Chapter Six

Dom

I couldn't get into the woods fast enough. Carson and Aaron were doing better than me and Jack; the withdrawal wasn't giving them any trouble yet. So, they carried Amelia and Jerod. I had scooped up several power drinks—the electrolytes would help us get through this mess somewhat better than we would without them. I drained one of them, then ditched my clothes.

Lunaria's Dream. A concoction stumbled upon by our people centuries ago, brewed by powerful witches using rare ingredients, but the effects were impossible to ignore: a wolf on steroids; drink one vial of the stuff and you're riding high and feeling light on your feet. Keep drinking it on the regular and you're faster and stronger than you've ever felt before. Stop taking it suddenly, and you crash into the depths of hell, which was where we were all headed since our last hit of the stuff was days ago.

The others followed suit, ditching clothes and stretching their limbs. Aaron set Amelia down by me while Jack and Carson carried Jerod a few yards away. Twin screams, one at my feet, drew my attention, as Amelia and Jerod reached for each other.

"Bring him back!" I shouted, and the distress in them both eased as Jerod returned to within whatever invisible distance they required. Staring hard, I pieced together why this felt so familiar. It all came back to that last battle, when Amelia was thrown into Jerod's magic circle, making a mess and damning them both. Last time we tried to move them from each other the same thing had happened. I frowned down at Amelia. "You guys really can't be separated more than a few yards, can you?"

She couldn't answer.

"Fuck. Blightfang, shift if you can and ride it out."

"Dom," Aaron said. "Do you want me to take a watch?"

"No, I'll keep my skin on. Let me take care of Amelia," I said. "You three keep an eye on the warlock, but otherwise he'll be the same as he's been the last two days. Go, shift, heal." I jerked my head in the direction of the others. "Try to keep it away from June. She's already scared of this shit, let's not show her our worst side."

"Got it," Aaron said, then he looked down at Amelia. "Take care of her."

Any of us would do everything we could for Amelia, even if she hadn't really been herself these last few years. Whether she would admit it or not, she was still our alpha. We were barely more than kids when so much of our pack had been killed. Not this one, not the Blightfang. Our first pack back home in Newfoundland. We lost our parents, we lost our homes, we lost our alpha. The only reason we didn't lose ourselves was Amelia. Alpha Liam's kid 'til the end, she pulled our asses together and vowed to go back when we were strong enough to face our old pack and challenge the new alpha for her rightful place.

I sat down with a grunt, wiping the hair out of Amelia's eyes. She was groaning, holding her ribs tight. She opened her eyes and looked up at me, sweat on her brow and her eyes dull with distraction. Her breath was heavy, but otherwise she was faring better right now than she had been.

"What?" she snapped.

"We're starting to come down off the Lunaria's Dream," I said softly. "Jack's already begun."

She grunted and closed her eyes again. I brushed a leaf off her bronze arm, paler than usual, and she growled at me.

"You can't shift, can you?" It wasn't really a question since she would have taken a wolf form to take on this painful curse if she could. "I'll stay here with you tonight."

That opened her eyes again. "Don't . . . need to."

"I know." I shifted over a foot or so to lean against a fallen tree. The harsh bark of the evergreen scratched my bare back.

My head was pounding, and the abdominal pain was setting in, but it wasn't nearly as bad as usual. I had forced myself to eat something after the gas station, but the appetite drop had already begun. This was the easiest I'd ever had it and, if I had it my way, I wouldn't take that shit again.

It had seemed like such a good idea at first, taking the drug. It pushed our boundaries, let us train longer and fight harder. I was the first to want to back down from it, but Amelia craved what it dangled in front of her. Power, and the promise that we would get stronger. Maybe it did do that to some extent, but the shit we did for that bastard leech Apollo to keep getting it never sat with me. I don't think it sat well with any of us, but sometimes you do what you have to do with what you have in front of you. Sometimes that means starting down a path in life fueled by bad decisions that you made from the vantage point of your teenage years, and the only option you see in front of you is to keep going.

Leaning my head back, I willed the pounding in it to ease. Apollo was dead, so that option was long gone, along with the rest of the Lunaria's fucking Dream. I peeled one eye open again and grimaced as I added light sensitivity to my pounding head.

"Guess Lady Thea wasn't full of crap after all," I said. "We help the fae with one battle and the healer of the Winter Court magics away most of the symptoms."

And of course, that was the moment Jack threw up, particularly audibly, several yards away. I laughed low, as much as I could manage through my own discomfort.

Amelia growled, holding her ribs. I leaned my head back against the tree, trying to ignore the afternoon sunlight that was threatening to pierce right through my splitting skull.

I smelled the others shift. Aaron and Carson were first. Jack took a bit longer, probably because he was already going through his own symptoms.

"When this is over, if we're better and you still aren't, I'm going to kick that warlock's ass for messing with whatever magic got you like this," I said.

Amelia sort of smiled then took in a sharp breath and growled as she arched her back. Her face contorted in pain.

"I'm taking us back, you know," I said. "I know you haven't been talking through whatever this is you're going through, but you have been listening.

"You did a real number on that human. Another ass to haul back to the village." There was no real change in Amelia's expression. "She better not run off, I don't want to have to chase her down and delay our trip."

I clenched my jaw, a strong wave of nausea washing over me. I had to wait for it to pass before I kept talking. I wasn't even usually this much of a talker, but the distraction was good for both of us. All of us. The others could hear me too.

"Any idea what we'll find when we get back there?" I asked.

"No." Amelia gave a clipped reply.

We were deep enough in the woods that a hearty layer of decayed leaves and dead sticks littered the ground. I could hear every step the wolves took as they did what they could to find some comfort. Jack was having the hardest time, but Carson was starting to whimper.

"We're not the same kids who left. You could do something about him this time. Have you even contacted Naomi since then?"

"No." Amelia grunted and rolled onto her side, facing away from me.

"Amelia," I said softly. "You're as tired of living rogue as we are. We can carve out that place in the village again. We've done some shit, but the pack will have us back in the end. You'll see."

"No." She growled and inched away from me, but I could have sworn I heard the hint of a whimper in her breathing. She could act tough if she wanted to, but the truth is wolves aren't meant to be lonely.

Another wave of nausea hit me, and I dropped the conversation. Grunting, I held my stomach, lying back as comfortably as I could.

I had a long night ahead of me, but at least these were the only symptoms I was having. It could have been worse.

Jerod threw up again in the distance.

A lot worse.