He didn’t listen. Thor snapped at my ankles, forcing me backward. I understood his need to protect me, but I wouldn’t let him shove me aside.
Near the shed door, out of sight, I crouched, eye level with Thor. “I want to help.”
The hunter must’ve got the upper hand because the other wolf yelped again. Thor snapped his head in that direction at the same time I did. I snuck past him to look around the corner. The other wolf lay on its side, howling in pain. The hunter closed in, raising his blade in the air preparing to strike. Thor looked between me and his fallen brother.
“Go.” I shoved him away. “Save him.”
Thor held my gaze. I held my breath, waiting, as though the future depended on this decision. In a heartbeat, he turned and ran, launching at the hunter’s back. But before he connected, the hunter twisted with unnatural speed, his blade narrowly missing Thor.
Realization struck me hard like a punch in the gut. The hunter almost stabbed not just Thor…but Noah.
They engaged in a vicious brawl. I couldn’t watch. Instead, I stared at the injured wolf. He still hadn’t moved off the ground. Without thinking, I ran, trying damn hard not to look at Noah in wolf form fighting the hunter. I kept my gaze on the fallen wolf.
When I reached the wolf, I fell to my knees beside him.
Several different howls echoed through the woods. Help was on the way. I needed to keep this wolf alive until they got there.
Blood poured from somewhere on the wolf’s belly where the hunter struck him. I could hardly see. Growling and snarling continued behind me as Noah battled the hunter.
With my hand, I search for the wound, smoothing my fingers along the wolf’s underbelly. There. Thick warm blood spilled over my fingers.
Something white flashed out of the corner of my eye. In a split second, everything changed. A white wolf charged toward me. I grabbed my knife, half twisted—
The wolf slammed into my back, smashing me against the ground with the knife beneath me. Hot pain sliced through my stomach. My vision blurred. I grunted, twisting to move. The wolf’s jaws snapped at my ear, its foul breath, and the sick smell of blood in its mouth made me gag. I tried to move again but the wolf snarled, pinning me to the ground. I clawed the dirt trying to escape.
Instead of screaming, a choked cry escaped my lips. In the commotion, I couldn’t tell if the wolf wanted to kill me or protect me.
Without warning, another wolf attacked it, shoving the first one off my back, releasing the weight. The two wolves tumbled away in a vicious fury of bites and growls. My lungs inhaled but the breath caught midway. Fire burned through my body, the muscles in my stomach spasmed. I coughed, drawing my legs in, curling into a ball, attempting to ease the intense pressure. Nothing helped.
Using all my strength, I rolled onto my back. I instinctively reached for the source of the pain and curled my fingers around the knife lodged deep in my stomach.
Someone screamed Noah’s name. My ears buzzed. I coughed, more like gurgled, as blood bubbled up my throat.
When faced with death, people said their life flashed before their eyes. That didn’t happen for me. Instead, I saw glimpses of Noah, of what we could’ve been. Of the life I could’ve had if I stayed with Joan.
I drifted off in the fantasies. The pain didn’t hurt so much anymore. Someone lifted my head off the ground.
“Mia.”
Noah. His voice sounded all wrong, strangled, a distant echo over crashing waves.
I rolled my head toward the sound. A heavy weight pressed against my lungs making it impossible to breathe let alone move. I wanted to cough again, clear my throat, but lacked the energy to do either.
Something caressed my cheek, but I barely registered the touch.
“Baby, open your eyes.”
Had I closed them? They were too heavy to open. Instead, I smiled. Noah was okay, that was all that mattered. Me on the other hand…
Noah
Blood. So much fucking blood. Not just on my hands, but everywhere I looked. Fueled on nothing but revenge and a dangerous amount of hatred, I tore that hunter to bits and regretted nothing. I didn’t give a shit about any of it. Spilled blood was the price in war, and we deserved victory. For Joan, and everything she represented.
Now, back in human form, the only blood I cared about was the thick liquid creating a dark stain around the knife lodged in Mia’s stomach. A knife she had so bravely gripped in her hand.
