This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,32
rapidly across my face. “That’s not how this works. I need to get you to Helen right away.”
I attempt to step away from Iyana but only succeed in sliding along the wall.
I hate the concern in her eyes.
“I can handle pain,” I snap. “I don’t need your pity.”
Iyana’s expression hardens. Her lips press into an unhappy line. “This is not pity. If Helen’s magic hasn’t taken away your pain, then something’s wrong. Helen needs to know. Right away.”
“I’m fine—”
“Helen!” Iyana raises her voice, as if she expects Helen to materialize out of thin air. “We need you!”
Within seconds, running footfalls precede Helen down the stairs. I’m surprised at how quickly she arrives until I remind myself that this house contains stairways that magically connect floors. Helen is only ever a corridor and a set of stairs away from me. Today, she’s dressed in jeans and another soft-looking sweater.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, pulling to a stop, her attention dashing across us both.
Iyana is stiff and alert beside me. “Tessa’s in pain.”
Helen startles. “That’s not possible. I used the strongest spell I have.”
I attempt to back farther away from both of them but don’t make it far before Helen closes the gap, much faster than me in my sluggish state. She grips both of my shoulders in her hands.
This time, I can’t stop the moan slipping between my lips when she presses on my bruises. I squeeze my eyes closed, my jaw clenching. “Can everyone please stop grabbing me?”
Helen immediately releases me. “This shouldn’t be happening. Tessa, can you walk on your own?”
“I can walk fine,” I snap, turning myself into a liar when my head swims, and I lose my footing, thumping against the wall behind me before I slide down it onto my backside.
Helen follows me down, kneeling in front of me. “Okay, we’ll do this here.”
She holds her arm out horizontal to the floor, as if she’s reaching for something. A second later, her wand flies down the stairs and across the corridor into her hand. Her fingers close around it and she draws it through the air around my head and torso, keeping the wand parallel with my body.
She moves the wand slowly, as if she’s shining light on my body that only she can see.
I watch her carefully, but I’m too exhausted from fighting the pain to push her away. “What are you doing?”
“I’m assessing your body for remnant magic,” she says. “If the pain blockers aren’t working, then neither is the healing spell.”
Moments later, she pulls back, her forehead creased. “I can’t detect a shred of magic in your system, Tessa. The spells I used should have lasted an entire week.”
“Then… what does this mean?” I ask.
“It means you might be metabolizing magic much faster than anyone I’ve ever met,” Helen replies. “I’ll know more once I run some tests, but for now, I’m going to place a basic pain-blocking spell over you so we can get you up the stairs without hurting you.”
She mutters under her breath while she waves the wand over me, trailing it across the space in front of my chest and up over my face. Slowly, the ache in my limbs eases, becoming dull and distant, although it’s not gone entirely.
Popping her wand into her waistband, Helen pulls one of my arms across her shoulder, gesturing to Iyana to do the same. “Help me carry her, please.”
Iyana follows Helen’s lead, angling her shoulder under my arm so that the women support me on either side while I clamber to my feet and we proceed toward the stairs.
I pull to a stop when I find myself facing an elevator instead of a staircase. Helen said I wouldn’t see the elevator again until I was ready to leave.
Helen’s response is gruff. “I’m making an exception. I don’t want Tessa tumbling down the stairs and taking us both with her.”
Just like yesterday, Helen hits the button for the twentieth floor once we’re inside. When the doors open, she and Iyana help me down the corridor to the same room Helen examined me in yesterday.
Once there, they lay me down on the examination table.
Iyana takes herself off to the side of the room out of the way while Helen hovers over me, chewing her lip nervously. “Tessa, I need to do a quick test, but I’m afraid it could hurt you if my theory is wrong.”
Tension creeps through me—I’m already in enough pain—but I give her a nod.