Fated By Starlight by Krista Street

Chapter 28

~ WYATT ~

I grimaced and called upon my alpha magic to shield myself. Power still fired from Avery’s pores, shooting out of her and making me shudder.

Bavar had taken control of the crowd. Most had vacated the immediate area, but some still stood at a barely safe distance while watching the bizarre display.

The only positive aspect was that the purple magic didn’t actually hurt people if it hit them, but damn, it packed a punch. It was enough for me to see stars.

Despite that, I refused to leave her side. “Avery! Avery, open your eyes!” I held her in my arms, her body limp and unresponsive. Steady waves of purple magic shimmered from her skin, knocking into me, making my teeth grit. What the hell is going on?

“We need to get her back to headquarters, to the healing center. Now!” I snapped.

Eliza, who stood twenty feet away, nodded wide-eyed, while Charlotte gaped.

I snarled, my pulse racing. “Who has a portal key?”

I cradled Avery’s body to my chest. Warmth pulsed from her, along with the molten simmering magic. The strange purple light coming from her was so strong. I gritted my teeth again, ignoring the pain the light evoked.

Both Eliza and Charlotte took another step back when a purple wave hit them. Eliza nearly collapsed.

“Anyone?” I shouted. “Who has a portal key?”

“I do.” Bavar jogged toward me from the back of the crowd. He’d just relocated a family with four small children. The fairy reached into his pocket and extracted a key.

“Thank you. I’ll get you a new one.” Everyone knew how precious portal keys were.

Bavar nodded. “I’ll be right behind you. Wes will undoubtedly want a full report about this.”

I didn’t stick around to see what the others were planning to do, not even my wolf friends who I’d invited to join me for the festivities and parties in the capital after the comet.

All of my focus shifted to Avery, who still lay unconscious. I grasped the key and whispered the magical words to activate it, “Open key, for though I ask, I need a door for this new task.”

I imagined where I wanted to go and the world swirled around me. The SF headquarters appeared, the healing center only feet away. The magic dispersed, the portal key I’d been holding disappearing into dust.

I owed Bavar big time.

I dashed inside the healing center, the assault of healing magic swamping the air. But any hope I’d clung to that transferring to a different realm would stop whatever had happened to Avery vanished.

Even traveling to earth hadn’t abated whatever fae lands’ magic had been activated inside her.

I nearly stumbled up the stairs when another thought overtook me.

Maybe magic hadn’t been activated. Maybe somebody had cast a spell on her or conjured a hex. For all I knew, in twenty-four hours, whatever the purple light was could mean Avery wouldn’t be breathing.

An aching chasm opened inside me. No.

I snarled and sprinted faster up the stairs. I knew my eyes were glowing. My wolf was so close, straining to make the shift. He wanted Avery cared for now.

I reached the healing center ward and barreled through the doors, knocking them off their hinges.

A startled witch yelped, but I didn’t stop until I stood in front of her. She looked young and must have been new because I didn’t recognize her.

“Where’s Farrah?” I demanded.

The young witch stuttered and pushed to a stand, her chair swiveling away behind her. “I . . . she’s not on tonight. What’s wrong? Is she hurt?” Her eyebrows pinched together when she studied the purple magic pulsing off Avery. She took a big step back, her eyes rolling back in her head, when a wave hit her, but she didn’t collapse.

I growled again, hairs spearing through the back of my hands. “Get Farrah!”

“Ye—” She cleared her throat, fear rising from her scent, but at least she hadn’t passed out. “Yes, sir.” Her hand wobbled when she reached for her tablet.

Another witch appeared in the hallway, coming from an open doorway. She took one look at me and Avery and pointed to a room. “Bring her in here.”

I blurred into the patient room, unable to control myself. I knew I needed to lay Avery on the bed, but I couldn’t let her go.

The witch eyed me warily. “Major, I can’t help her if you don’t put her down.”

It was only then I realized I was growling. Fuck. I’m a mess.

I set Avery down, loathing to release her, but knowing I had to.

The witch immediately began assessing her, swirling her hands over Avery who still lay unconscious, like death had already claimed her. The healing witch winced when a plume of purple magic hit her.

She gripped the edge of the bed, her knuckles white, until she steadied herself. “What happened?”

“We were in the fae lands, watching the comet, and then . . .” I took a deep breath. My heart raced. “She started asking her squad mates if they felt it. I didn’t know what she meant. She probably didn’t even know I was listening. And then this look of panic came over her, she flew back, and then this pulsing purple magic started shimmering from her skin. She fell unconscious shortly after that.”

“It happened during the comet?” The witch, who I now recognized as Cora, eyed me shrewdly.

“Yes.”

The door burst open, and Farrah—the healing center’s lead witch—bustled in. “What is it? I was told it’s an emergency.”

“It’s Avery Meyers, the ambassador recruit,” Cora replied.

Farrah took one look at Avery and stopped in her tracks. The purple magic continued to shimmer and pulse from her. It rose in undulating waves, like steam rising from a kettle and drifting in a breeze. “When and how did this happen?”

Cora recounted the story I’d just told.

“And your assessment?” Farrah asked, already coming to Avery’s side and waving her hands over her.

“She’s stable, but I don’t recognize this magic. It’s powerful, though. Very powerful.”

“Is it a spell? Or a hex?”

“I’m not sure.”

Farrah winced when a wave burst from Avery’s skin and hit the witch full on. She gasped and stepped back before righting herself. After a moment, she returned to Avery’s side.

“You’re right about the powerful part.” Farrah gave me a pointed look. “Please wait outside. Cora, call Douglas. I need his help.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Cora bobbed her head and pulled out her tablet.

The new witch, the one who I’d scared the socks off when I entered the ward, approached me warily from the hallway. “Please follow me, Major.”

My hackles rose at being removed from the room in which Avery still lay unconscious, but I also knew they couldn’t work with me prowling around them.

Once in the hall, the young witch asked haltingly, “Do you know her next of kin or emergency contacts?”

My heart dropped.

“We should notify them of her condition, just in case.”

Just in case.

It felt as if the earth tilted off its axis.

I took a step back, my brain refusing to function. No. This couldn’t be happening. Avery couldn’t be seriously ill. I won’t let that happen, dammit!

I took a menacing step toward the door, but the young witch stepped in my path. “Please, Major. We need your help to help her.”

She looked at me imploringly, and I knew that she’d sensed my wolf growing even more agitated, yet she was giving me a job to do, and right now, I desperately needed something to do.

“Of course. I’ll access her files and notify her emergency contacts.”

“Thank you.”

The door at the end of the hall opened, and Douglas, one of the SF’s head sorcerers strode in. The young witch pointed to Avery’s room, and Douglas headed inside.

I backed up against the wall, my entire body shaking. With a shattering breath, I pulled out my phone. I’d left my tablet in my apartment, not thinking I would need it on a night off, but I kept all of my new recruits’ information on my personal device as well. Now, I thanked the Gods I’d done that.

Although the fact that I was needing to access those files . . .

No. She will be fine!

I couldn’t contemplate a world in which Avery Meyers didn’t exist.