Chapter 25

"Hook. Hook!"

The lightest of touches on his injured shoulder, and the captain gasped a breath. His ribs felt as if they were glued together and fighting against a crushing weight on his chest; his heart fluttered in uncoordinated spasms, sending jolts of fearful adrenaline through his gut. Desperate, he tried to push himself up, but his fractured wrist wouldn't take his weight, and he fell back with a cry. Hook wheezed another breath, coughed, and cradled the limb against his torso.

Piercing pain radiated through the captain's chest and down his arm. Groaning, he cringed away from a sudden sting to his throat.

"You stopped breathing," hissed Tiger Lily from above. "Are you trying to leave us, Captain?"

Hook's stomach rolled. He grimaced and forced his eyes open: the shadows in the cave pressed down on him, heavy and foreboding. His eyes took a very circuitous route to the fairy's face - not his plan, but they got there in the end.

Tiger Lily pressed tender fingers into his neck. She looked somber but composed. Kind of beautiful, actually, if he were honest with himself. But then his heart tripped over itself and a flood of panic crashed over him; he lurched onto his elbow, panting. In one agile move, the fairy slipped behind him and helped him to sit up, her hands on his back.

Hook clutched his stump against his belly as the floor tilted dramatically. His head dropped forward; he swallowed nausea.

"Try and breathe evenly," prompted Tiger Lily. "Slow and deep."

The pounding in the pirate's head quickly became a pulsing ache. He tried valiantly to mimic the fairy's demonstrated breaths, but the pressure on his ribs prevented anything more than short gasps.

Behind him, Tiger Lily moved aside the animal skins on which he'd been resting his head, then shifted herself over to his right side.

"Scoot back," she commanded. "Then you can lean against the wall."

It was a challenge, without the use of either arm, but with Tiger Lily's assistance, he eventually managed to push himself back to settle against the cave wall. His head dropped back automatically, eliciting a wince when the tender area on the back of his skull contacted the rock. The fairy folded a hide and slid it behind his head. Then she measured his pulse once more.

To Hook, it felt as if his heart were stabilizing, the pressure on his chest subsiding. He drew an experimental breath and found he could take a larger volume of air.

Tiger Lily produced a cup of liquid and held it to his lips, insistently trickling its contents into his mouth. It had a strong herbal flavor, and the intensity of the ginger made his throat burn and eyes water.

"Bloody hell," he wheezed after gulping down the brew.

"I did warn you," she reminded him, her concern fading back to cool detachment.

"Aye, love," he admitted. He scanned the shadows unsteadily, seeking his first mate. Tiger Lily poured more tea into his mouth as he glared resentfully.

"He's gone to get some rest," she explained, reading his mind in that uncanny way of hers. "The past three days have been rough on him."

"'S'at so?" scoffed the pirate. "The poor thing." Wincing at the sharp pain in his wrist, he nevertheless lifted his hand to prevent further forced mouthfuls. The fairy rolled her eyes but surrendered the cup to his waiting grasp.

"He cares about you," she observed softly, and it was Hook's turn to roll his eyes.

"He fears me," he corrected. "As it should be."

Tiger Lily didn't bother to object. Hook's mask was firmly back in place; he would never admit to any type of vulnerability. The need for deeper relationships, or any one to love him. Not now that he'd regained the lucidity drained from him the past few days. She had been lucky enough to witness the rare glimpse of Killian Jones beneath, but he'd been buried once again. Gone for good, if Hook was to be believed.

"Finish that, in your own time," she ordered. Then, without a word, she stalked away. And Hook couldn't help feeling as if he had failed a test of some kind.