Deadlands (The Healer Series, #2) (13 page)

“I’ll watch for goblins,” Declan said and sat near the opening, being careful not to let the rain touch him. Chase went to the back of the cave and turned his back from everyone, lying down, apparently sulking. Willow breathed deeply, trying to slow her heart from running so fast in such a short time.

“Does using your magic m
ake you tired?” Willow asked Elirana after a while.

“I have never had to influence so many elements in such a short time,” she responded lazily.

“So…that’s a yes?”

Elirana’s lips quirked up. “Yes.”

“Me too,” Willow leaned her head back against the cave wall and closed her eyes.

“I’m worried about him,” Elirana whispered beside her. Willow almost thought she imagined Elirana saying it, so she opened her eyes to find Elirana watching her carefully in the dark.

“Don’t worry, I healed him. He’s fine. Besides, Werewolves are born with natural healing capabilities.”

“No.
It’s not that. It’s just…why won’t he turn back into human form?” Elirana said. “It worries me.”

Ah-ha! So she
was
worried about him! Willow knew it, but she tried to act cool and give nothing away when she responded. “Because Chase isn’t the brooding type? I’m sure he’s fine. He probably just doesn’t want to walk around naked.” If Willow started getting sentimental on the Elf, she wouldn’t open up and share her feelings. She tried giving an obvious answer first.

“I can’t be with him, Willow Rose,” Elirana addressed her seriously
and Willow’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “It didn’t work in the past. It cannot work now. He needs to get over me.”

“What do you mean
it didn’t work in the past?” she asked slowly, hoping Elirana would elaborate. To her surprise, a tear fell from Elirana’s crystal teal eyes as she looked at Chase. Deep breathing was coming from the wolf. Chase was fast asleep. At least, it appeared that way. Declan was leaning on the cave wall with his hands locked around his knees in a casual sitting position, constantly searching through the sizzling rain, her very sexy knight in shining armor (now shirtless), was on the lookout.

“How much do you know of the Elven ways?” Elirana asked her.

“None other than the differences between your kind and Fey,” she responded. “You do not conform to this world as the Fairies do. The Fairies are more wicked, in my opinion. The Elves keep to themselves in a realm that only the very privileged get to see. Your people are mysterious and…” she trailed off, stopping herself to say what was about to come out of her mouth.

“And what? Yo
u can say it, I will not get upset.”

“Selfish and greedy,”
Willow said softly and then quickly added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to be offensive.”

“Thank you for speaking
the truth,” the Elf said, turning her head. The tips of her milky white ears poked out of her shiny blonde hair as she looked down at the ground guiltily. Then, she turned her head and met Willow’s eyes again. “For truth is what it is. We are a selfish people. There are many rules we must follow. You say we keep to ourselves. We do. After we cast these creatures here many centuries ago, we left this realm, keeping to the safety of ours and only coming back when it met our needs.”

“But that’s--”

“Wrong?” Elirana offered. “May be, but there is great unrest between the races here. It is better to continue on in peace with our own race, without the threat of war.”

“But you fight for what’s right,” Willow argued. “You could help us in the war against Hekate. She’s gathering not only magic casters, but Fey, and dark creatures as well. She wants power. She wants the world to be under her rule. She is evil, and will let evil reign if we lose.”

“We do not always fight for what is right,” Elirana said looking sad. “You have heard of the Wolfsbane Sieges, correct?”

“Of course,” Willow said, proud that she actually knew something other than the history of her own race. “Wolfsbane is a flowering plant, used to heal sickness. If brewed correctly, it can also be a deadly poison. Whoa,” Willow said, her eyes went wide. “How do I know that?”

“Your healing instincts, perhaps?” Elirana suggested. “But yes, it is used to heal.” She looked off into the distance longingly and began the story of the Wolfsbane Sieges. “Long ago, a great sickness passed over our realm. We have healers that are well trained in using herbs to heal our physical bodies. Yet, this sickness was different. It plagued my people, was highly contagious, and could not be cured by anything that grew in our realm. The healers were baffled! My people were dying and there was nothing they could do about it. We grew desperate, so we searched for a cure in this land.

