Page 68 of Mate Night Snack
"I've got you," he murmured as he started back toward town, each step carefully measured to avoid jarring her. "You're safe now. I've got you."
But even as he said the words, he could feel her slipping away. The bond between them was still there, but it was growing weaker with each passing moment.
The trip back to Hollow Oak passed in a blur of desperate speed and mounting fear. Every second that ticked by was a second the curse had to work its poison deeper into her system.
He burst through the front door of Miriam's inn, Katniss limp in his arms and terror written across his face in lines that might never fade.
"Miriam!" he bellowed, not caring who he woke or what protocols he shattered. "We need help! Now!"
The innkeeper appeared at the top of the stairs in her nightgown, took one look at Katniss's condition, and transformed from gentle hostess to battlefield medic in the space of a heartbeat.
"Upstairs," she commanded. "My room. Quickly."
He followed her up the narrow staircase, each step an eternity.
"What happened?" Miriam asked as she cleared medical supplies from her dresser with efficient movements.
"Shadow blade," Emmett said, laying Katniss gently on the quilted bedspread. "Ashwin cut her with something cursed. The darkness is spreading."
Miriam's face went pale, but her hands remained steady as she examined the wound. "How long ago?"
"Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen."
"That's something, at least. Shadow magic works fast, but not instantly." She looked up at him with eyes that held both compassion and brutal honesty. "I won't lie to you, Emmett. This is bad. Worse than bad. But she's strong, and the mate bond might be enough to anchor her."
"Tell me what to do."
"Stay close. Keep the bond open, no matter how much it hurts. She's going to fight this, but she'll need something to fight for."
As if summoned by their conversation, Twyla appeared in the doorway with an armload of herbs and a grim expression that looked wrong on her usually cheerful face.
"Cleansing ritual," she said without preamble. "It's the only way to burn the shadow magic out of her system before it reaches her heart."
"Will it work?" Emmett asked.
"I don't know," Twyla admitted. "But it's the only chance she's got."
Through the bond, Emmett felt Katniss slip a little further away, her consciousness retreating from the pain as the curse ate at her magical abilities like acid.
And somewhere in the darkness outside, Ashwin's laughter echoed on the wind.
29
KATNISS
Consciousness returned like swimming up from the bottom of a dark lake, each breath a struggle against water that tried to drag her back down. Katniss surfaced into a world that felt both too bright and strangely muffled.
The first thing she noticed was the smell. Salt and sage, mixed with something metallic that made her nose wrinkle. The second was the warmth pressed against her right side, solid and familiar and radiating the kind of steady presence that could only belong to one person.
"Emmett?" Her voice came out as barely a whisper, throat raw like she'd been screaming.
"Right here." His fingers found hers immediately, warm and callused and trembling just slightly. "How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a truck full of angry ghosts." She tried to sit up and immediately thought better of it as the room spun lazily around her. "What happened? The last thing I remember was..."
The memories crashed back all at once. Ashwin's predatory smile. The poisonous words about Emmett's past. The bone knife slicing through her arm with surgical precision. The shadow magic spreading through her veins like liquid darkness.
"The knife," she breathed, lifting her left arm to examine the wound.
