Page 146 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
AUDREY
I woke early the next morning, bleary-eyed after a restless sleep, my body aching from walking for two days straight and my core throbbing with need. Bishop’s pain shot through me like agonizing zaps from an electric fence, more powerful and persistent than last night, despite the six elixirs we’d given him.
Only two more days.
We’d be at the pool in two days and then I’d have Bishop back.
“We’re closer than that,” Knox said, reading my thoughts with his telepathy as I eased out from between him and Bishop.
Except the moment I was no longer in contact with Bishop, his pain surged, stealing my breath and making my knees buckle.
His muscles contracted and a strangled moan escaped his lips, the precursor to a convulsion.
“Shit,” Knox snarled, cushioning Bishop’s head. “We just gave him an elixir two hours ago.
Whil scrambled for her pack and pulled out the small vial containing the only thing keeping Bishop alive, and I sagged back to the ground and pressed my hands against his cheeks. Instantly some of the tension released from his body, giving Whil enough time to pour the elixir down his throat.
Whil sat back on her heels and turned to Cyrus. “This is progressing faster than I expected.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re only a day away,” Deacon said.
“But only if we leave now, push our pace, and keep walking after sunset,” Cyrus replied, grabbing four ration bars from his pack and tossing them at me and Whil. “No time for breakfast.”
I expected Deacon to make a joke about me walking and eating at the same time, but his expression remained serious which meant if I hadn’t known it already, the situation was bad. Deacon always looked like he was trying not to spill an inside joke. And while he hadn’t been as chatty as he’d been when I’d had dinner with him and Nova back in the Residence, he’d made an effort to keep us — probably just me — from having a complete breakdown.
Now he wasn’t even trying.
I shoved my blanket into my pack and tried to stay in control of my emotions while Knox’s were crashing through me.
It wasn’t even two days now.
Sometime tonight we’d save Bishop.
If he lasted that long… and if Whil could actually pull out the poison.
She’d been confident when we’d left Stonehaven, but the veins in Bishop’s flesh were thicker now and some of the larger veins had started weeping thick, black pus.
Bishop’s pain surged again, making me stumble, but thankfully he didn’t break out into a full convulsion. He trembled and moaned in Knox’s arms, the few visible patches of skin left on his face gray, and sweat slicked his forehead.
God, was this the best the elixir could do for him now?
My once vibrant and powerful mate was weak and barely alive, and my heart broke just looking at him.
And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do.
Even if I was as powerful as Cyrus, Knox, and Deacon seemed to think and I could actually access my alpha power, I still wouldn’t be able to save him. Alpha power didn’t work that way and neither did our soul bond. Unlike angelic mating bonds, shifters couldn’t share life forces.
I was just as useless as I’d always been.
But that wasn’t true. Just touching Bishop had helped ease his pain. Between Knox and I, we might have been slowing the progression of the poison with our souls’ connections.
Another burst of pain made me stumble and Cyrus huffed.
“You seemed so confident yesterday that you could eat and walk,” he said, scooping me into his arms.
I sighed. “Bishop’s pain wasn’t as bad yesterday.”
“You can feel it?” He glanced at me, his expression a mix of pain and concern.
“You don’t have to carry me,” I said, dragging my attention to the forest in front of us before I fell into his moss green eyes and that stupid voice said he was mine.
“If we’re going to make it to the pool tonight, I do.”
“I could carry you,” Deacon offered, a hint of mischievous mirth crinkling around his eyes.
“Fuck off, Deacon,” Cyrus snarled, his voice dropping an octave into a sexy ramble and sending a shiver of need rushing down my spine and heating my core.
His nostrils flared at my arousal and my cheeks heated.
Stupid incomplete mating bond.
And stupid magical sex fairies. Now I knew what it felt like to be with Cyrus, to have his powerful arms hold me while his thick cock plunged into me again and again and again.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Cyrus growled, “you need to stop.”
Right. Because last night hadn’t meant anything and he didn’t want to be my mate… he just wasn’t going to let Deacon carry me or me walk on my own.
“Then put me down.”
“Finish your breakfast and I will.” But his grip tightened as he spoke.
Was he lying? Had last night meant something?
Now I was just imagining things. We didn’t even have a friendship. A relationship was pure fantasy.
Some of the sex glitter had to still be in my system. It was the only explanation for such a ridiculous thought, and I was only thinking it because I desired him and he’d brought up the multiple mates thing. My stress was through the roof and once again it was just us and a few others in the middle of nowhere.
I was confusing Cyrus’s gruff kindness and practical suggestion for more than it really was. Everything would return to normal once we got back to Stonehaven and he had to become the pack alpha again.
If he really was mine, he was going to have to make his intentions clear. I’d drive myself crazy trying to figure out any subtle meaning behind his words and actions and expressions when they all said different things at the same time.
Except could I ignore that voice inside me?
Yes. Yes, I could.
If I didn’t, it was only going to hurt.
Cyrus carried me for most of the morning and I’d never been so grateful to be distracted by the feel of his arms and his solid chest against my side or the barely-there warmth around my heart from our shifter connection. All of it managed to help me ignore Bishop’s pain and Knox’s emotions enough to stay more or less focused on my surroundings.
When the sun was high in the sky, he set me down, and I managed a few steps across relatively flat terrain before Bishop convulsed and the pain dropped me to my knees.
“Fuck,” Cyrus snarled, grabbing me again and pressing me against Bishop to ease the convulsion so Whil could give him an elixir.
After that, he only set me down long enough for bathroom breaks. And as much as I wanted to do it on my own, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to keep up even without Bishop’s pain. The pace the guys set was just shy of a jog, and even Whil, with her magic enhancing her body, was barely keeping up.
Almost there, Knox said in my head as the sky started to turn dark gold with the beginnings of the sunset.
His emotions were hard, desperate, and icy as if he were trying to freeze our bond like he had when it had first formed. But this time it wasn’t to keep me out. It was to protect me.
He grunted, and I glanced over Cyrus’s shoulder at him as he caught his balance while Bishop thrashed in his arms.
We’d just given him an elixir less than an hour ago, but from the look of it — and the feel of his pain — he was going to need another one.
“How many elixirs do we have left?” I asked Whil.
“Two after this one,” she said between gasping breaths.
“We have four hours to the pool,” Deacon added. “We’re not going to make it.”
“Then we move faster.” Cyrus stopped and turned so I could touch Bishop. “Whil, give him another. Deacon, take Whil. We’re upping our pace.”
A spike of fear surged through my bond with Knox.
“Can you handle that?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he grunted as his fear grew stronger. His arms had to be tired. Even with his shifter strength, he couldn’t keep carrying Bishop, especially with his constant small convulsions.
Knox’s eyes narrowed and determination swept through the fear.
“Let’s get moving,” Cyrus snapped as Whil gave Bishop another dose of elixir.
Deacon swept her into his arms before she’d finished securing the clasp on her pack and started jogging.
Cyrus and Knox matched his pace. They ran until just after the sun sank below the horizon and a flickering light amongst the tree trunks ahead of us grew bright enough for us to make out a clearing with a person-sized statue of a woman pouring water from a large jug.
“Thank the Sisters,” Knox groaned, relief cutting into his raging emotions.
We’d reached the pool with no time to spare. Thank God.