I curled my fingers around the handle about to pull it out.
“Don’t.” Ash snapped, stilling my hand.
Something fractured inside my chest. “I gotta save her.”
“If you remove the knife, she’ll bleed out.”
I didn’t even know how it happened. I remembered shifting in her front yard, Ash in wolf form, injured, the hunter about to kill him. I had flashes of Baker’s wolf on top of Mia threatening to tear out her throat. Her chocked scream as she fought to free herself.
Soon-to-be-dead Baker approached from my side, his steps slow, hesitant. “I didn’t know it was her, Noah. Shit. I’m so sorry. I thought she was with the hunter.”
I didn’t even spare Baker a glance. As it was, red dotted my vision and it took every ounce of strength not to tear him apart like I had the hunter. I’d deal with him after.
Instead, I poured all my concentration into Mia.
I caressed her pale cheek. “C’mon baby, open your eyes.”
Ash crouched beside me, the gash in his side almost completely healed. He inspected the dark red stain expanding around the knife lodged in Mia’s stomach. “Baker, is your healer with you?”
Baker must’ve shaken his head because a second later, Ash cursed.
“Go inside the house, grab towels, blankets, anything you can get your hands on to slow the bleeding.”
Baker didn’t question the instructions, even though Ash wasn’t his Alpha. He bolted toward the house.
Ash moved to lift Mia’s shirt and something inside me snapped. I clenched his wrist, stopping him. An unearthly growl rumbled through the night, coming from my chest.
He met my gaze for a second before shaking his head. “There’s only one way to save her, Noah. She won’t recover from this on her own.”
Deep down, I knew that. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. “I won’t. Not without her consent.”
“Noah, listen to me. You’ll never get her to a hospital in time.” He leveled his stare with mine. “She’ll die. Do you get that? Your mate will die.”
I lifted Mia, cradling her head in the crook of my arm. How had everything gone so fucking wrong? Ever since that hunter came to Woodland Falls, he’d torn apart my life.
But Joan’s death brought Mia back to Woodland Falls. A second chance I never thought I’d get. I’d waited fifteen years to start a lifetime with my mate. If I didn’t save her now, that fucking hunter had won.
I stared down at Mia in my arms. Her face sickly pale, her breathing labored. She made wheezy coughing noises as blood filled her lungs.
I was out of time. If I didn’t save her now, it would be too late.
After, if she hated me, even if she sold the house and moved back to the city wanting never to see me again, at least she’d be alive. I’d already resigned myself to becoming the lone wolf I feared. If it meant saving her, I’d welcome centuries of loneliness with open arms.
What I couldn’t do was exist knowing I could’ve saved her and chose not to.
I leaned down close to her ear. “I’m sorry, Mia. I can’t let you die. I won’t.” I thrust my free arm to Ash. “Do it.”
Without another word, Ash grabbed the hunter’s blade off the ground and used it to slice my wrist. Blood dripped down my arm. Shifter blood, the only thing that would save Mia.
I eased my wrist against her lips. “Drink, baby. Heal.”
She didn’t react. She lay there motionless.
I wouldn’t let another person die because of me. I came into her life, I showed her the shifter world, I claimed he
r as my mate. Everything that happened over the past few weeks was because of me.
“Mia. Drink.”
I wiggled my wrist between her lips.
Ever so lightly, her tongue lapped at the cut. Tentative at first, then with more strength, more urgency. Through our bond, I sensed my lifeblood seeping into her mouth, down her throat, repairing damaged organs, sealing torn tissue, breathing life into her lungs.
Her hands shot up and gripped my wrist, holding it in place. Her lips formed a hard seal around the cut, drawing deep pulls of blood. And her moans sent a flash of heat right to my cock. Clearly, she hadn’t drained all my blood.
Now that she was out of the danger zone, I sensed the other shifters back off and give us privacy. Thank fuck. ’Cause healing my mate was the most erotic thing I’d ever experienced and I sure as hell didn’t need an audience.
