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Elias laughed – a low chuckle that lit me from within. “We can’t set the bond again, it is already set,” he said as he pushed himself off of me and reached for his pants that waited for him on the floor.

“You know what I meant.” I rolled my eyes jokingly. I watched as the beautiful god-like man before me finished fastening his pants. “Elias, what happens to your clothes when you shift?”

He looked up at me, startled by the question. “They shift with me.”

“How? Wouldn’t they just rip off your body as it transformed?”

He laughed. “I don’t know how the magic works, Aura. No one does. From what we always understood, our clothes are an extension of our body, and the magic sees it as such. So when we shift, whatever we are wearing shifts with us, then returns when we shift back to human form. Even our packs and our weapons.”

“Fascinating,” I answered.

Elias handed me my own clothes – at least, the ones I borrowed from Magda. I began dressing, Elias watching me with lust in his eyes.

“I wish the wolfsbane didn’t affect your shifting,” I said, trying to distract him before he ripped the clothes right off of me again – as much as I wanted it. I got out of the bed and reluctantly finished putting my pants back on.

Elias shrugged. “It’s highly potent to lycans. One concentrated drop mixed in with my food could dull my powers. Another drop could deplete them for periods of time. Any more could make me extremely sick, or worse. Add it to my bloodstream, and it intensifies. When I used to run from the Sprathian kings, it would only take one stab from their warriors’ knives to take me down.”

This shocked me. “You were just stabbed four times. Wouldn’t that be enough to kill you?” My heart raced as I thought about how I almost lost him.

“Maybe,” Elias answered. “But the kings of Sprath have been feeding me wolfsbane nearly every day for centuries. I may have developed enough of an immunity that this past encounter didn’t kill me.”

“Or maybe a really good healer saved you from the brink of death,” a low, female voice interrupted. Elias and I both shot our heads towards the door where an older woman – maybe in her 60’s – stood withher arms crossed. “It’s not easy stopping wolfsbane from circulating any further in a lycan’s body. You best thank your mate for bringing you to me just in time.”

My own blood froze. “You…how do you…”

“She’s a witch,” Elias said, no hint of shock on his face. “I don’t need my full senses to smell it on her.”

I looked over at him, trying to decipher if he was deeming her a friend or foe. “I thought you said witches were rare.”

“We are,” the healer, presumably Willow, interrupted. “But we’re not extinct. Not like these other fools. I thought lycans no longer existed before you showed up here, and my magic could feel yours. You’re damned lucky I remember how to slow wolfsbane poisoning.”

A tense silence filled the room before Willow spoke again. “Any other lycans out there I should know about?”

“No. I’m the last.” Elias’s tone was so cold, a shiver ran through me. My heart suddenly felt heavy and I couldn’t tell if it was from me, or if I was feeling Elias’s emotions through the bond.

“Thought so.” Willow seemed very insensitive for a healer. But, she saved Elias’s life, and for that I was forever grateful.

“And you,” she pointed a bony finger at me. “Three broken ribs and a chunk of your neck missing. You fight a bear or something?”

“Broken ribs?” Elias gave me a look of concern. “I didn’t hurt you when we…you weren’t in pain, right?”

My cheeks reddened. “No, not at all! I actually completely forgot about my ribs until now.”

“Bones are easy to mend with the right magic,” Willow answered. “It’s deep cuts that I find harder. Too many tendons, ligaments, muscles to put back together. The hole in your neck will take another session or two to heal entirely. Otherwise, you can let it heal on its own just fine.”

I instinctively reached my hand up to touch the bandage once again. “Thank you…Willow, right?”

The witch grunted in confirmation as she strolled over to a lone dresser that sat against the wall. She pulled open a drawer and grabbed a few vials that she gently set atop the dresser. She closed the drawer then brought the vials over to Elias who stood a few feet from me.

“You’ll want to drink one of these every day for the next few days if you want all of your abilities back by the time you get to Zolmara. It’s not every day an immortal gets to return to our old kingdom. You’ll need your strength to get past the wards.”

“Wards?” I asked.

“Yes,” she grumbled. “Zolmara was the City of Immortals, centuries ago. It’s where lycans, witches, and mythics all originated from. But after it fell, we put wards around it to keep people out.”

“Wards are like magical protections, spelled by witches,” Elias added.

“I even put wards around this village, many years ago. Just enough to keep out prying eyes. Sarai can’t use her magic to find you here.”