Chapter Thirteen

Dyami was talking to his wolf. Well, not talking actually. Wolves didn’t talk, not in English anyway. He couldn’t explain it. It was a conversation that only he could understand and it went something like this.

“I’m dying.”

“Yes.” His wolf had given up the fight with the poison and now lay on its side, facing Dyami, who lay in the same position. A mirror image—one wolf, one man. Breathing shallow, pain excruciating, felt by both, flowing through their invisible connection.

“She was the one.”

“Our Huntress. Afraid.” His wolf snorted, winced, fangs bared as the poison slowly worked up its body, green tendrils eating away at him. Dyami was next, he knew. Luckily, when his wolf died, so would he.

“I tried to help her understand.”

“Without her, we are lost.”

Dyami closed his eyes, straining against the weakness, trying to fight, wanting to see Summer one last time. And then he felt it, and knew he’d been wrong. The poison wasn’t going to consume his wolf first. It licked at him now, curling around his leg, eating through his skin like acid. It burned. He cried out, opened his eyes to stare into those of his wolf.

“Now, it is better not to fight,” those eyes said. “Now it is better to die silently, with dignity.”

Back bowed, fists clenched, muscles spasming, Dyami kicked, tried to unlatch the poison. No! But it burned through him anyway, slithering up his leg, tearing from him a moan that bordered on a scream.

Slowly, so blisteringly slowly, would he die. The poison creeping, like it was sentient—like it wanted to inflict the most pain it could. Dyami tried to scramble away, but his wolf had no energy to move and he was tethered there with the animal. If only Summer knew. Her power alone could rid him of this torture.

As if he’d willed it to happen, what felt like a cascade of water rushed over him, coating this body, seeking out the poison. Aubrey. Her magic was a balm on his skin, not as powerful as Summer’s, but enough to give him strength. He snapped his gaze to meet those of his wolf. The beast felt it too. Where there had only been defeat, now was a sparkle of hope.

Aubrey’s magic was pulling him back.

“Keep fighting. It’s not over yet.”

“He’s coming around.”

Dyami squinted, his eyes sore, his body still weak, pain everywhere. “Summer?” he croaked, unable to crane his head and look around.

“She’s here.” Aubrey was next to him, nodding to her left. “Dy, you took another hit. Do you remember?”

“There was a Huntress.” He reached up a hand, felt a flood of relief when Summer’s delicate fingers intertwined with his. He tugged her toward him, her knees suddenly next to his head. He glanced up at her, offered her a weak smile. She looked shell-shocked, exhausted, but whole and healthy.

“Whoever she was, the Huntress is gone now.” Darcy came into his line of view, hovering over Summer. “Which is a little more than odd, don’t ya think?”

“That she ran?” Aubrey shook her head. “Three wolves and two Huntresses against one. Nope, I’d run too. I wonder how the Order will welcome her though.”

“Excuse me.” Summer’s voice was soft, uncertain. “I don’t know…I mean…could someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Darcy chuckled. Aubrey smiled. Both women shifted so that they were next to their mates. Two wolves with golden eyes, Raven and Jay. Mayhem was at Dyami’s side, his muzzle pressed to his arm, reassurance with a touch.

“Where to begin…” Darcy lowered a hand to Raven’s head.

“There are wolves in this room. How about starting there? Or maybe with the strange powers I seem to have developed over the past twenty-four hours.” Summer’s voice rose with each sentence as she found her confidence, her fire. “The fact that my boyfriend, Vic”—her voice caught—“turned out to be some psycho with a gun who kidnapped us.”

“I know it seems crazy,” Aubrey started.

“Ya think?” Summer let go of Dyami’s hand, stood, indecision crossing her face. “I think I need to leave. Check myself into a mental hospital. None of this can be real. Right?” She looked from Aubrey to Darcy, avoiding Dy altogether. “Right?”

“Summer,” Dyami croaked. Despite his pain, he pushed himself up onto his elbows, struggling to stay there. “Don’t leave.”

She snapped her eyes to him. “Why the fuck not? Do you have any idea how messed up this is? I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on. And we all know it’s not like I can tell anyone about this and have them believe me, or better yet avoid being locked up in a loony bin.”

“There are things in this world that are not as they seem, but everything can be explained. All we ask is for you to be a little open-minded,” Aubrey said.

Summer narrowed her eyes as she shifted her gaze back to Aubrey. “A little open-minded? Let’s be serious here.”

“Trust your gut, Summer,” Dyami said. “What is it telling you?”

Without looking at him, she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Yes you do. You want answers? Darcy and Aubrey, they’ve been through what you’re going through. Kind of.”

“I think I need to leave,” she said as she turned her back, walked to the hotel door. The large window was now repaired and the room put back to rights, thanks to Darcy’s magic.

Dyami opened his mouth to tell her to stop, but Aubrey beat him to it. “If you leave, Dyami will die. Simple as that.”

Summer stopped, her hand on the doorknob, shoulders hunched.

Dyami sucked in a deep breath, eyes never straying from Summer’s back. Pleading silently for her to give him a chance. She was his salvation in more ways than one. She was also on the razor’s edge of losing it completely and he didn’t want to push.

“That power you have—if you set aside your fear, if you believe just a little, you can use it to save Dyami’s life.” Darcy’s voice was low, almost a whisper. “As his friend, as his pack-sister, I’m begging you to stay and help him. Then you can leave if you want.”

Dyami snapped his gaze to her, frowning as his heart felt like it had shred in two. Darcy motioned for him to keep calm. As if she had this all under control.

Summer sucked in a deep breath. Let it out slowly as she let go of the knob and turned around. “I don’t really understand how my power works.”

“We’re still trying to figure things out ourselves,” Aubrey said with a shrug. “It helps if you just let it happen. Trust your gut, as Dy said.”

Summer nodded with an air of resignation. She moved to Dyami and knelt down again. He eased himself onto his back, the little energy he used to hold himself upright leaving him in a whoosh.

“I don’t see how…” Summer started to say.

“That’s not trusting your gut,” Darcy said with a wink.

“I felt the residue of your magic in him earlier. You’ve helped him before. Whatever you did that time worked,” Aubrey said. “My magic can only do so much. It’s his own Huntress that he needs. You, your spells, your power.”

Summer’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “How did you…oh, never mind.” She looked down at Dy, her expression conflicted, unsure. “Did it help the last time? When I touched your head? I was so tired…I barely remember.”

Dyami swallowed a lump, his wolf scratching and scraping at awareness. “Yes, you have no idea how much.”

Biting her lip, nodding slowly, Summer seemed to accept his words. “Okay then.”

She shifted closer, laid her hands down on his forehead, closed her eyes and began to draw.