Page 24 of Denying Her Mate (The Wolves of Black Mountain #3)

Chapter 24

Sawyer

T he realization that I’m on my back, staring at the ceiling, is the first indication I have that something happened. My head throbs in time with the pulsing of my heart, and my back aches fiercely.

What the hell?

The last thing I remember is…

Something rattled the house, and then a massive explosion.

Roux.

I need to get Roux.

I roll onto my side and somehow get to my hands and knees. My brain feels rattled, and there is a pain in my chest, as if I hit it when I fell back.

I ignore all of this, focusing instead on the room and finding my mate. I don’t feel anything through our bond, which terrifies me. From the moment we joined together, there hasn’t been a time where I wasn’t aware of her presence within my mind. The silence nearly has me unraveling.

Unable to use the mating bond, I rely on my other senses. I blink to clear the fog from my eyes and snap my gaze in the direction I last saw her. We were standing close… I remember that, but I’m not where I had been.

The force of the blast must have thrown me across the room.

What the fuck exploded?

Trying to stop my head from slumping forward onto my chest, I force steel into my neck and focus.

Close by, I see Halle and my brother. I’m relieved when I see Cade helping his mate sit up. They look rattled, but they’re breathing, and that’s all I care about. Halle’s fingers stray to her temple and the egg-shaped bump on the side of her head.

“Ow,” she complains, only to be soothed by Cade.

I drag my attention away, noting Hester and Apryle are already on their feet, Abel and Tessa too. The little tau wolf is clutching her mate’s arm as if she’s scared to let him go.

I block out everyone and everything as I spot legs behind the sectional. The hammering of my heart beneath my sternum is painful. It can only be Roux. Everyone else is accounted for.

Scrambling to my feet, I ignore the wave of dizziness that makes me lurch to the side as I stumble in her direction. My only thought is to reach her.

Rounding the back of the sectional, I get my first look at her. Her body is crumpled, her legs sprawled, her torso twisted awkwardly away from the natural position of her hips. My wolf paces, losing his mind just as much as I am. I want to tear the room apart, but she needs me more. I desperately need to look in her eyes.

Lurching toward her, I move to her head and drop my knees at her side. Her jaw is slack, her eyes closed as if she is sleeping, but the furrow across her brow does not suggest she’s at peace.

My gaze roves over her face. There is blood trailing down her cheek from a gash just under her left eye and it’s puffy around the injury, the swelling already beginning. It’s going to bruise.

I lick my suddenly dry lips, unsure what to do next. I don’t want to hurt her, but I need to wake her. I need her to open her eyes, to tell me she’s okay.

With care, I take her chin between my fingers, rolling her face toward me. “Roux.” The gentle way I say her name does not convey the absolute panic consuming me.

How hard did she hit her head?

Why is she not awake?

Is it possible to die from fear?

Halle slides onto her knees next to me, her own movements a little off kilter, as concern furrows her brow.

“Can’t you do something?” I demand in a harsher tone than I intend. I’m terrified she’s not going to wake up, that I’ve lost her. The lack of awareness through the bond is too much to bear.

If she’s offended by my outburst, Halle doesn’t show it. She reaches out to press her fingers against my mate’s head when Roux’s eyes flutter. Hope stirs within my gut, followed by a feeling of elation as her eyes open and I glimpse those beautiful irises of hers.

The bond between us flares and pulses back to life, as if the flood gates have been opened and the water is rushing in. Her pain and confusion hit me in a tidal wave of emotion, but my chest loosens as she occupies my thoughts once more.

“Ouch.” Her fingers press over the cut on her face.

I grab her hand, stopping her before she can cause more damage. “You’re bleeding.” I don’t know why I tell her this, because she can clearly see the crimson staining on her fingertips.

“What… what happened?” she asks, dazed.

“It was magic. Intense amounts of it,” Hester says from the spot she’s taken up by the window. She is staring out over the front of the house, her mouth pulled into a grimace.

“From Dove?”

“I don’t think so.”

