Chapter Forty
tay with me, baby.” I heard my father’s worried whisper in the darkness. I was floating in this nothingness. There was no light, no sound, nothing except my father’s soft whispers. “Please don’t leave“S me. I don’t think I could go on without you. Never mind ever facing your mother again.” I wanted to reassure him.
It’s okay daddy. I made my choice.
“You saved that family, even the parents. They are still touch and go, but they made it to the hospital. So you have to make it too.” His voice grew
stronger, and I smiled.
At least they made it.
I tried to sit up, roll over or move, but I couldn’t move. I was stuck in this darkness. Is this death? Is this the afterlife we have all heard about? Where was the Goddess? Where were my wolves?
We are here with you, Amy. Nix’s voice was still with me. I closed my eyes and focused inside, and they were where they have always been even
when I didn’t know it.
You’re here.
Of course we are. Megan’s bright voice made me smile, her snout pulling into a smile. We would never leave you, Amy.
I felt a wave of relief hit me. At least I wasn’t alone.
“Come back to me, baby. I need you to wake up.” My father’s voice called to me.
I can’t, Daddy. I’m sorry. I called out to the abyss. I searched the darkness for anything, or anyway out, so I could get to him, but I was stuck here.
“Who says you are stuck here?” A sweet voice called from the darkness.
I don’t know. I assume I am because I died… I trailed off when I heard a sweet melodic chuckle.
“Oh, young one. No one is ever stuck, if you have the right outlook, and this is not the afterlife.” A flash of white blinded me, and there she was in all her glory, the Goddess.
Why have you come? I questioned as I floated in the darkness of this abyss.
“For you, dear girl. I came here for you.” I gasped. “Why are you so surprised? You have seen me before…”
I know, but it is not something you can ever get used to. I watched her come closer to me, but even still, I was cast in darkness. Why would a Goddess, the Goddess, come to me?
“Because you are important, my girl.” She smiled down at me and for the first time, I could feel my body. But when I looked down, there was nothing. I was nothing. “Don’t think that. You are something. You’re someone. Someone that people are already grieving for.”
Why?
“Because you made a difference. Not only to the families you saved, but the entire pack. If it wasn’t for you training the women, then your father’s pack would have fallen today. And this chance would never come to be.”
This chance? What do you mean? I was confused.
“You aren’t dead. You are in a coma, or something like it. You can choose.” The Goddess came closer, and the darkness lit up even more.
Choose?
“Yes, if you wanted to, you could move on. Or you could go back. It’s your choice.” The Goddess held out a hand to me, but I didn’t have a hand.
I looked down at her hand, and I wanted to reach out.
I don’t want to move on. I still have so much to do.
“Yes. You do.” Her smile was radiant, and she reached closer and grabbed my hand. “Yes, you do.” She pulled me up. I went from being stuck in the abyss, with nobody, to being fully formed and in the light with her.
“I’m back.”
“You never left.” She giggled. “Now, let’s get you back to your body.”
She spun me around and flung me, the Goddess flung me, and I flew
through the abyss, gaining speed until the world burst into color.
My eyes snapped open, and I took a breath in around the tube in my throat and I choked. My dad’s eyes snapped open, and he called for the doctor as I gagged. The doctor rushed in.
“Calm Amy. Stay calm. I’ll take it out, but give me a second.” I thrashed against the tube and my dad held my hands down as the doctor worked the tape from around my mouth. He counted down and pulled the tube from my throat and I could take my first gasping breath.
“Amy, baby girl, are you okay?” My dad grabbed my face and kissed my head. His hands still shook as he wrapped me into his arms and held me. “I
was so worried.”
“The pups…” my voice rasped out.
“Are perfectly fine. They are with their parents. Who were also saved, I might add.”
The doctor waited. “Alpha, let me check her over.” My father’s growl was swift, but I patted his back.
“He needs to check me over.” I smiled as I felt the tremble in my fathers arms.
He shook as he looked down to my face. “I just got you back.”
“I know, but he needs to do his job. I’m not going to disappear if you let me go.” I laughed and coughed. I waved the doctor over and pushed my dad back to his seat. “A little breathing room.”
