Bonus Chapter 14

When Jordan died, I felt exactly the moment the brush of his life appeared through the mate bond, then vanished. The suddenness hit me, like a light flicking on—and off.
I thought that was all you could feel for a mate, whether chosen or fated.
But no. 
Even though we hadn’t marked each other, the moment Cedar was almost dying, I felt it in every molecule of my body. A primal and fierce rage takes over me, matched only by my fear of losing him.
The smell of wolfbane and something else oily mixes with the blood dripping from his face. 
The arrow was coated with poison.
It wasn’t supposed to hurt my daughter because she would be able to heal if it wasn’t the poison. It was supposed to kill her.
And now, I feel Cedar’s life hanging by a thread.
I can’t lose him. I can’t lose him. I can’t lose him!
Before I can react, Lily shifts into her wolf form and positions the thick, wooden table—the one my sundae ice cream has been on—between us to shield us from the next arrows.
Her training with Cedar is really paying off right now. I immediately mindlink Ian, and I don’t even grasp what I’ve said or answered to him because right away, Roxy takes control of my body; the wolf nudges her head against Cedar’s body on the ground before she advances behind the nearby thick trees to surround and attack whoever is shooting arrows from behind.
‘Stay on Cedar’s side,’ I mindlink to Lily as Roxy sprints, dodging other arrows. Chaos takes over the cozy place. The sun has already set halfway now.
And then I see Kelly’s stupid wolf.
Fucking hell! How does this bitch have the nerve to try to kill her own niece?
Oh, Cedar! My heart aches. *Please, Moon Goddess, don’t take him away from me! Not now! Not when we finally found each other!*
Roxy mercilessly attacks Kelly’s wolf with fury, biting every part her sharp fangs touch but without tearing off a limb. She growls loud at the smaller wolf.
Kelly’s wolf can’t take it anymore and ends up shifting back to her human form. And that’s when I do the same. I don’t need Roxy to finish this piece of shit!
Naked, I punch Kelly in the face over and over. “You evil fucking bitch.” I vibrate with fury. The words are barely a whisper through my gritted jaw. 
Kelly tries to defend herself, raising her arms in front of her face to protect herself, but I unrelentingly attack her arms anyway.
“It’s your fault my brother is dead!”
“That’s your fucking reason for trying to kill his daughter?” I scream angrily as my sharp nails tear the skin of her arm.
She lets out a maniacal laugh. Deep down, I feel like it’s because she probably knows she’s got a death sentence. She’s a dead she-wolf now for touching my family. 
“I wanted to make you suffer. You’d be next and—”
“I’m going to claw your fucking heart out!” I cut her off. 
And then I do exactly what I said. Blood runs down my arms when I lift up her still-beating heart and squeeze it hard until I close my hand completely. Yet, I keep staring into her lifeless eyes.
But it doesn’t lessen the deep pain I feel in my chest. 
My true fated mate placed himself in front of my daughter so she wouldn’t die.
He didn’t even think. It was a fucking natural reaction for him.
I shift into my wolf form and Roxy runs to where Cedar is, from afar we see his body on the ground and we hear Lily’s wolf whimpering loud as she looks down at him.
And then I spot Ian’s huge black wolf approaching, he shifts and picks up Cedar’s body in his arms, the arrow still remains in Cedar’s eye. 
In his so beautiful meadow green eye.
I don’t know if I feel relief or agony at hearing Cedar’s slow heartbeat.
‘Please, don’t let him die! Please, Ian!’

🐺 🐺 🐺

“And you didn’t think you could tell me, Ian?” 
“No,” he says, his arms on top of Allie’s shoulders. She’s on the other side of the bed, holding Cedar’s hand. 
“You’re trying to shelter me!” I yell. Then I curse myself for that. Cedar is still unconscious, even hours after the surgery. We should stay quiet, let him rest. The doctor removed almost all the poison from his body. 
He managed to save my fated mate’s life, but the small portion of the poison that still remained around his eye prevented his healing power. 
Cedar lost sight in that eye. 
Oh, Goddess... My Cedar! I’m trying to hold on to the fact that he’s alive.
“Of course, I’m trying to shelter you, Vi!” Ian yells, but then he lowers his deep voice. “You’re my sister, and you’ve been through hell! I think I’m entitled to shelter you under those circumstances.” 
In New York, Cedar had warned me that Kelly was close, but we didn’t know she would have the nerve to sneak into the pack again. She managed to get in here with Jacob’s help, the same asshole who let her escape and run off with her. Ian found him first on the other side of the pack. Jacob confessed everything before Ian killed him. We should have killed that fucking bitch when we had the chance. I can see the regret in my brother’s furious eyes.
I don’t even know why I’m fighting with Ian. I did know about Kelly, but I didn’t know she was seen in Summerville. A little detail that Ian told me just now.
A whimper coming from Allie makes me drop my shoulders. My brother runs his hand through her blond hair. “Little Dove, come here.” She turns, and he wipes her tears off. “Baby, you should rest. Think about our daughter.”
“Yeah, Allie. If—” I clear my throat. “*When* he wakes up, I’ll mindlink Ian right away. You should go. I promise to call you immediately.”
She just nods her head, and my brother picks her in his arms and carries her away, but not before coming close to me and placing a kiss on my forehead.
‘He will be fine, Vi. He’s strong. And hard-headed. Too stubborn to leave your side.’ I hear Ian say in my mind as the door closes.
Looking at the bandage around his injured eye, I lay down next to my fated mate and burst into tears. I hug him tight.
I feel as though my insides have been ripped out, carved into a hollow shell of what I was before I had him in my life. 
Please, Cedar. Come back to me.

