Silver and Blood
I couldn't sleep.
The heavy, suffocating scent of Kade's pheromones wrapped around the Alpha Suite like a thick blanket. Asher was fast asleep in the center of the massive king-sized bed, his small fists clutching the silk sheets, completely exhausted by the sheer terror of the day.
I sat in a velvet armchair near the large glass balcony doors, watching the heavy snow fall over the Bloodbane territory.
Kade had kept his word. He hadn't stepped foot inside the room.
But my heightened senses could hear the steady, rhythmic sound of his breathing right outside the heavy oak doors.
The Alpha King of the South was sleeping on the hard marble floor of the hallway, standing guard over a woman who hated him and a son who feared him.
I pulled my knees to my chest, my mind spinning.
He threw Vivienne out. He called me his Luna.
The memory of his massive hand wrapped around the Northern Princess's throat made my inner wolf purr with a dark, traitorous satisfaction. I ruthlessly shoved the feeling down. One act of violent protection didn't erase four years of abandonment.
Suddenly, the wind against the balcony glass stopped.
A shadow, darker than the night, eclipsed the moonlight.
My heart completely stopped. My healer's instincts flared instantly. It wasn't Kade's scent. It was the foul, metallic stench of rogue blood and... silver.
Before I could even scream, the thick, reinforced glass of the balcony doors shattered inward with a deafening CRASH.
Shards of glass rained down on the expensive rugs. A massive, heavily scarred wolf in mid-shift vaulted into the room. He wasn't aiming for me. His feral, bloodshot eyes were locked entirely on the small boy sleeping on the bed.
An assassin. Vivienne's revenge.
"Asher!" I shrieked, throwing myself out of the armchair, desperately trying to put my body between the monster and my son.
But I was too slow. The assassin lunged, a jagged silver blade gleaming in his hand, aimed directly at Asher's chest.
BOOM!
The heavy oak doors of the suite didn't just open; they were violently ripped from their iron hinges.
Kade didn't run. He blurred.
A demonic, earth-shattering roar tore from his throat. He crossed the massive room in a fraction of a second. He didn't have time to shift. He didn't have time to draw a weapon.
Kade threw his massive, bare body directly over the bed, shielding Asher entirely.
The sickening sound of metal tearing through flesh echoed in the room.
Kade let out a sharp, guttural grunt as the assassin's silver blade sank deep into his right shoulder, stopping mere inches from where Asher lay trembling.
The scent of Kade's burning blood filled the air. Silver was lethal to an Alpha, but Kade didn't even flinch. The pain only seemed to fuel his apocalyptic rage.
With the blade still buried in his shoulder, Kade spun around. His golden eyes were completely black. He grabbed the assassin by the throat with one massive hand, lifting the massive rogue completely off the floor.
"You touched my bed," Kade whispered, his voice vibrating with a terrifying, demonic frequency.
Kade's claws extended, and with a single, ruthless twist of his wrist, he snapped the assassin's neck. The horrific crack echoed through the suite. Kade threw the lifeless body onto the glass-covered floor like a broken toy.
The entire fight had lasted less than ten seconds.
"Mommy!" Asher screamed, finally waking up to the chaos, burying his face in the pillows.
Kade froze. The feral monster vanished, replaced instantly by the terrified father. He turned his massive frame toward the bed, his chest heaving.
"Are you hurt?" Kade gasped out, his voice shaking violently. He looked at Asher, and then at me. "Freya, did he touch either of you?"
"We're fine," I choked out, crawling onto the bed to pull Asher into my arms. I looked up at Kade.
The right side of his dark shirt was completely soaked in thick, black blood. The silver blade was still lodged deep in his muscle, poisoning his bloodstream with every beat of his heart. His skin was already turning a sickly pale color, sweat beading on his forehead.
Kade took a staggering step back, putting distance between himself and Asher.
"Good," Kade rasped, his knees visibly buckling. "Keep... keep the door locked."
