Zio darted forward and shoved the soldier’s hands away. “Don’t touch him!”
The soldier smiled. “Why not?”
“He’s mymate.”
“Of course he is. Now save him, Zio. Only you can.”
Zio crawled across the cold cage floor. He pulled Devan into his lap, noting the coldness of his skin, the grey tinge, his slack muscles. “He’s dead.”
“He’snot. If he was dead, you’d feel it. Reach out, Zio. Your wolf knows who you’ve lost today—brothers, sisters, friends, but not your mate. NotDevan.”
Helplessness warred with defeat, but authority laced the soldier’s words, overriding all else.
Zio gasped, sensing the weight in every nerve. “You’re an alpha.”
The soldier nodded. “I am. And you will heed my orders and save your mate.”
It wasn’t an order Zio needed. His soul cried out for hope. He looked down at Devan again and laid his palm over his heart.
A faint pulse greeted him. Zio gasped again. “He’s alive.”
“Because of you.”
“How? What’s wrong with him? I can’t see any injuries.”
“They shot him with a human gun. His body healed the flesh injury, but he was too weak to recover from the blood loss.”
The new voice startled Zio. He threw a glance over his shoulder.
A girl as filthy and bloodied as Devan crouched in the corner. “You were separated with an unfulfilled bond,” she said. “If the bond is too strong to be ignored, it can kill a shifter, especially one with a catastrophic injury who’s already exhausted from healing a hundred wolves.”
Zio swung a panicked gaze to the Shadow Clan alpha. “Is that true? He can’t heal because of me?”
“It’s not you, Zio. It’s the bond. It was stronger than anyone realised, even without completion. But none of that matters now. We can talk about it later. Rightnow, you need to heal your mate.”
“I’m not a healer.”
“For him, you are, always.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Keep your hands on him. And sunlight. We need sunlight.”
Zio slid his arms beneath Devan and lifted him from the ground. Skin touched skin. Warmth flared... for Zio, at least.
He followed the alpha back along the corridor, the strange girl at his back. An enemy wolf surged out of the darkness. The alpha cut him down with a wave of his hand. Wolf bones crunched. Blood spattered. It was over in an instant, and they kept moving.
The time it took to get above ground seemed a fraction of how long it had taken to descend, and they emerged into bright winter sun.
In the courtyard, the dead enemy wolves had been piled in a corner, guarded by clan shifters. Milling around were a dozen new faces, some slightly built, with blond hair and blue eyes like their alpha, others dark and hulking.
The alpha pointed to the path that led to the bungalow—and the bed Zio had so briefly shared with Devan. “Take him home. Stay with him every moment. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Zio kept walking. In his arms, Devan weighed nothing, as if life had left him and he’d chased after it, leaving Zio to tie him down to the world. New panic seized Zio. What if—
Three wolves appeared from nowhere, blocking Zio’s path. Threebrothers.Danielo, Michael, and... Bomber, standing strong and proud on three legs.
Danielo shifted back, his hand a steady weight on Zio’s shoulders. “Varian’s taken a force to secure the border. Shadow Clan have moved out to protect the township and beyond.”