Raising her hands to rub the crust from her eyes, she blinked up at the rock above her. Her memory was spotty, though her mind felt clearer than it had in longer than she could say.
Glancing around the small cave she lay in, the first thing Autumn’s eyes landed on was a bottle sitting beside the bed. While she was still thirsty, it wasn’t the driving need that had plagued her since Vargan gave her the sleeping potion, and Autumn could feel the faint stir of hunger as well.
Reaching out, she gripped the neck of the bottle to bring it to her lips, but it was too heavy for her weakened state and slipped through her fingers. She heard the bottle shatter on the stone floor, tears springing to her eyes as her arm trembled.
Someone was beside her seconds later, though Autumn didn’t look up until the familiar comforting scent of wood smoke with a touch of honey surrounded her.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll get you another.”
Concerned blue eyes looked down at her as he smoothed her hair away from her face. There were worry lines creasing his brow and framing his firm lips, dark bags showing under his eyes.
“Darcon?”
Snippets of memory hit her. His scent flooding her lungs as his cloak wrapped around her to keep her warm. His strong arms cradling her against his broad chest as he purred for her.
His eyes lit up when Autumn said his name, and he gave her a smile.
“Good girl. There you are.”
She flinched at the term that had filled her with warmth before, his face clouding with worry.
“You’re safe. Let me get Freida and another bottle.”
He slipped from her side before she could protest. She wanted to call him back, but her voice was a bare whisper that wouldn’t be heard beyond the bed she lay in.
It seemed like mere seconds before she heard hurried footsteps outside the red curtain covering the entrance. The fabric was thrown back, Freida’s flushed face staring at her as she paused in the doorway before rushing over.
“Oh, dearie! Ye gave us a fright.”
Freida reached for her like she wanted to hug Autumn before pulling back and ringing her hands.
“Do ye need anythin’? Are ye hurtin’?”
Autumn couldn’t help smiling up at Freida. She’d grown close to the woman and knew she had likely worried herself sick when Autumn went missing.
“I’m fine. If I could just…”
She struggled to push herself up so she wasn’t lying flat, but her arms were too weak. Freida’s arm gently circled her shoulders, helping her lean forward before building up the pillows behind her to support her body.
“There ye go, child. Darcon will be back in a moment with some water, I just couldn’t wait to see ye awake.”
Autumn had to clear her throat before she could speak.
“How long was I out?”
Freida’s face clouded and Autumn knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Ye were missin’ for over a week, and when the boys rescued ye…”
Freida shook her head, wringing her hands again.
“Ye were weak as a newborn kitten. If they hadn’t gotten to ye when they did… Darcon rushed ye back here, and the healer had t’ dose ye twice to stop the poison. We worried…”
She trailed off, looking over Autumn’s head before focusing on her again.
“Ye’ve been sleepin’ ten days straight.”
Autumn glanced down at her hands, shocked by how prominent her bones were. It didn’t make sense that such a change happened in little more than three weeks.
“Vargan gave ye Nightblossom milk. It makes a man sleep, but it wreaks havoc on omegas. The organs slow, there’s dehydration, lack of appetite, weakness, and delirium.”
Autumn looked back up at Freida. She could see the concern in the older woman’s eyes. If the rest of her looked as bad as her hands and arms, she didn’t blame her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Darcon
Darcon paused outside the curtain, taking a moment to suck in the first easy breath he’d taken in weeks. It felt like a mountain had been lifted from his shoulders.
He didn’t get two steps down the tunnel before he ran into Freida. The woman checked on Autumn constantly, fussing over her like a mother hen.
“She’s awake.”
Those two words made her face light up, her hands clapping over her breast as her eyes filled with tears. Dashing them away, she hurried past him, desperate to see with her own eyes.
Darcon noticed the others in the main cavern when he slipped in to grab another bottle. If it had just been the men, he would have ignored them, but he couldn’t pass the women without telling them Autumn was finally awake.
Two pairs of eyes stared up at him with a mixture of hope and fear as he approached them. Iris had been by Autumn’s side almost as much as him, but her sister Rayne had handled her worry by throwing herself into proving to the Andtay that she was just as alpha as any of the male warriors. She only came to see Autumn once, when she first arrived with the rest of the people migrating to their clan, but he knew how concerned she was.
He repeated the words that kept playing through his head.
“She’s awake.”
Eyes widened before chairs scraped and everyone stood at once. Rayne was faster than the others, sprinting toward his cave with Iris following close behind.
Darcon turned and followed the women, ignoring Kull and Aesir as they made their way down the tunnel. He worried that having so many people rush her right after she woke would wear her out, but he couldn’t stop any of them when they’d all been so worried.
Freida was slipping out of the cave when he made it back, feminine voices inside letting him know her family was already in with her. He knew he should give them some time alone, but he couldn’t force himself to stay out any longer. He’d already been gone from her side more than he cared to be.
Using the bottle of water he carried as his excuse to enter, he pushed through the curtain hung across the entrance. Iris and Rayne sat on each side of the bed, holding Autumn’s hands.
The sight of Autumn’s sister, who looked so much like her, sitting right beside Autumn, made the damage done by the Nightblossom milk more obvious. His chest clenched at how frail and weak Autumn looked beside the healthy alpha. Autumn looked better than she had when he first brought her back, but it would take a while to erase the signs of her ordeal.
Moving to her side, he held the bottle out for her take a drink of water when she turned to look up at him. Her hands shook as she tried to hold it herself, so he kept his grip on it, steadying the bottle as he let her guide it to her mouth.
Autumn gave him a smile when she finished, though he could see sadness in her green eyes. She didn’t like being seen as weak, but she knew she needed the help and wasn’t going to fight it.
Kull and Aesir had remained by the opening, waiting for the women to finish talking to Autumn before taking their turn to greet her. While Darcon allowed her family to sit on the bed with her, he bared his teeth at the other alphas and let out a warning growl when they got too close to the bed.
Aesir quirked a brow at him but stopped, knowing Darcon was still too close to the edge to risk irritating. While nothing had been said aloud, both Aesir and Kull seemed to accept Autumn was his, and weren’t going to risk his temper when he’d been stressed for so long.