Chapter 12 #2
The girl’s been sweating and it’s not a good sign, especially not when her breathing is that shallow.
The little movements of her chest are fast and almost futile as she pants, trying to cool and take enough air in to keep going.
And I can barely hear her heart. It’s fluttering rather than pumping and it’s going far too fast. This isn’t sustainable, not even for a wolf who’s strong and resilient.
Nia’s neither, and it’s a wonder that she’s clinging on.
My face curls into a snarl and I don’t turn towards my Beta.
“It’s not an infection, Luke.” Cole swallows and I sense the sheer damn terror rippling through him and his wolf. “She’s been poisoned.”
Fuck.
The rage that explodes through me is a cacophony that could tear through the heavens and it would destroy all of hell.
I’m so livid that my anger is uncontainable and the roar I release is a cry of fury that makes the fabric of the world shake in fear.
The wood around me vibrates with my rage and the furniture moves in time with the waves of sound, and it takes all of my goddamn restraint not to destroy everything around me and hold my wrath back.
“HOW DID YOU LET THAT HAPPEN?”
Cole swallows and he’s deathly pale.
“WHO THE FUCK WAS IT?”
My Beta steps closer instead of back, and it’s almost a mistake. I imagine my hand wrapped around my best friend’s throat, crushing his larynx as he crushed hers and my need for vengeance rises, baiting me as I contemplate whether I should watch the light fade from his eyes for this.
“It didn’t happen here.”
I turn so slow that he sucks a deep breath in. My eyes are slitted, narrowed like a predator moving in on his kill. I’m barely giving him any room to maneuver and the man who I trust more than anyone else stands firm, placing his trust in me when he shouldn’t.
“Malcolm says it’s wolfbane mixed with silver.
It’s difficult to combine them and the dosing is notoriously tricky.
Whoever did this started several years ago, Luke, and they’ve been trying to kill her wolf.
Bit by bit, until there’s nothing left but a hollow shell.
This isn’t an accident and it didn’t happen here. ”
“Her pack?”
My rage is beyond an inferno. It’s burning so damn hot that it could light the night’s sky and I turn back to the little girl lying in a bed and wonder what else she’s been through.
Fucking hell, if a pack tried to poison one of their own like this then there’s no telling what else they’d do.
It’s despicable, it’s disgusting, it’s so vile they haven’t invented a word for how atrocious this outrage is.
“Possibly. I reckon more than one person knew, but I doubt it was the whole pack, Luke.”
“How did her father let this happen?”
I stop and my head turns back to Cole. He winces and I realize that I’ve been a goddamn idiot. Nia’s been through hell. She might not even know what her father’s been doing but there’s not a chance this happened to Bastan’s daughter without the asshole knowing. Without him approving it.
Fuck me, the Alpha's been poisoning his own daughter.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Easy, Luke.”
I shake my head. “I’m going to tear the fucker limb from fucking limb and then I’m going to put him back together and do it over and over again.
The asshole's going to know every moment of pain she’s felt a thousand times over and then, if he begs for it, I’ll let him die a miserable and painful death. ”
“Now isn't the time, Alpha,” Malcolm says, walking through the door with a bag that contains what I assume are medical supplies. “The poison explains why you can't connect with Nia, why neither of you feel the mate bond pulling you together. Your mate needs you if she’s going to survive this. This won’t be pleasant, Luke, and she’s going to suffer.
Horribly. The withdrawal effects are grim and I don’t know if she’s got the strength left in her to make it through this.
Flushing this poison out of her is as bad as the damn thing itself, if not worse. ”
I growl and Malcolm stops. “Are you suggesting we kill her wolf off?”
“It would keep her alive,” he says and his tone is far too careful. “The wolf would die and we could withdraw the poison. She wouldn’t have the side effects because there wouldn’t be a wolf to experience them.”
“NO.” I shake my head and clench every goddamn muscle in my body as I roar. “NO FUCKING WAY. SHE MAKES IT THROUGH THIS OR I’LL KILL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.”
The eyes that meet me are as sure as mine, and Malcolm simply nods. “Then you do what I say when I say it. No questions, no protests, no arguments, Luke. If you want me to save your mate, you damn well cooperate with my treatment.”
I nod without a second’s pause.
“Good. Now get in the bed with her.”
I stiffen and Malcolm’s eyebrow rises. “I said no arguments, Luke. That girl is your mate and the only reason you don’t feel it is because she’s been poisoned.
Get in bed with her and do what you’re supposed to do and hold her.
Tell her it’s going to be okay, and for the love of the fucking goddess, I suggest you damn well mean it. ”
My feet move toward the little girl who’s lying in bed and I slide in next to her, before I even question what the fuck I’m doing. My arms wrap around her and I pull her against me, tucking my head in the void where her neck meets her shoulder.
Nia doesn’t even protest. She hasn’t got the strength to fight. Her body is battered and broken, and her weight sinks into me and I don’t know if it’s because she’s accepting me or if she’d accept anyone at this point. Goddess, I want it to be because it’s me.
She moans a tiny whimper and I tell her it’s okay. It isn’t and it’s the first of many lies I’m going to tell her. I’m going to keep so many truths from her that it’ll be difficult to keep up with them but I’m not going to let her come to any more harm.
She’s suffered enough and I won’t let her suffer more than she has to.
Not on my watch. Not now she’s here. Not now I think I might be starting to see her in a way I didn’t think was possible.
Goddess help me, but the beating heart of the girl who’s half-dead in my arms might have become the only thing keeping me alive.