“Fine.” He sat back in a huff, and the doctor came and checked me over.
“Looks like your wolf did the heavy lifting. You are completely back to full health.” He patted my hand. “You had us worried there.”
“Sorry.” I settled back into my bed. I turned to my father. “What
happened?”
“You killed the last wolf and fell.”
I gave my father a look, and he sighed. “We aren’t sure yet. Ronnie is
looking into it.”
“How did she get away from Beck?”
“What?”
“How did Aurora get away from Beck?” It was the one thing that was sticking out for me. “Even if she could use a spell with nothing or prep, she was tied up. She shouldn’t have been able to get free enough to hurt him.”
“What are you saying, Amy?” My father ran his hands through his hair.
“I’m not saying anything…yet.” I swiped my hands around the side of my bed, looking for the remote, but my father swatted my hand away and slowly raised my bed up so I was sitting. “I’m just saying I find it a little weird, is all. Ronnie and I left Beck and Aurora to come and save you.
Aurora was weak, tied up, and fully secure. Unless she had somehow prepared a get away before she was taken, or called in reinforcements, there is no way she could have overpowered Beck.”
“She could have used a spell.”
“I have barely touched the surface of my power, so you would know better than me, but every spell I looked at, other than the wisp spell, used preparation. They needed a fire, or candles, or other things to push the spell forward.”
“Most complicated spells would need prep, but it could be done ahead of time and then sealed in a talisman, like a necklace. So it’s possible.”
“Okay. I didn’t know.” I remembered Aurora’s necklaces and tried to
settle my stomach.
“Talk to me.”
“It’s just…it’s not sitting well with me. Even if she was prepared for being caught, would she have prepared for everything? Being tied up with rope? Having to escape a cell and attacking the Gamma of the pack. It seems like such a far leap that anyone would be that prepared.” I could feel my face fall more and more until my brows were furrowed.
“She could have been…” My dad’s voice was a little hopeful.
“I mean, you are completely right.” But my mind was already whirling onto the next facts. “But Aurora wouldn’t have had any knowledge of who was at post and who wouldn’t be if you called the pack to the Agora. She also wouldn’t have been able to give the rogues any information about whom to attack and where.”
My father’s eyes danced around and then his face fell. “All the rogues attacked near places the women and children would hide.” I nodded along.
“It wouldn’t have been a very hard attack, but it would have shattered the pack.”
“If the pups, or mates, were killed, then the warriors would have shattered.” My father’s voice was dark, realization settling in.
“Isn’t Lynn the Gamma female?”
“She is, but she isn’t Beck’s mate, he’s still searching. She was just a transfer from another pack. Her father was a close friend and when he died,
she was forced into a horrible pack. So when I saw her transfer request, I agreed right away. I was hoping she would pair off with Beck, but we weren’t that lucky. She has done wonders, but Beck, well he’s still mateless.
“Not what I was thinking. But Lynn and Beck should work together, yet I never see them around each other.”
“That’s because he hates her, and it seems to be mutual. Lynn hates him with a passion.” He bent over his knees. “She has been trying to talk to me about him abusing his power for a while now, but I wouldn’t listen.”
“Why not?”
“He’s been my best friend since we were kids, Aim.”
“And that makes a difference why? Your job is to protect your pack.” I became agitated.
“I know. But I’ve known him since we were in diapers. He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do what you are suggesting.” My dad stood. “I might have been a shit Alpha, but I know my friend.” He turned to leave but the door to my room burst open.
Ronnie stood there, panting. “What’s wrong?” I pushed back my blankets and hopped off the bed.
“Beck…he’s…gone.” He panted and then fell to his knees. We both rushed to his side. The scent of blood and wolfsbane hit my nose once I got next to him.
“Let’s get him on the bed.” My father nodded and picked Ronnie up and went to the bed as I stepped into the hall. “Help! We need help down here.”
I screamed down the hall and through the mind-link.
The doctor rushed in with a few nurses and started calling out directions.
“Andrea cut off his top. We need to see the wound. Sarah, get the stitches cart and roll it in here.”
