Her Immortal Mate (Brides of the Vrakken #3)

4. Mae

4

MAE

I stare at the nearly empty supplies of our makeshift infirmary, my fingers trailing over the few remaining dried herbs. The bloodroot stocks are critically low, and we're completely out of feverfew — or at least that's what I've started naming the plants. A patient groans from one of the cots behind me, reminding me exactly why we can't wait for the next supply run.

The head healer's tent sits behind the massive medical tent. My hand moves to the flap before I pause. "Healer Thora?" I call out instead.

"Enter." Healer Thora's gravelly voice carries through.

I push inside, squaring my shoulders. "We need to gather more medicinal herbs. The wound infection rate will spike if we don't restock bloodroot soon."

She peers at me with a scrutinizing look. "The forest edge is crawling with hostiles."

"I know the risks, but we're out of options. I can identify what we need quickly before I'm seen."

She seems to process this for a moment. "Very well. I'll assign you protection." She hands me a small item — which I've learned means that she's identifying she talked to me. Since we came from another planet, pen and paper weren't exactly on our packing list. "Go find Brinda. She'll provide someone suitable."

My heart hammers as I make my way to the military tents. The flaps are pinned open, voices drifting out.

"Hello?" I hover in the doorway, the item clutched in my hand.

Brinda looks up from where she's bent over a cobbled together diagram with – my breath catches – Eike. Of course he's here. The universe clearly hates me.

"What is it, healer?"

I hand her the item, very carefully not looking at Eike's towering form or the way his wings shift in my peripheral vision. "Healer Thora sent me to ask for an escort." I swallow as she stares at me. "To gather herbs."

"Herb gathering?" Her eyebrows rise. "Outside the perimeter?"

"We're critically low on several essential medicines."

She grunts, considering. "Bauer, you'll escort her. Your patrol shift just ended – you know the terrain."

My stomach does a complicated flip. Eike's silver eyes lock onto mine, his expression unreadable, but I see the pale pink of his lips. I want to protest, to say he needs to feed, but maybe this will give him the chance.

Or maybe there's nothing left to feed. I've heard there's rationing going on with the dark elves killing everything they can find to weaken the vrakken forces.

"When do you need to leave?" His deep voice shouldn't affect me the way it does.

"As soon as possible. Before we lose the daylight."

He nods once, wings folding tighter against his back. "I'll meet you at the eastern perimeter in fifteen minutes.

Great. Just great. Hours alone in the forest with the one vrakken who makes my pulse race and my tongue tie itself in knots. This should be fun.

I kneel beside a patch of silvery leaves, careful to keep my movements slow and deliberate. "This is moonvein," I explain, gently touching the delicate plant. "The sap works better than any painkiller I've ever seen."

Eike circles the small clearing, wings extended. His eyes scan the treeline. "And you learned this since arriving?"

"Trial and error, mostly. Though some plants here look similar to ones back home." I dig carefully around the base. "These roots are what we need."

He moves closer, and I try to ignore how his presence makes the hair on my neck stand up. "As an EMT, you used herbs?"

I place the roots in my satchel, ignoring the way my body reacts to the fact that he remembered that about me. "We still had to learn it in training. In case. It actually came in handy some." I spot another cluster of herbs. "Oh thank god - blackspine."

"The thorny one?"

"Mm-hmm. Helps prevent infection." I pull on thick gloves. "What about you? Before all this?"

His wings rustle. "Special forces. KSK."

I pause my harvesting. "German military? That explains the accent."

"Ja." He moves to check another section of the perimeter. "Made tactical sense to Change soldiers, I guess. We understand combat, strategy."

"Must have been quite the adjustment." I carefully wrap the blackspine. "Going from human special forces to..." I gesture vaguely at his wings.

"Less than you might think. Still protecting people. Still fighting." He stops, head tilting. After a moment, he relaxes. "Just a deerhart."

"There," I say, spotting a patch of iridescent flowers. "Dreambloom. Perfect for sleep draughts." As I harvest, I ask, "Did you choose this? Being Changed?"

His silence stretches so long I think he won't answer. Finally, he says, "Better than the alternative. They don't keep prisoners in Syria."

I nod, understanding. The vrakken went all over Europe and parts of western Asia to take people without being noticed. "Neither do most vrakken."

"Some of us remember being human." His voice is quiet. "Makes a difference."

I stand, brushing dirt from my knees. "That's why you got stuck with herb-gathering duty? Because you remember?"

The corner of his mouth twitches. "Because I won't kill you at the first nick from a thorn."

I can't help but laugh. "Good to know."

As I turn back to my collecting, I hear it. A twig snaps - too sharp, too deliberate. Eike's head whips around, wings flaring wide. Before I can blink, he shoves me behind a massive tree trunk.

"Stay," he growls, just as three dark elves materialize from the shadows, their violet eyes gleaming with malice.

The first charges with a crystalline blade. Eike moves like liquid darkness, catching the elf's wrist and snapping it with a sickening crack. The sword clatters to the forest floor.

