Chapter 24
Jackson
“We’re losing her.”
Those words wrap around my heart and squeeze the air from my lungs.
“Do something!” I demand of the healer. I’m barely hanging on to my control; my wolf is thrashing wildly inside of me.
It’s taking all my focus to keep him locked away because I know in this moment, I can’t let him free; but seeing our mate in pain, broken and beaten and struggling to stay alive is more than the man or the wolf can bear.
So much has happened in the last few minutes since I killed the man that hurt her.
My wolf growls in my chest, and I force my gaze away from the corpse on the ground. I have to focus.
“Sage, she’s not responding to anything I do; I don’t know what to do. I haven’t healed someone this bad off before all by myself,” Ava says in a full-blown panic.
There are too many people in this room, and I want them all gone.
My claws are out, and I don’t dare touch my mate.
She’s unconscious now but still breathing; I'm watching her chest rise and drop and listening simultaneously to her breathing.
It's too labored and too slow; I don’t have to be a doctor to diagnose that. “Do something!” I growl again.
“Jackson!”
It takes me a moment to realize somebody’s been calling my name. I jerk my head to the healer. “You have to do it,” she says. I shake my head, but she’s adamant. “It’s the only way.”
We’ve already had this argument. “I’m not taking her choice from her.” My words are barely distinguishable.
“Listen to me,” she snaps at me. “I don’t want you to either. But if you don’t, she’s going to die. She's going to die, Jackson!”
I snarl at her, and her mate moves so that he’s in between the two of us. He gives me a look that I know means I would be dead if they didn’t need me to spare my mate’s life. “It’s the only way, Jackson.” That voice comes through the phone; I don’t even know who it is that’s talking.
I take in every detail of my mate’s battered frame, knowing this is only what I can see.
She could have more injuries under her clothes and who knows what injuries internally.
Still, to take away her choice to become my mate...
to tie herself to me for all of eternity.
“I can’t do that to her,” I rasp out. I continue to count her heartbeats; they’re slower now.
“We’ve seen this before,” that voice on the phone says.
The healer turns to me. “They injected her with vampire serum; I would bet my life on it. That’s what’s killing her.
Every time I try to heal her; I’m met with a dark force.
It gets stronger every time. She has no strength to fight against it; her healing power is trying and failing.
It’s overtaking her healing power; and then there will be nothing to fight against it. This is the only way to save her.”
“Do it, Jackson,” Ransom says from wherever he’s standing in the room. We'll deal with the ramifications of it later. I stare down at her and count her heartbeats. The voices are all still talking, making me feel like I’m losing my mind.
And then her heartbeat stalls. I jerk my head to her chest. The voices continue; no one realizes it.
But I do. I don’t have any other choice.
I bend over my broken mate, hating what I’m about to do.
The room goes eerily silent. “Try not to move her,” I hear a male voice say through the phone.
“She likely has internal injuries. When you bite, bite deep and hold. The power will fight against you. Fight against it until it releases completely.” The non-emotional male voice guides me, and I do as he says.
I don’t think; I don’t allow myself the luxury.
I bite her neck deeper than I would have normally; I’m grateful she’s not awake to feel it.
I feel my wolf’s joy, but all I can feel is sorrow and fear for my mate.
This was never how it was supposed to be.
She was never supposed to be unconscious, fighting for her life when I claimed her.
I feel the dark force rise up to fight against me.
If I hadn’t braced for it, it would have thrown me back.
But I hold on and use my strength to push against the force trying to push me away from my mate.
I bite deeper and force the bite to remain, and the dark force tries and fails to push me away.
Slowly, the power begins to recede. Only when it’s completely gone, do I relax my mouth and release my hold on her.
I lick her bite wound and try not to think about how good her skin tastes.
I lean back, more tired than I want to admit.
“It worked,” Bryce says.
I look down at my mate, searching for any sign that she’s any better.
“Now, I can go to work,” Ava says. Her mate speaks softly to her, but I block it out.
I watch my mate, looking for any sign of improvement.
The healer pulls up Kayla’s shirt, and my hand shoots out, stopping her.
“I have to touch her skin, but I’ll go under her shirt,” she explains.
I want to argue, but I stay silent. I watch as the healer closes her eyes and focuses.
Her mate keeps a hand on her shoulder, and I assume he’s sending his power into her.
It’s what I would do. Slowly, the ghastly look on Kayla’s face begins to dissipate just a little.
Her lips don’t look quite as blue anymore, and her cheeks have a tiny bit of color in them.
Another agonizing ten maybe twenty minutes pass in silence before the healer leans back and sags against her mate. “She’s stable.”
