Koit
Watching my mate’s anguished cries pour out of her, I felt the dagger in my heart twist. I had failed my brother, the only family I had that had stuck by me through all the shit I’d landed myself in.
No matter what, I could always count on Rik to bail me out and set me right.
I never worried about him getting hurt because he was too smart to put himself in a situation that would get him killed.
Seems I hadn’t counted on the huge-ass white knight complex he had when it came to people he loved. If it hadn’t been for him keeping that door open, we all would have died a slow, painful death of being poisoned by wolfsbane.
Viv’s words echoed in my brain. How could I have let Rik sacrifice himself without knowing who I really was to him?
How could I have never told him I was honored to be his little brother?
That he was the best example of being a real man and alpha to his people?
Now I had to live with the guilt that I was the worst of the worst, scared to know his reaction after having kept it from him all these years.
I glanced down at Viv, seeing that Tav had shifted into his wolf and curled up along her back, his head resting on her hip.
As much as I wanted to give her comfort, I didn’t deserve that honor.
I had let them both down. If I had listened to Viv when she said to leave the computer alone, none of this would’ve happened.
Rik had once again needed to deal with a mess that I made, and this time it’d killed him.
We all startled as the bunker door hissed and the wheel rotated, unlocking the door once again.
Viv bolted up from where she had been huddled on the concrete floor and shoved the door open before we could stop her.
Who knew if the poison had cleared or not, but I didn’t have the heart to stop her from doing what I was too scared to.
“Rik,” Viv cried out, crouching down right on the other side of the door. That pushed me into action.
Tav shifted back, and we both carefully made our way around the two of them.
Rik was curled up right next to the door, a lab coat covering his head.
I didn’t know where he found it, but I prayed to any and every god out there that it’d helped to keep him alive.
I watched as Viv assessed him, checking his pulse, then leaning over and listening to his heart.
Sitting back, she looked around the room, frantically searching for something.
“Tell me everything you know about this poison,” Viv said as she moved around the room, pulling drawers and cabinets open, looking at different bottles and pulling out random supplies.
“Now, if there is any chance to save him, then I need you both to start talking. I can treat humans all day long, but I have no idea how this works for werewolves.”
It took a moment for my brain to start working. “It causes the blood to thicken, so it’s harder to circulate. It also slows down our healing. In some cases, I have heard it stops our healing ability altogether.”
“Okay, good. What about lungs? He breathed it in, does that change things?” Viv asked, bringing her armload of supplies back to Rik.
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it being used this way. Most of the time, it’s used to poison a blade or a trap of some kind,” I said, shaking my head, my heart racing as my fear grew.
“I know of someone who ingested it, but I’ve never heard of anyone breathing it in,” Tav said, moving to stand by Viv’s side.
Viv just nodded her head, pulled out a clean syringe, and pulled some medicine from a few different bottles.
She mixed it into another bottle, shaking it gently.
“Koit, I’m going to need to do a blood transfusion so we can get fresh blood into him to combat the tainted blood. Do you know your blood type?”
“No, I’ve never asked,” I said, thinking of the two times I’d been seen by an actual doctor. Our pack had a medic of sorts that helped us if we needed care, but I’d never been wounded enough to have to go to the werewolf hospital The Collective had in the capital city of Riga.
“I’m hoping that because you’re brothers, it’ll cut down on the chance of rejection or blood poisoning. That’s not usually how this works, but at this point, we have to risk it. Tav, grab that chair for me. We need to keep him higher than Rik,” Viv said.
Once I was seated in the chair, she came over to me, tied off my left arm, and checked for veins. “Damn, this is going to be the easiest stick ever with veins like yours,” Viv muttered to herself.
I didn’t even have the chance to say anything before she shoved a large needle into the bend of my elbow, causing me to hiss at the dull ache. The needle had a quarter-inch tube attached to it, and I saw that Rik already had an IV in his elbow too. Viv taped the IV down once we got the flow going.
“Okay, I need you to pump your hand open and close to help move the blood along. I gave him a cocktail that should help thin out his blood, so let’s hope that works in our favor.
Tav, I need you to run back to the castle and find out if Kursar has a werewolf doctor.
I feel like I’m flying blind here and would really love to have someone who knows what they’re doing,” Viv said.
Tav gave her a quick kiss on the head before running out of the room.
I watched Viv as she kept checking Rik’s pulse, monitoring his condition.
Her eyes were puffy from crying, but they glowed with determination.
Even if she didn’t know much about being a doctor to werewolves, I knew my brother was in the best hands possible.
She wasn’t going to let anything happen to him.
When Rik made it through this, I knew we were going to need to have a long conversation.
He deserved to know the truth, and even if he ended up hating me, I couldn’t lie to him any longer.
