0161
Damien
I listen to them talk. Neah tries to keep herself calm as Eric tells her that Klaus has already restarted Mallory's heart twice.
Twice.
It wasn't a good sign.
We could heal to a certain extent, but if the heart decides to give up. It is rare anyone can come back from that.
Raven should be helping.
She is the pack's main doctor. Not Klaus and not the others that she had trained. I had seen her work. She was precise, never missed a step, but she had point blank refused to come when I had linked her and now she is ignoring me. I rise to my feet and Neah's blue eyes flash in my direction.
"Please tell me what happens as soon as you hear it." I almost choke on my own words. Mallory is my best friend, we had been through a lot together. I couldn't lose her because some fucking prick shot her by accident.
Neah nods at me.
I come to a stop outside the hospital. Trying to decide if I wanted to speak to Dane about his sister, or speak to my mate directly. She should be helping. I had to find a way to make her help.
Making my way across the grounds, I pause outside the packhouse, preparing myself for the argument that is already brewing.
Pulling open the door, Dorothy come's hurtling towards me from the stairs. Fear written all over her chubby little face as she throws herself into my arms.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong?"
"There's something bad in the house Daddy."
"What do you mean?"
"It's dark upstairs."
I look up the stairs where sunlight is flooding in through the large windows.
"Don't go up there Daddy." Her bright green eyes are filled with tears as she glances up the stairs.
"Who is upstairs, Dottie?"
Her eyes find mine and quickly drop. She squeezes herself against my chest and whispers, "Raven." "Anyone else?"
Dottie shakes her head and shudders. "Daddy, can we leave?"
I back out of the house. I couldn't feel anything but the pain Raven was still feeling.
"Logan and Evrin are with Athena and Sebastian, would you like to go there?" I was trying to keep her calm, but whether she believed it or not was a different matter. "Yes please." She nods her head frantically.
On some level, I hoped that she had just been napping and had woken from a bad dream. But the silent treatment from Raven and the lack of interest in helping Mallory had me concerned. Sebastian opens the door, he looks surprised to see us, but beams at Dottie.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you today." The comment makes Dottie laugh and for a moment her fear is gone.
"I'm really sorry Sebastian, is there any chance you can watch her for a little while?"
He looks at my face. "No problem, she will be perfectly fine here and I do believe the twins are due to wake up. Why don't you come in, Athena is going to make some cakes."
She runs in without a second thought to me.
"How bad is it?" Sebastian asks
"Mallory is in critical condition. Eric and Neah are waiting with her."
"He can't lose anything else." He sighs, "But that's not what I'm talking about." He glances down his hallway to make sure Dorothy was out of sight. "Dorothy mentioned something about Raven when she was here yesterday. She was half asleep so it didn't make much sense."
"She came running down the stairs, with more fear in her than what I saw when I rescued her from that bar. The only other person upstairs apart from her was Raven."
"If she needs to, she can stay here the night." Sebastian replies, "Besides, Athena and I love having kids in the house again."
I didn't have it in me to tell him that there would be no chance of grandkids.
"I will let you know if I need her to stay the night."
I look around. Normally, I would quite happily handle this myself. Raven was my mate, but the fact that Dorothy had called her dark, has pushed me out of my comfort zone. Wolves didn't go dark. That was a Lycan trait. "Is my daughter okay?"
I look over my shoulder to see Abraxas coming my way.
"Did you shoot Mallory?" I had to hear it from him
"I may be sadistic at times, and I love to kill Lycans, but I don't kill pups. They are still pure. And if you hadn't noticed, I could have taken any of you out at any time and I haven't. So I will ask you again, how is my daughter?" "Scared."
"I know that, dumbass. What is she scared of?"
"My mate."
His brows knit together. "She's helping Mallory, right?"
Did I just see a hint of concern? Did he actually like Mallory
""No, Klaus is."
As much as I despised him, maybe he was the one who could help me. After all, he claimed to see this darkness in people and I couldn't lose my best friend and my mate in one day.
I tell him what happened with Dottie. The fear, the panic and the need to get out of the house like she knew she was in danger.
"You think Ravens lost it?" He asks me carefully.
"I don't know what to think. I know she is not the same woman I fell for. I know she has shut down. I know she is still in pain, which she refuses to talk about. I can barely get inside her head and when I do....."
