Page 38 of The Wolf King's Chosen

He was out of breath and panicked in his own quiet and deadly way. She knew that he meant she needed her sisters’ power to tether to her own, to magnify her strength and use it on her friend.

It was a strange sensation, moving from utter alarm to focused proactivity. She pointed up the stairway and gave orders, feeling stronger than ever before.

“Take her into our bedroom. We got it from there.”

Xander nodded, a quiver of smirk surging over his lips. He was proud of her, and that gave Lexi all the power in the world.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he said.

Xander vaulted up the stairs, and Lexi and her sisters followed. The men had gone to take care of the enforcer, so there wouldn’t be anyone in the way. Xander placed Harper on their massive bed, and Lexi noticed her friend shivering.

“Can we get her a blanket?”

Xander moved with haste, getting a blanket from the laundry room with pressing speed. Lexi knelt at the bedside, where they wrapped the enforcer in a blanket that looked disturbingly like a death shroud.

Lexi’s heart trembled when she saw the face of her good friend, the friend she’d rarely seen terrified. The expression on Harper’s face, though, wasn’t fear. It was something far worse, a disconnection like her brain was being fried.

“Leave us, Xander,” she instructed from the bedside. “We need to clean her up and cast the spell. Give us some privacy, please.”

Xander didn’t say another word. He left the room and gently closed the door behind him.

“What are we doing?” Addisyn pleaded with her baby sister.

“We’re healing her,” Lexi said, frantically removing Harper’s clothing from beneath the blanket. “We have to undress her and address the wounds. Then we can clean her up. Help me.”

Taryn led the way with her driven personality, helping Lexi take off Harper’s T-shirt, her bra, slacks, and underwear. Lexi nearly growled with anger when she saw the blood splatters on the collar of her beige T-shirt.

But she had to stay focused. Fury could get in the way of the healing spell. So she put the clothing aside, then placed the blanket in a way that was tasteful and respectful, tucking it around Harper’s breasts and pelvis.

Madison and Addisyn followed suit and went to the bedroom’s bathroom to get wet cloths for Harper’s head and to clean up the injuries. Lexi stayed with Taryn, moving her eyes over her friend’s body.

She was battered and bruised, but they had no idea what type of drugs they had put in her. Or how much. Lexi lifted Harper’s left forearm away from her side and found track marks from intravenous needles.

“Jesus Christ,” Taryn muttered.

Lexi centered herself. She had learned a lot already at the clinic and began applying the mindful, compassionate approach. She tracked her hand along her friend’s wounds, starting at the jaw that looked slightly detached, the rainbow of bruises around her throat, and then the marks from the ropes that had embedded themselves into her wrists and ankles.

“I need all of you. I will especially need you all if there is any internal damage.”

Taryn called the twins, who laid down washcloths and bandages and gathered around the bed. Lexi stayed at the bedside, tenderly tracing her fingers along her friend’s body.

Harper’s eyes fluttered, unfocused. Her breath rose and fell fleetingly as Lexi trailed her fingers down one more time, leaving them to rest on the base of Harper’s throat.

“Put your hands on my shoulders, then each other’s. I need you to focus on me. Send the energy to me. Full of love and healing light.”

Taryn came to her side first, placing her hand on Lexi’s shoulder. Addisyn and Madison did the same. The sisters’ also held each others’ shoulders with their free hands and huddled close together. Lexi felt their energy seeping into her as she closed her eyes, hovering her fingers above the wound on her friend’s jaw.

She thought about all of the beautiful times they’d had when they were children. How Harper was one of the few people who didn’t mock her for her lack of shifting abilities. How Harper protected her and taught her to be her own person. It was all a swirling wonder of green, magical light in her heart, something that she was trying to send through the mystical power of her hands.

“Sanans hac luce, vigore amoris mei …”

Lexi spoke in the ancient language of Latin, feeling her sisters’ touch, their love for her, and their energy being sent through their bodies. In her mind’s eye, she felt herself moving through Harper’s bones like a roller coaster shooting through space and time. As the energy grew mightier, she could feel them starting to mend.

Lexi felt Harper’s confusion, her anger, her displeasure. It came with the territory of healing. She became a part of the person as much as they became a part of her healing. It was a joint experience, intimate and exquisite.

Lexi absorbed everything, including the light bouncing up and down inside Harper’s body, until she felt it all dissipate. It was like a balloon letting the air out, and she had to know when to stop, or she would risk absorbing the pain into her own body.

She saw Harper’s eyes become clear, and then, they fixated on her. That was it.

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