Hidden Fox

Twenty-Two

"April!" A piercing scream ripped across the evening air, echoing through the trees around me.

I lifted my weary head — barely able to take the weight of my own body much longer — and my pulse quickened at the sound. Kalmia? My heart instantly hoped it was. But I was just as happy to see the child that was actually sprinting across the open lawn.

"Amethyst!" I barely managed to get out before she was tumbling into my arms. The brunt force of her weight, coupled with the momentum she had from her incoming speed, knocked me back into the grass, with the child on top of me and her face buried into my neck. Her breaths were fierce as she inhaled against my skin, as if she couldn't believe I was real, and smelling me would confirm it — even though I definitely smelled horrible!

She didn't let go for a while, ignoring the gasps of the woman who had found me every time the kid moved against my fragile body. When she finally sat up, she didn't move off of me.

"It's really you, right?"

Wrapping my feeble arms around her shoulders, I nodded and pulled her back into a hug.

"I missed you." She whispered against my neck.

I squeezed her harder, not able to respond with words while she laid on top of me.

"April?" Another call sounded past the woman. "Oh my Goddess, it's her!"

Emerald.

Amethyst finally climbed off of me, gripping my hand in hers to help me back up into a sitting position. Shifting my eyes to the left, I could see Emerald and River running just as hard as Amethyst had been. River held his phone against his ear, panting as he tried to converse with whoever was on the other end of the line.

Reaching us, he ended the call and his mate dropped to her knees next to me. Tears were freely streaming down her face — never had I seen Emerald cry, wasn't even sure if she could! — and she cupped her hands around my sunken cheeks, no doubt feeling the angled bone protruding against it. With a sob, she shifted them down, grasping my shoulders, my arms, my hands, and finally my shins with a tenderness only a mother could possess.

My face cracked into tears and I did my best to throw my arms around her neck in an embrace. It was weak, but she made up for that with a tight squeeze of her own. Pulling back, she wiped away the moisture from my face, her hands lingering on my cheeks again.

"Hi." I whispered.

Emerald's face crumbled even harder. She seemed incapable of any words for a long, long time.

"I'll alert the doctor." The woman I had originally encountered announced suddenly, shooting me a welcoming smile before she turned towards the house.

"Is Jade. . ." Amethyst was still attached to my side, but I hadn't seen her brother come out with her or their parents.

River smiled, knowing how close I had become with his pups, "he's with his grandma. He probably doesn't know you're here yet."

I nodded, too weak to think straight, or respond in any other way.

The Alpha bent down next to me, hooking one arm beneath my knees and the other securely around my back. "Let's get you inside," he lifted me with ease, and all I could do was lean against his chest and be carried across the lawn.

The grass blurred beneath us and I fought with every ounce of strength I had to keep my eyes open. Truly, I was afraid that if I closed them I wouldn't ever be able to open them again; I was terrified I might've ended in a coma.

I made it to the kitchen, staying awake as I was placed at the counter on a bar stool. Thank the Goddess these ones had backs to the seat, or I would have just toppled over to the floor. Emerald rushed to the fridge and poured me a tall glass of water, and while I couldn't feel the physical pains of thirst, I knew I needed to drink every last drop. She kissed the top of my head before walking around the counter to speak to River.