Chapter 77: Bound by Blood
A strangled sound escaped her throat, and she crumpled to the floor outside the room. Her body trembled uncontrollably as wails tore from her chest, the kind of sorrowful sound that only came from a heart that had shattered beyond recognition.
Liam was at her side in an instant. He dropped down beside her, pulling her trembling form into his arms. One hand cradled the back of her head as she sobbed into his shoulder, the other rubbing slow, soothing circles along her spine. “Shhh, I’ve got you. I’m here,” he whispered over and over, like a prayer he couldn’t stop saying. “It’s going to be okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but we’ll get through this. He’s strong, Charlie. He’s strong like you.”
Her cries slowly dulled to hiccupping breaths. She clung to Liam as if he was the only thing anchoring her to this world, the despair clawing at her trying to drag her into the dark. But as the final tear slid down her cheek and dried in place, something inside her shifted. Despair gave way to anger — fierce, fiery, determined. She pulled away from Liam, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve.
“I won’t lose him,” she said, her voice hoarse but resolute. “I won’t let this take him from me.”
Liam’s eyes widened, sensing the change in her. He reached out to stop her as she turned toward the room. “Charlie, don’t—please. Don’t go in there. Seeing him like this... it’ll break you.”
She paused for just a second, her back to him. “It’s already broken me,” she said. Then she stepped inside.
Charlie couldn’t move. Her legs refused to cooperate, and her breath hitched violently as her eyes locked on the still form lying in the bed. Luther’s skin was ashen, slick with sweat and mottled with blotches of greyish veins crawling up his neck. His chest rose in shallow, painful heaves, each breath sounding like it was being dragged from the very bottom of his lungs. Tubes and gauze were taped haphazardly around his arms and torso, and though his body was larger than most, he looked impossibly small lying there — broken, like a once mighty warrior felled by an invisible beast.
The air in the room was sterile and heavy, the quiet buzz of machines the only sound. Charlie’s footsteps were light, hesitant, but each one carried the weight of her pain. She moved to Luther’s bedside, heart hammering against her ribs. Up close, the sight was even worse. His lips were cracked, the corners of his mouth tinged with blood. His body was covered in sweat, his sheets soaked. The disease had ravaged him in just a matter of days, and it wasn’t finished with him yet.
Her fingers trembled as she reached out and brushed aside a strand of damp hair from his forehead. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to end,” she whispered, letting her hand trail down his cheek. The pads of her fingers picked up warmth and the sticky wetness of the blood and pus leaking from a split near his jaw.
To her shock, his eyes fluttered open. Unfocused at first, but then they settled on her. Recognition dawned in them, followed by relief so raw it made her knees buckle.
“Charlie...” he rasped, his voice barely audible. His lips moved again, but a wet cough overtook him, crimson flecks spraying onto the sheets. Still, he smiled through it all, and she could see it—the joy at seeing her, even through the pain.
“I’m... glad... you’re safe,” he choked out between breaths. “Missed... you.”
A sob wracked her again, and she laid her body gently beside his, cradling his face between her hands. “I missed you too. I’m here now.”
He nodded weakly, eyes fluttering. “Only... regret... not finishing… the bond.”
The words struck her like a bolt of lightning. Her heart twisted, remembering the many chances they had, the many times she’d held back out of fear or uncertainty. But not anymore.
“I’m going to fix that,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his burning forehead. “I’m not going to let you go without knowing you’re mine. That we’re bound.”
She glanced down at Luther’s neck, unsure of how to go about this, or what to do. Her body rattled with nerves as he continued to stare at him, stirring her wolf within her, her presence stronger than she’d felt in days. Charlie spoke to her mentally. ‘I don’t know what to do. I was never taught.’
Her wolf responded, voice low and feral. ‘I’ll do it. Let me take over.’ She nodded and relinquished control.
The shift was instant. Her jaw popped and lengthened, her eyes glowing amber. She could hear Liam outside, yelling. “Charlie, don’t! You don’t have to do this!” He banged on the window with desperation, but her wolf ignored him.
With reverence and instinct, she lowered her head to Luther’s neck, her breath warming the skin that pulsed beneath. Then, with a swift and sure motion, she bit down. Her elongated canines pierced the flesh deeply, stopping only at bone.
Luther gasped, his body tensing beneath her before going limp with a sigh. A wave of something immense slammed into her — a rush of emotion, sensation, and energy that wasn’t hers. Love. Pain. Guilt. Hope. Regret. It all flooded her at once, overwhelming and consuming. She could feel Luther—truly feel him—his essence intertwining with hers like threads weaving into one.
Her wolf pulled back, licking the mark she’d left behind, now glowing faintly against his skin.
For a moment, there was peace.
Then the machines beeped in warning, a spike in his vitals. Charlie’s heart leapt with fear, but Luther’s eyes opened again—clearer this time, and he smiled faintly.
“Now... I’m whole,” he whispered.
Charlie held him tighter, willing her strength into him, willing the bond to do what magic could not.
She prayed to the Moon Goddess with every fiber of her being, pleading for this not to be the end.
It couldn’t be.
They had only just begun.
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