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Nala might be on the small side for a wolf, but she was still heavy. We were at least an hour from Perga. I’d have to throw her over my shoulders to make it there quickly. The trip would cause more damage, but we couldn’t stay here.
Decision already made, I moved her in my arms. She yipped in pain.
“Sorry, Nala.”
The next part was tricky. I had to keep the arrow in to prevent blood loss, but I also didn’t want to agitate the wound even more. As gently as I could, I lifted and draped her over my shoulders so her injured side faced up.
She sagged into my body as I stood up.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said again, more to myself, then to Nala. “Everything is going to be okay.”
It had to be.
She was my everything.
5
I kicked open the door and stepped inside Orion’s cabin. The door swung back so hard it hit the wall with a loud bang and shook the building.
Nala had gone limp over twenty minutes ago and her blood had run down my body the entire way back to Perga. My clothes were now saturated with sweat and blood.
“What the phaan?” Orion stepped from the hallway that led to more rooms in the back. He held a cloth and used it to wipe his hands before tossing it to the side. His gaze snagged on me. “Emi?”
Concern streaked his expression as his gaze scanned me from head to toe before settling on Nala.
“Nala?”
“Help her.” My lungs burned. My eyes stung. I had run the last half of the trip, not sure it was enough and cursing myself for not being stronger, faster, better. “Please.”
I kept replaying the battle in my head, wondering what I could’ve done differently. But nothing would change the current situation. None of those negative thoughts would heal my best friend. Nothing could rewind time.
She was supposed to be unkillable like me, heal like me, but something was wrong. Different. I felt it in my gut with the pain that echoed from her injury.
“Follow me.” Orion spun on his heel and walked down the hallway he’d just left. I trailed after him to a small treatment room—one of the many in his cabin—and he stepped to the side so I could gently lay Nala on the examination table.
I hadn’t been back here in months. Not since I woke up naked beside Orion after a wild night of drinking.
Nala had cut her foot chasing bandits to the forest, and after Orion patched her up, he’d offered me a drink. That night started out like a million other nights before, but something had changed, Orion was determined.
He finally made his move, and I went with it.
I shook the memories of tangled naked limbs from my mind and ran my hand along Nala’s blood-matted fur before moving out of the way. With shaky legs, I made it to the single chair in the corner of the room before collapsing.
Orion had already approached Nala to inspect the wound.
“Any other injuries?” he asked.
I tried to speak, but my voice came out like a croak. Swallowing, I cleared my throat and tried again. “Just the arrow.”
Nala was still breathing, though more laboured than before, and she hadn’t voluntarily moved or whined when I placed her on the table.
Magic stirred in the air as Orion reached for his gift. He was the best healer in Perga. He should’ve been working in the palace, but for some reason, the royals hadn’t called for him once. Their loss, our gain. And once the town realized how talented Orion was, they kept him very busy. That’s why he had stopped hunting with me. That and I preferred to work alone.
If anyone could heal Nala, he could.
“Will she be okay?” I whispered. I dreaded the answer, yet I also needed to hear it.
“Galeon familiars are just as invincible as their bonded immortals. It will be okay.” His words were meant to soothe me, but they had the opposite effect. “She will be okay.”