Chapter 117 Liza #2
“Hey,” Liam said when he came to stand next to me. “I’m sorry if I pushed you too hard today. I just wanted you to know that you’re stronger than you think.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a small smile. “I get it. You were just trying to help, and in a way you did. I have more confidence in my abilities. Maybe next time, a little less bloodshed?”
“Deal.” He grinned, rubbing my shoulder gently. “Now, let’s get back to it. We’ve got a lot to do.”
The rest of the day, I couldn’t shake the image of my claws at that man’s throat. Every time I blinked, it flashed before me: his eyes wide with fear, the blood welling up beneath my claw, and that raging fire inside me, urging me to finish what I’d started. It terrified the fuck out of me.
I paced around the kitchen, my heart hammering as I tried to shake the thought that I’d been inches away from becoming a killer.
Liam had told me stories about our father’s grandmother, whose bloodlust had consumed her.
Her handler had murdered her when they couldn’t control her anymore.
Was that what I’d felt today? That same darkness lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for the perfect moment to strike?
“Hey,” Sabrina’s voice echoed through the hallway, cutting through my racing thoughts like a lifeline.
I took a ragged breath, trying to shove my fears aside as I went down the stairs to see her. “Hey, Sabrina.” I smiled, but it felt fake even to me. “What brings you here?”
“I wanted to check in with you and make sure you’re doing okay.” She pulled me into her arms for a hug. When we sat at the table in the kitchen, she frowned. “I’ve been looking for Rosalie everywhere. Didn’t she come in today?”
A pit formed in my stomach. With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten to tell Sabrina about Rosalie’s betrayal. She deserved to hear the truth, but how could I tell her without hurting her?
“About Rosalie...” I swallowed hard and dragged in a breath. “She... She betrayed us, Sabrina.”
“What?” Sabrina paled, shock and hurt flashing across her face. “How? What did she do?”
I sighed, my hands shaking as I recounted the story. “She was working with Castro this whole time, feeding him information about us, about our family. We found out when Ty and Isaiah did a deep dive into all the employees, and I confronted her. She had no choice but to admit everything.”
Sabrina jumped up from the table, suddenly blazing with fury. She paced back and forth in front of me, her fists clenched at her sides. “I can’t believe this, Liza! We trusted her. We let her into our lives, and she just... stabbed you in the back.”
“Believe me, I know.” Recounting the story of Rosalie’s betrayal had brought my own rage back to boiling from where it had been a steady simmer.
The bitter taste of betrayal still lingered in my mouth as a harsh reminder of Rosalie’s deception.
While I watched Sabrina pace around, I felt a surge of protectiveness toward my best friend.
We didn’t often let others into our close-knit circle, and to have one of them turn on us stung deeply.
The door swung open suddenly, and Liam stepped inside. He scanned the room, one eyebrow raised, until he finally settled on me. “Liza, I—”
He spotted Sabrina, and his entire demeanor changed. His whole face softened, and he lost all sense of purpose, as if he’d forgotten why he’d come looking for me in the first place.
“Uh… hi, Sabrina,” Liam said, smoothing down his hair.
“Hey.” The word was little more than a breath. It was as if the anger that had been consuming her had suddenly evaporated, replaced by an entirely different emotion.
I sighed. I hadn’t yet found the courage to deal with the elephant in the room—that my brother was fated to a human. It wasn’t that I cared about Sabrina being human, it was the fact that she was my best friend and had no idea what destiny had in store for her.
“Damn it,” I said under my breath, rubbing my temples as I tried to focus on the present instead of the tangled mess of emotions swirling inside me.
Before I even began to process it all, the atmosphere shifted, and an ominous feeling of dread settled over me. My instincts screamed to act, to protect those I loved most, but I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the danger.
“Get down!” Liam screamed suddenly, but it was too late.
The world exploded around us in a deafening blast, glass shattering and raining down like deadly hail. As the shockwave slammed into us, Liam’s arms wrapped around Sabrina and me, shielding us from the worst of the impact.
Time passed in slow motion for a few seconds. Liam’s mouth moved, and I had to blink several times before his words registered.
“Are you both okay?” Liam’s voice broke through the ringing in my ears. The chaos had subsided, leaving us surrounded by shattered glass and debris. I gasped for breath, trying to ignore the sharp pain in my side where the force of the explosion had thrown me against the wall.
