Chapter 34

“What the fuck are you doing here!?” Orion shouts as he appears at Juniper’s side, Anton gasping as he tries again and again to shove the souls away from her body, which is limp at his feet.

“Get us out of here!” Anton screams, ignoring the question.

Orion whips his head to the right and opens his mouth to release a mighty shout as he holds his arm out straight, a steady white light flowing from his hand as he moves it in an arc above Juniper. Where the light goes, the dead disappear – either vanishing or stumbling back and away.

Anton groans, falling to the dirt at Juniper’s side, trying desperately to gather her up into his arms though he doesn’t have substance enough to lift her.

“Is she alive!?” Orion gasps, the light still flowing from his palm as he finishes the arc and glances down.

“Yes!” Anton gasps. “She’s – she’s breathing!”

“Let’s go!” Orion shouts. He lets the light fade, going to one knee next to Juniper and putting a hand both on her back and Anton’s shoulder.

Then he closes his eyes, concentrating, and vanishes them away.

In the next moment, the floor beneath them shifts and though Anton keeps his eyes on Juniper’s face he realizes that the ground beneath her is no longer vague dust but instead an intricately woven rug.

He groans with relief, his shoulders shaking as he presses his eyes shut and sends a quick prayer to the heavens for saving her.

Because his gratitude is entirely for her – he doesn’t even think of himself and what would have happened if Juniper had died –

No, if those things had killed her – if she’d become one of them – another mindless husk just wandering that wasteland – god, but he’d perish – truly perish – rot and burn and be utterly destroyed. The thought of her drained of all her passion and vigor, as damn annoying as it can be – he’d die, and die again, a thousand times, for every moment she lost –

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

Anton whips his head up, his canines elongating at the challenge in this other Alpha’s voice.

Orion stands above both of them, his arms crossed, glaring down, pissed as hell.

“I’m serious!” Orion barks out, livid, his eyes fixed on Anton. “Why the fuck did you let her go to the Deadlands, you idiot!? She’s alive – she can’t survive there –“

“If you think for a second,” Anton says, his voice dangerously quiet as he slowly gets to his feet and raises to his full height, “that I had anything to do with this –“

“So it was all her idea!?”

“Everything is her idea!” Anton shouts, gesturing vehemently to the girl on the floor. “I am here at her beck and call!”

“You should have talked her out of it,” Orion growls, taking a step forward, challenging him.

Anton meets that step, raising his chin, daring Orion to go further. Because he’s aware now that Orion can touch him – and if he can? That means there’s a very, very good chance that Anton can land a punch on that pretty face.

“If you think,” Anton says, cool and slow, his eyes narrowed, “that anyone can talk Juniper Sinclair out of a damn thing she’s got her mind set on? Then you don’t know her half as well as you think you do.”

“You should have tried harder,” Orion snarls, canines flashing.

“Blame me all you want,” Anton hisses, teeth bared. “But for fuck’s sake, would you help her?” He tears himself away then, gesturing down at the Princess at their feet, whose face is twisted in agony, her breath shallow.

Orion stills for a second but then falls to his knees. “Shit,” he murmurs, gathering the poor girl’s limp form up into his arms. Anton stifles a groan, his fingers twisting in his hair in anxiety and grief –

She can’t –

She can’t die – he can’t lose her –

“Hey, girl,” Orion murmurs, falling to his ass and pulling Juniper into his lap, cradling her head against his arm. The rest of her body and limbs sprawl gracelessly over him. “You were really dumb today. Let’s get you patched up.”

Anton grits his teeth as Orion holds up his free hand and a little vial appears there. The ghost doesn’t move an inch as the Prince flicks the stopper out of the vial with his thumb and then brings it to Juniper’s lips, carefully tipping it, letting the liquid inside fall drop by drop.

There’s a long, long pause as both men wait, a little breathless.

But then she stirs, and moans, and coughs a bit, her head turning to the side.

“There she is,” Orion murmurs, setting down the vial and settling Juniper more comfortably in his arms as she groans and turns her head into him, shuddering and shaking as life comes back to her.

Anton huffs out a breath as he falls to his knees again at her side, peering at her face, breathless with concern.

“Ugh,” she groans, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her tongue again and again against the roof of her mouth like the potion – whatever it was – tasted vile. “What was that? It tasted like…grass.”

Orion laughs a little, holding her steady, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. Anton watches, jealousy sweeping through him, a little growl building in his chest.

Easy, Anton’s wolf murmurs in his chest, turning a slow circle around his heart. Keep it in, killer. We have time.

“And how,” Orion murmurs, smiling down at Juniper like he thinks she’s funny. “Do you know what grass tastes like?”

She is funny, Anton growls to his wolf. She’s very funny! Why is he acting like he’s so damn surprised?

Whoa buddy, his wolf says, laughing a little. Steady, steady. Count to ten.

Juniper slowly opens her eyes, frowning up at Orion. “The fact that you don’t know what grass tastes like,” she murmurs, looking at him like he’s dumb, “just lets me know that you weren’t lying about being an only child.”

Anton and Orion both take a moment and then burst out laughing, both staring at Juniper.

Both thinking precisely the same thing.

That’s my girl.

I take a deep breath, my hands shaky as I turn away from Orion, wanting to lay my eyes on Anton, to know that he’s okay.

“Hi,” I say, reaching for him when I see that he’s right there next to me, kneeling and peering at me like he’s terrified I’ll puff away into smoke at any moment. “Are you okay? They…they didn’t go for you?”

“Of course they didn’t,” Orion murmurs, even as Anton opens his mouth to answer. “He’s dead.”

“Oh, am I?” Anton asks, deeply sarcastic, flicking his eyes up to Orion for half a second. “Thanks for the reminder.” He shakes his head and returns his gaze to me. “No, I’m fine. Thank god you’re okay. Thank god he showed up.” He nods up to Orion, even as he doesn’t look at him.

“Yes, thank you,” I whisper, shifting my gaze back up to Orion. And then, suddenly realizing that I’m laying intimately prone in his arms and across his lap, I blushes and move to sit up, as painful as it is. Orion helps and Anton reaches his hands out, the gesture going to my heart even if I know he can’t do anything.

“Juniper,” Orion sighs, helping me settle onto the rug next to him and even grabbing a pillow and a blanket off of an armchair behind me. “What on earth were you thinking going there?” I take a moment to glance around, surprise running through me as I see that we’re in a very elaborate set of private apartments – probably Orion’s, in fact. The whole room is decorated in dark blues and browns, crowded with furniture and books.

“Um,” I say, my voice high and humming as I lay the blanket over my lap, taking my time with it as my mind whirs for an explanation. I mean, obviously I should have thought of this, but I didn’t expect to meet Orion of all people on my expedition this morning.

“She was after the boyfriend, wasn’t she?” Orion says, his head snapping up to Anton’s.

My head flies up too just in time to see Anton give him a shrug in confirmation, his face dubious with the suggestion that he doesn’t think it was worth it.

“Anton!” I growl, reaching out to smack his knee and only managing to hit the floor as my hand passes through his form.

“He’s not a specimen worth risking having her soul consumed by the dead, I’m guessing?” Orion asks, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh, he’s worth a lot less than that,” Anton murmurs, ignoring me, crossing his arms firmly across his chest.

I gape at the two of them.

Because I can’t believe my ghost handmaid and the Prince I’m in a competition to marry are sitting here, peaceful as all hell, discussing my fiancé.

I groan, wondering if maybe having my energy drained in the Deadlands was preferable to this.