He turned to walk out of the room, fully intending to drag his poisoned, dying body out into the hallway so his son wouldn't have to watch him bleed.
"Kade, stop!" I yelled, the healer in me completely taking over the angry captive.
I scrambled off the bed, grabbing my heavy apothecary satchel from the desk.
Kade collapsed against the doorframe, sliding heavily down the wood until he hit the floor. His breathing was shallow and ragged. Silver poisoning spread fast, even in an Alpha King.
I fell to my knees beside him on the floor.
"Don't," Kade gritted out, his golden eyes hazy with pain as he tried to push me away with his good arm. "I'm... I'm bleeding. It will scare him. Take Asher... go to the bathroom."
"Shut up, Kade," I ordered fiercely, ignoring his massive hand. I unzipped my satchel, pulling out a vial of clear liquid and a set of sterilized forceps. "I am a healer. You are not dying on my floor."
I grabbed the collar of his ruined shirt and ripped it completely open, exposing his heavily muscled, tattooed chest and the gruesome wound.
The moment my bare hands touched his burning skin, a violent, electrical shock sent a massive jolt straight to my heart.
Mate. My inner wolf howled, completely awakened by the taste of his blood and the proximity of his soul. Kade gasped, his golden eyes snapping wide open as the mate bond flared brilliantly between us for the first time in four years.
"Freya," he whispered, the name sounding like a desperate prayer on his lips. He didn't push me away anymore. He leaned his head back against the doorframe, completely surrendering himself to my touch.
"This is going to hurt," I warned him, my hands shaking slightly as I gripped the hilt of the silver blade.
"I've survived worse," Kade murmured, his eyes never leaving my face. "I survived four years without you."
I swallowed the massive lump in my throat and yanked the blade out.
Kade let out a low, tortured groan, his massive fists clenching, but he didn't move away. I quickly poured the neutralizing liquid into the wound, my fingers working rapidly to stitch the torn muscle and pack it with healing herbs.
As I worked, wrapped in the overwhelming scent of his blood and pine, a tiny, hesitant footstep sounded behind me.
I glanced back.
Asher had climbed off the bed. He was standing a few feet away, clutching his stuffed bear, staring at the massive Alpha bleeding on the floor.
Asher didn't look terrified anymore. He looked at the dead monster on the floor, and then he looked at Kade.
"You..." Asher's small voice trembled in the quiet room. "You jumped in front of the knife."
Kade opened his heavy eyes, looking at his son. A sad, exhausted smile touched the Alpha's pale lips.
"I would jump in front of a thousand knives for you, little wolf," Kade whispered softly, his chest rising and falling heavily under my hands. "I am your shield. No one will ever hurt you while I am breathing."
Asher slowly took a step forward. He didn't run to me. He walked right up to Kade's massive, uninjured leg. Trembling slightly, Asher reached out his tiny hand and gently patted Kade's knee.
"Thank you," Asher whispered.
Kade completely stopped breathing. A single tear slipped down his sharp, scarred cheek. He didn't dare move, terrified of breaking the fragile, beautiful moment.
I finished tying the bandage, my own tears blurring my vision. He had taken a blade for my son without a single second of hesitation.
I picked up the bloody silver blade from the floor to wrap it in a cloth. But as the moonlight hit the metal, my healer's eyes caught something.
The blade wasn't just coated in silver. It was dripping with a thick, viscous black sap.
I brought the blade closer to my face, sniffing the sap.
My blood instantly froze solid in my veins. The smell of rotting dark magic and poisoned wolfsbane.
It was the exact same scent that was killing the Bloodbane pack.
I looked up at Kade, the terrifying realization crashing over me.
"Kade," I breathed, my hands trembling as I held up the poisoned blade. "The plague destroying your pack... it isn't an illness. It's a biological weapon. Someone is deliberately poisoning your people."
And the assassin had just brought the weapon straight to the Alpha King's door.