The sand on Orion’s wound began sparkling. As if I’d finally said the right thing. As if the leech-like bandage was going to save him.
Or at least I hoped that was what was happening. Orion’s chest moved so slowly now, I wasn’t sure if it was only in my own imagination.
Then I heard Gabi’s voice, curt and commanding, the way she used to order me around during dangerous trainings when there was no room for error. “Finnegan, now.”
There were other bodies near me. I knew that. People I’d vaguely noticed arriving as I focused on Orion. Celeste, whose presence slowed my pounding heartbeat the same way Maya’s presence had. And Finnegan, still dressed impeccably but not seeming to mind the blood soaking into his perfectly pressed trousers as he sank down beside us atop the damp earth.
“Hold my hand,” Finnegan demanded, his tone urgent.
“Really?” Celeste answered. “You said we couldn’t…”
“Now we can.”
Then a pair of hands met above Orion. Hands with half-moons on the undersides of their wrists, half-moons boasting mirrored puzzle pieces on what should have been the flattened sides.
And on my arm, a piece of tattoo blazed hot then abruptly faded into nonexistence.
Was that where our ink had been going? Every time Celeste snuck out to meet Finnegan, did Orion and I lose a little bit of our dormant matebrand?
But Finnegan seemed to know what he was doing. And Celeste trusted him, so I trusted him also. I didn’t push them apart, only watched as the half-glyphs on their skin rotated to come into better alignment. The sensation of electricity in the air grew overwhelming, as if all the energy the pair would have used shifting into lupine form throughout their lives was instead being channeled into their half-glyphs.
Then, with an audible snap, two partial moons formed one unbreakable circle. And the entire rest of the tattoos on my forearm vanished in a single searing flash of electrically charged light.
Chapter 24
Orion’s lupine body jolted. Not as if he was waking up. More like I’d wet down his tail then stuck it in an electric socket.
“This isn’t helping,” I started. In fact, if I wasn’t much mistaken, the power of the half-glyphs had just been channeled into wiping away the final remnants of the matebrand that bound me and Orion together.
Celeste’s face crumpled. “I didn’t mean to…”
“I know.” I tried to keep my voice soft, but there was no softness left in me. Bending my body over the dying wolf in my lap, I told my sister, “Give us some space.”
My sister whimpered as if I’d slapped her, and the next words came from someone else. “Prince,” Hailey said, speaking across me to the young alpha who still provided a protective shield between me and the sun’s glare. I tried to pay attention, knowing my friend wouldn’t speak unless she had a way to help. But it was hard to focus when Orion’s body seemed to be growing lighter by the second.
Was it possible to feel the moment of death?
“You are my fated mate,” Hailey continued. “Do you accept the matebrand?”
That pulled me out of the haze of all-consuming grief, my brain trying to work itself back into gear. The matebrand? According to prophecy, only my sister could form a secondary matebrand.
And who better to be my sister than Hailey? The young woman had reminded me of myself from the moment I met her. She’d helped me learn to be a wolf, had stood by me through a series of adventures. Now she appeared intent upon channeling matebrand magic into Orion for my sake, expediting a connection with a man she’d only met once.
As if on cue, sand rose into a spiraling tornado of glittering light revolving around Prince and Hailey with me and Orion at the center. From within the eye of the storm, the outpack’s magic looked very different than when I’d seen it previously. It was like the stars in Orion’s eyes, wonderful and full of an unearthly beauty that reminded me of the vastness of the universe.
Surely a power that could pick up a boat and move it a mile across the water could close one open wound?
But Orion and I had lost our tattoos, which meant I had no way of begging this wakened outpack energy to assist us. All I could do was wait for Hailey to harness the power while stroking Orion’s fur. He remained sprawled across my lap, not even appearing to breathe now. And I lost track of even the magic swirling around us as I leaned in closer, trying to feel the movement of air that should have eased in and out of his nostrils.
There was nothing. Or maybe it was just the motion of matebrand magic around us that made it impossible to notice such a tiny breeze. Either way—
“We’re running out of time,” I told Orion’s fur, my words intended for Hailey. “Hurry!”
Her answer made no sense at first. “What do you want us to do with the matebrand after it’s created?”
Wasn’t that obvious? “Save him!”
Then someone else answered. Gabi, who acted as if the question had been aimed at her instead of me. “We may need it to fight our way out of here. Be ready.”
To fight our way out? I didn’t want to look up from Orion’s motionless body. But if there was additional danger facing him, I needed to know about it.
What I saw when I tilted my aching neck upward was Gabi pulling out a gun. Gabi aiming her weapon at me.
“Anyone make a move and your girl here is toast,” my ex-mentor warned, the words utterly calm and even more shocking as a result of that calmness. Hadn’t she promised not to harm anyone if I arranged this meeting? Hadn’t Orion and I both smelled that truth on her breath?
No, Gabi had made promises, but they were never so far-reaching. She’d promised Maya would make it back here safely and would be turned over to us, which had indeed happened. Gabi had promised not to tell anyone about the meeting and not to bring backup—which turned out to be unnecessary since we were the ones who invited Finnegan to join us. Gabi had even overtly warned me that, after that point, she and I would once again become enemies.
Still, even though Gabi boasted firepower, it was awfully bold of her to think she had the upper hand now. She was alone, save for Finnegan, while entirely surrounded by werewolves. And I didn’t care about the gun pointed at my chest when the wolf in my lap no longer seemed to be breathing.
So—“Hailey, don’t listen to her,” I told the friend who was apparently also my sister. “It doesn’t matter whether I survive. Just heal Orion. Do it.”
Because Orion had run out of time. Gabi was the one who’d taught me what happened to bodies when we stopped taking in oxygen. First, cells built up lactic acid, like what makes muscles ache during heavy exercise. After that, irreversible brain damage ensued, followed by the failure of every vital organ.
Death was what came at the end of it. Certain death.
“Please,” I added, ignoring everything other than Orion, the swirling magic, and Hailey.
There was a lot to ignore. It started with Gabi and her gun but extended far past that. On my right, Celeste and Finnegan were whisper-arguing. I couldn’t make out their words, but her tone was adamant. His head was shaking refusal. For the first time since the pair met, they appeared to be at loggerheads.