“How are you feeling?” Viv asked, her hand brushing down my arm. I looked up to see her standing next to me, checking where the IV was connected.
“I’m fine, just glad I can do something useful after nearly killing him,” I said, gripping her hand in mine and twining our fingers together.
Viv gingerly sat in my lap and nuzzled against my neck. “I’m sorry I said those things to you. I was upset and I lashed out; you didn’t deserve that. None of us thought to make sure this place wasn’t booby-trapped.”
“I should have listened to you when you told me not to mess with the computer,” I countered. “This is my fault.”
Viv pulled back and cupped my face in her hands, forcing me to look at her.
“You are not responsible for Rik choosing to sacrifice himself. Don’t think for one second that the moment he is in the clear I won’t kick his ass.
Mistakes were made by all of us. When we found out what this place was, we should have gone back to the castle and gotten a team to look over it. ”
I knew what she was saying was true, but I couldn’t shake the guilt I felt eating away at me. Nothing would make me feel better until I told Rik the truth and dealt with the consequences.
Tavas
How could I have let her go into the lab without having it checked out first?
It was my job as her mate to keep her safe, and what had I done?
Let her walk right into a literal death trap.
If Rik hadn’t gotten to the door in time, none of us would be alive right now, and Rik was only holding on by a thread of sheer stubborn will.
I didn’t even have the time to process the fact that Koit was Rik’s brother. I knew all along that he had been hiding the fact he was an alpha, but now it made sense.
I pushed myself faster as I saw the castle looming before me, not stopping until I was back in front of Darius’s office. I shifted back to human and tossed open the door, slamming it against the wall.
“What the actual fuck, Tav?” Darius yelled when he saw me, eyes wide with shock. “Why are you bursting into my office naked? Where are the others?”
“I need you to trust me, there is no time to explain. Rik’s life is in danger,” I blurted out. “You need to get a team together and help me find out if there is a doctor on this goddamn island.”
I had to hand it to the man, he only blinked at me once before he flew into action.
He had his phone to his ear, rattling off orders that made no sense to me.
He moved out into the hall, and I was hot on his heels, unsure of where we were heading.
Then I saw Astrid being hurried down the hall, escorted by one of the guards.
“What on earth is going on?” Astrid demanded, yanking her arm out of the guard’s hold.
Darius looked back at me with a raised brow, waiting for me to explain.
“We need a doctor. Rik’s been poisoned with wolfsbane. Viv is doing what she can, but this is nothing like anything she’s experienced before,” I said quickly.
Astrid frowned, making her wrinkles more pronounced, and her eyes were alight with anger. “We lost our doctor a few months ago in an unfortunate accident. We have a midwife, but I’m not sure she is going to be of much help in this situation.”
I wracked my brain, trying to think of what we could do. We couldn’t let Rik die, it would kill Viv. My hand shot out and grabbed Darius’s arm, stopping him. “You said there was a doctor among the mate prospects, right?”
“Yeah, Bentley Price. He works at the hospital in Riga,” Darius answered, his brows creased in confusion.
“How fast can we get him here?” I demanded. Darius looked like he was about to argue with me, but I cut him off. “If Rik dies, then you’re going to be the one to tell her that you wouldn’t do whatever it took to keep her mate alive.”
That seemed to help him make up his mind, as he immediately picked up his phone and made another call. “Blake, I need you to grab Dr. Price and get him here to the castle ASAP. Yes, that means use the helicopter. Do it, now.”
“You have a helicopter here?” I asked, surprised.
“It’s on Rik’s pack land. I wanted to make sure we had an emergency evacuation option available if we needed it,” Darius answered as we made out of the castle.
One of the guards walked up to Darius and saluted. “Orders, sir.”
I rolled my eyes at Darius’s pleased look at the guard’s actions.
“Gather all the medical supplies you can along with a change of clothes for the Dama and her mates. I’m going with Tav—once we get there he’ll send you GPS coordinates of where to find us.”
“The location is a cabin with a lab underneath. The area is surrounded by wolfsbane, so be aware how your wolf will react,” I added.
“When you get there, wait for the helicopter and the doctor that will be on board before you meet us in the lab. And make sure to secure the area around the cabin so we’re not caught off guard while we’re dealing with the situation,” Darius said before dismissing the guard.
Astrid walked up to us with cloth sacks for us to store our clothes and such, and I hurried to grab my clothes from the cubby, also shoving in some snacks and juice for Koit since he was giving blood.
“Ready?” Darius asked once I’d rejoined him and three other guards.
I nodded my head and shifted back into my wolf. Astrid helped place the bag around my neck and did the same for Darius before we bolted off to the cabin.