"Filthy bloodsucker," another elf snarls, hurling a bolt of crackling energy.

Eike's wings sweep forward, deflecting the magic, but I catch his slight stumble. His movements are slower than usual - the blood shortage taking its toll. I've been seeing signs of it all over camp.

Two more elves emerge from the treeline. Five against one.

"Behind you!" I shout as a sixth appears through a shimming portal.

Eike spins, but not quite fast enough. A blade slices across his shoulder. He doesn't make a sound, just grabs the elf by the throat and hurls him into a tree with bone-crushing force.

"Mae, down!"

I drop as a spell sizzles overhead. Eike takes a hit meant for me, the magic scorching his wing. Still, he places himself between me and every attack, his movements precise despite the growing number of cuts littering his arms and torso.

An elf gets past him, reaching for me with glowing hands. Eike's roar shakes the trees. He tears the elf away, but another blade catches him across the ribs.

"You're weakened, vrakken," one taunts. "When's the last time you fed properly?"

Eike responds by ripping the elf's head clean off. The remaining three fall back, regrouping.

"Run," Eike orders me, his voice rough with pain. Blood drips steadily from his wounds, but his stance never wavers.

"I'm not leaving you-"

"NOW!"

One of the elves lunges at him, and he grabs it, screaming as magic burns his skin. But Eike doesn't drop the elf, clearly accustomed to pain, as he grips his attacker by the throat, squeezing until the magic stops flowing and the elf drops to the forest floor, dead.

But now Eike is too weak.

I watch in horror as one of the remaining elves slashes across Eike's back, his blade leaving a deep gash. The other elf hurls another spell that sends Eike staggering. His wings droop, blood matting the metallic feathers.

My body moves before my mind catches up. I dart forward, snatching up the crystalline blade from the first fallen elf. The weapon hums in my grip, lighter than it looks.

"Hey!" I shout, drawing one elf's attention away from Eike.

The elf's violet eyes narrow. "Stupid human."

He raises his hands, magic crackling between his fingers. But I've spent months watching these battles, learning their patterns. I duck under his spell and drive the blade up through his chest. His eyes go wide with shock – a dark elf, killed by a mere human.

I yank the sword free as he crumples. Behind me, Eike dispatches the final elf with brutal efficiency, snapping his neck in one fluid motion.

Then his knees give out. He catches himself with one hand, wings splayed across the forest floor. Blood pools beneath him from dozens of wounds.

"Eike!" I rush to his side, my hands hovering over his injuries. "Let me help-"

"Stay back." His voice is ragged. He tries to push himself up but falters.

"You're bleeding out." I tear strips from my shirt. "I'm a healer, remember? Let me do my job."

His silver eyes lock onto mine. "Mae-"

"Shut up and let me help you." I press fabric against the worst gash across his ribs. "I didn't just kill my first dark elf to watch you bleed to death."

He makes a sound that might be a laugh or a groan. "Impressive, by the way."

"Less talking, more healing." I work quickly, using what's left of my shirt to bind the wounds I can reach. "But you need blood. Soon."

"I know." His breathing is labored. "Just... give me a minute."

"There's a cave nearby." Eike's voice is strained as he leans heavily against a tree. "Used it before. Defensible."

"Can you make it?" Blood seeps through my makeshift bandages faster than I'd like.

He grits his teeth, pushing off the tree. "Follow me."

I slip under his arm, bracing his weight. His wing curves around me instinctively, creating a dark canopy overhead. The cave entrance is barely visible, tucked between moss-covered rocks.

"Here." I help him inside, grateful for the shallow slope. "Sit before you fall."

He slides down the cave wall, wings dragging. The last rays of sunlight catch the blood matting the membrane. I kneel beside him, pulling supplies from my satchel.

"Take this off," I murmur, mixing herbs with water from my waterskin. His eyebrows raise. "The shirt. I need to see the wound underneath."

He complies with careful movements, revealing deep gashes across his torso. I clean each one methodically, trying to ignore how his muscles tense under my touch.

"The magic burns are worse," I say, dabbing moonvein sap on the angry red marks. "They're not healing like they should."

"Low on blood." His voice is rough. "Everything's... slower."

I press fresh bandages against his ribs, hyper-aware of how close we are. "When's the last time you fed properly?"

"Weeks." His silver eyes fix on me. "Supply lines are cut. Dark elves are burning and killing everything they can't use. Especially if we can."

My hands still on his chest. "You need blood."

"I know what you're offering." His jaw clenches. "Don't."

"You'll die."

"I'll heal. Eventually."

"Not before the dark elves track us." I sit back on my heels. "I'm offering. As your healer."

His laugh is bitter. "Is that what we're calling it?"

Heat floods my cheeks. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your heart rate spikes every time I'm near. Has nothing to do with fear." His eyes drift to my neck. "Makes it harder to resist."

"Then don't." The words slip out before I can stop them.

The cave falls silent except for our breathing.

And I'm shocked to find that I want him to give into this thing between us. Just like I do.