CHAPTER 57
WREN
∞
The metal door doesn’t stand a chance as it screams from its hinges, clattering to the floor ten feet away. The fear in the enforcers’ eyes as I stalked towards them and demanded to know where Chess was, is ripe in my mind. They didn’t even need to say it, their glance at the door was enough to have my feet moving and my rage overtaking any sense.
The blood drains from my face at the sight in front of me.
“Adrian!”
Alex screams, but Adrian is in a frenzy state and doesn’t hear him.
I stalk towards him and rip him away from Chess’s limp body hanging from the ceiling. I grip the chains and rip them down, cradling her against my chest. There’s so much blood and I can barely hear her heart beating.
“Alex,”
I hiss with barely contained fury. He quickly comes to me and takes Chess into his arms, sitting himself down on the floor with her and moving to remove the shackles from around her wrists. In my haste, I pulled Adrian away from her while he was still latched deep into her vein. Alex presses his hand to the wound, trying to quell the bleeding, but I know what this means. If the lash marks to her back didn’t kill her, Adrian’s feeding would. He destroyed her. He destroyed my precious girl, and the hate and anger inside of me, sends the insanity hiding within the recesses of my mind, roaring to the surface.
I turn to Adrian. He’s watching me with a strange look on his face and I know he sees it…the darkness.
“She killed Jullian and his men,”
he spits out. “Why are you of all people defending her?”
I can’t tell him. It would make things so much worse if I told him the truth. “She was with me,”
I snarl, and he takes a hesitant step back. “How fucking dare you punish her. You took matters into your own hands without consulting anyone. I’m going to fucking kill you.”
I’m in front of him in a second. His throat gripped within my grasp, and he claws at me as I slowly lift him off the floor.
“Wren!”
Alex screams. I grant him a glance and his eyes are wide and pleading. “Please, don’t kill him. He was just doing his job.”
I close my eyes in frustration. I want to kill him. I need to kill him for what he did to Chess, but Alex is right. I’m punishing him for doing his job, and that won’t look good on me as a ruler. Chess is personal. He took what is rightfully mine and her life is barely hanging on by a thread.
She’s going to die.
I feel it in my chest as I catch her faint heartbeat stutter. Through all the rage and darkness, I feel pain. Pain at the thought of losing her when I just found her.
“Get out!”
I roar, throwing Adrian to the ground.
“King,”
he gasps, but I catch a hint of hatred and anger as he stares at me with wide eyes.
“You’re fucking fired, Adrian. Get your things and get the fuck out. Out of this building and out of my fucking city. If I see you again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
You can’t!”
He argues.
My power coils out around me as I move to stand over him. He cowers and bends involuntarily as I press into his mind with my rage. “I am your King, and you will obey.”
He scrambles back and takes off out the door. I turn back to Alex, and he shakes his head at me. I didn’t kill Adrian because of him. I know how much it would hurt him when he clearly has a thing for him. I glance down at Chess, gently cradled in his arms, and I don’t see her breathing.
I kneel down in her pool of blood and her scent overwhelms me. The anguish I feel in my chest, settles the hunger coiling in my belly as I pull my sweet girl into my arms.
“Wren, I’m sorry,”
Alex whispers. I see tears brim his lashes as he stares at Chess’s limp body. I lean my head towards her, and I can still hear her heart beating frantically as it tries to cling to life. There’s no coming back from this. She’s too far gone, and her delicate life is over.
I have to do…something.
My fangs lengthen and Alex’s eyes widen. “What are you doing?” He gasps.
“She’s going to die anyways, Alex. I have to try.”
“Wren, you can’t! She doesn’t want this life, and you know that.”
“She wants me, and I want her. That should be enough.”
“She’ll never forgive you,”
his voice is low and sharp, and I let out a slow breath.
“She’ll be alive if this works, Alex. I have to try.”
