Page 88 of The Enemy to the Living
I can’t think about that. I’ll tell Vlad. He’ll know what to do. He can… handle it. I can’t, not right now.
My eyes slip shut at some point, and I’m sure I don’t fall asleep, not properly, but I jerk awake when the car stops all the same. Paxton mutters thanks for the three of us and we all clamber out and walk up to the pack house.
Sam swings the door to Quinn’s flat open when we’re halfway down the corridor. His eyes immediately fall on me. “Did you manage it?” Hope makes his voice quiver.
I look at the book Paxton is still holding. Maybe I should have pried it from his hands, but I’m too weak, and I’m not going to risk Quinn, not for anything. “Yeah,” I say. “Yeah, we did.”
Sam stumbles back, letting us into the flat. Drew leaps to his feet at the sight of us. Kieran’s still here, too, but so is Deacon now, and he takes in the state of me with one sweeping glance.
Spectra flinches at the sight of the book. There are two other witches here—a man and a woman—and the woman steps forward, though she doesn’t move to take it or touch it.
She looks Paxton in the face instead. “Show me?”
Paxton looks at me first, and I nod. He opens the book, revealing the silvery vial within. Her eyes widen and she reaches out but stops just short of touching it. I feel her magic, the earthy weight of it. It’s not like Sam’s, but I can feel the wolf in it. She’s all witch, but one of her parents is a wolf, maybe.
“All right.” She nods. “Maurice told me what to do. Spectra, can you—”
“I’ll stand by,” Spectra says. “But his wolf will fight my magic. Take this one in with you.”
She points at me. The woman nods and smiles, attention on me now. “’Course. I’m Ophelia. You’re Asher, right? Come on.”
Ophelia takes the book from Paxton’s hands now, holding it carefully, and I give Paxton one final questioning look before I follow her through into Quinn’s bedroom. Spectra has Sparrow, urging them to take a seat and drop their glamour.
“Close the door,” Ophelia says, and I want to do as she asks, but I’m frozen at the sight of Quinn.
I know he hasn’t changed. He’s only been here for a few hours, and his wolf is mostly intact, and he hasn’t had time enough for all the life to drain out of him…
But he lookssmall. Pale and fragile, and a growl curdles in my throat, blessing flaring like it’s my wolf ready to burst out of me in a flurry of fur and claws.
“Asher,” Ophelia says, voice sterner this time. “Close the door. I don’t want their magic interfering.”
From the other room, Sam lets out a loud huff. I force my limbs to move and close the door.
Ophelia nods and eyes the space. “Okay, good. I want you to take a seat on the bed with him, okay? You need to be touching.”
I propel myself over to the head of the bed and perch on the edge, next to Quinn’s shoulder. They’ve tucked him under the duvet, but his arms are free, and I take one hand, clasping it between my own. Ophelia sits on the bed near Quinn’s knees. She takes the vial carefully from the book, then tosses the book onto a chair in the corner of the room.
Her hands are faintly trembling, but I don’t say anything as she slowly uncaps the vial.
“Your blessing is going to react to this.”
“I-I don’t know if I can control it.”
Her lips twitch in a semblance of a smile. “I don’t need you to. It’s not going to react tome. It wants to get to him, you understand?”
“No.”
“You have abond, Asher. As soon as I let Quinn’s wolf back in, your blessing will try to get to him.”
“We haven’t—We didn’t…” I shake my head. “That’s what Maurice told you?”
She snorts. “No. He told me how to coax the wolf out and make sure it goes back where it belongs.” She glances down at the vial, and so do I. Already, the silvery magic is creeping up the edges of the glass, trying to reach the open top. “I’mtelling you what I know about bonds. You know it too, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Good. Then be ready. I’ve gotta concentrate.”
She takes a deep breath in and out. Holds the vial in both hands. Her magic creeps out like slow-moving vines, coaxing the wolf out of the vial and into the air.