“Y-yeah.” I was shaking, and breathing hurt, but otherwise, I couldn’t identify any other injuries. “I think so. What about you, Sabrina?”
“I’m fine, thanks to Liam.” She was equally unsteady. She looked up at him with gratitude shining in her eyes. She may not know about their connection yet, but what would happen when she did? What changes would it bring about?
“Thanks for saving us,” I said.
I lifted my hand from Liam’s shoulder and froze, staring at the red fluid staining my fingers. The metallic tang filled my nostrils, making my stomach twist with nausea. My breath hitched in my throat.
Liam was hurt, and badly.
Blood coated everything; a macabre painting splashed across the room.
Dark crimson flowed from Liam’s neck. It seemed to pulse out from the artery in his neck and made my breathing hitch in terror.
Every time his heart beat, it sent more of his life’s blood down his chest. My hands shook as I tried to hold back the panic.
Sabrina began shouting. “Liam! No, no. Liam!” I wasn’t even sure she was aware of what she was doing or why. The bond strengthened between them even though neither had acknowledged it. Fuck, Sabrina wasn’t even aware of its existence.
She looked up at me. “Liza, what do we do?” She grabbed the nearest thing to her—the tablecloth—and tried to staunch the bleeding.
“Stay with me.” I desperately tried to stop my voice from cracking. “You’re going to be okay.” I had to stay calm. Think, Liza. Come on, think!
“Li-Liza…” Liam gasped weakly, a gut-wrenching gurgle coming from his throat.
I needed to focus. I couldn’t let my fear take over. I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to remain calm. Tears streamed down my cheeks. Tears… My tears could heal! I had to act quickly, otherwise I’d lose him.
“Please, Liza...” His voice was becoming weaker, the pristine white tablecloth Sabrina was holding to his neck now saturated red, soaked with my brother’s blood. I pulled it out of the way, and had to physically push a sobbing Sabrina back.
“Shh, Liam. Save your strength.” I wiped my face with my hands and placed them on the jagged wound in his neck.
The warmth of his blood contrasted sharply with the cold, clammy skin beneath my fingers, then I kneeled over him, and with my tears falling onto the wound, I willed my healing power to flow through me and into him.
“Come on,” I said, more to myself than to Liam. “Work.”
Sabrina held his hand, her eyes never leaving his face as she mumbled over and over, “Please, Liam, please.”
I bit my lip, shutting out everything else and concentrating on the flow of energy between my hands and Liam’s neck.
The air around us became electrified, charged with the strength of my magic as it worked on his torn flesh.
At first, I didn’t think it was working.
Blood continued to ooze from between my fingers, slick and warm against my skin.
Then, a subtle change. The ragged cut began to close, the flesh knitting itself like two pieces of fabric stitched by an invisible hand.
“Damn.” Sabrina eyes flitted between Liam’s face, me, and his healing wound, then back to me, her words coming between sobs. “Liza, it’s working.”
I let out a choked laugh. My brother’s life had teetered on the edge, and somehow, miraculously, I’d been able to pull him back. It was a feeling unlike anything I’d ever experienced before: raw, powerful, terrifying.
Beneath it all, a fierce pride burned bright, stoking the flames of my newfound confidence.
“Of course it’s working.” I tried to inject some levity into the situation. “It’s me you’re speaking to.”
With Liam’s worst injury now healed, I allowed myself a moment to take in the rest of his battered body. Cuts and bruises marred his once flawless skin, but he was alive. As I looked down at him, I swelled with a fierce protectiveness that threatened to consume me.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Sabrina and I helped move him across the room where there was no glass.
He winced, but at least he was moving. It was nothing short of miraculous, and it was all because of me.
Sabrina rushed to find an unbroken bowl and a clean cloth before she began cleaning the blood from his skin.
Eventually, he felt strong enough to stand, so Sabrina and I helped him up, and with one of us on either side, we supported him and slowly shuffled out of the house.
Burning rubber and gasoline assaulted my nostrils once we stepped outside, with Liam leaning heavily on us for support.
The remains of an SUV smoldered in the driveway, reduced to a twisted heap of metal and shattered glass.
The explosion had come so suddenly, so violently, that my head was still spinning.
“Ty!” I scanned the chaos for any sign of my mate. “Where are you?” Panic coiled inside me. “Ty!”
