Chapter 5
Two months ago…
Edward Fairchild
I could feel the blood seeping out of me, hot, sticky, pulsing in rhythm with my weakening heartbeat.
The pain had started to fade into a deeper sort of ache, and I grew quite a bit colder as numbness crept into my limbs.
I lay flat against the cold sand, staring up at the blurred sky, feeling the life slowly drain from my veins.
It was a strange feeling, knowing you were dying.
It wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might.
I’d always expected my end to come like this. Violent, bloody, somehow, in some way, doing my damned job. I sucked in a shallow breath, my vision swimming. Logan knelt next to me, his dark gaze intense, conflicted.
“Edward,” Logan snapped, his eyes blazing with anger, frustration, maybe even fear. “Stay with me. You’re not going out like this.”
I managed a weak snort. “Don’t flatter yourself, Yorke. Like I’d choose to stick around just to listen to more of your bloody moaning.”
He gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing. “We need to help you.”
“I don’t need your help,” I rasped, coughing up blood and tasting copper. “Especially not from your lot.”
He flinched slightly at the venom in my voice, but his expression hardened. “You took that bite protecting me. Why? You’re always going on about how dangerous wolves are.”
I glared back, breathing shallowly, ignoring the ache of my wound. “It wasn’t about protecting you, Yorke. It was about finishing my fucking job.”
Behind Logan, Jamie stepped forward, eyebrows raised. “A stubborn one, eh?”
I coughed bitterly. “Not stubborn. Just… dedicated.”
My vision blurred, shadows dancing around the edges of my sight as the relentless rush of blood flowed from the ragged gash in my chest. Pain seared through my every breath, radiating outward with agonizing clarity. My pulse hammered frantically, and each beat felt weaker than the last.
Two men I didn’t recognize hovered over me, their gazes etched with urgency and worry. One knelt close, studying my wound with an intensity that felt oddly comforting, despite my lifelong aversion to trusting any wolves, especially ones I’d never met.
The bigger man leaned in, his green eyes piercing as he assessed the severity of my wound. “He’s losing too much blood. We’ve got to make a choice now, or we’ll lose him.”
The other man knelt carefully, his voice quiet, but authoritative. “The bite’s too deep. There’s no stopping the bleeding.”
Their faces blurred slightly, and frustration surged within me, tangled with a lifetime’s worth of stubborn defiance.
I’d fought shifters my whole career, soldiered for the Regency with steely discipline.
Wolves were the enemy, dangerous beasts to be controlled, managed, and delivered neatly to distant shores like unwanted cargo.
The idea of becoming one of those monsters myself churned nausea in my gut.
The man who’d first assessed my wound—broad shoulders, quiet strength, a natural authority in his presence—spoke again, his voice heavy with reluctant certainty. “We either bite him, or we leave him here for dead.”
Logan bristled sharply beside me, shaking his head, voice tight. “You can’t make that decision for him. He deserves a say.”
A harsh, bitter laugh tore painfully from my throat, tasting metallic. “Finally. The wolf has sense,” I rasped. “At least someone gets it.”
The first man turned back to me, meeting my gaze directly. “You’re right. This has to be your decision, but you’ve got only moments. I’m Aidan. This is Declan. Trust me, we’re not here to hurt you, Edward. This is about saving your life.”
The other man, Declan, shifted anxiously, eyes clouded with genuine concern. “I know how you feel right now, believe me. I was human too, not long ago, bitten in a moment just like this. I didn’t want it either, but it saved me.”
I struggled to focus through the haze, their names anchoring me slightly, grounding the spinning dizziness in my mind.
Logan leaned closer, his voice softer now, carrying unexpected intensity. “Edward, we haven’t exactly gotten along, but dying here, like this? You don’t deserve it.”
I forced air painfully into my lungs, staring directly at Logan. “Better to die human than live as a wolf like you,” I growled defiantly, voice shaking with pain.
Jamie leaned in with a frown, his face taut with frustration. “You’re bloody impossible, Fairchild. You really want to end it here?”
I hesitated, the reality of death pressing in on me, heavy and cold.
Memories surged within my head, the endless training, the bitter conflicts fought in service to England.
My entire existence had been defined by discipline and duty.
To now become something that I’d spent my life working to eradicate felt wrong, a violation of every code I had ever lived by.
Beneath that stubbornness, though, the primitive desire to survive started to come to life. To keep breathing, keep fighting. It went deeper than duty and felt stronger than my stubbornness.
Aidan’s voice pulled me back from the edge of darkness. “You fought bravely today, Edward. You deserve a chance to live. To keep fighting. You’re not alone. We’re here to help you through it.”
My breathing shuddered unevenly, the fight inside me wavering.
Blood trickled slowly from my lips, mingling with sweat and dirt.
I looked at the faces around me: Logan’s fierce determination, Jamie’s frustration tempered by concern, Declan’s quiet empathy, and finally Aidan, steady and strong, offering life at a cost.
I drew a painful, shaky breath, my pride and training warring furiously with the primal instinct roaring inside me, screaming for survival.
Finally, as darkness crept closer, the answer came with brutal, simple clarity.
“Ah, fuck it,” I growled weakly, surrendering bitterly to fate. “Bite me, then. Go on then, bloody bite me already.”
Aidan nodded firmly, respect flickering in his green eyes. “Alright,” he said softly. “Brace yourself.”
He shifted in an instant into a powerful, majestic wolf towering over me.
Aidan hesitated just a fraction of a second, and then his jaws sank deep into my shoulder.
Pain ripped through me, fiery and fierce, blazing outward through every nerve ending, sharp and terrible.
My body jerked violently beneath his grip.
I groaned in agony, vision darkening at the edges, my pulse roaring wildly in my ears. In those final conscious moments, I felt an overpowering force rushing into my blood, overtaking me, reshaping everything I’d ever known.
Then darkness claimed me, pulling me under into oblivion and the last thought I had before everything faded away was this:
I was becoming the very thing I’d been trained my entire life to fight.