Huntress

Chapter 64

I didn't recall seeing Ryder again for a while, though it was hard to trust my mind with these things still. I remembered the queen kneeling outside the bathtub and humming under her breath while she washed me. I remembered the king moving my legs through gentle stretches, talking to me idly about things I couldn't care enough about to focus on. Every night I was tucked into bed. Every morning, I was fed breakfast with a coffee.

And I dreamed of my brother. I could see myself screaming at him, wailing and begging. I needed help. I was drowning. The responsibilities were swirling around me, sucking me down further and further with every second. I didn't have much longer. I needed him. But his pretty little wife would adjust the lapels of his suit, smiling like he had given her the sun. then, they would leave hand in hand. And I went down, down, down.

"Is everything alright?" Keiko asked from my bedroom door. She stood outside of the guest bedroom as if this wasn't her own home, but it was her words that brought me to the world around me, not the one I so often drifted out to.

The doctor was sitting on the bed beside me. her hand was cradling mine. Gone was any trace of the scrubs she wore sometimes or the tools she carried with her. her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and her pale blue sweater had a horribly stretched neckline. Dark rings circled her eyes.

"Yes, yes everything is fine," the doctor assured with a casual shrug. "I just wanted to check in with her, that's all."

Keiko hovered for a moment longer, her teeth capturing her lower lip. "Ryder is right. I know that he is. She needs to make her own choice, but it's hard to see her like this."

"It would be harder to see her dead, knowing that you forced the pill down her throat," the doctor countered. She had a name. I knew she did, but I could never remember it.

The queen took a low breath then nodded once. "Let me know if you need anything. I'll be downstairs with Clem until my conference call starts."

The doctor waited for a few seconds before she straightened her shoulders, her posture perfect and stable. She turned her body towards me and gave my hand one squeeze.

"Georgia, I'm hoping that you're here with me right now. We need to talk." She studied me briefly, as if hoping for an encouraging nod before continuing on. "I cannot and will not force you to take any medication. And I will be here to help support and take care of you no matter what you choose. I just know that Ryder is scared. He's terrified. Of course he is, he's your mate. But this is your decision to make."

She began with telling me about the cinnamon bun and what was found within it, beyond gooey, buttery goodness. I knew about the baked good. I had had several over my life time. something was nagging at me though. Something was telling me that this was important, lacing with me farther back than I knew now. But she carried on, telling me about the strange compound in the dough, using words that I didn't understand and words that shouldn't have gone together like magic and carbohydrates.

"I know that this is all complicated, but bear with me. I made an elixir for Ajax to counteract the fragments of magic that were in the buns, whatever they were. Like I explained before, compound A in the solution was designed to protect any owned magic within him, any magic that his body generated itself. Compound B was designed to pull any of the magic that was not owned out. I won't lie to you, Ajax was violently ill while this process was happening, but I am certain that he would have remained ill otherwise. Similar to you, I am assuming there would be the initial deterioration and had he not taken the medication, he would still be on the couch, not getting worse, but not getting better."

She reached out and tightened her sagging ponytail before taking my hand again.

"This all must be a confusing info dump for you, but I will try and keep it simple. You are obviously not a werewolf. We are assuming that you have the same toxin in your body, but we have no way of knowing for sure. I cannot make any assumptions about what this elixir will or will not do for you. There are too many differences between your case and Ajax's case for me to even have the smallest idea of what might happen if you were to take this. And I'm not a human doctor, even if I was, I wouldn't be able to understand how this magic works in your body. But I just wanted to tell you that this is an option for you, if you are willing to try it. I cannot promise a single damn thing, but I can't imagine what it must be like being trapped in that head. This is the only glimmer of hope that I can give you right now."

Her fingers tightened around mine before she laid her palm flat open, my fingers resting within the center of her hand.

"You don't have to answer right now, and I'm not even sure if you can answer right now. But if you would like to try the elixir that I made for Ajax, I want you to tap your middle finger once in my palm. And if you don't want it, tap your index finger. And if you can't move right now, don't worry, I will not give you anything."

She sat perfectly still, her hand not even trembling or shaking beneath mine. At least, I didn't think it was.

I probably should have thought about this. I probably should have considered the risks for longer than I did because I could very well die from this. We had seen what a small amount of magic had done to me – wherever it came from – what would a larger quantity do? Even if it healed me, what would happen after? How much of me would be left? Was I too far gone already?

But all I really could think was that there was a way out. And that if I didn't answer now, I might not have the chance again.

I focused every ounce of my brain power into my motor function. And with every ounce of focus came ten pounds of dreaming that tugged and tugged at my mind.

I was alone in the woods.

No, this was wrong. This was all terribly wrong. I was never alone here. I was never supposed to be alone here.

I started running, but it felt like my feet were made out of cement. Each step took enough effort to make me grit my teeth. But even when I took ten steps, twenty, thirty, the forest around me did not change. Because it never changed. This is the forest where I saw the wolf with the red eyes. This was the forest where I danced with the handsome man. His smile could melt my heart into a puddle on this mossy floor. But where was he? Where was the vengeful wolf? Where was my brother?

I screamed. I ran and screamed.

I jerked back into my body. And the first thing that I saw did make me want to scream. A low roofed, oversized garden shed. I couldn't remember it, but the reaction that I immediately had told me otherwise. I wanted to wail and shriek and squirm my way out of the thick arms that were carrying me. my steps couldn't move me through the forest of my dreams, but these steps were pulling me closer and closer to the shed no matter how much I resisted.

I was shifted around in the strong arms, being moved about like I weighed nothing. As I was shuffled, I caught a glimpse of brown hair that burned like fire in the sun. Ajax. Then, the shed door swung open and I couldn't be bothered to care about who was holding me.

"What are you doing here?" Ryder rumbled immediately. He spun to face us and his gaze caught mine. But even the eyes that I loved so much were not enough to distract me from the way that he swiped his hand over the thigh of his jeans. A rust coloured streak was left behind.

"She asked to see you. Well, she said your name. It's not like she's particularly chatty so when she gives me anything to go off of, I'm not going to deny her," Ajax replied flatly. I was shuffled around in his arms once more as he snapped open a camping chair with one hand.

"I don't want her here. I don't want her to see this," Ryder stated.

"I don't care if you want her to see this side of you or not. She asked, I delivered," the king argued as he settled me on the chair.

"Ajax."

"Are you even getting anywhere?"

"No. he's saying he doesn't know anything."

And that was when I realized that there was a third person in the shed. Icy blue eyes now ringed in black. A busted lip that I had seldom seen smile. Lean pale arms pulled behind his back, strung up in a way that made my body ache with knowing.

Milo. 

~~~Bonus Update~~~

Hello and happy Saint Patty's Day!

Do you celebrate today in any way?

As someone who forgot to even wear green, the answer for me is no, but most Canadians my age typically go out for the night and get smashed off green beers.