A Wolf's Tear

forty-six: Before You

Her eyes fluttered open. She was greeted with an indescribable pain carving her neck as she heaved her breath. Suddenly, she was very aware of the surrounding things. Every smell, every tiny minute movement of the surrounding critters, and every sound.

She felt a howl in her core, its loudness causing her to gasp for air. Moments later, she noticed Nathaniel’s scent, his arms around her, and his eyes were halfway close.

The only thing is, he was no longer breathing.

He was drenched in blood. The crimson hue tainting his body caused mountains of goosebumps to form on the base of her neck.

“Alpha Morris,” she pulled herself up and sat next to him.

Her tears were uncontrollable. She had no will to stop crying as she frantically shook him, hoping that he was going to wake up.

“Wake up, please, sir.” She begged.

She placed her ear against his chest and find no heartbeat.

At the moment before she died, those flickering thoughts of fear and remorse corroded her being. Nathaniel was the last thing on her mind before she slipped away.

But why now? Why was she alive, the one cradling him while he was unconscious, or possibly dead?

It was almost instinct that her hand touched the wound on her neck.

She was marked to keep her alive. He risked himself for her. But how could he?

Selena pressed her forehead on his, feeling her heart bloom with an incalculable amount of a foreign emotion she could not describe.

She gulps, kissing his cheek before she pulled on the neck of his shirt. Marking a dead wolf was already a bad idea, but she needed to try everything she can. She took in his scent, savored and admired it. If Nathaniel wouldn’t survive this, then neither could she.

“Selena don’t do it!” Lilian bellows from behind her.

She raises her eyes and stares at the group of wolves rushing toward her.

“I need to mark him.” She cries out.

Winston comes to her aid and pulls her away from him. Selena used all her weakly strength to get out of Winston’s grasp. But the wolf wouldn’t let go, even though she had drawn blood using her nails on his arm.

“Get the goop!” Lively rushes to pick Nathaniel up.

“It’s in the car, hurry!” The Beta orders as she checked Nathaniel’s pulses. “He’s not breathing.”

Lively grimaced. Her face grew red in anxiousness while she attempted to resuscitate him. Impatience gripped her as finally, she struck his chest with his fist.

“Breath dammit!” She screeched.

With that, Nathaniel gasped for air. It caused everyone to collectively sigh in relief.

“Got a pulse,” Lilian exclaims. “Quickly, get the mid kit here!”

A wolf rushed to their side, carrying a bag filled with medical equipment. Selena caught a glimpse of a water bottle filled with what seemed to be the same liquid she drank when her leg was shot, the one that had a very foul taste. Or what Lively called the ‘goop’.

“Winston, let me mark him, please.” She spoke through her sobs.

Lilian shook her head.

“Not yet, Selena. Marking him now won’t save him.”

Her brows knitted. “What do you mean?”

“He’s been poisoned with Wolfsbane. Can’t you smell it? If you mark him now, your wolf will die and so will he. You’re risking your life and Alpha Morris’ sacrifice for nothing.”