Page 38 of Pack Witch
Bond. It was a bond that tied our souls together. A vow. The memory of the vow chased me into this dream.“Anything you want,”I’d promised.“You can have anything from me.”
I’d meant that vow. And she’d asked me to stay with her.
So I would.
My wolf howled to follow his mate, but I knew now that the leash holding me was one I welcomed. I did the only thing I could, to honor us both. To honor her.
I let him go, though it tore me in half.
I wasn’t certain I could survive this pain, but I knew I had no choice. She was at the end of the suffering.
She was waiting, as she had been for so long.
I woketo the sound of weeping, but not my own. I tried to form her name with my lips, but my mouth was too dry, my tongue a lump of dry stone. My mind was clouded, and I had no idea where I was.WhoI was.
“Sergeant?” The voice was close to my ear, and I blinked my eyes open. It was dark, but the breeze was gentle, and the softness underneath me was a mattress, scented with rosemary and mint.
That’s right.I was Sergeant, and also Julian, which meant this was Leroy and she…Zinnia.I swallowed. She wasn’t here. “Leroy, tell me. Is she…”
“She’s outside,” he replied softly. Mournfully. It had been him crying.
I tried to sit up, but the room whirled around me like I was tumbling over river rapids. I lay back instantly. A match flared, and Leroy’s face swam into view. Something was wrong. It felt like— “Is she alive?”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Yeah, um. I’ll take you to her,” he finally said, sitting on the edge of the bed. He held up a cup of water and lifted it to my lips. I drank greedily. When it was empty, I tried sitting up again. Somehow, I managed to put my feet on the floor, though my stomach churned. I had on a pair of cut-off sweatpants and nothing else.
Memories began to surface in my mind. My idiocy and cruelty to Bo. Him running from me. The mountain lion. The fall.
I’d been injured, and enough time had passed to get me down the mountain, to dress me, to heal me.She’dhealed me… I tried to remember what came next, but my mind went blank. Instead, I stood, willing the room to stop spinning.
Something was missing, almost like I’d lost a limb.Zinnia.I had to see her, had to make certain she was alive. I couldn’t feel her, couldn’t feel anything. The sensation of a yawning abyss had my vision dimming again, and it was only Leroy’s strong arm holding me up that kept me from falling.
“Where is she?”
“Outside, Sergeant,” he replied, helping me shuffle to the doorway. “She can’t come in just yet.”
“Is she hurt?” My heart raced. What was wrong? Why was my head so empty? My skin felt like a husk, like I’d been emptied out while I rested.
“Ah, sir, no. You are, though. She’ll be spittin’ nails to see you on your feet.” He grabbed the door and opened it, before muttering, “If she wakes up. She fell asleep as soon as she knew you was safe.”
My heart thudded painfully in my chest. From the light, it was an hour until dawn, maybe less. The birds were already waking, and one swooped low overhead, landing behind the cabin.
“The garden?” I asked. Leroy nodded and led me toward it.
At the gate, he hesitated. “Bo was with her at first, until… well, you’ll see. We didn’t leave her unguarded.”
“Why wasn’t she inside the cabin?” I staggered through the gate, his arm holding me up. The morning was foggy, making it hard to identify what lay in the center of the garden, but I could see movement.
“She can’t, ah, be that far from the ground just yet, or at least that’s what she said.” He rubbed the back of his neck, then led me forward. “Don’t worry about the critters. They’re all friendly.”
I didn’t ask what he meant, but let him support me as I made my way around the clumps of peas on their trellises and the rest of the vegetables she’d tended. Ahead of me, birds flew up from the ground, chirping nervously. A hawk perched on one of the nearest fruit tree branches, but paid no attention to the smaller birds. Its attention was all on me, its yellow eyes gleaming with disapproval. It wasn’t the oddest thing in the garden, however.
Zinnia lay under a blanket of living creatures. Everything from badgers to voles, chipmunks, weasels, and squirrels,covered her in a living fur coat. The large black pillow at her head rose up as Marta lifted her snout in the air, snuffling once.
Leroy immediately stopped in place, letting out a noisy breath. “I know she won’t hurt me, but it still gives me the willies to see somethin’ that dangerous next to Miss Zinnia.” He sighed again. “They’re all her babies, though. She looks like that princess in the story, Snow White. Ain’t that the one where she sings to the critters? She’s like a fairy tale come to life.”
“She is indeed.” I hesitated. “Where’s Bo now?”
“He’s off fishin’ for trout. I’m supposed to gather some greens and onions to go along with it. ‘Course with Miss Zinnia feeling poorly, I’m not sure the food’ll be all that good. But I’ll do my best. You oughta wait out here beside her and her friends.”