🐺 🐺 🐺

The scent of alcohol and disinfectant invades my nose. A soft stroke against my face sends a wave of sparks down my skin.  
I open my eyes and it’s then I notice him looking at me, illuminated by the Moon. 
“It’s still late, sugar. You should sleep some more.” 
“Cedar?” The shaky tone of my voice reflects the uncertainty swirling inside of me. I can’t figure out what’s real and what’s a dream. 
If this is heaven or hell. He’s been sleeping for two days now.
A sob hitches in my throat, and my trembling hands feel cold all of a sudden.
Frowning, he stares at me with his one good eye that seems to have lost its shine. As if dulled by seeing me crying. 
Crying, I shudder against him as he hugs me tight. “You suck!” 
“I know,” he soothes. 
“You really, really suck, Cedar!” 
“I do,” he agrees as he runs his big, warm hands up and down my back, easing the trembles in my body. “I suck big time, sugar.” 
“You suck! How dare you get hurt? You jerk!” 
“Total jerk.” 
“I thought I had lost you...” I sniff. “You suck, Cedar Dove!” 
“Lay it on me, sugar. Tell me how you really feel. Don’t be shy,” he teases in his charming tone. 
“And you need to stop being so reasonable and charming and perfect. I don’t like it.” 
“I’ll stop,” he promises. I can feel his smile in his voice. 
“Making me experience what it feels like to be with my soulmate. Then you nearly bled to death. Total jerk move.” 
“So inconsiderate of me, right, sugar?” 
“Totally! Completely. Inconsiderate. You-You owe me another ice cream sundae.” I cry out loud.
Cedar kisses the top of my head. “I’ll buy you another ice cream sundae, sugar. As many as you want.” 
“It h-had a lot of sprinkles on i-it.” 
“We’ll get you more ice cream sundaes with a lot of sprinkles on it.” I press my face into his strong chest. “I’d do anything to stop you from crying, Vivi.” 
I cling to him, and I can feel my tears against his bare skin. “Okay.”
I take a deep breath, scenting his perfect smell. It calms me down instantly. I wipe my tears off.
Then Cedar stiffens. “Where’s our daughter?”
*Our daughter.*
“She’s in the packhouse, she’s fine. Safe. Lily didn’t want to leave your side, but Az convinced her to get some sleep.”
“Good.” He opens a smile. “You should rest, too.”
“Oh, Cedar... I was so worried...”
“I’m here, Vivi. I’m here.”
I nod. I will cry again if I say something.
When he shifts his gaze to me after a few minutes in silence, I can practically feel the flames burning behind his meadow green eye. “Kelly?” 
“Dead. Unfortunately. And what I wouldn’t give to tear her apart all over again.” Morbid fascination swirls behind his glare as if he’s imagining it. “Thank fuck,” he mutters. 
I clamp my eyes against the flashes of Kelly’s attack memory passing through my mind. 
No. If I allow myself to focus on them, they’ll drag me further into the dark pit that waits to swallow me from below. I won’t think about it. Not yet. Not now, with him awake.
“She can’t hurt us anymore. Ever.” 
Tears blur his form again, and that cold nausea I was feeling before settles deep inside my gut again. I shake my head, refusing to relive those moments.
The pain begins to fade in my chest as my mind and body finally realize my Cedar is here, alive and conscious. 

🐺 🐺 🐺

A week after Cedar left the hospital, our lives finally started to fall into place. And according to his plan, we’ll soon be sleeping in our future home.
After speaking with Shawn and getting some pending issues of the nightclub done through the phone, I called it a day. Ian has been taking care of the Moonlight since I disappeared from the pack months ago. 
I head to our room and open the door. As I walk into our temporary bedroom, I spot Cedar finishing writing something. When he looks up at me, he immediately closes the notebook and opens that charming smile that makes my knees weak. He’s wearing a black eye patch now; the bandages were removed a few days ago.
I close the distance between us at the same time he stands up. Leaning up onto my toes, I press my lips against his as his hands travel down my body. They settle on my ass before his hands move up and grip my waist—firm, possessive—and then, in one fluid motion, Cedar lifts me effortlessly into the air. My back meets the wall with a soft thud, the cool surface a sharp contrast to the fevered heat of his body pressed against mine. Just beside us, the wide window frames the blazing sunset, golden light spilling across the room, painting his skin in molten hues.
“Hi, baby,” I say, breathless.
The glow catches the intensity in his meadow green eye, bright with hunger, as he pins me in place. The warmth of the dying sun licks over us, but it’s nothing compared to the fire building between our bodies, every breath, every shift of his hips against mine, stoking the flames higher.
“Tell me what you want, sugar,” Cedar says against my lips. “I want to hear you say it.” 
“I want you to fuck me against this wall and then, please, please, please! Mark me. Right here. Right now.”