Too soon, Mia’s lips relaxed, and she eased back from my wrist. Her eyes opened and her gaze locked on mine. Clear, bright eyes full of life, flashed with amber.
In that moment, she became the enemy.
Chapter 16
Mia
At some point, I passed out. Or drifted off to some faraway land, I couldn’t be sure. Too many weird sensations flowed through my veins that I had trouble distinguishing between them. Someone carried me inside and upstairs to my room. Most likely Noah. On and off, I woke and found him curled in an armchair in the corner of the room. Blood still smattered his face, a blanket covered his legs.
This time when I woke, my vision was clearer, brighter, more focused. Strength like I’d never felt before flowed through my limbs. Man, I could run a marathon right now.
Hesitantly, I rolled onto my side facing the window. The same window where I’d first seen Noah’s wolf. Funny how things happened in a full circle.
Movement in the corner of the room caught my attention. Noah straightened in the chair. His gaze locked with mine and all those strange sensations once again rushed through my blood. As though someone had injected a magnet into my veins, and it snapped me toward Noah. My heart beat, yet, it felt like another beat alongside it.
But amongst all the confusion, one blissful sensation bloomed between my legs, aching with more intensity than ever before.
Clearly, I was on some awesome pain meds.
Noah peeled himself off the chair and approached the bed, sitting down beside me. His tender touch stroked up and down my cheek, flaming the tingles through my middle.
“How do you feel?”
Hmm. I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I felt alive. Freaking turned on. Yet, something had changed, something I couldn’t explain.
I pushed myself into a sitting position, scooting back to lean against the headboard. I still wore the same clothes I had on when the hunter attacked. The memories flashed in my mind so fast it caused a dull ache in my temples. I squeezed them, closing my eyes for a second until it passed.
I peered at the slice in my shirt just under my ribs where a knife had lodged in my stomach. I lifted the fabric, expecting to see a scar or stitches. Nothing. All that remained was a faint, jagged line.
I lowered my shirt and glanced at Noah. “I feel okay, I guess. How did I…survive that?” Blood still lingered on my tongue and down my throat. I exhaled a ragged breath. “I thought I was going to die.”
He took my hand in his and stared at it for a long moment. When he lifted his gaze to mine, his eyes were darker, bordering on…sad.
“You were…” Muscles popped along his jaw. “I saved you.”
A knot tightened in my gut making me almost afraid to ask. “How?”
“I gave you my blood.”
I jerked my hand from his. “What the hell? You told me that triggered the hunter curse.” I gasped. “I’m a…”
“I did what I had to. I won’t let you die, Mia.”
My stomach churned. Was that what all those sensations were? The curse?
Sure, it saved my life, but I didn’t consent to any of this. He knew how much I didn’t want this. I’d told him. Hadn’t I?
Pressure squeezed my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. “I’m going to turn into a blood-thirsty psycho.”
“No, baby.”
He reached for my hand, but I recoiled. Those muscles popped again in his jaw.
“You’re not the same as them. Joan refused to kill, you can also. You’ll still live for as long as me because we’re mated. You don’t need the blood and if you crave it, I’ll give it to you.”
His eyes widened for a split second as though he realized what he’d just said.
“What do you mean we’re mated?”
The hunter said the same thing.
His chest rose in fell in a deep inhale. “Remember when I told you that you’re my mate?”
I nodded, my throat way too dry to even contemplate replying.
“When we had sex, we sealed the bond between us.” He paused for a moment as though searching for words. “It’s like a scent, a feeling, an invisible thread that joins two mates.”
He reached for my hand again and this time I let him, too overwhelmed to pull away.
To be honest, mating didn’t sound that bad. So why the hell did he look like he’d delivered me a life sentence? I didn’t want to rush him, but I swear my patience wore thin and I was so over surprises. “What aren’t you telling me?”
His eyes darkened. “It’s for life. Nothing can break it. Once a shifter mates, they can never complete the bond with another. For humans, it’s like marriage I guess, but forever.”
“Marriage?” My voice rose. “And you didn’t think to mention this when we had sex? Or before?”
