0168
Mallory
I got shot. I got fucking shot. The bastard shot me in the stomach.
My head is fuzzy, yet being shot is the only thing that is clear.
"She's waking up." I hear Eric and I hear the relief in his tone.
Warm fingers lock around my wrist and another set presses against my neck. "Pulse is strong."
I squint one eye and see Klaus smiling at me.
"I was shot." I mutter, opening my eyes fully. I'm met with silence. My fingers move to my stomach. Bandages cover my entire torso. I start to pick at them. I needed to know how bad it was. I was pregnant.
"Mal stop." Eric's hands grab mine, pulling them back as I let out a whimper
"But I'm pregnant!" It wasn't how I wanted to tell him. It was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to tell him tonight, when everyone is on the pack run.
It's funny how silence can be deafening. It takes me seconds to connect the dots. I had been shot in the stomach. The bandages that wrapped around me suggested that my wounds were extensive. Which could only mean one thing, I had lost our pup. "Mallory...." Klaus starts
"No. I already know. I was just...." I turn my head towards Eric. "I'm sorry." I'm trying to hold it together but my chest is tight and my lungs burn with the need to scream.
I could see it on his face, there was something else he needed to tell me.
Eric squeezes my hand. "The shot did too much damage, Mal. It, um... it...." I had never seen him lost for words. The news was worse than me just losing a pup.
"It's like Raven's leg." I whisper, knowing what he couldn't say. "It can't heal." Not only had I lost the pup. I had lost the ability to have them.
"Mal, I'm sor...."
"It's fine." My body was trembling. It wasn't fine, but I had to focus on something else. "Is Brax dead?" He was the fucker that shot me.
"No." Eric replies calmly. I was expecting him of Damient to have ripped Brax's guts out for what he did to me.
"Why fucking not? He is why I'm here. He is why I lost the pup. He fucking shot me and he knew I was pregnant!"
"Mal, it wasn't him!" Eric stops me
"What are you talking about? He is the only one with guns."
"A Lycan was fighting him over it. The guy was going to shoot Neah. Brax tried to get it off of him, but when it went off, it hit you. Neah killed the guy." Klaus tells me
I should feel better. The idiot that shot me was dead. But I don't, I just feel sore and empty. How something so tiny could leave you feeling so empty was something I didn't understand.
"You should go on the pack run." I mutter to Eric. "I will be okay here. I will just..." I look around the room. "I guess I will just rest."
"Mal, the pack run was two nights ago. Because of the damage, your body has been slow to heal."
"Oh."
"There is something else I need to tell you."
How much worse could it get?
Eric runs his hands through his blonde hair. "Raven's dead."
I stare at him with my mouth hanging open as Eric and Klaus fill me in.
I still didn't fully understand what had happened and I almost felt like I was in some kind of dream or maybe an hallucination from all the drugs. What he was telling me didn't seem real.
A soul taking over another soul.
"How's Damien?" This could be the very thing that tips him back into Rogue habits. He told me Raven was his light, that she kept him grounded. With her gone, it was a matter of time. "That's the thing everyone is worried about." Klaus mutters
"Please tell me he hasn't turned Rogue?!"
"That's just it. He hasn't. He is quiet but getting on with his Beta duties. He isn't acting like someone who lost a mate. Brax is watching him constantly."
"That's going to make things worse." I sigh while shuffling in the bed. It would be so much easier if they just stood on the same side rather than making me turn my head back and forth.
"He's also started carrying a gun." Eric tells me.
"What?" I was certain I had misheard him.
"You don't need to worry about what is going on out there. The rest of us have it handled. I just need you to rest." Eric stares at me, waiting for me to agree.
"I need to speak to him."
"Mal, you need to rest."
"Please. I just... I know him better than anyone."
"I will get him." Klaus gives me a small smile and hurries out the room.
"We need to talk about this, Mal. I feel your pain and the ache in your heart."
I shake my head at him, the tears already blurring my eyes. I can't talk about it, not yet.
"I knew."
"Huh?"
"I knew. I did a sweep of your house after the fire. I saw the tests."
I drop my gaze. "It was supposed to be a surprise and I was nervous, after what happened to the boys. I knew you wanted it and now.... Now, I can't ever give you a pup."
It's odd, because it's only now that I'm realising how much I wanted it. I've always known that I wanted to be a mother, to have my own little crew. I also never saw it happening, not until I saw those two lines. "I'm sorry." I mutter again and he grabs both my hands.
"Stop apologising, this wasn't your doing. You didn't know this was going to happen. No one could have predicted it. This is not your fault."
It didn't stop feeling like it was my fault.
I plaster on a smile as Damien makes his way in.
"I will give you guys a minute." Eric mutters, then makes a point of looking at me. "Stay in bed."
"I was going to come and see you." Damien speaks quietly, and peers through the blinds of the window.
"Are you okay?" I ask
"I should be the one asking you that question. I guess they told you."
I nod, though he isn't looking at me. "I don't really understand. I thought Jenson was dead."
"It doesn't matter. They are both dead now."
"She was your mate."
"Was! She gave up, Mallory. I didn't see it. I couldn't see it, or maybe I didn't want to. But she gave up. I wasn't even worth holding onto. She loved him more than she loved anything else. Twins in life, twins in death." "So you are good?" I ask with a head tilt
"Yes."
I stare at him. "I don't believe you."
He makes his way to the chair next to my bed.
"Everyone is watching me. Waiting for me to break down. Brax has his beady little eyes on me at every opportunity. He's probably pissed that I am in here and he can't see me. I don't need you watching me too, Mallory. You need to focus on your own health."
"I've seen people lose their mates. This is not how they react."
"Maybe, maybe not. Or maybe I've just been preparing myself to lose her since I first met her." He groans. "I knew a time would come where I would lose her or she would lose me. Though I never imagined losing her to her own fucking brother."
I wanted to gag, I really hoped he didn't mean what I thought he meant.
"Like I said. Twins in life. Twins in death."
I had seen Damien do a lot of stuff, including the shit he did as a Rogue, but this, this had me feeling the most unsettled. He was too calm, too understanding. Or maybe he was right, he was too used to death.
"I swear Mallory, you don't need to worry about me."
I dip my head in acknowledgement, though his comment just left me more unsettled.
"Oh, I'm taking the oath tomorrow evening. Being Beta is hard without being able to link Dane and with this many Lycans, there needs to be someone who can link both."
"Right." I was so weirded out by our conversation. Eric had said he was acting odd, but he wasn't, he was acting like his usual self and that's what was odd. Maybe he was having some kind of delayed reaction?