SHADOW
I ran away. I thought I had it under control.
I felt ashamed of myself that I almost killed Tor in front of everyone, and I just proved them right, showing them my true nature that I was nothing but a savage and filthy rogue in their eyes.
I lost my only chance.
I ended up threatening the guard if he wouldn’t let me enter the confinement. I wanted to be alone right now because I knew my days were over. I would be banished, or worse, they would kill me if Tor wouldn’t heal.
My wolf took control when I was threatened, and she felt my pain.
I cried in the corner of the room. I was supposed to have a pack now if I only control myself.
I missed Kent. I wished he was here right now, telling me everything would be okay.
“Go away. I need to be alone.” When the door unlocked, I wiped my tears from my face. I smelled the sweetest lavender wafting in the room instead.
“May I come in?” I thought I heard that voice before.
I lifted my gaze. “Oh, my Goddess. Luna.” I rose to my feet. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I’m not Luna anymore.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I’m suddenly disoriented.”
“You can call me Elder Eleanor, but I prefer Eleanor. Take a seat, Shadow.” She sat on the iron bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible, like I just survived a plane crash,” I told her honestly as I sat beside her. “Not as terrible as Tor, though.”
“But you’re healing faster.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I might have a few broken ribs and still feel the pain on my side, but my lips and nose don’t hurt that much.”
“Impressive.” She looked me in the eye, which made me feel conscious. I indeed looked like shit and smelled like a slaughterhouse.
“Thank you.”
She sighed. “I shouldn’t have chosen number seven.”
I chuckled. “Well, you have no idea who was on the number seven. I asked Zack about my possible opponent when he gave me a list and their strength. Tor got me good, though.”
“You took all the strikes because you don’t wanna show everyone who you are.”
My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“The moment I saw you in the field, you reminded me of someone I met long ago. Her mate was a powerful but compassionate Alpha. He had the strength of a thousand warriors, and her wife had the power of nature.”
“You met my parents?” I felt goosebumps all over my skin.
“Yes, once in a council meeting. That was the last time I saw them. One day, I heard what happened to their pack. I’m so sorry, Shadow.” She held my hand. “I wish I could have done something. I wished I found you sooner.”
“I’m good. My human adopted father is kind and never sees me as different.”
“You will be fine here.”
“I don’t think so.” I looked down at my hands, still with dried blood. “After my little stunt, they will vote for my banishment. They already hate my guts, and I just made my situation worse.”
“You won, Shadow. And Tor would’ve killed you if you didn’t fight back.”
“What happens to me now?”
She rose to her feet. “It’s all up to your Alpha, but if I will be the one to decide, you won. You got a place here.”
I nodded. “I’m ready for my punishment.”
“You should talk to your Alpha.”
I smiled sadly. “If it wasn’t for him who got to my wolf, I’m not only a rogue. I’m also a murderer.”
“Someone here wants to talk to you,” she said before she left.
I was about to ask, but Kindra walked in with a huge smile on her face. The next thing I knew, she hugged me tight.
“You’re the best warrior.”
“I cheated.”
Scowling, she took a seat where Elder Eleanor had seated before. “You win, and I lost my twenty. In my defense, I just bet where my mate put his money.”
“How’s Tor?”
She swallowed hard before she spoke. “My mom is tending to him right now.”
“Please tell me he’s gonna be okay?”
“He’s healing more slowly than a normal werewolf, and Mom can’t figure it out.”
I gulped. “Can you take me to him? Let me help.”
“Hey. You’re also injured. You have to-” She cast her gaze from my face down to my bloody shirt. “You need to see a doctor to shower and rest.”
“Then take me to your mom.” I finally had a plan.
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah.” I got up, and she just stared at me.
“How? You healed fast,” she said, surprised.
“Please?”
“Okay.”
The infirmary was just on the ground floor of this building. I immediately smelled Tor’s blood. I had a feeling he might have internal bleeding that the doctor hadn’t seen, or his broken bone just punctured an artery. Hence, he wasn’t healing fast.
“Where is he?” I asked Kindra beside me when I opened a curtain to an empty bed, but his scent was close.
“It’s not the right time to see him. I need to check you, too.”
“Please?” I faced her. “Just give me a minute with him.”
“Fine, but my mother wouldn’t be so happy to see you disturbing her resting patient.” She took me to the third bed, sliding the curtain.
“Hey. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be healing yourself.” Dar. Sallie looked surprised to see me standing before her.
“He’s not healing fast, is he?”
“Yeah.” She nodded to confirm Tor’s injury. “I am giving him blood. I hope it works.”
“You can’t take him to the hospital for a CT scan?”
