Page 51 of Wolf Touched

“Everyone else, secure the perimeter since they broke through it.” Priestess Caroline hurried to the garage and looked inside.

For someone so old, she moved agilely … more so than I ever had as a human.

She made a beeline for my mate. Lucy and Adam tensed but didn’t say anything, likely because they couldn’t hear everything outside.

I could see him struggling for breath. The walls closed in on me as I realized how close to losing him I was. The metallic stench of his blood hung in the air, overtaking his normal scent that I loved.

“I need to keep pressure on the wound. He’s losing too much blood.” Dru shook his head.

“If we want him to have a chance to live, then move.Now. This may be magic at work, which means your human doctoring skills could kill him.”

Dru stepped back. “Fine, but if it’s not magic, I need to stop the bleeding. I’ve never seen anything like this. Let me get you some glo—”

Before he could finish, the priestess had removed the gauze with her bare hands, and the fated-mate connection cooled.

“Can anyone here give him blood?” I couldn’t stand here and watch him die. I had to do something. “Lucy, you’re family.”

“But on his mother’s side.” Lucy bit her lip. “It would need to be …” Her eyes widened. “Sky,youcould do it. You’re a wolf shifter and his fated mate. Normally, fated mates are forged of the same soul and thus have the same blood. It’s part of the mate bond.”

My heart galloped, and my chest warmed. “Then there’s no reason to wait.”

Dru’s lips mashed together as he came to me with a needle and tubes. I pulled up my sleeve, extending my arm so he could prick me, but he hesitated.

“Dad, what are you doing?” My brother joined us, standing next to Lucy. He glanced at me then at Dru again. “She wants to save him.”

“But I can’t monitor the amount of blood she’s giving.” Dru rubbed his hands together.

He didn’t get to act like a concerned father. “Do it now, or I’ll do it myself. I know enough from my pre-vet studies to get the job done.” Though I’d probably wind up stabbing myself several times. I’d never done an IV on a human, but it couldn’t be that hard. Surely.

“Do it.” Octavia sighed from behind me. “She’s an adult and loves him.”

“Fine.” He prepped a needle. “But I don’t know if you can give him all he needs. Got it?”

“As long as he survives.” I planned on giving Raffe as much of my blood as I could before they forced me to stop, but no one needed to know that.

Priestess Caroline dug her fingers into his wound. She lifted a bloody hand to her nose. “A spell is keeping the blood from clotting, but the magical properties of the blood fern Faith and Avalon are getting will counter it, so there’s no cause for alarm as long as he stays alive until they get here.”

“Hook me up.” My vision blurred as tears of relief filled them. There was hope, and I wouldn’t let my mate die, not like this.

Dru hooked up Raffe to the other end of the tubing and came to me. He pricked my arm, and when my bloodtrickled down the line, I had to believe everything would be okay.

“Here, sit down,” Dru said, bringing over a chair next to Raffe.

I shook my head. Instead, I leaned on the uninjured side of Raffe’s chest, needing to feel his skin. Even though the buzz was faint, it was there, which meant he wasn’t gone.

“I’m surprised they used magic that would be so easy to counter.” Adam’s voice sounded rough even for him.

“Oh, Supreme Priestess Olwyn doesn’t realize there’s an antidote. She believes she has all the existingBooks of Twilight, but my coven hid the one with the remedy—along with other things.” Priestess Caroline laughed. “She doesn’t even know it exists since this book was written before her family took over the supreme role.”

I turned my head so I could see everyone, but I kept an ear on Raffe’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. It might have been wishful thinking, but I swore it was already steadier.

“Her family has always been at the head of all the covens,” Dave said as he and Josie joined us at Raffe’s bedside.

“Here I believed I’d seen it all with Divinity and the prince completing their bond despite the odds, and now there’s a vampire in the prince’s midst as well.” Priestess Caroline smirked. “Maybe the cycle has been broken.” She snatched up fresh gauze and packed Raffe’s wound again. Before anyone could ask her what she meant by that, she continued, “Olwyn wants everyone to believe that her family has always been in power, but that isn’t the case. In fact, she took power after the supreme priestess who was in charge of training Foster, whose family had always reigned. The position changed to Olwyn’s coven shortly after thewitches fell from power and the wolf shifters took their place.”

My brows lifted, but I couldn’t concentrate on more than that. I had more important things at hand. “I don’t care what happened as long as your coven members get back with the concoction in time.” I focused on the rise and fall of Raffe’s chest.

When I cracked my eyes open, I noticed Lucy’s and my brother’s gazes lingering on each other. She wrapped her arms around her waist, and he tugged at his ears, causing his hair, which was a shade lighter than mine, to fall into his face. He was perhaps a year or two older than me, and his complexion was a shade darker than mine. We had similar cheekbones, and he had several inches on me, coming in at around six feet.

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