Into the Light (21 page)

She opened the door a crack and peeked outside. Whatever she saw was to her satisfaction, because she opened it wider and motioned for them to follow. Tanner picked up Sofia, who had finally stopped crying, and led his mother and Lisa and her pup out of the warded room. He felt the telltale shimmer of magic as they left the protection of the magical ward, and he had to resist the urge to shift just because he could.

“This way,” Olivia said, and they followed her around the corner of the building. There was an open area of lawn, approximately a dozen yards in length, and then a dense wall of trees. The beach house, the cliff, and the lake beyond were on the other side of the barn.

“Into the trees,” Olivia called, and she lifted her skirt and ran. Tanner muttered under his breath and then herded Lisa and his mother in front of him. He took up the rear, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to ensure they were not being followed. The rest were under the cover of the trees, and he was just about to slip out of the open area when he heard the cry.

“They’ve escaped! The shifters have escaped!”

He glanced over his shoulder to see that a large bevy of lightbearers was running toward them, and then he turned forward and put on a burst of speed. He reached Olivia and grabbed her arm.

“Go back,” he commanded. “You don’t need to be involved in this. We can take care of ourselves.”

She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and gave him her signature stubborn look. “Do not be an idiot,” she snapped. “I have lived here my entire life. I know these woods. You need me to get you out of here. Now come
on
.” She began to run again.

Tanner gave himself a moment to lament the fact that his small pack was comprised of two young pups and therefore they could not shift into animals to escape. It was just as he feared when he refused to take Freddy and Lisa with him when he’d rescued Olivia from his father. Except this time, it was lightbearers after them, not shifters.

He heard the
whoosh
of air as an arrow breezed past his head, and then he heard the cry of distress as the arrow hit a mark.

“Mother,” he shouted as he shifted Sofia into the other arm so he could catch his mother as she collapsed. An arrow, shimmering with lightbearer magic, had gone clean through her left shoulder. She gritted her teeth in pain as Tanner eased her onto the ground. He heard the sounds of more arrows being released and barked at everyone to take cover as he crouched low to the ground with Sofia hidden beneath his far larger body.

There was a cry of pain that felt as if his very soul was being ripped from his body. He turned and watched—as if it were playing in slow motion—as Olivia stood and waved her arms, trying to pull the attention of their pursuers. He heard her call out in greeting. He saw the shocked look on her face as the first arrow pierced her body. Shock turned to a grimace of pain as a second arrow reached its mark.

There were shouts—“Princess?” “Olivia?” “Cease fire!”

Someone roared, and Tanner vaguely comprehended that it was him. Lisa appeared at his side, clutching her pup to her chest. She crouched next to him and did a quick review of Olivia’s injuries. Tanner knelt on the ground, Olivia’s battered body in his arms. He was not even aware of changing his position.

Lisa stood and rushed toward the nearest lightbearer guard. They were advancing now, slowly, unsure of how to proceed, what to do. Lisa reached out and grabbed a fistful of the guy’s shirt.

“Get a healer,” she growled.

The man looked confused.

“Now!” Lisa shouted, and she flung the guy away from her. He stumbled away, bumped into one of his fellow guards. They had a quick, hushed conversation. The other guard’s head shot up, his face horrified as he watched Tanner cradle Olivia in his arms. Then they both turned and dashed away.

The remaining lightbearers continued to advance slowly, but Tanner was not paying them any mind. He was solely focused on Olivia, on her belabored breathing, the blood seeping from her limp body, the gray pallor of her skin. One arrow had pierced her chest, another her side, just below her rib cage. She was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.

She gurgled and foamy spittle bubbled out of her mouth. Tanner cupped her face with both hands and stared at her. “Do not die, Olivia,” he commanded, as if he could will her to live. “Don’t die on me.”

The strangest thing happened. Tanner and Olivia both began to glow steadily, the brightness increasing with each passing second. He could feel the lightbearer magic, hot and potent and most of all, healing.

“He’s glowing,” someone said, the voice full of awe. “Are you sure he is a shifter?”

“That’s lightbearer magic,” someone else added.