“Over here,” came his terse reply, and I spotted him kneeling by the wreckage. His eyes flickered toward us for a moment, and when he registered the sight of us, he came running toward me. “Whose blood is this? Are you okay, Liza? Sabrina?”
“It’s Liam’s blood. He was—” I began to explain, but Sabrina cut me off.
“Oh, my God, Ty, you’ve never seen anything like it.
Well, maybe you have, but it was fucking mind-blowing.
Liam was bleeding, he had a great big wound on his neck, Liza…
Liza fixed him.” The adrenaline must still have been coursing through her system as her words came out in one long rush and ended on a sob.
“He could have died, but he saved me, Ty. He saved me and Liza.”
Ty turned his worried gaze to Liam, then me. “Are you sure you’re not injured, love?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Just tired from healing Liam. I think he needs to go to the hospital. He lost a lot of blood.”
Liam, who’d said nothing—which was a testament to how hurt he was—finally spoke up, though he sounded weak. “I’m fine. A couple of good steaks, an early night, and I’ll be fine.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “So, if Sabrina and I were to walk away now, you could stand on your own?”
Reluctantly, he shook his head. “Probably not.”
“Right, which is exactly why you need to go to the hospital.” Ty’s concern for my brother was a far cry from the distrust of their initial meeting.
“You should get checked, Liam. Liza’s never healed a wound like that before.
What if she missed something or it’s only temporary?
We don’t know the extent of her healing powers.
Just let the ladies take you to hospital so the nurses can fuss over you. ”
To all our surprise, Sabrina growled at Ty’s last statement. I wasn’t even sure she was aware she’d done it, but it certainly meant a conversation was in the cards from my brother and me about their bond and what he planned to do about it.
Ty handed me a set of keys, then gave me a kiss that rumbled down to my toes. “You’re certain you’re not injured?”
“I’m fine. Liam pushed me out of the way of the glass.
I’ll phone you from the hospital.” Although I’d managed to heal Liam’s most serious injury, I couldn’t shake the nagging worry that it wasn’t enough.
As Ty said, I’d never healed an injury like that before.
He’d lost a lot of blood, and still bore countless cuts and bruises.
“Okay. Be careful.”
More people were arriving—pack members from the training area, and the police. .
“Isaiah, follow them to the hospital. Make sure everything’s all right.” Ty’s command rang in my ears as Sabrina, Liam, and I headed for the car. Through our bond, I felt Ty’s concern as well as his pride in me.
“Got it, boss,” Isaiah said smoothly, a stark contrast to Ty’s rougher tone. The handsome informant nodded, though his face remained solemn. He was worried about Liam, but there was something deeper: a responsibility for our safety. It wasn’t just because he worked for Ty. It was personal.
“Let’s go.”
We got Liam comfortable in the car. The explosion had been sudden, unexpected, and terrifying. My hands shook slightly as I recalled the glass shattering around us, and the feeling of Liam’s hand shoving me out of the way. God, we’d come so close to losing him.
Once we pulled up to the hospital, Isaiah parked nearby, keeping a watchful eye on the entrance. He gave me a reassuring nod before turning his attention to the surrounding area and scanning for any potential threats.
“Stay safe,” I said to him, knowing his wolf’s hearing would mean he’d catch my words, despite the distance between us. He offered a small smile in response, and I felt immensely grateful for his presence.
Inside the hospital, Sabrina and I stayed by Liam’s side while doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to stitch up his remaining wounds.
The antiseptic burned my nose, and the constant beeping of machines, and the murmurs of worried families pierced my ears.
As frightening as it all was, I was thankful I’d been there for my brother in his time of need.
“Almost done,” one of the nurses said gently as she finished stitching Liam’s arm.
Sabrina watched her with a hawk’s eye. She never questioned the need to be by Liam’s side, and instead made casual conversation with me, but her attention was on the nurses and making sure they behaved appropriately.
If any got too personal, she made a point of going to Liam and standing next to him.
“Thank you,” she said earnestly once the nurse finished stitching Liam’s arm.
“Who needs telepathy?” I said, my lips curving into a small, defiant smile. “I can save lives. That’s what really matters.” And I meant it. In that moment, when I’d been able to heal Liam’s wounds and save his life, I’d felt more powerful than ever before. More connected to my true self.