76: Mercy mistake

**Tristan**

“Tristan… I need your help.” It was late in the afternoon when I’d answered Oliver’s phone call and the moment I’d heard his shaky and panicked voice, I knew that whatever had happened had to do with Ambrose.

“What’s going on Oliver?”

“I-it’s Loren… she’s been attacked and poisoned. I don’t have much time to explain, but I’ve taken her to Kyle and h-he says there is little he can do.” And then he said, much softer and almost on the brink of tears, “P-please help me… I love her.”

I didn’t even waste any time hesitating and said, “Hang in there Oliver, I’m on my way.”

“Who was that?” Lucien asked curiously. He was sprawled out on the couch with Calista cuddled up comfortably in his lap. The both of them were completely unaware of all the chaos that was about to take place and I almost felt guilty about disturbing them.

“Oliver. Loren’s been badly hurt, we need to go now!” I was just about to grab the car keys when Lucien gripped at my arm gently. I turned to him, ready to yell, but stopped when I saw his facial expression. His brows were creased, and his eyes were filled with concern. He was worried.

“Lucien?” I asked, worried myself about the look on his face.

“I… I don’t want you to get sick again.” He said before swallowing hard. “It was hell watching you go through what you had to go through last time. Every second, I felt as though I was on the brink of losing you. I don’t want to feel like that ever again.”

I couldn’t help but reach out and touch him. When he looked at me like that, I felt like breaking down into tears. I wanted to reassure him, to tell him everything would be alright. But I couldn’t. Already Ambrose had fucked everything up by attacking first and I knew for certain everything would only go downhill from there. I could, however, tell him this, “I promised you that I’d stay by your side no matter what. Now trust me to keep that promise Lucien. I know it’s scary… nothing is certain and one day we are going to have to say goodbye to one another, but that won’t be today.” I then reached for the car keys and said, “Now, Oliver needs me, so let’s stop wasting precious moments of time.”

Lucien sighed, gave me a breath-taking quick kiss and then nodded.

****

“You think this was my father?” Lucien asked about two rights into the journey.

“Yes. There’s no doubt in my mind. He did this to get to Oliver.” I said in an almost whispered tone. Amidst the panic surging through my body, I was beyond angry, beyond furious. It burned in me almost as intensely as it did the day I found out about Ambrose’s real identity.

“So… where are you taking me? Where’d Oliver take Loren?” Lucien asked.

“A healer that Oliver and I know. His name is Kyle. He’s one of the greatest healers this world has ever seen.”

“Kyle? I know of a Kyle… a healer too. Oliver took me to him when I…” He then fell silent and shook his head. “I was in a dark space back then.”

It was then that I remembered Oliver telling me about Lucien and his attempt at ridding the world of him. I’d never forgotten how Oliver described the event three years ago, but I never made the connection between the healer Oliver told me about then and Kyle.

I looked over and gave Lucien a soft smile before saying, “It’s the same Kyle.”

“Isn’t he a little young to be the world’s greatest healer of all time?”

“He’s hundreds of years old. Not immortal… just really good at not dying.” I said almost jokingly. He’d told me the same thing the first time he told me about his age.

It had been so long since I’d last seen Kyle, years to be exact. But remembering him was doing a good job of keeping my mind pre-occupied. Deep down amongst the anger and panic, I was terrified. I didn’t want to be too late. Oliver had done so much for me and now, I didn’t want to disappoint him. If he loved Loren, then I had to do everything in my power to save her because if I was being honest, Lucien and I wouldn’t have been where we were in our relationship if it wasn’t for him.

“Hey…” Lucien said, snapping me out of my panicked thoughts, “Stop worrying, we’ll get there in time.”

I nodded, though I couldn’t find it in me to stop worrying. My thoughts were racing, and my driving was reckless. No part of me could relax, not until we saw the familiar, quaint, log cottage.

“So, this is a place that brings back memories,” Lucien said under his breath. I turned to him and was startled to see the hidden sadness within his own eyes. I’d been so concerned about Oliver and Loren that I’d completely ignored the weight that this place had on Lucien and I couldn’t help but regret bringing him here in the first place. But there was no part of me that could do this without him.

“I’m sorry…” I said softly before touching his hand with mine. He wasted no time in turning his hand around and holding mine. It was warm, soft, reassuring.

“It’s okay. I need to be brave now. Brave like you.” He said with a smile. For a moment, his words caught me off guard. I’d never thought of myself as brave, but hearing it come from him made me feel a little more at ease. *We* could do this.

It took a few knocks at the door before Kyle opened up, clothes full of blood and spills of elixirs along with it. His eyes brightened and he smiled widely when he saw me at the door.

“Tristan the Tiger. I’m glad you’re here… and you’ve brought a familiar face. Lucien Michaels, I remember you.” He said before stepping aside and letting us inside.

“Good to see you too Kyle.” Lucien said, forcing a smile.

Kyle stepped aside and led us through the house. It was just as I’d remembered, reeking of sage, filled with vials and bottles and elixirs. The moment I stepped foot into Kyle’s workroom, I was greeted by the pungent scent of blood. The colour of it stained Loren’s clothing and dripped from the wooden table onto the floor, feeding into the large, red puddle underneath it. Oliver, who stood next to Loren and had her hand in his, was coated in blood too, and underneath all of the blood on his face, his eyes were wild and worried, and they teared up when he saw me.

