It was a short trip back to the village, “Is there food left?” I mind linked Jace.
“Yep. We’ll bring it out.”
I set the basket down in the middle of the square and tossed the hunter a bit haphazardly just before I shifted. I opened the door on the basket Jax fell out first, “I’m never flying with you again. That was awful. I’ll be keeping four paws on the ground from here on out,” he laid out on his back.
I looked from him to Alanza with a raised eyebrow, “Don’t give me that look. He was your best friend before he was my mate. I think we both know who’s at fault for his behavior. Here’s a hint: it’s not me.”
“I would blame his mother but he doesn’t act like this around her. He knows better. Maybe we can blame Charlie or maybe I should just kick his ass a little more and he’ll start acting right?” I said as we started unloading people.
Fox ran up with my clothes and Johnny immediately growled. I kept Fox behind me turning to Johnny growling involuntarily. He shrunk and looked away from me, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come up like that. I keep forgetting you guys can smell that I’m human. After what you’ve been through I should’ve thought that through. I’m sorry.”
I grabbed my clothes from him, “Can you go grab some extra clothes for them? I should have some nice soft shirts in my bag and Jace usually carries some in his as well.” He looked crestfallen but set off on his task, “I’m sorry Johnny, that was an involuntary reaction. Fox is my mate and Niamh is very protective of him, and I’m getting there. There are humans here that have no ill intentions toward you. They ended up here because of Joseph. Please be civil. Civil is all I ask for the next few hours.”
“Why just the next few hours?” Claire asked.
“You guys are going to Virginia on the first plane. We have a couple of healers set up to give you guys top notch care. The most severe cases are flying out in a few hours,” I replied, while putting on the clothes Fox brought me.
“What about everyone else?” Johnny asked.
“We’re going to Brazil, where Alanza’s clan is, and from there we will all get on a bigger plane than the one we originally brought down.” Jace walked up with the clothes I sent Fox for, “Why didn’t Fox bring these?”
He shrugged and started handing out the clothes he brought, but after a moment he went stock still. His back was to me but I could tell he was scenting the air. He walked cautiously up to Finley, and I could tell by the look in her eyes she was terrified but there was that part of her that told her she found her mate and that excited her too. He fell to his knees at her feet, his head in his hands, “I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating it over and over. She had tears running down her face as she went to her knees and touched his cheek, wiping away the tears that had fallen. He looked at her in wonder, “How can you accept me? After everything you’ve been through.”
She put her hand to his heart and patted it gently. “She’s saying you have a good heart,” Claire translated for her, and she nodded.
“You can’t speak.” She shook her head, “My name is Jace. What’s yours?”
She looked heartbroken, but then she looked down at the ground and slowly wrote, “Finley,” in the dirt.
“Finley,” he gave her a small smile, “May I touch you?” Fear flashed in her eyes, “no, no, no, not like that. Just on the cheek, hand, anywhere you’ll allow.” She took a moment to debate and once she made up her mind, she grabbed his hand and pressed it to her cheek. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. He let out a sigh and his body relaxed, “thank you. No matter how long we need to wait, know I can wait.”
She took his head in her hands and brought her lips down on his forehead. She let go of his head and pulled his chin up so that he was looking at her. She took her hand and placed it on his lips, then patted her heart gently.
I gave Jace a pat on the shoulder as I passed walking to the hunter who was starting to wake up, he looked around, “Let me go filth or you’ll be sorry.”
“Call me filth one more time and it’s you that’ll be sorry,” I said to him.
“Filth,” he said to me and I smiled.
I reached out to the water in his body, latching onto it and raising the temperature slowly, until he was screaming. “Alive, Amaya, you want him to be alive,” Jax said in my ear.
I turned to him and a disgusted scoff came out of my mouth, “Go put a shirt on and mind your own business.” He let out a chuckle, and I responded with a sigh releasing my hold on the hunter, “Happy?”
“Very,” he said, moving on to check on the wolf from the camp.
I picked up the hunter who passed out, thankfully, and headed for the cells. I put him at the very back of the cells, locking his chains through the bars at the very back of the cell. “Catch you a nice little human, niece? Did you have fun with the hunters?”
“I did, actually. I killed them all, except for one. I can’t wait to see your head roll for all the things you’ve done to my people.”
“Don’t count me out just yet. I still have all the way back to Virginia to escape.”
I smiled, “Okay, if you think you can, have a go at it.” He growled, but didn’t say anything.
I walked out and sought out Fox, but before I could find him Jax ran over, “The wolf that we grabbed from the camp, he needs you. Now.”
I went with Jax to the wolf and placed a hand on his forehead. He was weak, I searched his body for what was keeping him from waking. I found the flecks of silver left in his system, but finding the wolfsbane I could smell on him was more difficult. “Jax, go get me a clean, empty syringe.”
He nodded and ran in search of the syringe. I moved to the dragon who hadn’t woken up and placed my hand on her forehead. I searched her to see if I could isolate the oil better than the wolfsbane. I felt just the tiniest bit of water within the oil, but I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t feel the water within the wolfsbane; it should have more water than the oil. Jax returned with a couple of syringes, “Here.”
He handed me one of the syringes and I carefully inserted it into the vein on her arm. I pulled the oil into the syringe and removed it from her arm. Her eyes fluttered open, then she startled, pulling away from me. “Who are you? Where am I?”
“My name is Amaya. My friends and I rescued you from the hunters and brought you back to the village.” Her eyes grew wide with fear, “Don’t worry. Joseph has been removed from power and will pay for what he’s done to you and all of our people. What’s your name?”
She looked at me sceptically, “It’s Logan. Is Finley here? Did she make it?”
I nodded, “She met her mate. He’s a good person who can and will look out for her.”
