More Than Friends (10 page)

          “Morvere....” she whispered, clenching her eyes tightly shut.  She was fading away.  Faster and faster.  Was day approaching?  Was she changing yet again?  It was her last thought as warm arms closed tenderly around her.

* * * *

          “What ails her?” Arion asked, kneeling beside the fallen woman.  Her ragged garment had been retrieved and draped around her shivering form.

          Raphael looked down at her, his anger building.  “Other than an abundance of pride?  She is injured.  Someone has broken the heart line ... taken her finger.”  He despised the harming of women.  The pack members who had disobeyed his word were being punished even now.  That he knew not who maimed her, and therefore could not exact vengeance, infuriated him beyond measure.

          Arion spared him a look before turning back to examine her.  “Sounds like foul magic to me.”

          “Yes,” Raphael said.  It was undeniable that she was under an enchantment. Magic clung to her dark, caramel skin like an invisible film.  He would have sensed it even if he had not seen her change into the swan near the border firsthand.  He had ordered his men to keep watch.  He had not expected they would give chase.  She’d nearly paid for that misjudgment with her life.

          “It smells unnatural, tainted by some magic.  Illness has set into the wound.  She is likely to die if it worsens.”  Arion looked up at him, his face grave.  “We’ve not the skill to care for humans, let alone one bewitched.”

          Beastmen had no need of healers, for they had the ability to regenerate and heal their own wounds.  “I know of another possibility.  But it cannot be done here.”

          “If it works, you must teach me the skill that can break a spell,” Arion said.

          “If it does, all beasts should learn.”

          He could spare her the indignity of more exposure, but there was no guaranteeing what he planned would even work.  The
kharez
was a phenomenon so rare, he’d only heard of it happening once in the entirety of his life.  His friend, Blasien, had been healed by just such and still knew not the nature of the
kharez
.

          A melding of essence and sexuality--the basis of creation--the powerful healing could only be used between normals and beasts for reasons unknown.  And humans never mixed with their kind unless to kill them.  Certainly never sexually.

          Still, it was the one chance the woman, Swan, had.  If it worked, she would likely kill him when she recovered, but he thought it a small price to pay for life.

          Bending, he gathered her effortlessly into his arms.  She trembled but remained unconscious.  He nodded at Arion as he stood.  “Let us make haste.  We must reach Barakus before the silver moon sets.”