Chapter 216
Ellie’s POV
This was karma.
That was my first thought when I woke a few moments later, blinking against the pale light filtering in through the treetops overhead.
This was exactly what I got for getting involved with Vivian. A fucking boar killing me in the middle of the
woods.
It was almost laughable, really. I had died in my past life from a wound caused by an assassin’s blade meant for Dominic. Now, I was hunting down a wild boar when I really had no business doing so, all in an effort to get back at Vivian, and that was the thing that was going to kill me.
Not a poison-tipped knife, but a broken tusk and a two-hundred-some pound mammal.
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The pain came shortly after, forcing those thoughts to fade into mere noise in the back of my head. It was excruciating, throbbing through my body in wave after wave. I groaned and tried to move my legs, but the left one wouldn’t obey properly. When I tried to move it, the pain just intensified to the point of nearly vomiting onto the forest floor. I gagged, but forced it down and breathed sharply.
“Okay.” I grit my teeth and pushed myself up to my elbows. I managed that much, although there was a dull pain in my ribs. So far, nothing seemed terribly broken beyond repair. That was a good sign.
Then, I took a deep breath before forcing myself to look down and assess the real damage. “Fuck.”
My leg was definitely broken. As in, I could see the shin bone sticking out of my skin level of broken.
“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!”
My voice dropped away into the forest, unanswered except by its own echo and the pitter-pattering of the
rain.
With trembling fingers, I reached into my pocket for my phone, but it wasn’t there. Looking around, I spotted it laying nearby-completely shattered from the boar’s impact.
There was only one thing I could think of doing at that moment: mindlinking Dominic. He would have to come get me, because there was no way in hell I was walking out of here on my own.
The idea of using our mate bond didn’t exactly fill me with excitement, but I knew I had no other choice I shut my eyes and reached for the invisible thread that bound us. It was weak, atrophied by disuse and distance, but it was there.
“Dominic?” I called out.
I waited for several beats. There was no response. I called out to him again, then a third time, but I didn’t even get a feeling in return.
He must have either been ignoring me, or perhaps he was too far away to hear me.
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Great. I was really on my own.
I flopped back onto the ground, arms spread wide, and blinked against the rain. Great. Just great. I was going to die out here from blood loss. Or the boar was going to come back and finish the job. Either way… a fitting end.
But then I felt it.
Something… tugging at me.
I sat up again, wincing as the movement pulled at my injuries, and looked toward the source. It wasn’t the mate bond calling to me, but something else entirely-like an instinct, or a sixth sense.
Whatever it was, it was completely impossible to ignore, like an itch that needed to be scratched, otherwise I might go insane.
I wasn’t sure why or how, but I started moving. It was slow, painstaking; I had to use my hands to pull myself backwards on my butt, and my good leg to push myself every couple of feet. My other leg was completely useless right now, and every movement was agony, but somehow, I managed to make it about two yards before my arms gave out.
There, nestled beneath a shrub, was the source of the pull. I was sure of it.
Curious, I brushed aside the fallen leaves to reveal a small, green plant with fuzzy leaves. I plucked one and held it up. It smelled sweet, like candy.
Eat it, something in me seemed to say.
I popped it into my mouth before I could think twice. Chewed. Swallowed.
What the fuck was I doing?
I couldn’t explain it, but I kept eating the plant. Another leaf, then another. They were slightly bitter despite the sweet smell, and the fuzz made my tongue a little itchy. But they went down, and I didn’t feel sick yet, so I kept eating until there were none left.
Nothing happened.
す
aren…..
“Good gods,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “I’m fucking losing it, aren’t… I…?”
Before I finished that thought, a warmth spread through me unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was like drinking a hot cup of tea, but if the tea was also laced with some kind of drug that made everything feel light and pleasant.
The warmth spread through me, starting in my chest, then slipping downward into my belly, my hips, my groin. It lingered in that spot for a moment, making me press my thighs together and flush deeply. Then it went further still, until it reached my broken leg.
I stared as the warmth seemed to coagulate around my wound. Slowly, with snaps and pops that I surprisingly didn’t feel, I watched as the bone retracted back into the skin, snapped into place, and then the skin knitted over it.
I rubbed my eyes, certain I was hallucinating. The wound was healing right in front of me, as if months of intensive treatment had happened all at once. I thought I must be losing my mind from the blood loss, and I
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reached out to brush my fingers across my leg, expecting to still feel the sharp edge of my bone protruding.
Nothing.
Just smooth skin and sticky residue from blood that was no longer flowing
I sat there for a long time, just staring at my leg, trying to decide if this was real or not. Finally, I decided to test it. Using a nearby tree for support, I pushed myself up, hovering my foot in the air.
I took a deep breath and put it down. Tested my weight on it.
Nothing. No pain. If anything, I felt even stronger than before,
Whatever I had eaten had healed me.
That wasn’t the most surprising part. There were plenty of medicinal plants in our world that could have miraculous benefits if taken properly. It was the fact that I had somehow known it was there that truly baffled me; that pull that I had felt had been real. Like the plant was beckoning to me, or rather… like something in me was drawn to it.
Before I could dwell on it, I heard the sound of something rustling in the bushes a ways off. The boar’s distinctive snuffling echoed toward me.
He was returning to finish the job.
I didn’t hesitate. I ran over and picked up my discarded quiver and bow, then nocked two arrows and aimed toward the noise.
One tusk emerged from the underbrush. Then a second, broken one. A scarred eye and a half-missing ear.
The boar stared at me. I stared back. Its nostrils flared again, exhaling white clouds.
“You’re gonna pay for what you did to my leg, fucker,” I whispered.
I loosed the arrows just as the boar charged.
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