0090
Neah
"Where did he take her?" I demand as I step out through the back door into the pitch black of night.
I had no idea what time it was, but the adrenaline was pumping through me anyway.
Several guards move closer, yet keep their attention on the surrounding area.
"I don't know." Dane mutters back, grabbing my wrist to stop me. "Just let him be, there is nothing you can do."
"Maybe I can save her...."
"Neah she isn't dying, she isn't hanging on to life by a strand. She is dead. Salem tore her heart out."
My heart plummets. A part of me had hoped he was wrong, that Jenson had taken Jess to find a way to help her. "He took.... He took her heart?"
"Among slicing her up pretty bad."
I feel Nyx's sorrow along with my own. Jess was just a kid. She was family. She was like me. She had helped me see what I could do.
"Why?" A single tear rolls down my cheek. I don't even try to fight the flood that's about to come. I'm so angry. "Why would he do that to her?"
"I don't know. I thought his end game was to get at Damien, but he has nothing to do with Jess."
"You said she let him out."
"According to Roan."
'We can speak to him!' Nyx murmurs. 'We need to know why Jess was down there!'
I nod my head in agreement and repeat the words to Dane.
"No. I need you to stay in the house." He tries to tug me back through the door. I slap his hand away. "Neah, we don't know where he is. We don't know if his plan is to come after you next or Damien, even Raven."
"Or Mallory." I mutter, watching her stumble forward, towards us. Her arms cling against her stomach. Blood profusely spilling over. She can't walk in a straight line either, almost like she is drunk.
"Shit. Don't move." He charges over to her. Lifting her from the ground.
"It's Salem." I hear her mutter.
As Dane brings her closer, I see her dirty blonde hair is stained with blood and parts of her intestines hang from her body.
My stomach back flips as I fight the urge to gag.
Apparently I could handle holding a heart but intestines were just too much.
Dane brings her inside.
His eyes glaze over as he drops her onto the table.
I just stand there, watching. She was probably on the verge of death and not a single bit of me cared. She should have died instead of Jess.
"Let me see." I hear Dane tell her.
She removes her arms and if she was upright, all the organs of her abdomen would have fallen out.
Raven comes crashing in through the kitchen door, almost tripping over her own crutches.
Her dark hair is stuck out everywhere and I see a mark similar to mine on her neck, just peeking out of the tee.
She had finally let him claim her.
Damien is right behind her.
He grabs Mallory's hand, holding it against his own chest. "Hold on. Just hold on." His dark eyes flicker to me. "Don't let her die. She doesn't deserve this."
It took me far too long to realise that Raven was waiting for me to say something.
To give her the go ahead to save another Lycan because technically, Dane wasn't their leader. I was. But was I cruel enough to say no after what she did to me? Was I cruel enough to let her suffer a long and painful death?
Nyx was oddly quiet too.
"Save her." Dane mutters before I get a chance to make my decision. "Neah is my mate, we both lead this pack and she is my guest. Save her, Raven."
"I need stuff from the hospital." Raven mutters as she inspects Mallory's open wound.
"What do you need?" Damien and Dane ask in unison.
Raven starts making a list as I watch Mallory drift into unconsciousness.
"Hurry. But be careful, we don't know where Salem is." She mutters as the men disappear out the back door.
Raven works to clean Mallory's stomach, prepping it for whatever she needs to do. I find myself unable to move. I was inches away from getting my revenge for what she had down to me and yet6 I couldn't say the words.
"Damien will never forgive me if she dies." Raven mutters, pushing intestines back in the gaping wound
My eyes flicker up to her, but she isn't looking at me, instead, she is too focussed on saving Mallory.
If I stop her from helping Mallory, it would put her matebond with Damien at risk. She will hate me for taking away her chance at happiness. I couldn't lose the one friend I have.
"Can you save her?" I ask quietly
"I think so." she gives me a tight lipped smile. "The wound higher up has already healed which is a good sign. But I think her stomach is a bit like my leg. I won't be able to tell until I can get in there properly."
She sighs. "I know you have issues with her, Neah. I know a million ideas are probably running through your head right now, but this is what I signed up for. Saving people and helping them has always been my dream. Please don't let me leave her to die." 'It's your choice. I will stand by you no matter what you decide.' Nyx murmurs.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" It was so hard forcing the words from my mouth.
Raven gives me a small smile. "Give me your hand."
She takes my hand and places it on Mallory's neck. "Normally, I would listen to her pulse, but it's not clear. Her body is going through mass amounts of trauma so you have to trust what you feel. Do you feel it?"
I nod.
"Tell me if anything changes, even the slightest little jump."
The men return after what felt like forever.
Accompanied by Eric, Klaus and Eric's boys. The boy's eyes are wide as they see Mallory but Eric guides them straight past and into another part of the house as I hear one of the boys asking if the woman on the table is dead I watch Raven work.
She's patient and calm, and completely in her element. The only sounds that could be heard is from the work she is doing.
"Now it's up to her." She steps back, admiring her work. Mallory was lucky. There was enough flesh that once everything was back in its right place it had begun to knit itself together.
I stumble from the kitchen, not quite believing that I had let her live.
Dane's hand catches mine, stopping me from going any further. "Talk to me Neah."
"There is nothing to say."
"You were going to let her die."
"I didn't though, did I?" The words sound so spiteful. "I... I helped."
His hands move to my shoulders. "I wish you would talk to me more."
"I do talk to you."
"Not recently. You are so short tempered all the time and if you are not, it lasts for all of five minutes before you lose your temper. And no matter how many times I have asked you not to do it, Nyx keeps blocking me from reading your mind. I can't help if you keep blocking me out." His crimson eyes bore into my own, making me feel small and seen
I open my mouth to speak, but the words disappear into thin air like they were never supposed to be heard.