Evaline:
"ROWAN!"
His na tore out of my throat.
My chair screeched loudly against the floor as I jumped to my feet, my heart slamming violently against my ribs. My eyes were glued to him, my mind racing through a thousand possibilities all at once.
"What did you just do?!" I demanded.
Rowan looked... completely calm.
Too calm.
He swallowed once and lightly tapped his chest.
"Well," he said casually, "it’s definitely not stuck in my throat."
My hands trembled as I stepped closer to him.
"You idiot!" I snapped. "That was an experintal pill! I haven’t tested it yet!"
He shrugged.
"Now you have."
"That’s not funny!"
My healing power surged forward instinctively, spilling out of in warm golden waves as I scanned his body. My magic wrapped around him, searching for anything wrong - pill backlash, energy instability, anything.
At first, everything seed normal.
Too normal.
Then suddenly... he swayed.
My breath hitched.
His eyes rolled back slightly. And before I could react... he collapsed.
"ROWAN!"
I lunged forward, barely catching him before he hit the floor. His weight sagged heavily against as I lowered him down, panic exploding through my chest.
"No no no no-!"
My hands moved frantically over him as I pushed more healing energy into his body. Golden light flared around us as my power searched desperately for the problem.
"Rowan, wake up!" My voice cracked. "Rowan!"
He didn’t move. His eyes stayed closed, and his body lay completely limp.
Fear gripped my throat so tightly I could barely breathe.
What if the pill had destabilized his energy?
What if it had triggered sothing in his wolf?
What if-
My vision blurred.
"Please wake up," I whispered shakily.
My healing power surged harder, flooding into him as I tried to stabilize whatever might be going wrong. But my power failed to find anything wrong.
"Rowan, please..."
A tear slipped down my cheek. And then another.
"Don’t do this to ..."
He still didn’t move.
The panic inside my chest turned into sothing heavier. Sothing painful.
"I can’t lose you too," I choked out.
Because that was the truth.
Rowan wasn’t just my friend. He was my family. Neither of us had much of one growing up, and sowhere along the way, we had beco each other’s.
The kind of bond that didn’t need blood - just loyalty, trust, and years of standing by each other.
Which ant the thought of losing him-
"Eva..."
My head jerked up.
Rowan’s eyes were open, and he was staring at . He was very much awake, and looked extrely guilty.
For a second my brain couldn’t process what I was seeing.
Then realization hit .
"You-"
He quickly sat up.
"Okay, okay-don’t panic," he said quickly, raising his hands.
My tears stopped instantly. "You were pretending," I said slowly.
That made him wince. "Technically... yes."
Sothing inside snapped.
"YOU JERK!"
My fist slamd straight into his shoulder.
"Ow-!"
Another hit followed imdiately.
"You absolute idiot!"
Smack.
"Do you have any idea-"
Smack.
"How scared I was?!"
He tried to block the next hit, laughing nervously while backing away.
"Okay! Okay! I deserved that!"
"You deserve worse!"
I swung at him again, but he caught my wrists this ti.
"Eva, stop before you break my ribs!"
"You deserve broken ribs!"
He pulled into a sudden hug before I could attack him again.
"Hey-hey-calm down," he said gently.
But the mont he hugged , the last of my panic ca rushing back. A sob escaped my chest.
"You are such an idiot," I cried, burying my face into his shoulder.
His arms tightened around instantly. "I know," he murmured softly.
My healing power was still swirling around him, scanning his body over and over again.
And this ti... I noticed sothing.
His internal energy - it was different. Stronger. Brighter. More active than before.
He seed to notice my power examining him because he suddenly chuckled quietly.
"You feel that too, right?"
I sniffed, pulling back slightly.
"What?"
He flexed his fingers slowly.
"There’s... sothing different."
My healer instincts sharpened imdiately.
"What do you an?"
He tilted his head, concentrating on the sensation.
"It’s like..." he searched for the words, "...like soone poured fresh fuel into my system."
My heart skipped.
"Energy?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "A lot of it."
Hope flickered faintly inside - the pill... it was working.
Maybe not exactly how I predicted, but it was doing sothing.
"I feel stronger," Rowan added. "Like my body is running at full capacity."
My mind was already racing with possibilities when...
The lab door suddenly slamd open.
Both of us turned... and found Oscar standing at the doorway.
His breathing was slightly uneven, his eyes scanning the room rapidly. And then he saw - still teary-eyed - and his expression darkened imdiately with worry.
"Eva."
The mate bond pulsed strongly between us.
Of course.
He must have felt my panic earlier.
And the bond would have led him straight here.
He crossed the room quickly and gently pulled away from Rowan, wrapping his arms around .
"What happened?" he asked Rowan.
Rowan scratched the back of his neck.
"Well..."
How exactly was he supposed to explain that he had pretended to die as a joke?
"...she got worried," he said vaguely.
Oscar frowned.
"About what?"
Rowan forced a casual shrug.
"She’s been working too hard. So she got overwheld."
That wasn’t entirely a lie. Just... not the whole truth.
Oscar looked unconvinced.
Rowan quickly added, "You just need to cheer her up."
Then he looked at .
"I’ll wait for you back in the dorm."
Before either of us could respond, he walked toward the door.
"Rowan-" Oscar started.
But Rowan had already slipped out.
The door closed behind him, leaving alone with Oscar. His arms were still wrapped around , holding gently but firmly. And he still looked worried.
I quickly wiped the remaining tears from my face.
"I’m okay," I said.
He studied carefully as he spoke, "You were panicking."
"I just got overwheld," I replied quickly. "I’ve been working on potions all day."
His eyes narrowed slightly. He clearly didn’t believe that was the whole story. But he didn’t push.
Instead, he brushed a loose strand of hair away from my face and sighed softly.
"You need to take better care of yourself," he said.
Then his expression softened slightly.
"Co on," he added quietly. "Let’s get you out of this lab for a bit."
Reviews
All reviews (0)