Lisa crouched next to him again. He did not release his concentration. He was not precisely certain what was happening, but Olivia’s face was not nearly as gray, and her breathing was less labored. He was afraid to let go, afraid to stop whatever he was doing.

“Tanner, you’re healing her. You have magic.” Lisa sounded perplexed.

Tanner shook his head and still clung to Olivia. “Not me,” he said with a gasp, aware that his own body ached as if he’d been shot with magical arrows. “Her magic.”

“Dane said lightbearers cannot heal themselves, remember? You’re doing this, Tanner.”

He didn’t care, so long as someone, something, somehow, Olivia was saved.

You’re going to be my mate
, Tanner thought fiercely, and the magic encompassing he and Olivia glowed just a little brighter. The idea did not make him nervous or frighten him in any way.

This is what I want
, he thought as he continued to hold her face, continued to will her to live.
I want Olivia. I want to be her mate. I want to spend the rest of my days making this woman happy
. The irony that she was on the brink of death at the moment did not escape him.

A female with the typical blonde hair and blue eyes that marked the lightbearers came sprinting through the undergrowth, a guard jogging by her side. Her eyes were sharp as she assessed the situation. The guard was much larger than most lightbearers, as large as the average shifter, and as much as the female surveyed the scene, he kept his eyes firmly on her.

The woman dropped to her knees next to Tanner, staring at him rather than at Olivia, who was lying limply in his arms, barely hanging on. Without losing his focus, he asked, “Are you the healer?”

She did not answer him directly. “How are you doing that?” she asked instead. “You are a shifter. Yet—yet—you are using lightbearer magic.
Healing
magic.” She sounded utterly fascinated.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he growled, hating to admit it, but willing to do or say anything to save Olivia. “Help me.”

“Of course,” the woman said, suddenly all business. She scooted closer. Tanner noticed the hulk who had jogged up with her tensed.

“I won’t hurt her,” Tanner said to the hulk.

“I know,” the man said, and Tanner understood what he did not say:
If you do, I’ll hurt you
. Whatever their relationship, these two were intimate in some way, at least in the hulk’s mind.

“I am Alexa Cymbeline,” the woman said distractedly as she inspected the two arrows still protruding from Olivia’s body. “That is Jake Azenor. He is a guard, but he has natural healing abilities, like Olivia. Do not be alarmed if he steps in to help at some point. He is very good at detecting when I am at my limit.”

Tanner didn’t doubt it. Jake’s eyes were possessive as he watched Alexa do her work. Tanner had the distinct impression Jake would like nothing more than to whisk Alexa away to a desert island somewhere and keep her all to himself.

He could relate to the feeling.

“I am going to pull out the arrows,” Alexa said. “Your touch appears to sooth her, so I want you to hold tight and don’t let go.”

Tanner did as she said. She sent a burst of magic into each arrow, shrinking them so that they pulled cleanly from Olivia’s body with no effort whatsoever. Tanner breathed a sigh of relief when Alexa tossed the second one to the ground.

“Okay, let me take it from here.” She glanced up, gave Tanner a sharp look. “I do not understand how you did it, but thank you. You most likely saved our princess’ life. Personally, I am doubly indebted to you, as she is also my friend. Now step away and let me finish what you started.”

Tanner reluctantly released his hold on Olivia. As he stood up, he said, “Save her.” It was a command, but he did not care at the moment.

“I will,” Alexa promised without looking up from her patient. “I will.” She was determined.

Tanner believed her.

“Are all shifters as hot as you?”

Tanner gave her a startled look and she grinned.

“Body temperature, I mean.” Alexa fanned herself and then waved at the French doors that led out to the balcony. The doors flung open and a cool breeze swirled into the room.

They were at the beach house, in Olivia’s private chamber. Once Alexa had healed Olivia enough that she felt safe moving her body, Tanner scooped her up and followed Alexa back to the house. When the guards made an attempt to stop him, Alexa’s sharp tongue informed them that it was her decision to have Tanner carry the princess back to the beach house. At that point, Jake had turned and glared at his fellow guards, all but daring them to challenge the healer.

“Much better,” Alexa said on a sigh as she turned into the cool breeze.

