Chapter 56

Eric

I shoved my way through the crowd, my heart pounding in my ears at a hummingbird’s pace. Rowena’s voice had called to me, as soft as a summer breeze.

“Eric…”

When I had heard it at first, dressing in the locker room after training, I had thought that it was just my imagination; but a moment later, I had felt my wolf bristling in the back of my mind.

“She’s hurt,” he had said. “Our mate is hurt. We have to go to her.”

I hadn’t waited so much as a moment. Within seconds, I was sprinting out the door, calling out for Rowena. I didn’t care who heard me, or whether people gave me strange looks as I bolted down the camp hallways.

I only cared about Rowena.

Now, as I reached the front of the crowd that had gathered in a circle at the bottom of the stairs, I felt my heart blench. I saw Rowena’s small form crumpled on the floor, the head combat manager kneeling beside her. Blood matted her dark hair, and for a gut-wrenching moment, I thought she might be dead.

But she wasn’t, thank god. I could see her chest rising and falling shallowly, and besides, if something grave had happened to her I would have felt it thanks to our connection. Not that it made the situation any better.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded, dropping to my knees beside her still form.

The manager looked up, flustered. “She… she fell down the stairs, from the looks of it. I was just about to call for help—”

“No.”

I didn’t let him finish. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I gathered Rowena up into my arms, cradling her against my chest. No, she couldn’t go to a hospital—not with her healing abilities and the risk of her true identity being exposed.

“Hey! You can’t just take her!” the manager protested, scrambling to his feet.

I shot him a dagger-like look that made him immediately stop in his tracks. “Watch me.”

Pushing back through the crowd, I headed for the parking lot where my car was waiting. Rowena’s bloodied head lolled against my shoulder, her breath coming out in ragged puffs. I tightened my grip, terror clawing at my gut. What if I was too late? What if her injuries were too much? With no wolf, she had no accelerated healing.

“Hang on, Rowena,” I muttered as I carefully shifted her into one arm and opened the car door. “I’ve got you. Just hang on.”

I managed to get her into the back seat of the car without jostling her too much. As I peeled out of the parking lot, I pulled out my phone and speed-dialed my dad.

“Eric? What’s going on?” His gruff voice held a note of concern; it wasn’t like me to call him unless there was an emergency, and considering how recently our last meeting about Rowena’s safety had been, he was able to put two and two together.

“It’s Rowena,” I said frantically as I steered the car around the turns and bends, going over the speed limit. “She’s been hurt bad—fell down the stairs and is bleeding from a head wound.”

My father gasped. “She didn’t go to the hospital, did she?”

“No, Dad.” I swallowed the urge to let out a biting remark about whether he thought I was stupid or not, deciding it wasn’t worth it. “I found her before they called the ambulance. I’m bringing her home. But she’s unconscious, Dad. It’s…”

I paused, feeling my chest clench as I glanced at her form in the rearview mirror. I was glad that I had clipped two seatbelts around her laying across the seats, because she was jostling a bit. I had to slow my speed down just to make sure she didn’t get more injured than she already was.

“... It’s really bad.”

There was a pause, then his tone sharpened. “Alright. You did well, Eric. Get here fast, but drive carefully. We’ll have Dr. Meyers standing by.”

I swallowed hard. “Copy that.”

The drive home felt like an eternity, even though I made it in record time. My mind raced with worst-case scenarios as I carried Rowena’s limp form into the house.

My parents were there to meet us, my mom’s face pale but determined. “This way,” she said, leading us up the stairs and down the hall to Rowena’s room.

I laid Rowena gently on her bed as Dr. Meyers, our discreet family physician, rushed in. He quickly examined her, his lips pressed into a tight line as he prodded at her wounds. I saw her wince as he touched her ankle, even in her sleep, which was a relief. Her ankle was already turning blue, though.

“Concussion, sprained—possibly fractured, although likely not too severe—ankle, laceration on the back of the head,” he reported briskly as he worked. “She’ll need stitches and a brace for her ankle, but her vitals are strong. She’s hanging in there.”

Relief washed over me, quickly replaced by guilt. I should have been there. Should have protected her. How could she have even fallen in such a violent way? Rowena had no wolf, but she wasn’t clumsy; our parents had seen to it that we both had physical training all our lives, regardless of her affliction.

As the doctor worked, stitching up the gash with neat, practiced motions, I noticed the bruises already blooming on Rowena’s arms from her fall. Anger joined the swirl of emotions as a thought came to my mind—what if someone had hurt her?

If that was the case, then… whoever it was would have to pay.

“You did the right thing, bringing her here.” My dad’s gruff voice made me start, and I turned to see him standing in the doorway. I hadn’t realized he was still in the room; my mother had left to pick up some prescriptions that the doctor had sent in.

“It was all I could think of doing,” I muttered.

My father paused, casting me a sidelong glance for a moment. His mouth opened, as though there was more he wanted to say, but then he closed it again. It was another reminder of how distant our relationship was; even just admitting that I had done the right thing was clearly difficult for him.

“She’ll heal up quickly, but she needs to rest,” he finally said. “Why don’t you go grab a shower? Your mom and I can look after her for now.”

I shook my head adamantly. “I’m not leaving her.”

My father blinked at me, surprised by my sudden selfless demeanor.

Yes, I had been a bit… selfish these past few years. I had acted a fool on more than one occasion, put partying and hooking up with random girls above more important things. But Rowena, even before I had found out she was my mate, was always at the top of my list of priorities.

Always. I had made a vow that day all those years ago, when I came outside to see my father holding her in his soaking wet Armani suit by the poolside.

And I had never broken that vow.