“No. I need to file a report, which will give him more trouble than treatment.”
“It’s all my fault.” I stepped closer to the bed. Tor didn’t look good.
“We should go now, Shadow.”
I ignored Kindra behind me because I had to do this, or he would die. “Can I have a minute with him, please?”
“What do you wanna do?”
“Please? Before Alpha walks in.”
“Wait. He’s coming?” She sounded panicking.
“He’s here.”
“You can sense him?” Confused, she asked. Her hand was on my shoulder.
“He’s close. Please?”
“Just do what you wanna do, but don’t kill Tor,” the doctor said.
When I sensed them left, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to shut everything around me before I exposed his chest, where his heart lay. I was weak, but I hoped and prayed this would work.
I calmed my senses, blew a breath, and placed my palm on his chest. Please, Moon Goddess, make it work.
A surge of energy in my body rushed through my hand and fingertips, spreading heat in every nerve ending in my fingers. I didn’t have practice, maybe that was why it fucking hurt, but I had to do this.
As the wave of pain tinged in my body, I clenched my jaw hard, summoning a low growl in my throat, but the pain Tor felt intensified, sucking every strength I had left in my body.
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead, and I weakened every second that passed from the fight and the biological compulsion, but I could sense Tor was healing like a normal werewolf now.
When I could no longer stand on my own feet, and my energy draining so fast, my world began spinning. I summoned the strength to let me stand on my feet, but before I could hold onto the bed, my eyes fluttered close.
“Hey. Are you okay?” I still heard Tor talk to me until huge hands caught me before I fell entirely.
***
I woke up in a familiar room with a yellow light from the bedside lamp illuminating the room. I sensed that I wasn’t alone. The addicting scent the air carried always drew me close to him.
“Alpha?” I tried to get up.
“Hey, take it easy.”
I gasped as I felt his hands on my arms, holding me steady. The sparks electrified my skin, charging me with a strong surge of energy.
And I realized this was the closest I ever got to be with him, almost invading my personal space aside from what happened in that confinement. But still so close, I could feel his breath on my face. His stare held me captive as if I could see his soul behind those beautiful eyes so vivid and deep darkened in my sight.
“How long did I pass out?” I gulped. “Is Tor okay?”
“Look at you. You worry more about Tor but yourself.” From warm gaze turned suddenly cold as ice in an instant. “What were you thinking? Instead of resting in bed, you have to go and see him. From now on-”
I held my hand. “Hold on.” I sat straight on the bed and sighed. “Go ahead.”
His eyes narrowed further. “You think you’re funny?”
“No. I’m starving. What day is it?”
He growled into my face, but I watched his face soften. “I call the kitchen to send you food.” He got away from me and walked towards the door.
“Am I cast out from your pack?”
He ignored my question to open the door. Someone must have been outside the room, or he was talking to someone telepathically.
“If you don’t mind turning on the lights for me, please?”
He did as I said, surprisingly without complaint, and came to sit on the chair beside my bed. All of a sudden, he grabbed a knife from his boot, making me stiffen. I thought he would stab me for disrespecting him and almost killing one of his best enforcers.
He grabbed my right hand and made a cut on my palm.
“Ouch. Ouch. What the fuck?” I watched my palm bleed before I forcibly fist it close, and I didn’t know what was this all about. His way of punishing me?
“Your mouth.” He did the same to his palm and grabbed mine with the same bloody hand, gripping it tightly as if shaking hands. “State your full name.”
“Wait. What are we doing?” I was still confused. I guessed he wasn’t the kind of man who liked to explain his purpose.
“Faster, Shadow.”
“Shadow Raven Hawks.”
He looked right into my eyes and chanted something in a low voice in a foreign language. The only thing I understood was his name, Califf Walker Stone. His name, though, sounded hot and scary.
The wound suddenly became hot, and I wanted to pull it back, but his grip tightened as he maintained eye contact with me.
I now realized what he was doing- he was making a blood pact.
Once he let my hand go, I checked my palm. The cut was gone. Healed.
“What was that all about?”
Welcome to the Night Stalker pack.
“What the hell?” My eyes went wide.
“Don’t yell.” The link was cut off. “We only use it in case of emergency.”
“How do I do that?”
“You don’t have a link in your old pack?”
“No.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Your Alpha was a dick. Just open your mind and think of someone you want to talk to.”
“Thank you. But I’m still starving.” I rubbed my abdomen.
“Food will be here shortly.”
“I can go to the kitchen.” I was ready to get up, but when someone like him threw daggers at you, you couldn’t do anything but sit back.
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“Is Tor okay?”
“Yeah.” He seemed to have no idea what happened back there.
Oh, thank Goddess.