"It's chaotic." He finishes the sentence for me
"Wolves can't be taken by the darkness."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Damien." He purses his lips. It was weird hearing my name come out of his mouth, but it was better than everything else he had called me. His hazel eyes shift over towards the pack house. "Remember what I told you about them having twin Wolves and how a piece of them resides in each other?"
"Yes."
"Jenson is officially dead. She has a gaping hole in her soul and she lost the bit of her that was in him. Anything can get in. Darkness can run deep. She isn't like Neah. Raven's Alpha genetics aren't as strong."
"Are you saying she is going Rogue?" I press
"I'm saying, we need to be careful."
"About what?" Dane interrupts us.
"Where are the Lycans?" I ask
"Being watched. How's Mallory?"
"Too soon to tell but she lost the pup."
I see the frown on Brax's face. He definitely liked Mallory more than he let on. The frown disappears as quickly as it appeared. "We need to be careful about your sister?"
"Raven?"
"You only have one sister. Don't you?" Abraxas mutters with a cocked eyebrow
"Isn't she in the hospital helping?"
"You would think, wouldn't you?!" Abraxas responds
"That doesn't sound like her. She's always wanted to help people. Even as a kid, the toys she asked for were doctor's kits. I even agreed that she could be the pack doctor instead of representing our family. Why wouldn't she help Mallory? She knows you're close to her." He points at me.
"I asked her to help. She said no. When I asked again, she ignored me. Klaus is doing the best he can, but when I left, her heart had already stopped twice."
"Is Eric still there?"
I nod. "Neah is sitting with him."
He turns on the spot and storms towards the packhouse. "Then I will make her help."
"I don't think that is going to work." Abraxas mutters quietly.
"He is her Alpha."
"If I'm right, it won't matter who he is to her."
"Then you can come with us." I shove him forward, encouraging him to follow Dane. He gives me a death glare.
"Don't you put your hands on me again. Not if you know what's good for you."
"Fucking move!"
"You know I can take away your ability to see my daughter."
"Whatever, just go and see what your daughter was talking about!" I snap, there is no way I was letting him take Dottie away.
He strolls after Dane. No desire to be in a hurry in any shape or form.
Abraxas steps into the packhouse. He's more tense than usual. His eyes dart up the stairs. "My baby girl wasn't wrong." "So something is wrong with my mate?"
I hear thudding upstairs and Dane demanding to be let in.
"You need to talk to her." Abraxas tells me. "Just choose your words carefully."
"If she will even listen to me!"
Dane continues to pound on the door as Abraxas and I make our way up the stairs.
"Raven, you better let me in, before I break the fucking door down." Dane yells
There's no answer. But I know without a doubt that my mate is on the other side of the door.
"Raven?" I call her name quietly, in the hopes that it will make her feel calmer
"Is she dead?" Her words are hollow, not a single ounce of emotion in them which was unlike her.
"No." I reply, I hadn't heard anything from Neah and I was clinging to that.
"She deserves to be."
I take a step back, stunned by her response.
"Raven, you took a vow to protect people." Dane hollers through the door. "Now get your fucking ass out here and go and help her."
It was a straight up order but there was no movement on the other side of the door. Something that seems to throw Dane and I watch him frown.
He throws himself against the door and it barely budges. My guess is she had pushed her very heavy dresser up against it.
He shoves it again and it moves a tiny fraction. "Come on." He demands
Together we are able to force the door open.
Raven is standing, staring out the window. "I didn't want you to come in."
"Why won't you help Mallory?" Dane pushes
"She didn't help my brother."
"If Mallory hadn't gotten herself kidnapped by Blair, do you think he would have even made it back here?" Dane snaps.
"She didn't tell us though, did she? She held that information in until you were going to kill him. And look, you did that anyway."
"Raven, you know he was already gone. There was nothing that was going to bring him back to life. Surely it was better he died here than miles away at the hands of some wannabe." She doesn't answer.
"I shouldn't have let this go on for so long. If you want to blame someone, blame me!"
She rotates herself around to face the three of us. "What is this, some kind of intervention?"
"Raven, I know you are hurting...." I start
"My brother died." She has a vacant look to her eyes
"He made his choices." Dane responds. "And none of those choices were in favour of us."
"You've been talking to Neah."
"No, I told Neah that."