Page 57 of Lycan Prince's Secret Baby

With shaking hands, I pressed down, feeling the warmth in his fur fading. “Kyle, please,” I begged. Each of my breaths felt labored as if mirroring his, which were becoming shallower and shorter.

“There’s too much blood,” I murmured, despair coiling into a thick ball in my gut. With the way the ground was turning dark around us, it felt as if Reginald’s words were becoming true, as if he’d cursed Kyle like a dark witch might have, dooming him.

“The woods, Leah,” Maria said. “I need leaves for poultices before we move him.”

Understanding gripped me. Nodding, I visualized the woods nearby between the hill and what had been our slave quarters. They might shelter the herbs needed to save my mate. In an instant, I shifted back into my wolf form, racing through the underbrush, heart hammering in my chest as I scented the air. Minty pomenta met me, but I homed in on the absorbent wormweed instead.

With the herbs clenched in my human fingers, I sprinted back to Kyle and Maria. In a whirlwind of motion, she applied the leaves to Kyle’s wound as best she could. Then Roman and Mark were lifting Kyle’s wolf, hurrying toward the infirmary, their expressions grim and focused.

As Kyle was carried away, I felt my heart splinter. The moment felt surreal as if I were witnessing it from above. My heart ached at the sight of my mate sandwiched between them. The red-headed woman trailing behind them seemed so small and fragile.

My heart ached for her. She’d held so much back. Now, she might not get the chance to tell her mate how much he meant toher. I could barely breathe, my lungs constricting at the sight of him lying there. He had sacrificed himself to save me, and now he was fighting for his life. What if I lost him? What if I never got the chance to tell him how much he meant to me?

But suddenly, I was back in the thick of it, panic thrumming through my body as we reached the confines of the infirmary. Now that Roman and Mark had laid Kyle’s wolf on the infirmary bed, Roman came over to support me. I only realized then, as I held onto his forearms, how much I was trembling.

Healer Maria’s hands worked in a flurry of movement, so practiced and steady that I was reminded of Lyvia’s hands hovering over Lina and working their magic.

Lina.

I clenched my jaw, thoughts of my daughter tearing through me. What if she lost her father?

I sat down beside Kyle’s wolf on the edge of his bed, threading my fingers into his fur as each of his shallow breaths sliced through me, deepening my terror.

Once again, Healer Maria’s voice came through my haze.

“Your mate bond, Leah? Does it still exist?”

My heart climbed into my throat. I nodded vigorously. Her words dragged me back simultaneously into the moment and into the last few days when I’d been considering severing our bond.

“Good,” Maria said. She concocted a herbal potion, setting it into a bag that she attached to an IV drip, and inserted a needle into Kyle’s shoulder.

“The healing potion is all I can do, Leah,” Maria said softly as she surprised me with tenderness, squeezing my shoulder. “You need to connect to his wolf, your wolf to his.”

I nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. How many times had Kyle and I connected to our essences so as to help Lina? I thought of our auras, his emerald hued and mine, cerulean.

“It’s time to take from your wolf’s spirit, to give strength from your wolf to your mate, nurturing your bond, and hopefully giving Kyle the power he needs to heal his wound,” Maria instructed. “Talk to him. We can give you space if you prefer?” she offered, her thoughtfulness touching me deeply.

But I needed Roman, Mark, and her. I shook my head. “Stay, please. All of you.”

I threaded my fingers deeper into Kyle’s fur, closing my eyes as I searched deep inside myself. My wolf stirred, desperate to get to her mate. I felt her protectiveness rushing through my veins, wanting to do whatever she could to keep our mate here with us.

“Kyle, please, if you can hear me, stay with me.” With a voice thick with emotion, I continued, “You said I didn’t need you. But I do. I really do. I was afraid. I was afraid to want too much. I was afraid that if I let myself want you, it would hurt too much when I lost you. But I was wrong. Not telling you didn’t protect my heart. I need you,Ilak. I thought that I had to keep you at arm’s length to stay free. But freedom is loving you, Kyle.”

Maria knelt at the foot of Kyle’s bed.

I felt it before I saw it. A warmth wound through me, and in it were all of the most magical moments from the past month: Kyle’s wolf leaning against mine; his hands winding throughmy hair and Lina’s, grooming and caring for us both with a tenderness that I’d never experienced before; him telling me he loved me; the way he’d reverently kissed me, then worshiped my body making me feel a fulfillment I’d never before known existed.

Just then, a gasp escaped someone’s lips, and I jolted back to the present, dread washing over me. But instead of terror, I felt an intoxicating warmth radiate from within, enveloping Kyle as a dazzling light blazed around him. It was my cerulean essence, radiating life and love, intertwining with the green glow that was Kyle’s wolf spirit.

He was fighting for his life—fighting against the darkness threatening to take him.

In a moment, Kyle’s wolf changed to his manly form. My breath hitched as I watched the deep wound across his side scab over. Around the bloodied leaves still clumped there, I saw new layers of skin as if it had been healing for days.

Tears of relief bathed my face, and I cried with a new openness, unashamed by the want and relief that I felt toward my mate. “I need you,Ilak,” I cried as I nestled into his unhurt side, nuzzling into the pine scent of him, which was so rich even sweat and blood couldn’t snuff it out.

He inhaled more deeply and whispered, “Thank you. And I need you, always,” he added.

In a moment, both Roman and Mark were beside us, sharing in the joy of Kyle’s recovery.

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