“Doc, there’s wolfsbane in his blood.” My dad was pushed against the wall, trying to get out of the way for the nurse and doctor to work. The Doctor froze for a second, then nodded.
“Andrea, stop. I need you to start poison protocols.” We watched as they both stepped back and put on gloves and gowns. Something that is so normal with human doctors yet so rare with ours. “Okay, let’s get back to it.” They both dove back to Ronnie. They finished cutting off his clothes revealing the knife, hilt deep, and red lines radiated from the stab wound.
“How did this happen?” The doctor probed the wound. Ronnie screamed and passed out. The nurse came rolling back in with a cart. She rolled the
cart to the doctor and was going to jump in, but he held up his hand. “Sarah, wait. I need you to go out and get a fifty fifty of saline and lupine extract.”
“What is that?” I asked, as Sarah gasped.
“It’s the only way we have to counteract wolfsbane in the system.” The doctor kept probing around the knife. “We need to get it started before we pull this out, so his wolf regains its strength.”
“Do whatever you have to do to save him.” I could tell my father was running on fumes. After the attack and then staying with me, this is putting him over the edge.
“Dad. I have Ronnie. Go sleep.” I rubbed his back, but he shook his head.
“This is on me. I’m the Alpha and he is my best friend. I’m not leaving him.” My dad turned to me and wrapped his arms around me. “Thank you, though, pup. I appreciate the thought.” He kissed my temple as we watched the doctor and nurse work on a plan of attack as the second nurse ran in, wheeling a pole. She headed to the side of the bed and set up a bag of liquid. Once everything was ready, she grabbed his arm, found a vein, and pushed the needle in. She hissed as a drop of his blood came into contact with her thumb.
“Sarah!” The doctor rushed over. “There is a reason for the poison control we have in place.” Sarah shook her hand, but she finished setting his IV.
Once she was finished, she ran to the sink and washed her hands before slipping on the gown and gloves and came back.
“Sorry, doctor, but I wasn’t going to wait.” He just nodded.
“The IV?”
“Is fully open and running quickly.” Sarah nodded.
“Good.” The doctor set up a sterile work area around the knife and had the nurse set up a tray for everything he might need. Once everything was ready and more than half the IV was gone, he looked at my dad. “We are ready.”
“Okay. Do it.” My father’s grip tightened around my shoulders.
The doctor wrapped his hand around the knife and pulled. Ronnie’s eyes flew open, and he sat up with a scream. Blood poured from his side, and the room filled with the scent of wolfsbane and blood. Ronnie looked at my father and his face crumpled. “Why?” Then he dropped back down to the bed, unconscious.
My father made a tiny whimper in his throat. I rubbed his back, trying to reassure him, but Ronnie’s question ran through my mind over and over.
“He wouldn’t ask us why.” I whispered more to myself, but my father turned to me.
“What?” He stared down at me and I turned to face him.
“He wouldn’t have asked us why. He would understand why we had to pull the knife. He isn’t dumb.” I waited for my dad to catch up to where my mind was.
“I’m not following you, pup. I’m…” He growled.
“You are exhausted.” I rubbed his arm again. “But Ronnie knew he was stabbed, and he probably knew he was poisoned. He isn’t stupid.”
“Right. Plus, I had him trained with me, which means he went through
the same wolfsbane training I did.”
“Did Beck?”
“No. The Beta’s job is to die for the Alpha, the Gamma’s job is to die for the Luna. My father was very strict in the Alpha and Beta training, but he
thought the Gamma was worthless.”
“Why?”
“Probably because he hated my mother by the time we came of age. He wanted more pups but my mother refused him and that meant I was an only child.”
“Did he know about the wolfsbane training?”
“Who?”
“Beck.” I think my brain was moving too quickly for my father to keep up with.
“No. Most of the training, my father swore us to secrecy.”
“So he wouldn’t know that Ronnie would have been able to survive this?”
My father turned back to Ronnie on the bed. “No, he wouldn’t.” The doctor was stuffing more and more gauze into the wound, throwing the blood-soaked ones to the ground. He became more and more panicked as the used gauze pile grew. “What’s wrong?” My father stepped up to the bedside.
