Chapter Text
Serana slid from sleep, her thoughts fuzzy, with the strangest sensation that the bed was shaking. She opened her eyes to see the back of Elayn's blonde head, which moved back and forth. She pushed herself up with one arm to look at her werewolf, shedding her grogginess in favor of concern.
Elayn's arms were wrapped tight around her torso, which was bent forward. Her temples and brow glistened with sweat, and behind their lids her eyes twitched wildly from side to side.
“Elayn,” Serana whispered, then repeated with greater volume when it drew no response.
Finally she reached for Elayn's shoulder and shook her gently. Her silver eyes flew wide open on a gasp and the top of her arm nearly smacked into Serana's jaw as she bolted upright, arms still tight around herself.
“Alpha-- please--” Anything else was cut off with a harsh, guttural noise in her throat and Serana heard a noise she never expected to her from her werewolf: a whimper.
Unsure of how to help, she leaned against Elayn's side and wrapped her arms around the shaking werewolf. “Shh,” Serana soothed, sliding her hand up and down her arm. “It's okay. You're safe.”
Elayn's skin was burning even hotter than it had before, like the poison had gotten worse somehow, or maybe this was just another stage in its being purged from her body. Either way it had Serana worried, but she didn't want to leave her side long enough to re-dampen the cloth. She whispered nonsense words to try and calm her, rocking them gently back and forth.
When it seemed like she was calmed enough, Serana slid from the bed. When she came back with the cloth, she reached with it to wipe the back of Elayn's neck. Just before she could, cool water dripped from the cloth to the skin below and Elayn jerked away, rolling across the bed to land with a thud on the floor on the other side.
“Elayn!”
In an instant she was around the bed and kneeling by the body curled on the floor. Elayn swiped weakly at the air between them, warning her back, and she was torn as to whether or not she should heed it. Elayn's face was twisted where she could see, jaw knotted with whatever emotion was possessing her now, and all Serana wanted to do was help her, even if she didn't know how.
“Please,” she heard her werewolf. “No more. Alpha-- don't--” Then she let out a sob and her words were lost.
They hadn't talked much about Elayn's past, but Serana knew it wasn't happy. She also knew werewolves lived in packs, and that Elayn, until recently, had chosen a life alone. Something told her this “Alpha” had left scars, emotionally and physically.
She reached out and brushed a hand down Elayn's arm, hoping. “Whatever your demons,” she whispered. “I'm here, to help you fight them. You're okay, my love.”
It wasn't something she'd said before, but the words felt right as they came out, and now more than ever she felt Elayn needed to hear them. They seemed to work; bit by bit Elayn relaxed out of her curled position on the ground. Her breathing even, her heart slowed, and Serana smiled a little as she realized her werewolf was asleep again.
When Elayn's eyes opened for the gods-knew-what-th time, she felt… alright. Still weak, but her blood no longer sang with fever, and she wasn't shaking. She had a vague memory of the last time she'd woken; what had plagued her and what had eased her.
Serana was nowhere to be seen, but her scent was still on the pillow, fresh enough that she couldn't have been gone long. Rather than filling with panic, her chest felt light, knowing all was likely well. Her stomach rumbled, and she knew the poison was gone from her blood.
As she was considering digging around the warlock's room for something to eat, or maybe checking the warlock's corpse to see if it was still good, the door to the chamber opened and through it stepped Serana. Her eyes lit up when she saw Elayn, and her lips curled up in a smile.
“It's good to see you back to yourself,” she said, coming to sit on the bed. She grasped Elayn's hand, and Elayn grasped back. “How do you feel?”
“Hungry,” she admitted with a self-conscious chuckle, and glanced away. “Thank you for taking care of me. I'm… sorry you had to. “
The pressure on her hand increased sharply and she looked up to see golden eyes burning into hers. “Don't ever apologize for my caring about you, Elayn,” she said. “I--”
“I heard what you said,” she said abruptly, unwilling to let nerve get in her way. “While I was-- I care about you. A lot. You know that, right?”
Serana looked surprised, but the expression melted into one of tender fondness. “I know,” she said. “I care about you too.”
Just then, Elayn's belly let out a growl to rival that of the angriest werewolf and the two of them burst into laughter. “Go hunt,” Serana said, leaning forward to kiss her and then said, “We'll talk more later.”
“Of course,” Elayn said, rising to her feet, and found as she walked out of the chamber that it was a talk she looked forward to.