"Not your fault." Jen's voice came out hoarse and shaky.
She felt his arm come around her back and the other arm slip under her knees. As he lifted her from the ground, Jen bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain, so hard that she drew blood. The pain was so intense that, though she tried to fight it, her exhausted brain shut down in an attempt to escape the hurt her body was enduring.
Gavril bent at the knees and jumped from the cavern with one powerful push, landing gently in front of his mate.
"She's passed out," he told Rachel.
"I'm surprised she is even alive after that fall." Rachel gently pushed Jen's blonde locks from her face. "She's a pretty one." She took a deep breath of Jen's scent, "and she's a dormant."
"Come, Rachel," Gavril urged. "We mustn't linger. The witch is near and she cannot discover you."
"It's going to take a lot to heal her," Rachel admitted as they started off in the direction of their home. "She said she has a mate. He's going to want to know where she is."
"We have to be careful or he will lead Thad's witch straight to our door," Gavril warned his mate.
"I understand that, love. But you know as well as I do that he will tear this mountain apart to find her."
Gavril didn't respond. He knew how dangerous a mated male could be when his mate was injured. His first priority was to Rachel, to keep her existence a secret. The only thing that the Serbian Alpha, Thad, wanted more than a mate was a healer, and his mate was the most powerful healer in the history of their species. He had to protect her at all costs, even at the cost of one dormant's life.
Jen's head swam as the darkness began to recede. She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't cooperate. She felt pain course through her body – someone was carrying her.
"Decebel." She reached out instinctively.
"Jennifer!" Jen smiled to herself as she listened to the worry in his voice. Why was he worried if he had found her?
"You found me." Jen made it a statement rather than a question.
"No, baby. I haven't found you. Why would you think that?"
"But you're carrying me. I can feel you."
"Jennifer, who has you?" Decebel's voice was full of fear and anger.
Jen was trying desperately to remember what had happened, how she had ended up being carried… The girl, her mate – she began to get glimpses in her mind.
"Her mate, he jumped down. He put his shirt on my head." Jen's voice faded as she tried to think.
"He?" Even through their very new mental bond, Jen could hear the anger lacing his words. "A male has you? He doesn't have a shirt on? Jennifer, think! Who are the female and her mate?"
"Quit growling at me, damn it! Oow! Crap, that hurts." Jen cringed as she felt her body being jarred.
"Baby, I'm not growling at you. I just need you to try to remember. Do they mean you harm?" Decebel tried to soften his voice.
"I don't think so. It hurts, Dec. I can't think. I just want to sleep for a while." Jen's voice began to fade.
"Jennifer, stay with me a minute longer."
Jen loved the sound of his voice, the deep timbre of it. She nearly groaned when she felt his lips on hers and his fingers caressed her face.
"How are you doing that?" she asked him, her voice breathless through their bond.
"It's the bond. I just imagine touching you and somehow you feel it."
"Oh, the possibilities." Jen grinned inside.
Decebel chuckled.
"Hmm, that's the sound I like to hear." Jen imagined running her fingers through Decebel's soft, dark hair.