Page 33 of Pack Witch
Using the last of my energy, I pushed the lion off, throwing her a few feet back, and let myself fall. Time slowed as my body plunged downward.
I’d always thought I’d die on a battlefield. I’d been prepared for that sort of end, one where I’d been protecting the ones I loved, fighting for the pack. Comforted by the knowledge that I’d lived a good life and been true to the ones who relied on me.
But now, as I fell to an inglorious death, all I had were regrets. That I’d finally managed to have sons, or boys who looked up to me like a father, and I’d forgotten that it wasn’t just their bodies that needed protecting, but their tender hearts.
I’d spent my last days breaking down a young Alpha instead of building him up.
Bo,I thought as I hit the first cliff and felt my legs break.I’m sorry, son. I failed you. You never once failed me.
I regretted that I’d never told him, or Leroy, what they meant to me. How they’d filled the past few years with laughter and joy. How I’d loved them.
I love you. I love you both.I tumbled over another jagged limestone cliff, pain my only companion on the way to the bottom.
Then, just before the world went dark, I saw her eyes. Her perfect, beautiful face, and those lips, forming my name. Calling me to her side.
I’m sorry, my love, my little star. I’m so sorry I’m leaving you alone again.Although she wasn’t alone, now. She had the boys.
That thought was what had my lips turning up as I lost consciousness.
She wouldn’t be completely alone.
Chapter 17
Zinnia
“Miss Zinnia!” Leroy’s shout woke me before I was anywhere near rested, but the alarm in his voice cut through the fog of sleep like a blade. “Miss Zinnia, I keep hearing Bo’s wolf, and he’s up the mountain!”
I sat up, slightly dizzy. Leroy stood at the garden gate, holding a stringer of trout, his face unusually pale. “What do you mean? Where’s Julian?”
“I don’t know. I was at the stream, fishin’ with Bo—we was givin’ you two some alone time, see? But then he said he thought he heard Sergeant. He went to check on him, but never came back.” He rubbed at his chest. “Something’s real wrong. I can feel it inside.”
“Wrong with Bo?” I moved my finger in a circle so he’d turn around, then slid my clothes back on. I nearly fell three times in those few seconds. I was wobbly as a pup, and had to sit back down before I passed out.
He shrugged. “I dunno. Bo or Sergeant, or both of ‘em. I heard ‘em fightin’, before they ran off. Sergeant said some really mean shit, excuse my language.”
“I’m going to have a talk with him about that. You two boys are delightful, and if he can’t see it, well… I’ll make him see.” A distant howl, carried on the breeze, had us both holding our breath. “Go to him, Leroy. Maybe you can help.” I knew I wouldn’t be any use; my legs couldn’t hold me up.
“I can’t.” Leroy kneeled at my side. “Miss Zinnia, I hate to ask it of ya, but Sergeant… he gave me an Alpha command. I ain’t to leave your side until he comes back. But I feel it in here.” He rubbed his chest again. “I need to go help Bo. Can I carry ya to him? He might need magic healin’, anyway. Or just… you always say the right things, to make me feel better. Bo’s been out there trainin’ with Sergeant, and his heart’s kinda wrecked. Maybe you can help him feel better, just by bein’ kinda mom-like.”
“Pick me up.” My own heart told me we were running out of time. “Run as fast as you can.” In seconds, he had me on his back, racing toward the treacherous path along the mountainside. “Don’t fall,” I muttered.
“I never do,” Leroy huffed. “I never would dropyou, Miss Zinnia. Ya don’t need to worry—I’m gonna protect you and the rest of my family.” He stopped talking as he leaped over some small boulders. My stomach flipped, though whether from the jump or the word, I wasn’t sure.
Family. My parents had died so long ago. The only family I could remember was my older sister Aster, and she’d been days away from death the last time I saw her.
To hear Leroy so casually call me his soothed a part of me that had been aching since I was no more than his age. He’d vowed to protect his family, including me. I would do the same for him.
I closed my eyes, taking stock of my magic. I was still almost totally depleted, and I wasn’t certain I even had the physical strength to stand once Leroy put me down. But I could hold on, and I did, as he raced toward the sound of?—
“Leroy!” Bo’s voice cracked as he scrambled over a pile of boulders, dragging one leg behind him, his foot or ankle obviously damaged. “Leroy, Miss Zinnia,help!”
“What do ya need?” Leroy demanded. “Where’s Sergeant?”
Bo’s panicked babbling was almost impossible to understand. “He’s fightin’ a mountain lion, Miss Zinnia. She may be one of your babies, and I didn’t mean to scare her, but she had little cubs and I got stuck and—” He ran out of breath, panting, tears streaking down his face, his lips still twitching oddly, like he was trying not to cry. “I think Sergeant’s in trouble.” He hiccupped on a sob as he kept dragging himself down the path. “He Alpha commanded me to run. Crap on a cracker, I can’t stop, I gotta keep goin’—”
“He’s hurt?” I grabbed Leroy’s neck tighter when Bo nodded.
“He’s all cut up, but the lion’s still there. And her cubs.”