“
Word reached us that a rare plant known as Wolfsbane could possibly work. Wolfsbane is protected by the Werewolves, for it is a deadly plant that can destroy their entire race. They allow it grow, because Witches use it for the good and pay a hefty price for it, since it is so rare. So, one day, we entered this realm and stole some, taking it back to our realm. Our healers concocted a medicine, and tested it on the King himself, for he fell ill with fever and sickness, and he wanted the healers to test him first, in case it didn’t work. It was a risk, but our King is great and did not want to risk the medicine on his people if it did not work. But it worked! We distributed it among the people quickly, healing as many as we could.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad,” Willow
input.

“Until the Werewolves heard about our deception. We stole from them. They were furious. They believed we were growing Wolfsbane to annihilate them. But we weren’t! The little plants we stole weren’t enough to heal every Elf affected by the disease. We tried growing the
Wolfsbane on our soil, but it didn’t take hold. Wolfsbane could not grow in our realm, and we needed much, much more. So…we kept coming back. The Werewolves hunted us, killing those we sent to retrieve the plant. We tried to communicate to the Alphas, but they would not hear our plea. They declared open war on us. They followed us, finding the portals we set in this land to come back and forth between the two, entered our land without our knowledge and killed many of us. Several battles broke out in both realms.”

“The sieges,” Willow nodded. “That’s where lack of communication gets us-death and destruction.”

“Yes,” Elirana agreed sadly. “The Werewolves are very strong-headed, especially the Alphas. They are very protective of their packs and believed all Elves were against them, attempting to grow Wolfsbane to kill their kind. But that was not the case at all.”

“So where does Chase and you come into play?”

Elirana smiled slightly. “I was a part of the group sent to retrieve the Wolfsbane. My skills as a tracker and a trained hunter earned me a high place in the palace. I was not only Handmaiden to the Princess, but her protector as well. During one of our attempts to get the Wolfsbane, I ran into the most beautiful wolf I’ve ever seen. They were tracking us, Chase and his hunting party. I, uh…became separated from my group and Chase pursued me. We fought, one on one, and then…something changed.”

“What? What changed?” Willow was intrigued.

“Chase had the opportunity to kill me…but he didn’t. He left me alive, and I was stunned. I should’ve died by his hand that day, and he spared me my life. It was so…baffling to me. I obsessed over the reason why the Beta’s son spared my life.”

“Wait, wait, wait—” Willow interrupted. “Chase is the Beta Wolf’s son?”

“Of the Whiteclaw pack, yes,” Elirana furrowed her eyebrows. “You do not know this?”

“No, I don’t! He never told me that!”

“The Whiteclaw’s are one of the most powerful packs. Their numbers are many, nearly two hundred fifty members, I believe. And they live in the Everwild. That alone should tell you just how powerful they are. No one really messes with them.”

“That’s where we met, the Everwild,” Willow said, “but
I had no idea his status among his pack. He brags enough about being a Werewolf you’d think I would’ve heard he was the Beta’s son!”

“It seems we all have our little secrets,” Elirana said, “And I just told you one of his. I’m sorry, I should not have told you that if Chase has not. I thought you knew.”

“It’s okay I won’t tell him you told me. Please, continue,” Willow said, afraid Elirana was done telling her story. She simply nodded and continued on.

“I don’t know why I was so bothered by the fact Chase spared my life. I should’ve left it at that and kept on my mission. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So at t
he next raid, I searched for the large black wolf with the most amazing, beautiful blue eyes. Instead of focusing on my mission, I was focusing on finding him again, demanding why he spared my life. Probably one of my many mistakes, no doubt.”

“Did you find him?”

