Page 147 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
AUDREY
The clearing wasn’t big, just wide enough for a couple of carts, and it was sheltered on two sides by naturally towering rock walls. The ground had been leveled and paved with flagstones and those flagstones narrowed along the far rock wall into a road that quickly turned into uneven ground with wheel ruts that led through the trees and off into the darkness.
“Alpha,” a woman said as she stepped out of the shadows made by a recess in the closest rock wall.
She was a moderately powerful shifter radiating more than the regular level of feralness like Knox and Deacon and carried herself as if she were ready for a fight. But I didn’t get the impression she was going to fight us, just that she was alert and prepared for danger.
“Alphas,” she corrected herself. “What are you—” Then her gaze dipped to me in Cyrus’s arms before sliding over the rest of the group.
“Thora, where’s your Laisian partner?” Cyrus demanded as he set me down on shaky legs.
“Lewis is inside taking a piss.” Thora jerked her thumb over her shoulder, making me realize the recess was actually the mouth of a cave with a wooden wall — complete with door — blocking it off.
As if speaking of him made him appear, the door opened and a middle-aged human warrior — wearing a leather jacket covered with metal rings — stepped out. His eyes widened when he saw us just as pain shot through my bond with Bishop and he released a strangled groan.
My knees buckled and Cyrus grabbed my arm and held me upright.
“We’re using the pool,” Cyrus growled, his alpha power pouring off him, making Thora gasp, but not affecting Lewis because he was human.
But Lewis didn’t question or hesitate. He also didn’t look scared about having to defend the pool against a powerful shifter. He just stepped aside and opened the door wider, allowing a soft band of warm light to spill across the flagstones.
“Don’t worry,” Deacon said as he strode inside. “We won’t tell your king you just let us in.”
“I don’t really care if you do. Your hunters have kept us humans alive out here and he—” he pointed at Bishop, writhing in Knox’s arms. “He doesn’t look good.”
“Thank you,” Cyrus replied, heading toward the door with me in tow.
But a wave of panic crushed over me, stealing my breath and making me jerk away from him and cling to the doorframe.
Knox stood a few feet away, staring at the entrance, his breath suddenly too fast and his jaw clenched tight.
“I can take Bishop,” Cyrus said as Whil stepped past us.
Pain tightened Knox’s expression and frustration blended with his fear. “I can’t let go.”
My throat tightened, my heart breaking for him. He was so angry and afraid and now not just because Bishop was dying.
The only way to save Bishop was to take him inside, and we both knew the second Knox stopped holding him, he’d start convulsing, and we were out of elixirs.
“Knox,” I said, shuffling the few feet to him and pressing my hands against his forearms to establish a physical connection.
He released a ragged breath and a hint of peace whispered through his emotions.
“You can do this.” I shoved up my sleeves, adding more flesh to flesh contact while I fought to steady myself.
Somehow, I had to find the strength to reassure Knox, despite my own fears, and steady his soul so he could get Bishop to the pool.
But Bishop’s pain was a constant burning in my limbs, Knox’s emotions battered me from the inside, and I couldn’t push past my own writhing emotions to focus. It was all a vortex pulling me under, suffocating and crushing me. It hadn’t been as powerful this morning, but then Bishop’s condition was quickly deteriorating.
I sucked in a ragged breath and squeezed my eyes shut, but that only made me more aware of everything raging inside me.
Damn it. Focus.
We were running out of time.
“Knox,” I ground out, meeting his gaze.
Darkness filled his eyes, making the green specks stand out in sharp contrast, and I let myself fall into them. He was my ferocious mate, my strength and my protector, and I needed him now more than ever.
No. I needed his wolf. I needed to reach that primal part of his soul to push past his fear and do what needed to be done. Because if Bishop died, I’d lose both of them, and I didn’t think I’d be able to survive that.
“Protect me.” My pulse thu-thudded , hard and jarring, and jerked my whirling thoughts into focus. Nothing mattered except saving my mates and to do that I needed to steady Knox’s soul.
Knox’s eyes went completely black and his canines extended, his wolf taking over as I shoved love and certainty through our bond, steadying his soul.
He rumbled low in his throat, his power rolling off him, not in a demand of submission but in support, and I moved to his side and pushed my hands up under the back of his shirt to maintain contact.
Together, we marched through the door.
Inside, lit by magical glowing stones was a thirty by thirty room, half of it a living room with old, worn furniture, a fireplace, and a kitchenette, and the other half a storage area with stacks of wooden crates. It wasn’t at all what I expected and there wasn’t a pool in sight.
A door by the kitchenette stood partially open, revealing a toilet and sink, while another lay directly ahead of us. Deacon had his hand on the handle of that door, watching us enter, his expression tight.
“How long can you last?” he asked Knox as he opened the door, letting a wave of warm wet air wash over us and giving me a glimpse of the top of a large cavern with stalactites but not much else.
“As long as my mate needs me,” his wolf growled back.
“Good,” Cyrus said.
Beyond the door was a rock landing about ten feet off the ground and a shallow ramp that led down to the cavern floor. A shallow pool, the water glowing a soft blue, lay at the bottom of the ramp, and beside it was a deeper one.
Whil led us down the ramp and along a narrow, slippery path to the slightly deeper pool, set her pack on a ledge, and pulled out a thin, leather-bound book.
“We need to strip him and get him into the pool,” she said, wiping sweat from her forehead. “You too, Knox and Audrey. You’ll be able to get more flesh to flesh contact that way and I’m not taking any chances with this. I want your soul bonds steadying him.”
“Right.” I nodded, focusing on what needed to be done… because if I thought about stripping in front of everyone, I was going to panic, and I couldn’t afford to panic. Not with Knox’s tenuous grip on his claustrophobia.
Besides, getting naked in front of others was a natural shifter thing to do. Really.
And maybe if I kept telling myself that, I’d believe that I actually was a shifter and would stop being embarrassed about someone seeing me naked.
I could do this.
Just power through.
I pulled off my clothes as fast as possible and hopped into the water without making eye contact with anyone, especially Cyrus — even though he’d already seen me naked and I hadn’t cared before.
The water was warm, verging on too hot, and the edge of the pool quickly sloped into the deeper water so I only needed a few steps before it was up to my shoulders.
Cyrus and Knox quickly stripped Bishop and, with Cyrus holding his head out of the water, they submerged him in the glowing liquid.
He groaned, his muscles contracting and releasing again and again with wave after wave of agony. The red and black veins pulsed like a too-fast heartbeat, churning my stomach, and the black pus oozing from the veins billowed around him, clouding the clear, shimmering water.
Please let this work, I prayed. Please God or the Sisters or whatever gods or goddesses can hear me. I needed him alive and well. I needed to tell him how much I loved him.
I pressed my body against his side and clung to his arm to avoid getting bashed in the face. Knox hopped in a second later and took over holding Bishop’s head while also pressing himself against Bishop’s side, pinning him between us.
A shuddering breath escaped Bishop’s lips and the muscle contractions slowed down but didn’t stop.
Whil knelt on the rock above his head, not stripping or getting in the water, and opened her book. “Whatever happens, just keep as much of him in the water as you can.”
That didn’t sound good.