Lacey's Warriors (Bondmates #6) - Ann Mayburn Page 0,68
Gwarnon’s still cheek. Chel’s voice in her mind told her about Gwarnon’s Matriarch being poisoned and dying, and Gwarnon’s reaction to losing his bond.
Her mother joined her, rubbing Lacey’s back gently as she said to the Master Healer, “Is he all right?”
The Master Healer, a man with kind, pale blue eyes and long creamy gold hair bowed in their direction. “We will not know until he wakes.”
“Unfortunately,” added another healer, this one with deep auburn and silver streaked hair, “he has shown no signs of waking from whatever deep sleep he is in. We have tried several times to rouse him, with no success.”
Guilt came from Chel’s side of the bond as he said, “I swear to you, I used the proper amount of tranquilizer.”
“You did nothing wrong,” the red and silver haired healer assured Chel as he gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder. “We believe that the shock of the abrupt breaking of his shield, already strained by the physical distance from his true mate, sent his mind into a panic. We can only wait until he feels safe enough to return.”
The Master Healer gave Lacey and Chel both a meaningful look. “If he were to be somewhere safe, with his alyah and his blood brother, if you can make him believe that he is not in danger, I believe he will return to us.”
Chel blindly reached out and took Lacey’s hand in his own as he said, “And there are no signs of the madness?”
“No signs,” the Master Healer quickly shook his head. “He bears none of the chemicals in his blood.”
Lacey suddenly found herself holding Chel as he wrapped his arms around her and shuddered hard with relief.
“I thought he was lost to us,” Chel whispered in her mind.
“We’ll get him back,” she promised.
Clearing her throat, Lacey tried not to blush as she said, “I have an idea of how to reassure him that the real world is worth returning to. But it will require some—ah, privacy.”
“Privacy?” her mom said as her brow crinkled with a frown. “For what?”
Phin must have said something to her via the psychic link, because her mother blushed hard as Phin said, “Of course. Now that we know Gwarnon is in no physical danger, you can take him to your rooms and…nurse him back to health.”
Ignoring the twinkle of laughter in Phin’s eyes, Lacey nodded. “Thank you, I appreciate that.”
Chel and Lacey stayed by Gwarnon’s side the entire time they moved him from the medical quarters to Lacey’s room located on a branch extending over the canopy below. The room was lovely, done in Lacey’s favorite colors of silver and purple and the bed was set near a pair of massive windows draped with silver curtains. They gently placed a still unresponsive Gwarnon in her big bed, then ushered everyone out of the room.
Once they were gone, Lacey went to Chel and wrapped her arms around him, needing to sooth him as much as herself. She ordered the lights to lower, and the opalescent glowing balls hovering near the tall ceiling dimmed. Outside, a windstorm was blowing through, the branches swinging wildly and creating fantastical patterns of blue, purple, and green as the leaves shook and trembled.
“Please, alyah, forgive me—” Chel began, but she put her fingertip to his lips.
“Shhh, this is not the time for negative thoughts. If we can sense Gwarnon, I believe he can sense us. We want to lure him back to wakefulness, to convince him that being awake would be a very good idea, and that will not happen if we are wallowing in guilt. We need to seduce him back to life.”
Bowing his head, Chel huffed out a breath and shook his head. “I am afraid that at the moment I am not feeling very amorous. More like sick with fear.”
A sensation of feminine empowerment came over her as she took a step back, very aware of the way Chel’s gaze followed her every move. “Let me worry about that. Did you know we had a dog when I was growing up? A mean as shit mongrel that barked like a hound from hell, but was scared to death of the world. I found him hiding under a broke down old barn when I was nine, starving and near death. We lived out in the country, an agricultural area similar to your, umm…I guess Plains of Caroo. Not a lot of people, mostly farmland and a small town.”