“It’s not closing.” The doctors eyes snapped up for a second before going back to the wound on Ronnie’s stomach.
“What do you mean?” My father grabbed the Doctor’s arm, but he shook him off.
“The lupine saline should have flushed a lot of the wolfsbane from his system, but he’s still not healing. He’s losing too much blood.” The doctor
shoved more gauze into the wound and looked up. Sweat beaded down his face and his eyes were wide. “I…I, I don’t think he will pull through.”
“Fuck that.” My dad grabbed both of his shoulders. “You save him.”
“Alpha…” The doctor shook himself. “We need blood then.”
“Take mine.” My father held out his arm, and the doctor shook his head.
“You are A positive, the Beta is O negative. He can only take O negative blood.”
My father staggered back to a chair that was behind him. He slammed into the chair and dropped his head between his legs, almost defeated.
“Take mine.” I held out my arm and my dad snapped his head up.
“What?”
“I’m O negative, just like mom. Take my blood. Save him.” I shook my arm in front of the doctor, and I watched as his shoulder sagged, and he nodded to Sarah.
She pulled me to the head of the bed and then pulled another chair over for me to sit in. She ran out of the room and came back with another package that she tossed onto the bed. She washed her hands, pulled on new gloves, ripped open the package, and pulled out a new IV. She grabbed my right arm and placed it on the bed next to Ronnie. “Thankfully, we are wolves.”
“What does that mean?” I watched her as she inserted the needle into my arm.
“It means if we were human, I’d have had to take your blood and run it through a ton of tests before it would be able to be used. With us being wolves, I can just hook you up directly to the Beta.” She attached my tube to his IV, and my blood flowed from me, directly into him. “Tell me if you start feeling dizzy.”
“Alpha, call for juice, water and protein for Amy. She will need to replenish her blood as we take it. We will need far more than she should normally give in one go.” My father nodded and he sat back, within a few minutes, a cart of food was rolled in by an Omega.
“Thank you Shantelle.”
“You are welcome, Alpha.”
“Thank you. But don’t tell anyone what you saw here, Shantelle.” I
smiled as gently as I could.
“Amy?” My father lifted a brow.
“I have a plan.” I looked at my dad and he nodded. I turned back to Shantelle. “Do you mind?” I started, and she shook her head.
“Go ahead Amy. I understand.”
I pulled my aura up and as gently as I could. “I command you not to tell anyone what you have seen here. You will spread the word that the Beta is dead and I am still unconscious. Do as I command if anyone asks, but keep track of who asks you of the Beta’s condition and report it to me or my father instantly. Do you understand?”
Shantelle’s eyes glazed over as the command took control. “Yes Alpha.”
“Dismissed.” I sent her on her way and tucked my aura back away.
“What are you planning?” My father leaned forward. I ignored the doctor and his nurses, knowing they would keep their mouths shut.
“I want whoever that did this to think they succeeded. I want them to think they got away with it. And I want to use this to trap them.”
“Amy? What is going on?” I drank down a juice and held up a hand as I quickly ate a sandwich. I felt a little lightheaded and needed to eat something. “I feel like you have figured out something and I am still fumbling around in the dark.” My dad looked between me and Ronnie, his sluggish mind still trying to catch up.
I tried my best to meet his eyes, I really did, but I knew he wasn’t going to like what I was about to say. “It’s Beck, Daddy.”
“What?”
“I need you to listen to what I’m going to say, without interrupting, and think before you jump to defend him. I need you to think clearly, without thinking about your past. Promise me.” I finally looked at him, and he gave me a quick nod. “Aurora escaped the Gamma, which should have been impossible for her strength. She also managed to attack him and put him down long enough to get off pack land, but he didn’t mind-link anyone.
Ronnie found him unconscious by her cell.” I waited for him to nod before I went on. “Then there was the attack. The rogues knew intimate details of the pack and our procedures, stuff that Aurora alone wouldn’t have known.
Something the Gamma would. And now, Beck is back up and running, and Ronnie is attacked and almost killed. He would have been killed without the secret training your dad put you two through.”
