Chapter 19 #3
“All that matters is what’s in these bags. The rest is expendable,” his cruelty is so casual. My fucking heart breaks for my Omega.
Expendable.
He refers to her like she’s a failed prototype, not his own flesh and blood.
How has my sweet girl lived with this monster for so long? How long was she subjected to his abuse with no hope of escape?
Varenthrall dismisses her with a wave of his hand, snapping his fingers at someone in the hallway.
“Take her upstairs and dump her in her room. If she dies, she dies. If she doesn’t, maybe we’ll come back for her later if it becomes necessary. Though I doubt very much that it will.”
“We aren’t taking her with us?” Albertson asks, eyes wide with confusion.
The asshole scoffs. “Of course not. We have what we need—assuming you aren’t lying about not needing more. Dragging her with us will only slow us down. Either way, it doesn’t matter. This is only a backup. I shouldn’t even need it as long as I have—”
He cuts himself off, waving the thought away like he’s swatting aside a bug. Whatever he was about to say, he clearly didn’t want me to know.
He turns his glare on the doctor. “Be grateful you’re still of use to me. If you’re smart, you’ll keep that in mind and stop of asking questions that don’t fucking concern you.”
Albertson visibly recoils.
Two men wearing dark uniforms stalk in straight toward Idril. One of them pulls our the IV, causing a soft moan of discomfort to falls from her lips.
If my brothers don’t get here soon and get this silver out of me, I’m fucked, and so is our Mate.
I have to believe they’ll be here in time. There’s no other option. I will not find my Fated
Mate and lose her in the same godsdamned hour. I haven’t risked my life for centuries to protect the future of thousands of others just to have my own future ripped away the moment I find her.
“Be fucking careful with her,” I snap when one of the men whips Idril’s body over his shoulder. He scoffs, and I make a point of blatantly memorizing each one of his features.
When we get out of here, and I get this silver out of my system, I’m going to hunt him down and kill him. Slowly. Brutally. And with fucking pleasure.
My thoughts must broadcast across my face because the coward nervously backs away until he’s out of the cell.
He leaves, unknowingly taking my entire world with him.
At this moment, the pain of being separated from my Omega far outweighs my physical pain.
“Keep calm. I tried to use as little as I could, but if you keep pushing yourself, you won’t be able to save Idril.
” Albertson’s voice comes from behind my head, where he pretends to fuck with the drip bag attached to my IV.
I scan the cell and see Varenthrall on his phone in the corner, not paying attention to either of us.
“You,” I growl, blinking through the haze of pain. “I don’t trust you.”
“Good. Don’t.” He levels me with a stare I don’t expect from the nervous old man. “I’ve been treating that girl since she was a child. She is kind. She doesn’t deserve this. So you will listen to me, and you get her out and keep her away from him.”
His gaze flicks to Varenthrall, and a look of undisguised hatred flashes across the doctor’s face.
Why the fuck is this guy working with him if he hates him this much?
There’s something else going on here, but I can’t focus enough to think it through.
The pain is coming in waves now, fiery hot one moment and ice cold the next.
My jaw’s clenched to prevent my teeth from chattering.
The muscles in my neck strain from the effort of keeping my mouth closed when I want to do nothing more than scream.
I’ve never been in this much pain. Not even when I had my skin partially flayed and almost bled out in Madrid after going two weeks without blood.
“What does he want with her blood? Why doesn’t it decay like normal blood?”
It’s the only thing my addled mind can recall from Dax’s list of strange shit, so that’s what tumbles out.
Shock blooms in Albertson’s eyes. They snap to Jonathan before returning to me.
Clearly, he never expected anyone to discover the anomalies in Idril’s blood.
He swallows hard and leans down to whisper, “Jonathan is abandoning her because he believes she’s secondary compared to another source. She’s not. He has no idea how important she truly is. No idea how important her blood truly is. How special.”
I nod, straining against my restraints as another wave of agony explodes through my limbs.
“He thinks—” he hesitates, shaking his head.
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks. All that matters is that he’s wrong.
And if he figures that out, he’ll come for her.
He’ll stop at nothing to get to her. The fact that he’s so confident he doesn’t need her is nothing short of a miracle.
I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to come up with a way to trick him into leaving her behind since the moment he called me.
I should have thought to use his own arrogance against him. ”
The doctor smirks, but it disappears almost instantly. I can practically smell the fear pouring off him.
“You’re her Mate, so I won’t ask you to promise me you’ll protect her.
I already know you will. Instead, promise me you’ll teach her to protect herself.
Teach her to love herself. To be confident in who she is and where she comes from.
She’s stronger than any of us know—stronger than even she knows.
If she can just figure that out for herself. ”
What the hell does this male know about my Mate that I don’t? I open my mouth to ask, but Varenthrall’s voice cracks through the air before I can push for answers.
“Albertson. Let’s go.” He grabs a bag off the floor and swings it over his shoulder. “Get the shit you need and get upstairs. His buddies are only a few minutes out.”
He hurries toward the door, and the Doctor starts throwing shit into one of those old-fashioned medical bags.
