chapter 26

I claw at her hand, trying to get her to loosen up her hold on me. My wolf clawed under the surface, demanding to kill this bitch. My nails grew, breaking the skin.

"Put that fucking wolf away, mongrel," she says, slamming me back into the wall, and I feel my ribs shatter on contact, sending waves of unbearable pain through me, shooting through my body to my head. She leans into my ear with a low laugh, "Mongrel, you know you are gonna regret touching what mine."

I feel a sharp pain in my stomach. Then she's gone. I try to stabilize my vision as I see Ryan running toward me. I wished it was a nightmare, but the unbearable pain reminded me it wasn't. I wince as Ryan picks me up into his arms.
"What the fuck!" I hear Ryan growl; His voice feels distant as my eyes begin to darken to black.

(RYANS POV)
"Oh my God, Emilia!" I scream, running down the stairs at the sound of a huge thump. She slumped over on the floor. The smell of blood stained her body.

I pick her up, cradling her limp body into mine. God, how fucking dumb of me. I knew I should have stayed away. Her body felt cold, and slowly her eyes closed. "No, Em, don't do this to me. You can't, okay? Please, please open your eyes." I say, frantically clenching her body into mine.

I punch in gremichs number and hit call, "Gremich, get your ass here now. It's Em; please, I'm begging you." I didn't recognize my voice.
The last time I'd felt this way was when Ola-Aunchi went MIA during THAT mission. God, it broke me holding her limp, lifeless body in my arms. I couldn't lose her, not again.

It wasn't long before the gang all showed up panting." Marx, go fucking find that motherfucker before I kill them myself," Bishop growls, his tone deadly. "Someone call the beta and council now!?" Jeremy looks up from Emilia's body and nods at his mate before running off.

"Here, hold this," Gremich says, handing me a rag and guiding it to the knife in her stomach. "press hard. We want to minimize blood loss. Bishop, I need a table and alcohol, precisely sterilized instruments too." Gremich says. Panic and worry replaced his usual hard face, made me feel anxious; please goddamn it, Emilia, wake up,

people run around us, gathering all the supplies that gremich asked for. "Wait, are we seriously not taking her to a hospital? Come gremich, and I know your a good doctor and all, but....." I start protesting. I felt weak, and it was pissing me off. This was my mate, and I was helpless.

"JACKSON! Stop being a selfish dick for five minutes and think about what she needs. If she goes to the hospital with injuries like that, they will know what she is. Take a look at the knife in her stomach. It's laced with snake poison, particularly from the rattlesnake rhumba in Scotland. So please let me do my fucking job and make sure she survives. Because that venom will end up killing her if we do nothing.!" gremich shouts at me.

I'd never seen him get this worked up over anything. Gremich wasn't the type for long-term relationships of any kind, and it was out of character for him to get so worked up by a girl.

He takes her from my arms, placing her on the cold metal table and wheeling her away from me.

"Fuck! How the fuck did this happen?" I wanted to scream and punch
I don't answer because, really, what's the point? It's pretty goddamn obvious
I can hear the pack approaching; Jeremy is directing them all into different sections of the house, leaving two in the living room guarding the door the gremich and the pack doctor took them into. I can hear Jeremy off to the side, talking in low tones, with Bishop answering back.


I sat outside, away from everything. The panic devoured me waiting. Just fucking waiting was killing me. God, I hope I was praying; please, please, please be okay. I sat with my head in my lap, my leg shaking, when I felt a soft hand press on my shoulder.
"Ryan?" says a voice next to me, snapping me out of my pleading for a minute. "Her breathing is raspy, and her voice seemed hoarse when she was able to talk though she's in and out a lot of consciousness. She was asking for you but hasn't spoken since. Gremich did what he could. Her vitals are normal, but she's healing slowly like a human." Jeremy says, tapping me on the shoulder.
"God, this is all my fault...If I just left her... Maybe she wouldn't be in so much pain now..." I answer back, not recognizing my voice.

"What the hell are you on, Ryan? I was there when we were kids, and she loved, loves you more than she has anyone else. It killed her when she found out you had got hitched... She has been in pain since. She was in that hospital mourning the loss of your children alone, So If you want to know what I think, Any baggage you have now isn't going to do much more damage now. If you are honest with her, I know you are mates and all but Do you truly love her?" Jeremy asks, sitting down next to me and handing me a beer.
Since when did my kid brother get so damn serious? But he had a point. I was afraid I couldn't handle my dirty laundry being aired to her. I couldn't lose her again.

"Yeah, Jeremy, I do; you've got no idea how much it's killed me to stay away," I confess to my brother. "It's this damn fucking curse."

"Grow the fuck up then, go to her now. You aren't on your own anymore, Ryan. That curse means fuckall if she finds out organically." Jeremy says, swatting at me. "go on, get out of here. She needs you."


(EM POV)

I wake up to the very frustrating sound of beeping and the smell of bleach, the type that burns your nose. I hated it; It always reminded me of Death, Like the smell that comes after blood.

"Gremich, how is she doing." I hear Ryan ask. Slipping his warm hand into mine.

I try to open my eyes and mouth to speak, but nothing happens. Instead, my body stays still and silent.


"There are no permanent internal injuries other than some broken ribs; What concerns me is she's had; a lot of broken bones that have badly reset in the past. She isn't healing fast enough, and Her wolf isn't present from what I can tell, and the venom's working quicker than she's healing. Jackson, she has been asking for you, so I'll give you some time alone, but I will warn you she's stable now, but she needs her wolf.....if," Gremich says. I can hear the anger in his voice as he speaks to Ryan.


The warm hand holding mine flexes and tightens a few times during gremich's review of me. I can feel the aura from Ryan turn angry, making the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end.

"They are fucking dead, you hear me? I'll kill those psychopathic fucks myself." I hear gremich growl receiving an approving growl from Ryan before the door slams.

He releases my hand, and I feel it return, pushing the hair back behind my ear. "I'm so sorry, princess; you don't deserve any of this." He says, bringing his lips down for a tiny kiss on my forehead. So loving and tender. I felt grateful for this small moment with him. The longing for my mate grew deeper in my chest. I needed him.

"I'm sorry if you hate me for this, but it's for you. I love you, Emilia, more than anything. please just live." He whispers into my ear before the pain of sharp fangs pierce my neck, marking me as his.