“Oh yes,” Elirana smiled slyly. “I am an excellent tracker. Fortunately for me, I found him alone. He knew me, knew who I was and what I wanted, and…I started talking to him. He changed to his human form to talk and I’ve never been the same ever since. He captivated me, Willow, as no other male has. We got to know each other, and soon, we were planning meetings in secret. I would lie to my Princess about my whereabouts, even my own father! I fell for him. Hard. And I knew I was breaking a thousand rules of my people, but I didn’t care. Chase was so different, and became so…special to me.”

Elirana was
not telling Willow every detail to their love story, she knew. There were many holes in her story and so many questions running through her mind, but it was still good to know Elirana confided in her to tell her a little of their past history. It was starting to make sense, why they felt so strongly about each other. In a time of war, the opposing sides fell for each other. A tragedy, really, since it was not accepted to fall in love with someone of another race.

“What happened?” Willow asked.

Elirana shrugged. “My brothers died. I was to be betrothed to the Captain of the Guard, Tierran. The battles grew so intense and so deep, I was forbidden to go back to this realm. I told Chase that if he loved me, if he cared for me as much as he admitted, then he would come find me and take me away from my people to be with him. I gave him an ultimatum. I would have left my own people, everything I knew I would give up…for him. On that night, I waited, but…he didn’t come. He hurt me so deeply I wanted to gouge out my memories of him. I wanted to rip my soul up and die. So, I told my family what happened, willed them, begged them to take those memories from me. And they did. Little did I know I would ever see Chase again…”

“May I ask…
” Willow began. “May I ask how your memories came back to you in the Incubus lair?”

“I was drawn to him again, Willow. I couldn’t explain it. I was taught to fear Werewolves. After I lost my memories, my father burned it into me that all Werewolves were killers and to not trust them. So all those days ago, in Carmela’s shop, I was scared of him….yet, there was something else, something hidden in my heart that was telling me he would never hurt me. I didn’t understand it, I feared it. As we journeyed
together through the Deadlands, with Chase being…well, Chase, I started to fall for him again. It was natural, just like breathing.”

“
You certainly fooled me. You were very skeptical of him, and you guys argue so much.”

“He pursued me strongly, and it scared me when he told me information about me I didn’t think he knew.
When you were captured in Grungetown, I was frightened beyond measure. But I wasn’t scared about the fact that the place was swarming with goblins and trolls. It was because I thought I had lost Chase. He had found a way back into my heart. The Incubus brought out feelings in me…I just knew Chase was the remedy to my pain, so…I attacked him, kissing him and loving him, opening myself to him again. It was like a well burst in my head. All the memories came rushing back to me. I
wanted
to remember who Chase was, and that was what healed my mind. Not even the Elders of my people could undo the memory loss. I didn’t want to be healed by you, because I knew that what caused my memory loss in the first place was so devastating to me that it would probably kill me if I ever remembered.”

“Well…you’re not dead…” Willow stated the obvious.

Elirana chuckled. “No. I am not. But I know what I feel. If I ever gave myself to Chase again, to allow myself to fall in love again, it would ruin me, change me in ways you can’t even imagine.”

“It’s not a crime to love him, you know.”

“In my world, it is.”

“Love is worth fighting for, Elirana,” Willow said. “Declan fought for me even though I tried to break up with him. He never gave up on me, just like Chase isn’t giving up on you. I can tell how much you mean to him. He worries about you, teases and flirts with you, when I know he’s probably hurting too. He’s pursuing you
again and—”

“But that’s just it, Willow. I don’t want him to want me anymore. It would be easier.”

“Just because it’s easier, doesn’t make it right. It is easier to protect Declan and keep him safe if I’m not around. But it was killing me inside when I kept trying to let him go. I believed I was destined to be alone forever. I’ve even had dreams about it, and it haunted me, made me depressed and lonely. I was scared to open myself up to him again because I believed if I was to be alone, then he shouldn’t want me. So I broke it off. But Declan was right in my face telling me he’d never leave me no matter what. Sometimes, when you love someone, you have to let go of all your insecurities.”