Page 178 of Cherish

I’m sobbing now as I swat at the bees still on Jaxon, but he looks to be in even worse shape than Flint, though I wouldn’t have believed it was possible if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes.

When Jaxon took the honeycomb, his vampiric metabolism obviously slowed as well, because none of the beestings are healing on him and he’s as unrecognizable as Flint. If anything, he looks worse than Flint.

Which is only reinforced when he tips over and—like Hudson—goes down face-first. Hard.

But unlike Hudson, he doesn’t scream in agony. In fact, he doesn’t make a sound at all, and somehow that is so much worse.

I turn to Eden and shout, “Get Macy and Heather out of here. Now!”

Remy is already on the ground. Unmoving.

As Eden takes off for the sky, part of me wants to just stand here and scream in horror while another part knows now isn’t the time to lose my shit.

I need to stay calm. Everyone is counting on me. I am the only one of us that is immune to the bees, and I don’t care that the guys aren’t moving. They are not dead. I refuse to believe that. Not yet.

I glance over at Jaxon, who has succumbed to the pain and the venom. The bees have lifted off of him, too—all but the two humongous ones who have landed next to him and are gobbling the honeycomb from his relaxed fingers he’s finally managed to let go.

They aren’t stinging him anymore. In fact, they aren’t doing anything to him or Flint, to Remy or Hudson, as if they know there’s no longer a point. They’ll soon be gone, their labored breaths coming slower and slower.

The panic I’ve been trying to hold back is like a freight train tearing through me now, and I open my mouth and scream and scream and scream. I scream until my throat is raw.

I scream until every single bee floats back to their fucking honeycombs, leaving my friends, mymate, alone to finally die in peace.

97

I Need an

Escape Claws

No. I can save them. Iwillsave them.

I shove the vials in my pocket and rush to Hudson’s side. I reach down with one hand into the grassy meadow and lay the other across my mate’s shoulder—and breathe the earth’s magic into my body, and then into Hudson’s.

I reach inside him, looking for the worst effects of the bee venom, and send healing energy to his trachea, which has nearly closed completely. I feel the white-hot magic slowly, ever so slowly, begin to push the venom out of his bloodstream, feel his airways opening millimeter by millimeter.

When he takes a deep, shaky breath, I let the tears flow freely down my cheeks. He’s going to be okay.He will, I convince myself.

And I know he needs more healing, but I can’t focus on curing him completely yet.

A shadow crosses over me, and I realize Eden is flying circles overhead above the tree. Good. With her, Heather, and Macy safe, I can focus on what I need to do here.

I swing my focus over to Remy next, wrapping my hand around his ankle and sending as much earth magic as I can channel into his body. Flint and Jaxon are a few feet away, and I try to push earth magic along the ground to them as well. Everyone is critical, and my hands are shaking as I draw in more and more energy and send it into my friends’ bodies.

When all three groan, take in deep breaths, I glance up at the sky and shout, “They’re okay! They’re going to be okay!”

Macy and Heather, though, just wave their hands and shout back, “Look out!”

I don’t have time to turn to see what has them so scared before something heavy slams into me and I go flying.

Holy shit. Whatever hit me plops down in the middle of my chest—and it weighs a metric fuck-ton. I think it cracked my chest—and my back—when it hit me, and though I want nothing more than to roll out from under it, I can’t. It weighs thousands of pounds, and I am stuck under it like a roach under a shoe.

I gasp for breath—my chest really does feel like I’ve cracked my sternum or punctured a lung—and get my first real glimpse of what attacked me.

And the answer is—a bear.

A fucking bear.

And he looks pissed as hell.

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