Azaire POV
Wolf enhancers? We had this conversation. This was what I was afraid of. Blazer gave her his venom hours ago, but she hadn’t woken up. The only thing I could do was pace outside our bedroom.
“She’ll be fine, man,” Richie said.
“And then what? Will she go and take more wolf enhancers?” I barked.
“You said she quit maybe it was a once-off,” Richie said.
I thought about that but she hid her use of the drug from me for so long I didn’t know if she managed to do it again.
“I don’t know man…”
“Azaire, have you considered Elaine, might have a problem?”
I paused and stared at my younger brother. No, that can’t be true. I turned to the girl lying on her back in our room. I don’t want to lose her.
“She has to be fine, Richie,” I whispered.
“She will be. Elaine’s stronger than she looks.”
“Oh, there you guys are!” Lynn said, breathlessly.
Richie glared at her. “I thought you ran off.”
Lynn and Richie had a complicated relationship. While Rae was in love with my twin brother Aiden, Lynn and Richie had a love-hate relationship going on. Richie’s always been an airhead, he said the wrong things and did the wrong shit. He didn’t want anything serious back then and frankly I think these two hated each other more than they cared.
“I left to get help!” Lynn snapped. “Do you know what that means?”
“I’m the Alpha, helping my members is all I know.”
Lynn threw her head back and laughed. “Look at that little Richie grew up.”
“Little Richie’s going to be a Father,” he snapped and I think it was the nail in the coffin for Lynn.
She looked away painfully. “Whatever. Crushed lavender helps to ease the effects of the wolf enhancers. Just hold it to her nose and make sure she breathes it in. Take it.”
Lynn shoved a pouch at my chest.
“She shouldn’t have taken those damn enhancers in the first place,” I grumbled.
“I know… we had no choice okay? You weren’t there to break down the door and save us,” Lynn said.
“And I’ll live with that,” I said.
“Hey, where is she?” Lawrence asked.
Blazer was right behind him. Lawrence’s clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ruffled. It didn’t take a genius to guess what he was doing. It just irked me that he did it with Rae.
“It’s okay, we got it,” I replied.
Lawrence glared at Blazer and hit the back of his head. “Dude!”
“I didn’t know they found an alternative.” Blazer clutched the back of his head.
“Are you sure it’ll work?” Lawrence asked.
“It better work,” I mumbled.
I marched into the room and kicked the door shut. Seeing her weak and helpless in that bed broke me. If she had a problem wouldn’t she have told me? Or was it a once off like Richie said? I settled beside her and held her in my right arm while I used the other one to bring the lavender to her nose.
“Please wake up. I need you, Elaine. Damn it.”
After I couple of seconds, I set the lavender aside and just held her in my arms. No one would hurt her while she was with me. I kissed her forehead and listened to her breathing. It’d gotten better.
Eventually, hours passed and she didn’t wake up. I was just about to give up when a knock came at the door.
“Come in,” I said.
“Any news?” Gail popped her head into our room.
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Lynn told me about the crushed lavender. It’s always effective.”
“What if she overdid it this time?”
Gail looked at me sorrowfully. “You have to be optimistic, Azaire.”
“It’s difficult when I see her like this. I want to take her home where she’ll be safe.”
She smiled softly. “That’s a hard ask, dear. The world is full of evils and you can’t always protect her just like she can’t always protect you.”
I ran a hand through my hair.
“But you’re a wolf and your kind don’t like to hear things like that, especially about your mates.”
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“If it means anything I’m glad, Elaine has someone who cares about her like you. If she isn’t awake by morning, then I’ll step in.”
“Thank you, Gail.”
“I’ll get back to my books.”
She closed the door behind her and I marched into the bathroom. I opened the hot water. It was nearly two in the morning but I needed something to take the edge off. I stepped into the hot water and I realized how much tension I had trapped inside my bones. It had been one hell of a night.
We still didn’t know how to take down Alpha Laiken. At least we had a solution to slow down his quest to become a god but that won’t stop him from finding other sacrifices.
“Fuck,” I cursed when I thought he could just kill some other innocent people.
“Azaire?”
I turned around to find Elaine staring at me on the other side of the steamed-up cubical. I quickly turned off the water.
“Babe,” I said, grabbing a towel.
She rubbed her eyes and suddenly she seemed so fragile.
“You should be in bed,” I said gently.
I scooped her into my arms. She didn’t complain about me being wet she just wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder.
“How do you feel?”
“Just tired,” she responded.
“Why, Elaine?” I demanded. “Why did you take the wolf enhancers?”
“I haven’t been taking them I swear. The apartment was burning and we couldn’t put out the fire. It was a magical flame and the dark witches were too strong.”
There were no winners in this situation she would have died either way.
“I’m sorry babe.”
“No, it’s okay. You heard Lynn and Rae they found a way to get rid of my curse!”
“I also heard your Mother protest.”
“She doesn’t know how bad the curse gets.”
“Yeah, but she assumes you’re getting rid of your witch half. What do you want, babe?”
She sat up straighter and I noticed the slight war in her eyes.
“I’ve come so far as a witch…”
“I know, babe.”
She shook her head. “It’s against sacred law for us to mate if I get rid of my wolf. Our children will all be cursed.”
“That’s right… that’s messed up,” I murmured. “We wouldn’t be fated mates anymore either.”
Elaine stared at the sheets. “Yeah.”
I raised her chin so she met my eyes. “I’d still be madly in love with you if we weren’t fated mates. Mate bond or not I love you, Elaine.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “I love you too, hothead. The moon goddess would be such a bitch and give you a second chance mate to spite me.”
I barked out a laugh.
“Tomorrow we have to figure out a way to stop Dad. Now that we know maybe we can extract information from Mom.”
“How about you rest and we think about that when the sun comes out?” I suggested.
She nodded. “Stay with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Come here.”
She snuggled up beside me. It was incredible how all she had to do was bat her lashes at me and all my rage disappeared. I didn’t like that…