The Panther's Second Chance (Book 10 of the Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 40

Dominic was dead. Natalia screamed and rushed towards Anthony, pummeling him with her fists. He grabbed her by the hair, yanking it sharply and causing enough pain to get her attention. "Enough,' he roared at her. "What's done is done. You need to get over it. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be on you." He pushed her off of him and she fell to the floor, barely aware of him walking over to the machines and shutting everything off. The room fell silent, with only the scent of Dominic and burning flesh permeating the air.

Alpha Anthony turned back to her. "Come on Natalie." He walked back across the room and grabbed her arm, yanking her up off the floor, then pushed her out the door.

She was vaguely aware of the pain in her arm but didn't care. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to go back and mourn for her mate. Her heart was broken. She'd been his for such a short time, but she'd fallen in love with him. And she'd never gotten the chance to tell him.

Now his body was left in a cold hospital room alone. The man who had searched for a way to kill himself, when he'd been at his lowest, had finally died when he'd been at his happiest. It didn't seem fair. When he'd finally been content, his life had been taken from him.

Anthony pulled her into another room, and took her over to an exam table. He picked her up and sat her on it.

Natalia didn't care at this point what happened to her. It didn't matter any more. Her heart was back in the room with Dominic. She felt completely lifeless and wanted to curl up in a ball somewhere and shut everything and everyone out.

Anthony came over and began to clean her neck. "I don't know why it hasn't stopped bleeding," he muttered, pressing his hand against it with some gauze.

Natalia hissed and tried to pull away but he grabbed her and held her tightly. "Because I'm practically human and the way you marked me was horrible!" she yelled at him.

"Would you have rather I marked you the traditional way?" he asked, pressing against the mark rather harshly, making her wince.

She paled at that. "No," she whispered.

"Didn't think so. But you'll want it soon. Once you get your wolf back, she'll recognize me as her mate and you'll want me to mate you. Then we'll talk about you marking me," he said quietly, lightly pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Never. She would never be able to accept him. He'd killed her mate. He couldn't expect her to want to be with him. She couldn't do it. She'd kill herself first.

He pulled the gauze away, looking at his mark and frowned. He put the gauze back in place, then lifted her hand up to the gauze. "Hold it while I get something. Can't have you bleeding out on me."

Why not? she wanted to ask him. She didn't care anymore. She felt sluggish and depressed. All she wanted was to go to sleep and hope that when she woke up, this terrible nightmare would end.

Anthony came back and took the gauze from her and carefully cleaned her wound. She hissed but the sharp sting seemed to center her, to focus her. She realized she was beginning to feel Nala.

She was dreading reconnecting with her wolf, dreading the horrible pain that would come when Nala realized that her mate was dead. That another had marked her.

Anthony finally finished cleaning her wound and placed a bandage over it, before grabbing more gauze and bandages. "Might need these later." He glanced at his watch. "Still have another hour before you need dosed again with wolfsbane."

Wrong. But she wasn't going to tell him that. As much as she was dreading Nala coming back, she was also looking forward to it so she could end Anthony.