My vision’s a blur. It’s getting harder and harder to concentrate on what’s happening around me. Albertson shoulders his bag and rushes out of the cell, but not before leaving me a final piece of advice.
“Stay. Calm. It’s the only thing you can do now. As soon as your pack arrives, find Idril. Find her and keep her far away from Jonathan.”
Then he, too, is gone, leaving me to burn on a pyre of my own blood and bones.
I only last ten seconds before I can no longer swallow down the agony. I don’t keep anything back now that I’m alone. My mouth falls open, and I finally allow the pain-filled screams to tear from my throat.
I squeeze my eyes shut to keep rivers of sweat from stinging my eyes. Helplessly, I pray for this fucking pain to end. Pray that my brothers will reach me before the silver winds through my core and kills me.
Already, I can feel my heart struggling to pump and my lungs heaving for their next breath. Soon, the rest of my body will begin to fail.
I would pray for death if Idril weren’t upstairs. If my damn heart wasn’t two floors above me, living and beating outside my body.
I have no idea how long I writhe in agony. Time becomes nothing but a blur of pain and tormented screams that ravage my vocal cords.
I pass out a few times, but jolt back to consciousness at the reminder that my Omega’s alone and injured with no idea help’s on its way.
I use what scraps of energy I have left to wall off my Bonds as much as I can. Not only the pack Bond, but my Bonds with Idril as well. I focus only on my Bond with Idril, hoping to assess her injuries, but there’s not enough to navigate with us both so injured at the same time.
Finally, my concentration falters. My screams die out, and my organs begin to fail. Every breath is a chore, every heartbeat is a struggle.
The knowledge is undeniable. Unavoidable.
I’m dying.
I can feel it. The silver’s steadily pushing through my organs, poisoning them one after the other.
The Bonds to my pack are barely there. Nothing more than a dim flicker. My Bond with Idril, though—
It pulses. Softly, gently, a soothing rhythm that coaxes my heart to keep beating. I focus on that. My existence narrows to one single point—the shimmering silver thread bridging my soul to hers.
That thread grows stronger, brighter, until suddenly, warmth floods my chest. Not the same furious fire of poison. This warmth is different. It’s clean and soothing. Something pure.
Something completely and wholly Idril.
It’s sunlight breaking through a never-ending storm. It pours into me through our Bond, fighting against the creeping, insidious death trying to take over.
The poison resists, but that bright golden warmth fights harder and harder, straining until finally, it starts pushing it back with wave after wave of determination and…
Love.
That’s what it is.
I’ve known love through the centuries. The love of my parents when I was young, before greed and prophecy ruled their lives. The love of my friends and brothers-in-arms. The love of my pack—strong, stalwart, and loyal.
But this… this is new. It’s all-consuming and ancient. Raw and limitless and without stipulations or expectations.
This is love in its truest, most beautiful form, and it’s fighting the silver with a ferocity that can only belong to one other being on earth.
Idril.
This isn’t possible. Mate Bonds don’t work like this. You can sense emotions, sometimes proximity, but not this. There’s no transfer of energy. Of life.
My denial is fleeting—there and gone in an instant.
I’m starting to realize that what I think I know doesn’t matter. Not when that glittering, comfortable warmth continues to fight, alive and undeniable in its conviction.
Idril’s unconscious. Dying. Each of her injuries flicks through my mind like a terrible movie, reminding me of what she’s been through. The bruises around her neck, her father’s backhand, the loss of blood, her head cracking against the marble floor.
She was already weak. Starving and exhausted before I even stepped into the house tonight.
And yet somehow—somehow—she’s keeping me alive. Feeding me strength through a Bond neither of us understands. Sending her own life force down that pulsing silver thread.
I can feel it. I can taste it on my tongue, like honey and vanilla and power.
So much fucking power, in such a small body.
My Mate. My beautiful Mate. Unconscious, injured, and still reaching for me. Protecting me.
A sob lodges itself in my throat. She’s saving me—giving her life for mine—and I can’t do anything to save her in return.
I surrender to the warmth of her love, where I float, suspended in a sort of half-sleep as she pulls me away from death itself.
She made me a vow, and against all fucking odds, she’s keeping it.
I have no idea how long I float in that suspended reality. It could be minutes or days before the sound of a door bursting open yanks me back to consciousness.
They’re here.
My pack is here.
The relief is palpable. I want to shout out to them. I beg my mouth to work so I can tell them to find our Mate.
For Fate’s sake, save Idril. Save our Mate!
It’s the only thing that matters. I need Vae and Dax to find Idril. I need to tell them she’s our Fated Mate. Our Scent Match.
I feel them before I see them, my vision blurred and black around the edges. My packmates race down the hall, their booted feet beating against the stone.
They skid to a stop. There’s cursing, barked commands, and fingers on my flesh that hurt like hell itself.
Just before my eyes slide shut, I hear Dax’s voice—thunderous and full of rage.
“Someone find that Omega! I don’t care if you have to tear this house to its foundations. Find her and bring her to me. Now!”
I try to speak. Try to force sound around my torn vocal cords.
She’s our Mate. Be careful with her, please.
Please.
Darkness swallows me whole, and the words die in my throat. The last thing I feel is the silver thread in my chest, pulsing weakly.