Use Me, Royal Stranger (mxm)

Chapter 26 - Deserving, Undeserving

The healing room was quiet, except for the sound of the tools that Healer Naomi was using. "More pressure!" She commanded. Lance had enough of watching the poor excuse of a scrawny attendant that was made to help out. He huffed and pushed the attendant out of the way, using his own hands to hold onto the towels and adding pressure to it. He ignore the snarl from Alaric's mouth. There were more important things to consider, than Alaric's feelings about Lance's hands on his mate's half naked body.

"Out!" Nana ordered, and the attendant all but fled the room, leaving Nana behind with her child and the two men. "He was raped. He clearly told us that. How did those rebels find out? Perhaps they are affiliated with the rapist." She thought aloud, briskly walking to her medicine shelf to retrieve more emergency potions. The wound was too large, he was going to need more, but they did not have the time to acquire them. She would have to make do. "Perhaps this was part of their plot? To rape one of ours? I don't understand, why?"

"He lied, healer." Lance answered tiredly, "He was afraid of telling the truth. He was not raped." Lance licked his lips nervously as he watched the blood soak up the towels, seemingly to never slow. How could he still be bleeding so much after all these time? His complexion looked almost translucent.

"What?! Why would he lie to me?" Nana shrieked, narrowing her eyes at Lance, one of the potions in her grasp slipped from her, falling to the ground and breaking, wasting the precious potion within. She cursed before placing the rest of them unceremoniously on the nearby cart. She turn quickly to look at Alaric with accusing eyes, "Did you know?"

Alaric shook his head, his eyes never leaving Carlen's battered body. He was rigid with fear, fear of losing his beloved. How could he have not known? His own mate, pregnant with his heir. The image of Carlen getting stabbed ran through his mind's eye and Alaric winced involuntarily, swaying on his feet a little as the thought of Carlen dying passed. How was he going to survive this? How was his child to survive this? The stab wound went straight to the belly, there was no chance.

His dear Carlen, he looked so pale, so distressed, even when he had already passed out. When they found him, Carlen was barely breathing, already unconscious, one pasty arm was wrapped around his belly, and the other clenched in a fist. His lips were blue, his body stiff. Alaric had lost his ability to speak from the moment Lance had confirmed that Carlen was carrying his child. His inner wolf had taken over the moment it saw its chance, when Alaric was shocked beyond belief. It was on a mission: ensuring it's mate and it's pup's safety.

Nana swore once more when she saw that the blood was not slowing. At this rate, Carlen was going to bleed to death. She needed a moon miracle to stem the bleeding, "Even if he was not raped, he never mentioned who the father was." She commented, handing Lance a new towel, swiftly tossing the soaked towel into a nearby bin, pouring two vials of potion simultaneously over Lance's hands into Carlen's wounds, hoping the herbs in them would help to thicken his blood, making it harder to flow out of his ruined body. Lance leaned in towards Carlen's body, applying more pressure on the wound.

Lance had seen many stab wounds during his tenure as a warrior, he had several himself. But never had he been as afraid as he did now, "Come on, come on Carlen. Fight."

Alaric growled under his breath, still unable to form words as his inner wolf seemed to take significant control over his consciousness. It was afraid of losing Carlen. It could sense that Carlen was close to the edge, anytime and he could fall over to the other side. The child, the child was fainter still. The brief image of Carlen's look of betrayal when he had picked Sophia to rescue made its way into his consciousness, and his inner wolf snapped at him, punishing him for his mistake.

Lance glanced at Alaric briefly, he was beyond pisssed at his friend. Alaric had put Carlen on this table. Carlen's life was at risk because of all the dumb choices that Alaric had made. "Can you save them?" Lance asked, sounding timid, against his character, but he didn't care. He truly was frightened.