Cold washes through me. I want to know more, but Roux whimpers, drawing my attention instantly to her. The furrow of her brow and the tightness of her jaw tell me she’s hurting, and if it didn’t, the way her pain thrums through our bond does. If only I could take that pain for her.

“Are you okay?” It’s a pointless question; clearly she’s not, but I need to hear her voice, her assurances.

Her gaze lifts to mine and she gives me a wobbly smile, despite her own discomfort. “I’m just winded. Don’t look so worried.”

Disbelief floods me at her blasé words. “You were unconscious.” She is crazy for thinking I wouldn’t be worried.

Her brows draw together. “I was?”

She tries to sit up and every instinct in my body wants to push her back down, but I know my mate. She won’t appreciate my coddling her, so against my better judgment, I support her into a sitting position. I don’t like how pale she is or the way her eyes shutter, as if she’s trying to ward off dizziness.

“I can’t sense Jackson,” Cade growls.

I don’t bother trying to reach through our pack bond. I know I won’t find him. He and Cade have argued numerous times about him switching the pack link off, yet he still does it.

His continued need to distance himself from us, from our pack, makes me pissed as hell. I understand he’s upset, I understand why, but it’s dangerous for him to be out there alone like this.

“Me neither,” Wyatt says after a moment, his mouth pulling into a tight line.

“I’m going to find him.”

Before Cade can move, I shake my head. “No.”

My brother won’t like me undermining his authority, but I don’t care. I don’t like this plan. Jackson has made it clear he is not on our side. His loyalty is with Dove, and if he feels threatened, he’s going to act in a way that might be dangerous. I’m not allowing my brother to walk into whatever this is without help.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” Halle adds to the conversation.

“She’s right,” I say. “No one should go anywhere alone right now. We don’t know what threat we’re facing and I’m not willing to lose anyone.”

Silence shrouds the room, a black pall spread over us all. We’ve faced enemies before, and won, but this time feels different. There is an endless cold sensation sitting in my gut, a nervousness I’ve not experienced before.

“I’ll go with Cade.”

Wyatt pushes up from his position on the couch, wincing as he moves. He seems sluggish, his limbs not quite cooperating, and I wonder what toll his injuries took on his body, despite Halle healing him. If anything comes at them, Wyatt can’t defend himself, let alone Cade.

Before I can say anything, Halle speaks.

“I just knitted your skin back together,” Halle snaps at him. “You’re staying where you are.”

My cousin folds his arms over his broad chest, his eyes hard as granite as he takes her in.

“And you can knit it back together again if necessary.”

“Oh, I can, can I?”

I brace, ready to step between them if necessary. My cousin has made no secret of the fact he does not like Halle, and although he’s warmed up a little to her since we came to the Sanctuary, he still has a mistrust in her.

He stares at Halle, but it’s Cade he addresses. “Let’s go.”

I meet my brother’s eyes, and he gives me an inclination of his head. I don’t need words; I know what it means.

Stay here with my mate. Protect her.

They’ll be okay, I tell him without words.

Abel steps forward to go with them, but Cade shakes his head. “Stay with the girls.”

“We don’t need your protection, Fido,” Apryle says, a smirk dancing over her lips.

I pull my own into a snarl. This female has no damn respect for anyone.

“Good, because you aren’t under my protection,” Cade says before turning to our cousin. “Let’s go.”

I don’t watch them leave, nor do I give Apryle any attention either, so I don’t know how my brother’s comment lands. I don’t care. Apryle’s attitude does nothing to warm people to her and she knows it.

Dropping my gaze to Roux, my stomach clenches. She has her eyes squeezed shut, her throat bobbing.

Is she nauseous?

Does she have a concussion?

Something more serious?

“Hey…” I say the word as softly as I can without betraying my concern. I don’t want to worry her.

“I’m okay.” The lie makes me snort.

“You’re not.”

A smile tugs at her lips. “Okay, I’m not, but I will be. I’m just dizzy.”

Shit. Maybe she needs a doctor. Can human doctors treat her kind?

“Can you stand?”

“I think so.”