“You came!” He exclaimed. There was a little undertone of relief in his voice but he sounded exhausted. I wondered how on Earth he knew about the attack on Loren. I didn’t ask though. Instead, I followed Kyle and stood next to the body.

Loren’s usually bright and beautiful skin was now dull and pale, her pulse was weak, and she was barely breathing. She didn’t have much time left alive.

“Tristan, place your hands on her.” Kyle demanded. I did as instructed, placing my hand on her blood-stained body.

“Now… I am going to try something different. Lucien, place one of your hands on Tristan’s.”

Lucien did so, but afterward, shot Kyle a questioning look.

“I’ll explain once you both start healing her. Now Tristan, I need you to concentrate really hard please. Loren’s very badly poisoned and injured, the only path she has left for her is death. You, however, are now going to try to intervene and stop her by opening up a new path for her- life. So, in order for that to happen, you’re going to need an exceptionally large amount of energy. So I’m going to need you to focus on Lucien’s hand on yours, and your hand on Loren’s body.”

I nodded and began focussing hard on the electrical pulses between Lucien’s hand and mine and the wetness of blood between my hand and Loren’s body.

“Good. Now channel Lucien’s energy into your body. Use those electrical pulses from your mate bond and guide them into your arm.”

It took an immense amount of concentration, but I did exactly what he’d said. I could already feel my eyes flickering to their blue colour as power surged through my body.

“Now, channel it into Loren’s body.” With that, I tightened my grip on Loren and let the energy flow into her body. As I healed her, Kyle finally began to explain himself.

“The mate bond that you two share is an extremely strong one, I knew that the moment I smelled it all over you three years ago, Lucien.”

“You mean-“

“Yes, like you I can smell mate bonds. I can do a lot more than that, but it’s a story for another time. Anyway, by using the energy from the powerful mate bond you two share, to heal someone, it lessens the strain on Tristan’s body. However, it does still mean that you will be slightly weaker after this and that includes you, Lucien. I figured, however, that it would be better than having Tristan use up all of her energy and becoming sick afterwards.”

Although I hadn’t brought myself to even think about the painful consequences of healing Loren, I was glad that I wouldn’t be facing the hell I had after the fight with Ambrose. And as my mind wandered to Ambrose, I soon began to wonder how Loren had found herself in this state in the first place. So I glanced over at Oliver who clutched at her hand tightly, and then asked, “What happened to her?”

Oliver sighed deeply and then shook his head. “It was Ivan. He did this to her.”

“Ivan? So, I was right, it was Ambrose.”

But before we could continue, Loren’s eyes opened, and she gasped desperately for air before grabbing at my hands and trying to get them off of her. I could see she was in a state of shock, still in ‘survival mode’ and trying to flee her attackers. Lucien and I tried calming her down, but it only made her more hysterical. The only time she did calm down was when Oliver gently grabbed at her face and turned it towards him.

“You’re safe…” he said softly.

“O-Oliver?” She panted out. He nodded and immediately she clung to him. Oliver held her close to his body and I was glad to see the relief flooding his face.

“All in a day’s work!” Kyle said before clapping his hands together. This did a good job of disturbing the happy couple from their embrace and immediately a sense of awkwardness set in. It was then that Loren finally took note of the other people in the room, but after a quick glance over at everyone, her eyes rested on me.

“The man who attacked me… he knew I’d survive. He told me to tell you that your father says that all of the deals you’ve made with him are off, including the one you made regarding Jasmine.” She then paused and a curious look appeared on her face. “I have a feeling that I’m missing out on a lot of information here.”

I froze for a moment. This was new for Ambrose. I expected for him to wiggle his way out of our deal, not to flat-out refuse to stick to it. Then there was my sister. If she wasn’t protected, then we had another problem on our hands. Not only that, but the more I thought about what Loren said, the more I realised that this was exactly what Ambrose wanted. He was playing dirty. He deliberately poisoned her so that I’d have to heal her, hoping I’d be too weak to fight him. And that only meant one thing…

“We’ve got to get back to the Blood Moon pack right now! Ambrose is not going to stop here. Time is of the essence. If he did this to purposefully weaken me, it won’t be long before he attacks again.”

“Wait… Ambrose? Can someone explain what the fuck is going on here please?” Loren yelled out.

I stopped briefly before looking up at Oliver. “You stay here and explain.”

“-But-”

“She’s hurt and you’re exhausted. Stay out of the fight Oliver.” I waited for an answer.

He let out a reluctant sigh and then nodded. “Fine… but Tiger?”

“Hmm?”

He then left Loren’s side, walked up to me and pulled me towards him. “Stay safe Tiger. Please… stay safe.”

He then let go of me and turned towards Lucien before saying, “And you, stay safe too. You two are the only family I’ve ever really had. Please… don’t get yourselves killed.”

I knew I couldn’t promise him anything. But when he looked at me the way he was looking at me now- afraid and heartbroken- I couldn’t help but nod. Lucien and I bid Kyle goodbye before heading towards the door. And as Lucien and I left Kyle’s humble abode, one thing circled around annoyingly in my head. Letting Ambrose live was a fucking mistake. Showing him mercy was a mistake.