I see the colour drain from his face as I sink my fangs into her neck. She’s almost at the brink, but not quite, and I need to push her right to the very edge, where with one small push she’d tumble over. The taste is everything I imagined it would be, and I feel tears trickle down my cheeks. I’m crying for her and crying at the simple fact that she tastes like pure life. Her blood is like a light I’ve been chasing my entire life, but always stayed far enough out of reach, that I could never catch it for myself. It coats my tongue, and I pull harder, drawing the last fragments of her life into me.
“Wren…that’s enough.”
I hear his words, but my mind is swimming. It’s drowning in the ecstasy of her taste splashing against my tongue. Pooling there like pure ambrosia.
“Wren!”
He says louder with a rumble to his voice, and it resonates through my mind.
I slowly pull my mouth back from her, drawing in a ragged breath. Her beating heart has slowed to a painful level. I bite down on my arm and bring it to her lips. Brushing her hair back with my other hand.
“Drink,”
I whisper, kissing her hair. “Please, Chess…drink.”
My blood is dribbling out of her mouth, and my chest tightens. She’s made no move to latch on and pull my life into her. They need to feed. They need to be aware of what’s happening, even being brought to the brink.
I shove my arm harder against her mouth, while anxiety and fear cripples my senses. “Drink!”
I sob, shaking her broken body and hugging her against me.
Gulp.
The sheer relief I feel as her full lips caress the wound is exhilarating. “That’s it, Chess. Drink, baby girl. Let me at least try to save you.”
My voice trembles as I press my lips to her hair again. Alex is watching me with a guarded expression as he watches Chess swallow more and more of my blood.
The darkness I felt in my mind earlier drains away as I finally allow my blood to truly be shared. I have to. I have to give her everything I can to try and bring her back. I don’t know if this will even work, but I have to try. It has to work. I can’t lose her when I just found her, even though I know I deserve it.
Her instincts naturally take over as the blood caresses her lips. I feel lightheaded and sway slightly as the energy continues to drain out of me. I pull my arm away from her mouth when her feeding slows. She’s still unconscious and she will be for a bit, and I won’t know if this worked or not until I give it some time.
I lift myself to my feet, hoisting her into my arms. I curl her broken body against mine and turn to Alex. “We’re going back to the tower.”
“Do you think it’ll work? Her brothers died, Wren.”
“It has to, Alex.”
“She’s not going to be happy about this,”
he sighs. “Can you handle it when she loses her shit on you, if she wakes up.”
“I’ll take her rage…I have to. I couldn’t let this be the last thing she remembers before death took her. She never deserved this…this is my fault. I did this to her, and I just…”
I break off my words as the truth of it settles into me. This is my fault. Because of me and what I did, Chess took the blame because of her hatred for Jullian.
“You go. I think I should check on Adrian.”
He walks up to me, caresses his knuckles gently across Chess’s cheek, and then settles his hand on my shoulder. “Thank you for not killing him, Wren. I know how angry you are about this, but you can’t blame him. If it was anyone else in Frankie’s position, you would have agreed with his actions.”
I hate the truth behind those words. I want to destroy him for hurting her, but I need to keep my anger in check for Alex’s sake as well. “Fine. I’ll see you back at the tower in a bit.”
“For what it’s worth, I hope she pulls through, Wren. I can see how much you need her and how much she means to you.”
“I love her, Alex.”
“I know, and she’ll see that for herself soon enough. Have faith that she’ll pull through.”
He gives my shoulder a squeeze and heads out of the room.
I look down at Chess and I’m riddled with guilt. Her body is sticky and wet from the slashes on her back and the wound on her neck is now crusting over. My blood has at least stopped the bleeding, but if the virus doesn’t take root, her body will never heal, and her heart will stop.
I don’t know if I can endure the waiting. The thought of never seeing her eyes opening again, breaks my heart further. I hug her to me tighter and slowly make my way out of the cage, careful not to jostle her body. Please don’t leave me. Hold on, Chess…come back…I still need you. I can feel myself breaking as my thoughts scramble. I love her and I need her.
“Let’s go home, Chess.”
Home…our home.