Page 79 of Ruined Wolfsbane

“Patrick, her stepfather,” Dad croaks, head also hanging in shame. He shoves his fingers through his hair in agitation. My dad’s midnight ocean eyes look up and lock on me. They’re swimming with a soul-deep pain that mirrors mine.

“Aunt Evie remarried?” a bewildered Emmy asks. My dad nods. Emmy looks positively perplexed by the thought of her aunt marrying anyone other than presumably Briar’s father. Briar never talks about her dad, so I wonder what the story is there.

At Briar’s groan, I snap my gaze to her face. Her eyes are still shut, but her head is thrashing side to side.

“Shit! She shouldn’t be waking up this early!” Emmy frantically rifles through her bag for something. “I don’t have any sedative with me. Bri can’t wake up yet. If she moves, she’ll fuck up her insides.”

The mage runs her hands through her curly copper hair, tugging at the ends as she reaches them. Turning to me, Emmy asks, “Do you have a picture of your infirmary?”

“I can look. Why?” I pull out my phone and hunt through my pictures to see if I have any with Dr. Stone.

“I need to portal Bri somewhere with sedatives. I’d prefer to portal her closer by to minimize stress on her body.”

I finally find a picture of Dr. Stone and me in front of an infirmary bed. It’s blurry, but it’s the best I can find. “Will this work?” Shoving the phone at Emmy, I hold my breath as I hope it’s what we need.

“Yeah, that’s doable.” The mage closes her eyes in concentration. Her lips move but no sound comes out. Nothing happens as the seconds tick by. I start to think Emmy’s doing it wrong when a portal wooshes into existence behind her.

My mouth parts in shock. I’ve never seen a portal before. Very few people outside of mages ever encounter a portal. It has glowing navy sparks circling it. Those sparks jump and spit every so often. Peering around Emmy, I can see the exact infirmary room shown in the picture. Glancing at Bastian, I see he’s just as shocked as I am. “This is wild!” he mouths. I nod in agreement.

Portals typically take a lot of magical energy, but Emmy doesn’t seem to be affected by the strain of the portal. Opening her eyes, she grins at me. “You were starting to doubt me, weren’t you?” I sheepishly nod. “Can you get the sedative ready, wolf?”

“Yeah. You want me to go through the portal?” I ask, eyeing it warily. While the portal’s cool, I’m a little worried I’ll get lost in another dimension.

“Yep. You’ll be fine.” Emmy rolls her eyes like I’m being dramatic.

I think it’s sensible to be skeptical of traveling through a rip in the space-time continuum. Blowing out a breath, I stand up and approach it.

“I’m sure that’s what you say to all the wolves you throw through your portals.” I step one leg through. It feels like walking through maple syrup, thick and sticky. As quickly as possible, I move the rest of the way through the weirdly dense air of the portal. Looking down, I check my clothes to see if I’m covered in gelatinous goo. When I don’t see anything, I turn back to the rip in space.

“I’ve never sent anyone other than a mage through a portal before,” Emmy tells me casually. “I didn’t even know if it would work. Good news, you’re not dead! Or in a hellscape.” She grins at me as I glare at her.

Shaking my head at the frustrating mage, I gather what I’ll need to sedate Briar. Once she’s knocked out, I can hook her up to an IV drip to keep her sedated as long as needed.

“A little help here!” Emmy grunts. I whirl around to see my mate floating in the air in front of the portal. She’s wrapped in a haze of blue magic. I rush over but stop short of touching her, not wanting to hurt her more. “Can you gently guide her to the bed and push her down on it?”

Doing as the mage asks, I softly push on Briar’s foot to get her over to the hospital bed. Once she’s properly positioned, I apply a little pressure to get her settled on it. The blue glow surrounding Briar incrementally fades until it’s completely gone.

“Thanks.” Emmy wipes sweat off her forehead as she steps through the portal.

Turning around to close the portal, the mage pauses as Kai and Bastian come barreling through it. She gives them an unimpressed look before leaning back through the portal. “Anyone else planning to hitch a ride?” Emmy calls. “No? Going once, going twice, closed.”

With a flick of her wrist, Emmy snaps the portal closed.

I busy myself with getting the dosage right for Briar. When I’m sure I’ve measured correctly, I inject her with the sedative designed specifically for wolf metabolism. We burn through drugs much faster than humans or even mages. “Now what?”

“Now, we wait. Bri either wakes up or….” Emmy breaks off, voice clogged with emotion. She brushes aside the tears escaping her eyes. “Or she doesn’t.”

CHAPTER 32

BRIAR

Gravel crunches underneath my feet. I walk further down the rough path while wondering where I am. Gazing at the lavender sky dotted with fluffy cotton candy blue clouds doesn’t give me any clues.

Peering around lime green trees and navy boulders, I spot a white building in the distance. Picking up my pace, I wander closer until I can make out what it is. It’s my old house. The inky black roof, cheery teal door, and expansive wraparound porch are just how I remember it.

What stops me in my tracks, though, is the woman sitting on the porch swing. Her strawberry-blonde hair cascades down around her slim shoulders in wild waves. A pretty pink sundress flatters her pale skin. Ice-blue eyes are trained on a book.

“Mama!” I shout as I sprint toward her. She only barely makes it to her feet before I crash into her. I wrap my arms around her as she hugs me back just as fiercely. Whereas she used to be taller than me, I now have a few inches on her.

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