Get Her Mate

*Hezzlie*

James has Abby stretched out on a table in the infirmary. I watch from across the room, my hands trembling as I hear him shouting to Elise, the same woman I was attempting to protect from my cursed friend right before I hit her with my powers.

I didn’t do anything that should’ve hurt her, though. I mean, I don’t have a huge amount of control over my powers now, I guess. I probably shouldn’t be able to, anyway, but I didn’t hit her with a ball of fire like I did Zeb, and that didn’t even kill him. I was thinking shield, like to stop her from hurting me or anyone else, but she crumpled like a wet paper bag, and now, James is saying her heart isn’t beating.

Tears slide down my cheeks. I don’t know if I killed any of those guards I hit with my magic during our escape. I’d preferred not to think about it. It’ll be much more difficult not to think about this if Abby dies.

Now, I’ll have a pretty good idea how Mara feels, although it would be different if I killed my mother.

My mother… I bet she’s out training with Veronica again. Neither one of them have the mind-link, at least not to this pack, so  in order for Mom and the other witch in the house to know that there’s a problem, I’ll need to use my phone. 

My hand is shaking as I pull it out of my pocket and raise it to my ear. She doesn’t answer right away, and I’m afraid Veronica won’t let her take the call, but then I remember my mama isn’t going to ignore a call from me, and it doesn’t matter who’s telling her to ignore it. “Hezzlie?” she finally says. “Is everything okay?”

“No, Mom,” I say, crying more heavily now. “I… I did something to Abby. Can you get Veronica to come to the infirmary? I don’t know what happened. I think… I think I might’ve killed her.”

Mom swears  under her breath, not in anger, but in surprise. “Yes, baby. We’ll be there right away.”

“Thank you.” I put my phone away just as the door to the hospital room opens. At first, I think Veronica must’ve used some sort of spell to spirit them here, but then I see that it’s not them.

It’s Rowan, and his eyebrows are practically touching as he surveys the situation. He looks concerned, but not mad.

Still, I remember what it was like before, when he got so mad at me over merely existing. I don’t move toward him, even though my wolf is begging me to bury my head in his chest. I can’t bring myself to do that just yet. Instead, I just stand there with my arms wrapped around my body. He comes to me, grabs me, and pulls me against his chest.

“It’ll be all right, Hezzlie,” he whispers into my hair. “It’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” I sob. I hear James shout something else to Elise, but it doesn’t sound like anything that means Abby is doing better. “What if I killed her?”

“I can’t imagine you would do that,” Rowan whispers. “I mean… are you sure this is your fault?”

“It has to be,” I sputter. “She lunged at me, like she was trying to protect James from me. I saw a sparkle of something, some kind of magic, around her, and I knew that she has to be under Alistair’s spell. I didn’t know what else to do, so I tried to put a bubble around her to keep her from hurting me or Elise, but she just fell to the floor.”

“Is it possible Alistair built in some sort of self-destruct mode?” he asks me. “Maybe she was sent here to get to James, probably to kill him in his sleep if I had to guess, and the spell was set to kill her if she failed so that no one would ever find out that Solomon is still trying to infiltrate my kingdom.”

His words make sense, but I don’t know how to respond to him. I’d like to blame this on Alistair, but I also don’t want anything bad to happen to my friend. 

Shaking my head, I look up at him. “There’s got to be something we can do to save her.” 

He brushes my tears away. “James is doing everything he can, I’m sure.”

“It won’t be enough.”

Veronica’s voice sweeps through the room as she walks in, my mother right behind her.

Rowan turns to face her. “Do you know what this is?”

The witch lets out a long sigh and nods. “It’s a love spell. They’re quite powerful.” She walks over to where James is doing chest compressions. “She’s not dead.”

“Her heart isn’t beating,” Elise says as James continues to pump, not paying any mind to the newest person to enter the small room. “She’s not breathing.”

“She’s been locked in a state that doesn’t allow for animation. She’ll be that way indefinitely, until we break the spell,” Veronica explains. “Thankfully, if what Hezzlie has told me is true, we should be able to wake her up with no problem.”

“How’s that?” Rowan asks. James hasn’t stopped working on Abby, even though she’s been exactly the same for at least ten minutes now, and none of his efforts have accomplished anything.

“You said you know who her mate is?” Veronica asks me.

I nod. “Yes.”

“Get him,” she insists.

I look around the room, not sure how to proceed. Dean is going to want to kill me when he sees what happened, and I couldn’t blame him. I know Rowan will defend me, but I don’t want the two of them to fight. He probably won’t want to let everyone in the room know that Abby is his mate.

“The quicker the better,” Veronica says.

I nod again, but my feet don’t move. 

“I’m getting him,” Rowan says. He’s switched into king mode. “When Dean gets here, no one tells him what happened, got it? We’ll tell him later. For now, we just need him to do whatever it is Veronica says he has to do without making him freak out. Got it?”

Everyone in the room nods except for Veronica. Instead, she lets her mouth turn up in a small smile. At least, she doesn’t seem worried about Abby. But then, would she really care if Abby died?

“James, you’re wasting your efforts,” Rowan tells his healer. “I know you want to save her, but if it hasn’t worked in the last several minutes, it’s not going to, right?”

James looks over his shoulder at first but then nods. “I guess you’re right.” He stops pumping on Abby’s chest and steps off to the side. “What did you tell Dean?”

“That there’s been an accident. Abby needs him in the infirmary.” Rowan’s tone is eerily calm. I take a deep breath and wrap my arms around his. My mom lets out a little whimper and comes over to my other side and hugs me the best she can with me holding onto Rowan like he’s my lifeline. I wrap my other arm around Mom’s shoulders.

A few minutes later, I hear Dean’s footsteps tearing down the hallway. He pushes the door open so hard, it bangs against the wall. “What the fuck is going on?” Then, he sees Abby on the bed, unmoving, pale, and not breathing. “Holy fuck!”

“You just need to kiss her, and she’ll be fine,” Veronica says with a teasing lilt to her voice no one appreciates.

“Is she… dead?” Dean asks, his voice full of despair.

“It's a magic spell,” the witch explains. “Kiss her, and it’ll break–assuming she’s your mate.”

He turns and looks at me for the first time, and I feel like a trader. I can’t look at him, so I drop my gaze.

Dean runs a hand through his unruly dark curls and walks to the bed. James and Elise retreat. He sits next to Abby, and brushes her hair back from her face. “She’s fucking cold as ice,” Dean tells us. No one says anything. 

With a deep breath, he lowers his head and presses his lips against Abby’s, and all of us wait. I pray to the Moon Goddess and anyone and everyone who could be listening to save my friend.

It takes a moment. A long one. But then, Abby gasps, sucking in air, and I can see she’s moving again. She coughs a few times, blinks, and then looks up at Dean confused.

She tries to sit up, and Dean helps her. “What’s going on?” she asks. She looks around the room, but her view is partially blocked by Dean. “Why are you here? Where’s James? And why the fuck did Hezzlie try to kill me?”

My eyes bulge as Dean turns to look at me, and I see nothing but rage in his eyes.