“Yes,” Tanner said, deciding to take her question at face value. “Our body temperature is naturally several degrees warmer than a typical human or lightbearer.”

“Fascinating,” she murmured. She eyed him as if she wanted to perform surgical experiments on him. For all he knew, she probably did. Shifters didn’t have resident healers, so he had no idea what made them tick.

Olivia stirred and Tanner immediately turned away from the healer to focus on the woman lying in the bed.

“She’s fine,” Alexa said dismissively. “She just needs to rest, probably overnight.” Then she frowned. “Has she been healing people, despite the fact that she hasn’t been properly trained?”

“Why do you ask?”

Alexa waved at the sleeping lightbearer. “There is poison in her system. I would guess it is a week old, maybe longer, but it’s poison, nonetheless.”

Tanner stared at her, as he tried to comprehend what she said. “My mother,” he blurted. “She healed my mother.”

“Was she poisoned?”

“Sort of. She was actually poisoning herself, to keep from getting pregnant.”

Alexa’s eyes widened. “She used an herbal mix.” She nodded, already determining the answer.

Tanner nodded.

“That is okay for an occasional, short-term fix, but that was a hell of a lot of poison in Olivia’s body, and like I said, it’s at least a week old, so most of it has dissipated. What was your mother thinking?”

“That her mate was a bastard with tainted blood, and she did not want to pass along his genes to any other offspring.”

“Oh.” Alexa looked abashed. “Well you seem to have turned out okay. I mean, you saved Olivia, when, according to the legends, you should want to kill her instead.”

“I am nothing like my father,” Tanner growled. Suddenly, it registered what Alexa was saying about the poison in Olivia’s body.

“Are you saying that she somehow soaked up the poison from my mother’s body when she healed her?” He stared at her, disbelief etched into every sharp line and plain of his face.

Alexa looked pleased by his assessment. “That is exactly what I am saying,” she confirmed. “That is how a healer works. We are born with a natural ability to heal others. When we do so, our bodies absorb the pain, sickness, injury, whatever, so the other person is fixed. Then our bodies eventually eat away at the sickness and pain until it just disappears. She undoubtedly slept like the dead after healing your mother and probably hasn’t been in top form since.”

Since Tanner hadn’t known Olivia before she healed his mother, he couldn’t really say whether she was in top form or not. “She definitely slept like the dead afterward. Both times.”

Alexa shook her head. “She is not properly trained. I wish the king would simply relent. It is possible to be a princess
and
a healer, you know.”

Tanner hoped it was possible to be all that and a shifter’s mate too.

“Is she going to be okay?” he asked uncertainly.

“Of course,” Alexa replied, as if he’d insulted her. “I’ve absorbed most of what was left in her system. She may be sterile for a little while longer, but it will not be long and she will be good as new.”

“Sterile?”

Alexa waved her hand over Olivia’s sleeping form. “Those poisons. They are doing to Olivia what your mother intended for them to do to her own body, at least until they dissipate entirely.”

For the first time since their relationship had deepened, Tanner realized the two of them had been sleeping together exceedingly often—without any form of protection against pregnancy. The thought of Olivia becoming pregnant with his pup hadn’t even occurred to him. He had been too damn eager just to couple with her, consequences be damned.

Now that he was thinking about it, he absorbed Alexa’s words and felt oddly deflated. It was a strange feeling for a man who never intended to procreate in the first place. He should feel relieved they hadn’t accidentally created a pup together. Instead, he felt an odd sadness for the pup that never was.

There was a sharp knock on the outer door, and Alexa excused herself to answer it. When she returned to the bedchamber, the large blond lightbearer named Jake trailed behind her. Tanner had been surprised that Jake allowed Alexa to be alone in the chamber with him, based solely on the way he constantly hovered protectively around her. But shortly after they’d arrived at the beach house, another guard appeared and informed Jake that the king wished to speak to him, and after a whispered conversation with Alexa, he’d left Alexa and Tanner alone with the sleeping princess.

Jake paused in the entry and took his time sizing up Tanner before stating, “The king demands an audience, shifter.”