The urge to scream out in dread was right there on the tip of her tongue, but Abel dropped down next to Rowena—butt-ass naked—grabbing both her and Kerrigan around the waist to pull them back out of the way.
“Y'all get back. He's about to shift, and we don't know how he's gonna react to whatever witchy woo-woo stuff you did.”
“Witchy woo-woo stuff? You're such a dickhead!” Juliet seethed, even as she scuttled back on her hands and feet, barely escaping the claws that lashed her way as Uriah rolled to his belly with a horrible keening whine.
Unlike all the times before, Uriah's shift from bear to man was rough. His bones cracked and twisted, his body thrashing this way and that as everything folded in on itself.
His fur fell away in patches, leaving a hideous, bony beast that looked emaciated and starved, crouched in a painful-looking huddle on the bloody ground.
It seemed like it took hours for Uriah to make the transition, but it happened. On his hands and knees, Uriah shuddered, shaking himself like he'd just emerged from a deep pool of water, and looked up with wild, uncertain eyes.
“Wuuaaugh! What the fuck? What the hell just happened?”
Ivy wanted to laugh and rejoice. He wasn't lying there, dead in her arms, but her lips were too dry. Her mouth was clumsy, not able to form words. She couldn't feel her hands, the voices of people speaking around her sounded as though they were coming from the other end of a tunnel, competing with the tinny ringing in her ears.
The light brightened all around her, spinning in dizzying circles. She felt herself moving so fast, like she'd been pushed down a soapy slide, falling... falling so fast.
At least her leg didn't hurt so bad now.
*****
Uriah came to, his skin burning, every hair follicle on fire; the scent of his own blood so thick in his nose it was a wonder he wasn't swimming in it. He felt like he'd just suffered the most heinous body waxing experience, and had every single hair ripped out of his skin. As he looked around, for the life of him, he couldn't remember why he was here or where here even was.
He felt like he'd come to do something, though. Something important.
“Easy, big guy,” a familiar voice told him. “You're fine.”
Uriah blinked, his vision blurry and... sparkly? Shaking himself to try and get rid of the feeling of being hairless in all the wrong places.
“Wuuaaugh! What the fuck? What the hell just happened?”
“Well, hon, you threw down with a forest god who had a head full of pokey stabby bits, and you kinda lost.” Why was there a pink-haired woman kneeling next to a pretty red-haired dude holding an eyedropper?
Uriah was about to demand more answers, but a shuddering gasp drew his attention, and he looked into the most beautiful glass green eyes he'd ever seen.
His bear roared urgently inside his head, his skull vibrating with the volume. MATE! MATE HURTS!
There wasn't a doubt in his mind the beautiful woman with green eyes was his. He felt that clear through to his soul, but why was her skin ashen? Why was she wearing a white dress splattered with blood? Why was she—
FALLING! His bear bellowed, and Uriah lurched forward to catch her as those gorgeous eyes of hers rolled back in her head.
The moment his arms wrapped around her and drew her to his bare chest, the entire universe spun around and settled with the most satisfying feeling in the world.
But the sight of a huge vine with thorns as big as his fingers wound around his mate's mangled leg? That was the most fucked up thing he'd ever seen.
He felt himself sliding into feral territory, his entire being rebelling at the mere thought of her having been hurt. Hurt so badly he could see broken bones sticking up out of her skin, and that fucker with the red hair and the scar on his face was too goddamn close.
Uriah hunched over his mate, feeling his jaw snap and elongate, saliva dripping down his chin as his teeth erupted into fangs that mangled his jaw and made it impossible to communicate with anything other than snarls and growls.
“Easy, brother,” the redhead told him soothingly. “I need to give Ivy the rest of this before it loses its potency. I tried to get her to take it earlier, but she wasn't going to believe me that you'd be fine until she saw it with her own eyes. Okay? She's bleeding out. The thorns severed an artery, and if I don't get this in her soon, she'll be past my help.”
Ivy. That was her name. His Ivy. His honey. Uriah looked down at her, his heart twisting in his chest. She was barely breathing now, completely limp in his embrace. Dying. He could feel her dying.
“Careful, bro. You're about to lose more than a hand if you get any closer.” Uriah scented the thick, offensive musk of feline and turned his head to see another naked shifter between two females, watching him with predatory readiness.
The redhead made a move.
Uriah's head snapped around to glare at him, but the male only held up the thing in his hand.
“I won't touch her, I promise. I just need to drop this in her eyes. Can you open them for me?”
Yes, Uriah wanted her eyes open. He wanted to see her beautiful eyes looking up at him, knowing he was her mate. He would keep her safe now; no more thorny vines would tangle around her delicate flesh to tear and break.
He lifted his hand toward her face but saw his fingers were tipped with thick black claws, his bear too close to the surface. He made a furious sound of frustration, and the pink-haired female made a gentle sound in answer.
“Uriah, it's me. It's Juliet. I know you're more than a little freaked out, but I swear to you, no one is going to hurt Ivy. We need to help her. She's my sister, remember? Your hands look a little messed up right now. Will you let me help?”
Juliet. Sister, not a threat. Uriah still wasn't sure about the redhead, but the sister could help. She took the dropper thing from the sketchy guy with the scar on his face, talking to Uriah in those slow, soothing murmurs while she carefully leaned closer and pulled one of Ivy's eyelids open.
“Careful! Only three drops in each eye, and we have to get the vine off before we set her leg,” the redhead said.
“I got it,” Juliet snapped back, not with the same gentle tone she used with Uriah.
Juliet didn't like the redhead. Her scent reeked of so many conflicting emotions, Uriah couldn't tell which one was most important, but she wanted to help Ivy. Wanted to help Uriah's mate, so he let her.
He watched as Juliet put three drops of silvery liquid into Ivy's eyes. “Okay, big guy. This next part is gonna suck. We have to do it to help Ivy. You want that, right? You want us to help Ivy?”
Casting a quick, suspicious glance around at the different faces surrounding him, Uriah nodded, still hunched protectively over his mate. He stroked her hair with his clumsy hand, lifting her higher against his chest so he could rub his face into the soft, silky strands.
“Good, that's really good. I get that your bear is in the driver's seat, but you have to let us do this, or Ivy will wake up and be in terrible pain.”
“No pain!” he managed to snarl, the words thick and garbled.
Juliet smiled encouragingly, passing a wicked sharp blade to the redhead. “Good. We don't want Ivy to be in pain either. Ilex is going to cut the vine away; he's not trying to cop a feel on your mate. This is Ivy's brother, Ilex. You remember, don't you?”