0132
Dane
Grabbing some water, I throw it on his body. Jenson groans but doesn't move.
"Get the fuck up." I demand.
More groans, and there is a tiny bit of movement. He raises his hand and gives me the middle finger. for the water or my presence, I didn't know.
"What the fuck do you mean she is coming?" I snap. My temper was hanging on by a very thin thread.
"She's coming for me." He croaks
"Is that what you want?"
He doesn't answer me.
Silent treatment I was used to from my sister. But not Jenson. He wouldn't know what silence means if it bit him on the ball bag.
Even interrogating him. He may not have given us any information about them, but it didn't stop him making every shit remark possible.
His eyes open and he stares at me from the ground. "I...fucked up, Dane." He mutters breathlessly. His breaths sound hollow and raspy, I had a feeling it wasn't just his wolf he was killing.
Our wolves are part of us. Created from the Alpha blood that lives in our body. To try and kill Aspen's spirit would be like trying to kill himself.
"What does she want?"
His gaunt face stares back at me. Raven was right, I had been too caught up in punishing him to see how ill he looked. Like he had one foot through deaths door.
"I can help you Jenson, you just need to give me the information I need."
He rolls onto his back, his eyes fixate on the ceiling as he presses a hand to his chest. "It's weak. Aspen is gone."
His chest doesn't rise much when he tries to take a deep breath. And he ends up coughing on it.
"Neah." He splutters
"I know, but what does she want from Neah?"
He rolls his face towards me. "Everything. Her life....her power... her family."
His lips still and his chest stops rising and falling.
I am not letting this happen. Quickly opening his cell, I link Raven to come as I slam my fist down over his heart. I hear his ribs crack, but I don't care about that.
Pressing my ear to his chest, I hear nothing and start compressions.
Raven and Damien crash through the door just as Jensons heart begins to beat again. But it is still weak, still barely hanging on.
Klaus appears shortly afterwards with supplies from the hospital which Raven almost rips out of his hands. She tells everyone to get back while she works, only allowing Klaus to pass her certain things.
We watch her inject Jenson with multiple medicines and force a tube down his throat with a bag thing attached that she tells Klaus to squeeze at a steady pace.
She may be a bit of a mess sometimes, but when it comes to medical shit, she knows her stuff.
"He needs to go to the hospital." She mutters. "Now."
Damien and Klaus move him as she gets to her feet. Her dark eyes are one me. "You didn't let him die." She whispers as the men disappear.
"No, but Aspen...." I had to tell her.
"I know. Midnight is struggling. Can he survive this?"
I didn't know how to answer her.
"Go, keep him alive." I tell her and she throws her arms around me. "Don't worry, Dane. This is what I'm good at." She heads towards the steps. "I will let you know when you can come by."
"I will be at home, preparing."
"Preparing?"
"Before he passed out, he said she was coming." I see her hesitation. The last Rogue that she had dealt with was Salem and he scarred her for life. She isn't a fighter, she's a healer. "Keep Damien and Klaus close."
"Damien's your Beta." She mutters nervously.
"It's fine. He is also your mate."
She nods and runs up the rest of the steps.
In the office I find Eric. He's standing in front of my desk, his hands in his pockets.
"Eric." I mutter in surprise.
"Dane." He dips his head.
When I sit in my chair, he moves to the door and closes it with a sigh. "You figured it out." He murmurs without making eye contact. "She told me."
"Secrets rarely stay secret around me. Besides, there were a few giveaways. You marked her."
"It wasn't what I was intending. I was drunk. She made a few comments and then told me she might be leaving the pack."
"Because of Neah?"
He nods. "I lost it. I still don't know what came over me."
"Exactly how I feel when something happens to Neah. What about Kelsie?"
"She was never my true mate, was she?! We got together when we were kids, long before we were old enough to even shift. Stayed together because of the boys. Boys that weren't even mine. If she had been my true mate, she would have died from what she did with Jenson. Same as how you almost killed Neah by kissing her."
He shakes his head, "Honestly, I hated the idea of Mal being my mate. I fought against it and yet I could never bring myself to reject her. She showed up constantly, making sure that I wasn't drinking. Even when I told her to fuck off she would still come back. After that, I would find myself watching her. I can see her front door from my kitchen window and she does the same thing every evening. Sits outside with a mug of tea and watches."
Now I understood what Mallory was saying when she said she likes to watch.
"When she didn't follow her usual routine a few nights ago, I followed her scent into the forest. I heard her link that wasn't supposed to be for me and felt my heart fall out my ass when I realised she was in danger."
"A matebond will do that to you. You knocked Jenson out?"
"Yes. But he didn't seem himself. And he didn't wake up like I expected him to."
"He's in the hospital fighting for his life." I mutter
"It's that bad?"
"Yes."
"Mal told me what's been going on. I know I'm not your Beta anymore, but she has been keeping me in the loop as much as she can. I want to help if I can." "Where is she now?"
"I believe Neah is letting her meet the twins."
That news surprised me more than anything. Neah had point blank refused to let Mallory near them or even be in the same room as them until now.
"Have you really stopped drinking?"
I couldn't smell a drop on him. "A couple weeks." It matched what Mallory had said. "I'm in a much better place,"
I imagine Mallory had a lot to do with that.
"Good, I need a second Beta." He cocks an eyebrow at me. "Damien is a great Beta but he won't take the blood oath yet. It makes it difficult for him to get information to the rest of the pack. You would be able to do that, just like before. Though I expect you to work alongside Damien."
"Of course. Where do you need me?"
I catch him up on the very few things that Jenson said before he basically died.
Eric has a small smile on his lips, "Mal is smart."
"A lot wiser than what any of us give her credit for."
He nods. "I will speak to the guards, get a new rota going. Upgrade training again I guess."
"It needs to include weapons. From what I've heard, Blair is well trained and maybe it will be something she doesn't expect."
He leaves and I head upstairs to the nursery. Logan and Evrin are both staring at Mallory in amazement as she plays peekaboo with them. Giggles escape both of them each time she 'appears'.
Dorothy is sitting on Neah's lap with her lips almost pressed to Neah's ear as she whispers something.
"You know where the snack box is." Neah mutters back with a smile.
Dorothy had been here for a while now and she still asked permission for almost everything.
Still afraid that she was going to be told 'no' or starved.
It pulled on Neah's heart because of her past so she always made sure the snack box was full of all Dorothy's favourite things and she never said no.
She skips past me and towards the stairs but Neah's eyes are on me. "What's happened?"
"Jenson is in hospital."
"Wait." Mallory mutters, "You were going to give me forty eight hours."
"It turns out that he didn't have that left." I sigh. "The forced shifting has killed his wolf and Jenson died with him. We restarted his heart, but it doesn't look great."
"Can he survive that? Like how does that work because it's only Alpha blood that has an extra spirit right?"
"I don't know, but you were right, Mallory. He said he fucked up. But his stubbornness to ask for help means we might be too late. Raven is doing what she can."
The twins are oblivious to our conversation and are pulling on Mallory's sleeves to get her to keep playing. She plasters on a smile and plays with them as she asks what we are going to do.
I repeat the same things to her as I did Eric.
"She's really coming?" Neah asks quietly
"I don't know, but it felt like it was a warning."
"Don't let the darkness in now, Neah." Mallory warns her. "It might be exactly what she is looking for." Her head flips to me. "We need to find more Lycans."