“How do you know that?” She asked, eyes narrowed.
“Because he’s my cousin and he was raised right. Plus he knows I would kick his ass if he did anything he shouldn’t. All in all he’s very happy to be with her in any way she will have him.” She nodded, satisfied with my answer. “There are some clothes for you. You guys are leaving in an hour or two for Virginia. Do you guys have anything you need to pack?”
She shook her head and looked at Claire and Johnny who were tearing into the food. “They might though. I’m not sure if the clan kept anything.”
“Okay. I’ll ask around and find out for you. In the meantime can you stand?” She took my offered hand and pulled herself up, “Get something to eat, I’ll let you guys know when I know something.”
As I turned to go back to the wolf, I was hit by a small body. “Amaya!”
I handed Jax the syringe before wrapping Georgie in a tight hug, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
He giggled, “No! It’s too early.”
I made a show of looking up at the sky which was still colored from twilight. “Are you sure? It seems late enough to me.”
He giggled, “It is not!” He places his head on my shoulder and breathes in, “You smell mintier than you did earlier.”
I smiled, “That’s because I spoke with the goddess. She told me to look out for you and that you will be a very gifted healer.”
He gasped a little, “Like my mom?”
I nodded, “Just like your mom. Do you want to try helping me with this wolf we found with the hunters?”
He nodded his head enthusiastically, making me smile. “I don’t know what to do though.”
“Let me phone a friend. She’ll be your teacher when we get home,” I said, walking over to my bag. I grabbed my satellite phone and punched in Lavi’s direct line. “Hey Lavi,” I said when she answered.
“What’s up Amaya?”
“I have a young healer here and a badly injured wolf. The wolf has a lot of wolfsbane in his system and I can’t isolate it. Do you think you can help walk him through healing so we can save him?”
“We can try. I know a few spells that should help. The main issue is if he isn’t fully developed as a healer, it can backfire and hinder the growth of him as a healer. It’s pretty rare but it is known to happen.”
“Okay hang on,” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear. “Georgie, can you mind link your aunt to come here, please?”
He was quiet for a moment before looking up at me, “Why?”
“I’ll explain in a second, Little Dragon,” I responded, waiting for Liza to make her way over to us.
“Lavi you still there?” I asked Lavi as Liza walked up to us.
“Yes. I’m still here,” she responded.
“Can you explain to Liza, Georgie’s aunt, the risks of him helping with the injured wolf?” She confirmed, so I turned to Liza, “I think Georgie can help this wolf, but I want you to understand the risks of what could potentially happen if something goes wrong. This is Lavi, our healer, she’s going to explain everything.”
Liza nodded and took the phone from me, listening intently as Lavi explained everything to her. “And the risks are small or aren’t things that are likely to happen?” Lavi answered her, “Okay.” Liza handed me the phone back before squatting down in front of Georgie, “Georgie, if you do this and something goes wrong, you might not become as good a healer as you were meant to be, but that doesn’t mean something will go wrong. Lavi says it doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen. Do you understand?”
Georgie nodded but before he could say anything, I caught the slightest hint of mint in the air. “I want to do it. I want to help.”
Liza blew out a breath and looked up at me with a nod, so I handed Georgie the phone. I listened as Lavi gave Georgie the instructions he needed to do to save the unknown wolf; catching Mom’s scent gave me hope that Georgie would be okay. Liza grabbed my hand and I gave her hand a tight squeeze, hoping to reassure her. We watched with bated breath as Georgie quietly spoke the incantations Lavi was directing him to use. When he was done, she instructed him to hold a hand over the wolf’s body and use his magic to sense if the incantations worked.
“I think it worked,” Georgie said quietly into the phone to Lavi, who ran through what he would be feeling if it worked again. “Yes.”
“Is he waking up?” Lavi asked.
Georgie looked at him, “He’s not waking up. Did I do it wrong?” He asked dejectedly.
“No Georgie. If he was as injured as Amaya said, he might not wake up for some time.” Lavi was quiet for a moment, “Let me talk to Amaya, Georgie.”
“What’s up Lavi?”
“Can you smell the wolfsbane in his system anymore?” She asked me directly.
I squatted down next to the wolf and breathed in deeply, “There’s not even a trace. If I hadn’t smelled it earlier, I would swear he hadn’t been injected with wolfsbane.”
“Good,” Lavi said, blowing out a breath, “Hand me back to Georgie.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Georgie asked, weakly.
I squeezed Liza’s hand again. “Georgie, you did so well. I couldn’t have done a better job than you did.”
“I had the goddess’s help,” he admitted feebly.
“That’s such a rare thing. You are so lucky to have a close connection with your goddess, Georgie. Never be embarrassed or doubt your ability if you are lucky enough to get help from your goddess. I would be honored to be your teacher, Georgie. I cannot wait to teach you when you get home.”
Georgie hugged Liza’s legs before shyly responding, “Thank you Lavi. I’m excited too.”
I wrapped my arm around Liza’s shoulders and she quickly wiped away the tears that finally overflowed. Georgie handed the phone back to me as Lavi asked for me, “Thank you Lavi. Aap ek mahaan maan banane ja rahee hain.”
“Mujhe aasha hai. Surakshit rahen,” she said before disconnecting.
“So he’s going to be okay?” Jax asked. I nodded, causing Jax to kneel down and embrace Georgie, “Thank you, Georgie. You’re amazing.”
“Is he one of your friends?” Georgie asked him in a small voice.
Jax shook his head, “I’ve never met him, but every life saved from the hunters is a good thing.”
“Georgie, do you know where Connie is?” He nodded his little head, “Can you take me to her, Little Dragon? Jax, let me know when he wakes up.”
“Will do, Little Duck. Thanks again, both of you.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 