Fated for Her Wolves - Tara West Page 0,57
Dimitri murmured, his lips cracked and bleeding.
She struggled to speak, her mouth so dry, it felt like she’d swallowed a bucket of sand. She cupped his furry face in despair. “Please don’t say that,” she pleaded, afraid he was right. Would the Ancients abandon them to this cursed wasteland?
“I’m sorry, iubita mea.” Tears slid down his face, mixing with matted fur and blood. “You’re the only mate I’ve ever wanted.” He searched her eyes. “I hope you believe that.”
“I do.” She leaned into him, pressing her forehead to his fuzzy chin. “Please fight for me. For us. I love you.”
He flashed a pitiful, fanged smile. “And I love you. If we die here together, perhaps we can finally bond in Valhol.”
She was too choked up to respond as she held him tighter, crying into his fur.
“Look, Tatiana!” He pressed a firm, broad hand to her back.
She sat up, blinking at a strobe light that pierced the shadowy forest like beams from heaven. “What is it?”
“It’s the way out.” His voice cracked, and for the first time in several days, he sounded hopeful. “Our family has found us.”
She dug her fingers into his fur when he tried to stand. “Or it could be a trap.”
“It’s a risk we have to take. If we stay here, we are sure to perish.”
She clung to him and he ran to the beams of light with her in his arms.
When they reached the veil, he slowed, then stopped. “Hold your breath. I will try to shield you from the burn.”
She held tightly to him, and he wrapped her up like a babe, shielding her legs with thick, furry arms. With a roar, he ran, and she sucked in a scream, feeling as if they had fallen into a furnace. Her sides burned as if she’d been set on fire, immobilizing her with agony. But Dimitri pushed forward, howling in pain.
She could hardly believe her eyes when they burst out of the mist and came upon Eilea, who was as still as a statue, light pouring from her fingers. Dimitri handed her to Constantine before falling to the ground.
She looked at Constantine, too stunned to speak. Her father and several other protectors and wolves surrounded her, draping a blanket across her nude body.
“She’s in shock,” Tor said. “Someone get her water.”
“Thank the Ancients they haven’t been turned into werewolves,” she heard Klaus say.
“They were only in there a few minutes,” Constantine rumbled as he tipped a canteen of water into her mouth.
Tatiana nearly choked on it, her throat too sore for her to swallow. “A few minutes? No. We wandered for days,” she said before fatigue overwhelmed her, and she succumbed to darkness.
AFTER HER STEPSONS placed Tatiana and Dimitri on Bunica’s kitchen table, she ushered them out of the room, needing to focus on her healing. Bunica took the infant upstairs and put him to bed with Artem.
Magic still flowed through Eilea’s fingers as powerful as before, and she was beginning to think the wellspring would never dry up. Chanting the healing spell, she placed her hands on her patients’ brows, pleased when the bruises and cuts slowly disappeared. The burns took longer, but those eventually vanished, too. Running her hand down Tatiana’s body, she stopped when she felt something deep within her chest, like a dark seed had been planted in her soul. What was that? She closed her eyes, then opened them again when a pair of red, glowing eyes flashed in her mind. Perhaps she’d imagined the demon, for she was operating on very little sleep, having expended a great deal of magic without stopping to rest.
Placing her hand on Dimitri’s chest, she was alarmed when she felt the same dark spot deep within. Channeling all her healing energy into his chest, she lifted him off the table and tried ripping out the seed. It didn’t budge. She couldn’t have been losing her touch. The seed had to be a trick of her imagination.
“How are you doing that?”
Boris’s booming voice at her back nearly made her lose her hold on Dimitri. She lowered him back onto the table. “Magic.”
“I didn’t realize it was that strong,” he said.
“It wasn’t.” She turned to him, her breath catching in her throat at the way he stared at her, looking like a wayward child with hands shoved in his pockets. “The goddess said I was going to come into my powers.”
One corner of his mouth hitched up. “You certainly did.”
Was he here to make amends? She hoped