Chapter 47: : Chapter 47

“GIVE HER TO ME!” I roared as I ripped through root and stem.

My battered, blood-slick hands could no longer grip, so I wrapped a long root around my forearm and pulled. My muscles strained as I braced against the rock wall, and then the thick root tore free as tendril after tendril ripped.

I’d broken a passage through the roots where Savannah had disappeared, but the barricade of living roots kept shifting and growing back. We battled for every inch, each of us trying to tear the other apart—but I would be victorious.

The mate bond pulled me downward like an anchor falling toward the ocean floor. She was so close. Weak, but alive. And she needed my help. I could feel it with every bone in my body.

A tremor shook the cavern. It wasn’t the first, and I silently prayed to the gods that it wasn’t the last. The tremors were growing closer together, and the weak rock was unstable. I didn’t care. I had to reach her. Not because she was my mate, but because she was my responsibility—she’d trusted me, and I’d failed her.

Desperation drove me forward with relentless fury, and I ripped and raged and tore until a patch of pale skin appeared between the roots.

She was bound and wrapped in roots, fully restrained and covered with blood with the Soul Knife clutched limply in her hand.

The sight of her sent me into a frenzy. I seized the knife and began chopping away, but as soon as I severed some of the roots, they shifted, and she started to sink again.

I grabbed her arm before she slipped out of sight, and her eyes shot open. “Jaxson…they’re pulling me back!” Her voice was weak and strained with pain.

My chest rumbled, and I slashed through the great root that had wound itself around her waist. The tension on her body eased, and another tremor shook the cave. With one hand around her, I carefully sliced the remaining roots that had entangled her body and pulled her, cold and naked, from the knot.

“You have the knife,” she murmured. Then she waved her hand, and it vanished from my grip. “No one should have that knife.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I almost made it to you.”

“You did,” I growled as I lifted her up.

The root-infested tunnel shook, and more rocks clattered down around us.

I turned and climbed up the tunnel with Savannah in my arms. My legs were exhausted, but the faint beat of her heart against my chest drove me forward, giving me strength.

“I killed him,” she whispered, her words fading into almost nothing. “Your pack is safe…”

“You did well,” I said softly as I pushed my way back up the tunnel. Tendrils and roots snaked around my arms and ankles as I lumbered up the slanted shaft, but I tore through. She was in my arms, and no force could stop me.

At last, I burst forth into the dim cavern with the pond. “Jaxson!” Sam shouted from below a tree. “Time to go!”

“Have you finished? Are they all free?” I braced myself as another earthquake shuddered the cave.

“Yes!” Sam yelled. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

With Savannah unconscious, I charged toward the exit as the chamber quaked and roots began to writhe along the walls.

Sam pointed to the grimoire floating above the pond. “The book!”

“No time, leave it!” I shouted over my shoulder. The only thing that mattered was getting Savannah and Sam out of there.

We ran through the trembling tunnels as the roar of falling rubble echoed up the passageway from behind.

I ran with all the strength I had.

Neve found us in the first chamber of sleepers. “This cave won’t last long. I’ll planes-walk us out of here!”

“No! The shift will kill Savannah. She’s too wounded. I need to heal her. Get Sam out!”

“We’re not leaving you!” Sam shouted. “The entrance isn’t far!”

We ran together through the crumbling paths as stone and sand rained down around us. Neve summoned a whirlwind ahead, keeping the debris off our heads and out of our way.

At last, I saw the glimmer of daylight. I charged headlong out of the quaking tunnel and down the pebble-covered beach.

The tunnel roared as the sound of collapsing earth followed me out.

I dropped to my knees in the ocean and laid Savannah’s body in the shallows. Plumes of red clouded the water. She had so many wounds—cuts, lacerations, fang marks. She was a new wolf, and her healing powers weren’t yet as they needed to be. But was as strong as she needed to be, and still hanging on by a thread.

My stomach quaked and my arms trembled as I summoned the power of our mate bond. I was drained, but the touch of her skin gave me strength.

I poured all I had left into her.