The fact she doesn’t say ‘yes’ heightens my worry, but I hold my hands out to her and feel calmer as her palms slide against mine. Touching her is enough to soothe me and my wolf.

Carefully, I help her to her feet, and when she wobbles, I reach out to steady her. I don’t like how pale she is. It makes the dusting of freckles over her nose and cheeks stand out more starkly.

“They’re nearly through the wards,” Hester says, bringing all eyes to her. The disbelief in her words heightens my apprehension. The coven here is powerful. If they got through their magic, they must be strong too.

Roux’s fingers tighten around my biceps and I hold her firm, unwilling to let her go, as unease slithers up my spine. Standing where we are, I can see through the window to the front of the house.

The lone figure of Dove, slumped on her knees in the snow, is a jarring one. What is she doing out there, and where the hell is Jackson? He would not have willingly left her side.

“Is Dove helping them?” I ask the question I’m sure everyone else is thinking. Is she on our side?

“Dove’s mind is shredded,” Hester says, casting dark looks in the direction of Halle and Roux. “She can’t help with anything.”

“Who caused that wave of magic then?”

“Someone outside the wards.”

Another tau wolf? A pure-blooded witch?

I want answers, but Tessa speaks before I can ask my questions. “So what is Dove doing?”

She doesn’t seem like she wants to admit it, but she says, “I don’t know. I don’t feel her using her magic though.”

“Why don’t we go and ask her?” Apryle moves toward the hallway and the front door.

“Apryle, stop!” Roux’s voice is hoarse and strangled, as she darts after her friend and coven sister.

Shit. I grab for her, intending to stop her from following Apryle, but my fingers meet air. “Roux!”

I follow after her, surprised by how fast my mate is moving considering her injuries. I rush through the open front door and out onto the porch.

The cold constricts my throat so tightly I can’t pull air into my lungs for a moment. It feels as if I have been doused in an ice bath. The air is also tinged with the scent of magic, faintly reaching my nose and tingling my senses.

I ignore the drastic change in temperature and leap down the steps of the porch in one movement. My wolf speed is no match for my mate. I wrap my fingers around her, tugging her back and crushing her to my chest.

“Stop,” I murmur into her ear, her hair tickling my face.

I relax the moment I am touching her, even though she fights me. “Apryle!” she yells her coven sister’s name, but the dark-haired tau wolf doesn’t stop.

She reaches Dove, her hands moving toward the blue-haired female.

“Don’t!” I don’t know why I call out that warning, but it is too late.

Apryle connects with Dove, and as soon as she touches her, it is as if an invisible force slams into her chest. Her body flies through the air, pushing her back at least twenty feet from where she was standing. The scent of burning infuses my nose, the telltale sign that magic has been used.

Snow explodes around her, as she hits the ground with enough force that I’m certain she’s made an imprint of her body in it.

“Apryle!” Roux screams her name and tries to pull out of my grasp, but I hold her tight.

She’s not moving, and as much as I want to let Roux check her, I won’t risk her getting hurt too.

“Let go of me, Sawyer!” She thrashes against me, but I don’t release her.

“I’m not going to lose you.”

Her eyes soften a little, but I can tell she still wants to fight me on this.

“Dove!”

Jackson’s voice slices through the air. Still holding Roux, I twist as he stumbles up the path toward where she’s kneeling. Cade and Wyatt are following him, trying to pull him back, and there’s blood trailing down his face.

She hasn’t moved, neither has Apryle who is still sprawled in the snow, but at the sound of Jackson’s voice, she twists.

Her milky eyes seem to zero in on him, though it’s hard to tell for sure. A chill races up my spine at how unnatural she appears and how much it creeps me out.

“They’re coming,” she says, mirroring the same thing Wyatt had said to us when we found him bleeding in his wolf form.

Movement catches my attention as figures bleed out of the trees lining the driveway.

My wolf bays, demanding I give him control to protect our mate. I turn to Roux, feeling torn between fighting and staying with her.

“Go,” she orders.

I press my mouth to hers, giving her a punishing kiss before I turn, and in one beat of my heart, shift into my wolf form.