“Everything happened so fast, I showed you my wolf, and…we got caught up in the moment.”
I hugged my knees to my chest. I didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but holy shit. He mated with me. Sure, he saved my life, but…Gah. I couldn’t even think properly.
“You committed me to something I knew nothing about? Will I change into a wolf now?”
He held back a smirk which only annoyed me further. Did he think this was a joke? Once again, someone else made decisions regarding my life and left me to pick up the pieces.
“No. You’ll always be human. You’ll just age slower, at the same rate as me.”
“Wrong.” I glared at him. “I’ll always be a hunter.”
He flinched. Good. He should feel horrible for what he did. Noah took away my choice, just like everyone else in my life up to this point. My mother, every time she dumped me at someone’s house or left me alone to fend for myself. Joan, when she forced me to stay at her house before I inherited it. And now him, signing me up for a life-long commitment without my consent.
This conversation was too much. I couldn’t deal with any of it right now.
“You took away my choice, Noah. Twice.”
He looked as though I’d just shoved my hand in his chest and ripped out his heart, to tear it to pieces in front of him. Or maybe that was my heart.
“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize every second of every day if that’s what it takes to earn your forgiveness.” His expression hardened, deepening the grooves in his forehead. “But I won’t apologize for saving your life. Ever.”
It all came down to that one point. Regardless of the mating bond thingy, he’d saved my life. But in doing so, he’d triggered the sick hunter curse lingering inside me. Part of me screamed to forgive him. How could he possibly ask my consent while I lay there dying? But I just couldn’t. I’d had enough of people making choices for me. I came here so I could finally set myself up and he charged in and ruined everything.
“I failed Joan. After all she did to protect my family, I wasn’t there to protect her, and she paid for it with her life. I won’t let that ever happen to you.”
Was he freaking kidding? “So, that’s all this is? Some messed up quest for redemption?”
He flinched again and I sensed I hit a nerve, which made me furious. Did he heal me to clear his conscience?
He tilted his head, studying me. His gaze narrowed. “Don’t do this. I know what you’re thinking and it’s not true.”
“Really? Because I think you saved me just so you didn’t repeat your mistake with Joan.”
Those muscles in his jaw popped like crazy. “You’re my mate, Mia. I saved you because the thought of spending forever without you fucking kills me.”
Maybe that was true. But from the beginning, he’d kept things from me. He kept the fact he was a wolf, that my family were psychos who hunted his blood. He even kept the mating bond from me but was perfectly okay having sex and not telling me about the consequences.
I no longer knew what to believe or who to trust.
I yanked the blanket up to my chin, clutching the ends in my hands as though it would protect my heart from inevitable heartbreak. I was so sick of people dictating how I lived my life, what I did, and the choices I made. Enough was enough. Now was the time I took back control and lived the life I wanted.
“You should leave.” My voice choked on the words, even though this was the only way forward.
Noah’s lips formed a thin, grim line. He stood, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. “I’ll wait downstairs.”
My heart splintered with what I needed to say. “No, Noah. I want you to leave. I need to figure this out. Who I am, what all this means. I’ve barely had time to breathe and suddenly I mated a wolf and triggered a curse that at any moment, will make me want to kill you. God, I have a mother out there somewhere who hid this from me my entire life and she could be hunting shifters as we speak.” My vision blurred. “It’s too much.”
“Don’t do this, Mia. I’ll prove to you that you won’t kill me for my blood. I know you’re different. You’re not like your mother.”
There it was. He’d nailed my greatest fear.
Until I met Noah, my heart had never felt so full, so complete, like I belonged. But I couldn’t allow this to continue. He turned out to be like everyone else in my life.
I straightened my shoulders, summoning my last shred of courage and strength. “Everyone I’ve ever loved has betrayed me with secrets and lies. I don’t need more of that, not now, not ever.” I met his gaze and didn’t waver, not even when tears burned behind my eyes. “I don’t want this life.”
Warlords, Witches and Wolves: A Fantasy Realms Anthology Page 90