Page 5 of Oracle
Man, I was grumpy. I needed to get my mood in check. Preferably in the way of coffee or cock rejuvenating my normally cheerful and optimistic personality. A girl could dream. Step one of that plan was being able to move at all.
"Don't fight it," Morgan softly commanded, her authoritative tone shocking me. She sounded so sure of herself as she explained in a soothing tone, "The limbs are slowly unraveling right now. You’ll be able to move soon.” Her calming words seemed like she was trying to placate a trapped animal. I supposed I kind of was that.
"Huh?" I queried, confused by her words.The limbs? Limbs of what?
"Yeah, the limbs of the tree," she stated nonchalantly, as if that answered everything. As if there weren’t millions of trees in the world that could have me ensnared in their limbs and like it was normal for tree limbs to come to life and hold someone.
Yup, nothing crazy about this situation at all. Nothing supernatural to see here.
Her thumb traced soothing circles on my hand as she cooed calming words at me that it would all be okay in just a moment, and a rush of emotions washed over me at her tender affection, overwhelming my confusion about why the hell a tree was holding me.
I loved Morgan like family already, and I knew from the way we interacted that she felt the same spark of affection for me.
I had to make sure that my mates would look after her when I was gone. I just needed to figure out how to broach the topic so I could communicate my wishes without alerting the men to what was really going on.
After losing Pop during Jace's schemes and her parents in a previous accident, she had no one else besides us. I had promised her that she would never be alone again, and I would ensure that I stayed true to my word, even with my impending departure from this world.
Slowly, I felt a tingling spreading through my extremities and attempted to stretch my hands and feet to see if I could move yet. As the tingling spread through the rest of my body, I tried to open my eyes again, but slowly this time, so they could adjust to the light.
As I peeled one lid back slowly, I saw pieces of the blue sky obscured by the tree branches I recognized from the prayer room in the tunnel system. Sothatwas the tree holding me.
When I opened my other eye, I gasped as I glanced down and saw the limbs that grew from the tree moving around my body as if they were alive. I was so in awe that I didn't put two and two together before it bit me in the ass. Letting out a yelp as Morgan released my hand, I was dumped onto the ground in a heap, the limbs completely disentangling from my body in the air.
Rude.
I huffed out a breath as I watched the limbs continue to slink back into the trunk of the tree until they had returned to their normal state of immobile roots in the ground. I should have questioned how a tree was able to do all of that, but it was truly the least of my concerns at the moment with the dull thrum of a fresh wound beginning to spread through my lower back.
"Ow," I groaned as my tailbone flared with a sharp pain. It was nowhere near as agonizing as being stabbed with a dark blade, though, so I guess I'd count my blessings.
Wait—I had been stabbed. The memories came rushing back. Had Selene healed my wounds, or was this something I still needed to worry about with my physical body since being reborn?
I sat up, my breathing erratic as I quickly tugged up the white shirt I had on and glanced at my stomach, seeing completely smooth and unblemished skin there. I let out a shaky breath, my eyes widening and my jaw dropping a little as I ran my fingers over the soft skin.
Turning to look at Morgan and hoping she would have some answers, I asked, "How did the wound disappear completely? I was just stabbed. I know wolves heal quickly, but notthatfast.”
Was this a part of being “reborn” as the Oracle? Had I literally died and come back, my wounds reset in the process?
She started talking, but I half tuned her out as I took in her appearance, confused at how she could have looked like she’d matured a full year in just the few minutes I’d been with Selene. Her face was still kind, but her posture held a note of seriousness and confidence I wasn't used to seeing on her.
Where had that come from?
"...and it held you here for the past week. I guess it healed your wound during that time," she ended, gasping slightly as if she hadn’t taken a breath while the words tumbled out of her mouth in explanation.
Shaking myself from my thoughts, I repeated her words in my head. I shrieked, my eyes growing big, "A week! I was out for a week?" I half yelled, but the question was really directed at myself. My heart hammered in my chest as I tried to wrap my mind around this revelation.
This changed everything.
This meant I only had two weeks left to end this war. How was that even possible?Fuck! There was no fucking way.It had felt like mere minutes to me while I was with Selene, yet a full week had passed here.
Before either of us could continue this conversation, my mates burst into the room and practically dog piled onto me. I heard a mixture ofthank Gods andholy shits peppered in with the general consensus of, "I can't believe you're alive," as I wheezed under the pressure of their embraces.
I loved them, but damn my two weeks left here would dwindle to a few seconds if they didn’t allow me to breathe properly. "A little air..." I gasped while lightly elbowing them as a strand of my hair got stuck in my mouth, "...please."
"Off!" Luca's deep voice bellowed, and instantly I could breathe again as they gave me space with his command.
My chest expanded as I took a moment to suck in a few gulps of precious air and pry out the hair that seemed determined to take up permanent residence in my mouth. I glanced at the handsome faces around me and smiled. My mates. The same happiness reflected back to me in their eyes and smiles. I was back with my mates and Morgan, and my soul sang happily at being with my pack again.
Did you miss me too?
