Page 13 of Cursed Wolfsbane

BRIAR

“Where am I? What happened?” Xander’s groggy voice asks from the hospital bed.

I whip my head up to look at him, relief flowing through me that he’s awake. While Dr. Stone said Xander would be out for twenty-four hours, I’ve still been worried every moment he’s been unconscious.

Pushing up from the uncomfortable white plastic chair, I hesitantly walk over to Xander. I don’t know if he hates my guts for putting his brothers in danger yesterday and the whole “causing him to have an extra hole in his shoulder” thing.

“You’re in the infirmary. You were shot when the Knights came after us.”

Xander’s blond brows furrow in confusion before understanding lights his dark green eyes. He groans. “Fuck. No wonder I feel like a went seven rounds with Bastian in the ring.” Glancing around, he notices that I’m the only one there. “Where’s everyone else?”

My heart twinges at him wanting to wake up to anyone other than me. I roughly swallow around the lump in my throat because I won’t ever be Xander’s first choice. “They should be here any moment. Uncle Vale wanted me to practice with mywolf once you woke up. We’ve all been taking shifts staying with you.”

That last part isn’t exactly true. While Uncle Vale, Aunt Abbie, Malachi, and Bastian have been taking shifts, I’ve been by Xander’s side the entire time since Malachi and Bastian fought. It was hard to watch from the mats. While Bastian was the one getting hurt physically, I could see just how much Malachi hated beating on his little brother.

Anger flares bright and burning in my chest at just how much pain that priest caused the Wyldhart brothers. He’s lucky he’s dead. I would totally resurrect him just to kill him over and over if I could.

Rustling from the hospital bed jerks me out of my thoughts. Xander’s trying to swing his legs over the side of the bed. “What are you doing?” My voice rises in alarm.

“Getting out of the fucking hospital bed. I’m holding everyone up by lazing around.” Xander’s voice is rough and scratchy, probably from being unconscious for a day. Once his feet dangle over the edge, Xander moves to rip out his IV.

“Stop! Xander, just wait until the doctor checks you over!” When he refuses to listen, something fizzles up my throat and infuses my next words. “Stop! Freeze!”

Xander not only listens that time but also completely stops moving. One of his hands is frozen where it grips the IV going into one of his arms. His other hand is pushing on the mattress, and his legs are bent like he’s about to jump. The only part of Xander that’s moving is his eyes, which are darting around the room in confusion.

Oh shit.

I think I froze Xander. How the hell did I freeze him? More importantly, how do Iunfreeze him?

“You can move now,” I try. It doesn’t do anything. Xander’s still locked in the same uncomfortable-looking pose.

Well, that didn’t work.

Awesome.

Just what I wanted—a frozen Xander who will probably find a way to murder me with his eyes.

Before I have a chance to panic that I turned Xander into the world’s grumpiest living statue, the door slams open behind me. Turning around, I see Vale, Abbie, Kai, and Bastian walk into the room. They’re talking amongst themselves and don’t notice Xander and me at first.

“I think I broke Xander,” I rush out when Uncle Vale’s sapphire eyes meet mine. He tilts his head in confusion before he looks over at Xander. When he spots Xander’s frozen form, Uncle Vale barks out a laugh. Malachi and Bastian glance curiously at their brother. Bastian snorts, and Malachi cracks a grin.

I’m not sure why they find this so funny. I have exactly zero clue how to undo it and return him to normal.

“You didn’t break him, Bee. Did you give him any commands before he stopped moving?” Uncle Vale asks, his tone gentle.

“Yeah. He was trying to get up before the doctor cleared him. I told him to stop and freeze when he wouldn’t listen to me.” I give Xander a small glare because this is partially his fault. If he hadn’t tried to get out of bed, I wouldn’t have done whatever I did to break him.

“You just alpha commanded him. He’ll start moving again when you lift the order,” Uncle Vale tells me like it’s just that easy. There’s only one problem. I have no idea how to lift the order.

Before I can ask, Bastian chimes in, “Wait, how can pretty girl alpha order Xander? I thought only alphas and betas had that ability?”

“Lunas used to be able to alpha command anyone, including the alpha. When women lost the ability to shift, they also lost theability to alpha command their pack. Since Briar can shift, I’m guessing she has all the capabilities of the old lunas.” Uncle Vale gazes at me thoughtfully as he speaks, probably wondering what other freaky things I can do.

While I’m intrigued to learn more about lunas, I have a much more pressing problem. “How do I lift the order?” The longer Xander’s frozen, the more I’m freaking out that I won’t be able to fix him.

“Take a deep breath, Bee. Search for your wolf inside yourself. When you find the source of that power, draw on it slowly and tell Xander he can move again,” Uncle Vale advises.

Doing as he says, I take a deep breath and close my eyes.Dido?I call in my mind.