I take in the injuries still obvious on her body. “Her injuries,” I ground out.
“I’ll get to those,” the healer says, but it’s obvious she’s tanked. She sags, and her mate stands and picks her up.
“What happens next?” That comes from Raechel.
“She needs to heal now,” the male voice on the phone says. “Jackson.” I don’t want to, but I acknowledge the voice on the phone.
“What?”
His voice is quieter now. “Ava’s tapped out.
That’s probably all she’s going to be able to do for now or at all if Bryce has anything to say about it.
She needs to continue healing, and she needs a safe place to do it.
I’d like to check her out.” A growl reverberates through my chest, but he ignores it.
“I can come to you, or you can bring her here. But I really think she needs to get checked out by a doctor. She’s stable right now, but she’s not out of the woods.
You can take her to a hospital there if you want but...
” His voice trails off, and I know what he’s implying.
If I take her to a hospital, I lose control over what they do to her.
And I don’t know that I’ll be able to control myself if a bunch of people I don’t know get their hands on her, especially males.
I rub my hand over my face and look down at my mate again.
She looks so small lying still on the floor.
Regret so thick bubbles up, it almost chokes me.
I should have been here; nobody would have touched her.
I don’t know the right thing to do here.
She and Noah—the thought freezes me in my tracks.
The thought of her little brother slams into me like a freight train, and I stand to my feet.
I shut everyone and everything around me out and let my wolf come to the surface.
I have no idea if they brought him with her into this room.
There are too many scents in the room, so I use my ears instead.
My hearing senses have always been superior, even for a shifter.
I listen to each heartbeat. I'm aware that the guy on the phone is still talking, but I tune him out for now. I close my eyes and listen with my wolf’s senses.
Kayla’s heartbeat is still weak, and I hate that; but I don’t focus on it.
I keep sending out my senses, listening for another heartbeat.
I move around the room, listening. I’m almost convinced he’s not in this room when I hear the faintest sound.
I move until it’s a little stronger. I stop in front of a wall and examine it further.
I don’t see anything. But when I put my ear to the wall, I hear another heartbeat.
I run my hands over the wall, looking for something, anything.
“What is it?” Ransom asks, at my shoulder.
“There’s another heartbeat.”
His eyebrows lift. “Noah?”
“Maybe.” I run my hands over the wall again.
This time, I feel a small bump in the wall.
I push on it, but nothing happens. I push it harder; this time, I freeze when I hear what sounds like a lock disengaging.
Ransom looks at me and steps back. I push on the wall and it slides a little.
I push the door to the side; it’s heavier than it looks.
As soon as it opens, my heart drops in my chest. For the second time today, I beat myself up for not getting here sooner.
I take in the small boy tied to the chair with a gag over his mouth.
Anger like I’ve never known on both their behalf fills me, and rage consumes me.
“Jackson.” Ransom’s voice holds a warning, and I force aside my anger and take a step forward and stop. I’m not sure how scared of me he’s going to be.
“Noah.” My voice is deep and gritty with the presence of my wolf and not the least bit comforting.
I wish in that moment that I knew how to be tender and gentle, but I don’t.
His eyes are wide, the pupils blown out; and I can smell his fear.
It's like a gut punch. I move forward, keeping my movements slow and measured. “I’m going to free you.” I drop to my knees in front of him and break the ties around his feet first and then his hands. Last, I untie the gag around his mouth.
“You have to help Kayla,” he says as soon as he’s free to speak. “She’s hurt; I h-heard h-her s-scream. Please—”
“She’s okay.” Those two words cut off his spiral.
“She’s unconscious, but she’s stable. We’re going to—” He launches forward and throws his arms around me, surprising me.
I catch him and steady myself. I know the exact moment he catches sight either of his sister’s body or his uncle’s.
I pull back but keep my hands on his upper arms. I don’t pull any punches; I won’t with this kid.
He’s been through too much, seen too much.
“Your uncle showed up and hurt Kayla.” I don’t bother keeping the anger from my voice.
“Is he dead?” he asks with no emotion.
I look him square in the eye. “I killed him.”
“Good.” He keeps his head up, looking so much older than his seven years. “I want to see Kayla.”
I stand to my feet and move out of his way, so he can see his sister. He doesn’t make a sound as he stares at her. “Will she be okay?”
“Yes.” I don’t falter in my answer because she will be okay; there’s no other option. “We’re going to get her some help.” He doesn’t say anything, once again the stoic boy I first met. I look around the room and land on the healer. “Is it safe to transport her?”