, except it was laced with pain.
“It’s okay, my beauty,” Caspian murmured as he brushed my hair out of my face. My insides fluttered, a mixture of pain…and warmth coursing through me. I’d always wanted to feel cherished like this. Wasn’t it a shame that it was going to be at the end?
“Has she taken everything from the healer? Has it helped at all?” Hendrix rushed out.
“She hasn’t been able to keep anything down,” Caspian responded.
Hendrix grabbed his hair, pulling it with crazed eyes. “There has to be something,” he roared as he picked up a vase, turned around, and threw it against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces.
“I’d almost think that you liked me,” I said hoarsely as I stared at the complicated, dangerous Alpha losing it…over me.
His body shuddered and then he turned around, so much emotion in his eyes that it took my already short breath almost completely away.
“You haven’t realized that yet?” he said in a soft voice.
I would have answered him, but another coughing fit hit me and blood-splattered everything…and then I was out.
* * *
Poundingfootsteps underneath me roused me from the darkness. I opened my eyes to see that we were outside. I was being carried in someone’s arms as he took me towards the dock where I could see a speedboat approaching from a ways away. I turned my head and realized that it was Hendrix who had me. “Hold on, little wolf. River’s almost here. He has the witch.”
“Okay,” I tried to say, but the word got stuck in my throat. Pinpricks of pain were beating at me all over my body, interspersed with numbness that actually scared me more than the pain. We got to the dock, but Hendrix didn’t slow down until we’d gotten to the farthest point of it.
“River,” Hendrix roared out to the sea as if he could somehow get the speedboat here faster. A wave beat against the side of the dock, and I felt the spray of the water fall on my face, the coolness feeling like heaven in the face of the pain.
“Stay with me, baby,” came Caspian’s voice from beside us. I didn’t have the strength to look at him, but I felt him grasp my ankle tightly, letting him know that I was there.
The sound of the speedboat grew to a roar as it came closer until the sound was almost deafening as it slowed to the dock.
Caspian rushed forward, and I glanced over to see him helping pull the speedboat in.
"She's fading fast," barked Hendrix.
"We would've gotten here sooner, but we ran into the Manchurians," explained River, his anger and frustration clear.
I had no idea who they were, and I didn't care as another attack of coughing up blood hit me.
I was staring listlessly at River who was standing next to a wizened old woman in the boat. I assumed she was the witch. At the sound of my coughing, he grabbed the woman and jumped out of the boat, much to the woman's shock and chagrin. On any other occasion, the look on her face would've been amusing. But not now.
The woman was not a shifter, her looks made that clear. But she was some kind of supernatural. Even from a few feet away, I could feel power emanating from her. And it was a hell of a lot of power, especially considering she was a tiny thing, only coming up to River's chest. She had black hair liberally streaked with gray and vibrant orange-looking eyes that reminded me of a cat's. It was a shade I'd never seen before, and I stared at them half in a daze.
"Get everyone out of here," she barked, and Hendrix shot a glare behind us and growled at the crowd that had gathered. I could hear footsteps rapidly moving away.
The woman pushed up her sleeves and gestured at me. "Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to lay her down so I can actually look at her?"
Hendrix huffed at her tone but immediately stooped to the ground to lay me down gently. He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand, sadness and yearning in his gaze.
"You have my payment?" the witch asked, looking at Hendrix challengingly. She pointed her thumb at River. "He assured me you would have it."
"She didn't want the money I'd brought," River snapped in a surly, annoyed voice.