LAST CHAPTER OF THE SAMPLE!
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LUX ||
Dad, Uncle Rhett and Uncle Leif shove through the crowd that had gathered by the gates, witnessing my agony firsthand.
"Get out of the way!" Dad's voice booms through the pack warriors who had surrounded me, all of them taking a step back to give him space. "Weston, bring the serum!"
I hadn't even registered Weston was here until I heard his name. Looking up with tear stained cheeks, I see my pack doctor and my Dad's old Beta, rushing towards me with his medical bag.
My uncles were busy holding the warriors back and any other pack members that happened to try and stop to get a glimpse at what was happening to their Alpha.
"Maybe we should do this somewhere else," Weston comments, gesturing towards the crowd that had gathered. "The pack shouldn't see their Alpha down like this, especially not on the day that so many Beta members will compete for a spot to serve beside him."
"It's the recognition," Dad growls at his longtime friend. "Surely the pack wouldn't judge his ability to protect them based on this."
Weston shakes his head. "I wouldn't chance it."
Next thing I know, I'm being lifted in the air, wrapped in Weston's arms as he pushes past the crowd with my Dad and uncles quickly following behind.
"Warriors, tend to your duties, guard the borders." Dad commands over his shoulder while I'm too consumed in the gut wrenching agony that was rippling through me to do anything.
Much less shove out a command and hold to it.
Weston places me in the backseat of what I think is his car while my Dad jumps in the front seat and my Uncles jump in back with me.
Another wave crashes through me as he speeds away from the gates, the distance between Seiko and me becoming even greater.
I hear another howl in the distance, this one filled with such raw pain, it feels like my heart is being ripped from my body.
Like my very soul is being shredded into a million pieces. It's slow and agonizing and all consuming and I just want it to stop.
Another howl sounds through the mountains, this one guttural.
"We need to find him," Dad comments, looking towards the backseat. "Your mate is calling for you too."
I nod, knowing how much pain he was in. Knowing just how much he needed me. . . in more ways than one.
It scared me because Weston had the power to numb my pain while I wasn't sure what the rogues would be able to do for Seiko's.
Would he be in this agony until we meet again? Would he be able to hold out? Would he be able to keep a piece of his humanity to be able to endure it?
Writhing against my Uncles' holds, I shake my head, the pain almost visceral at this point.
It's so painful, my mind is teetering on that fine line between sanity and insanity.
"Dad, make it stop!" I cry out, not being able to take it anymore. "Dad, please!"
I feel his hand grip my arm, squeezing it with the strength of an Alpha. I open my eyes when I feel how tight his grip had become, to notice him facing forward but I could see the tears streaming down his face and the way his body was trembling.
Uncle Leif wraps his arms around me. With being an Omega, I immediately find some form of comfort in his embrace, but it's short lived as we come to a screeching stop in front of the pack hospital and another wave of pain hits me.
This one even more painful than the last. It's unreasoning, unrealistic, unbearable and I just scream.
Seiko's howl rips through the mountains, my own pain and his causing a cascade of tears to stream down my cheeks.
Dad swings open the back door as Uncle Leif lets me go and Uncle Rhett hands me over to him. My Dad grabs me, holding me close, I could hear the way he was sniffling and whispering comforting words in my ear but I don't register them.
I can't focus on anything else but this mind numbing torture. It's gnawing, and it feels like it's searing my soul everytime the waves increase.
I yelp continuously, begging for mercy as a sharp pain shoots up my chest and clutches my heart with it.
Oh Goddess, I wouldn't wish this on anyone in the world. Not even my worse enemy. . . Not even that rogue that took my brother from me.
Dad rushes through the pack hospital, I can hear Weston and my Uncles leading the way as they shot for things they need.
Pack members voices ring loud in my ears, wishing their comfort and healing onto me.
Dad shoves through the back hospital doors, running into a nearby room and laying me down on the bed.
I close my eyes as another wave passes only for the next one to take its place. I can hear feet shuffling around me, the door to the room constantly opening and closing, the smell of more than ten wolves filling the room, the sounds of machines beeping.
Someone grabs my arm, rubs something on it and then I feel a sharp poke that's nothing compared to the pain radiating through the rest of me.
My body immediately grows warm. It's easy to ignore, despite my fear of needles causing the warmth.
All of a sudden, I'm plummeting into a Realm all its own and I'm terrified when I see what lies here.
My mind starts spinning with the idea of needles making me do things that I don't want to do. Jumping into a mud pit full of snakes, I hate snakes.
"Snakes?" Uncle Leif's voice bangs violently against my head. "He hates snakes, why would he jump into a pit full of snakes?"
Dancing to the music with their sharp points surrounding me, gremlins prancing in the distance. Gremlins scared the living crap out of me.
"Gremlins?" I hear Dad ask, a confused tone to his voice. "What in all the realms did you give him?"
"It's a powerful sedative meant for Alphas, but it can cause hallucinations before it starts to affect the body."
That was Weston, I'm sure it was but why would one of the Gremlins sound like Weston?!
Oh my sweet baby Goddess, the Gremlin ate Weston!
My eyes widen, looking around the room. There's rainbows and glitter and a disco ball above me. Why am I covered in pink silly string?
I clutch my ears when I hear a blow horn sound through the room. The sound was loud to humans, but it was unbearable to shifters.
"Ok, now he's talking about blow horns?" Uncle Rhett's voice filters through the party. "He's hallucinating for sure."
All of a sudden, a colony of mice run past my feet and I shriek, jumping away from them. Nothing scared me more than mice and now they're in the party with the gremlins and the needles and the snakes!
"For the love of the Moon," One of the Gremlins that sounded like Uncle Rhett growls as it catches me and places me back onto something soft.
I look down to see my feet on top of what looked to be clouds and then I register that the Gremlin growled. Gremlins don't growl and they most definitely don't praise our Moon Goddess.
"No! Reverse this, do something! This can't be normal!" One of the Gremlins that sounded like my Dad yells, rushing over to the other Gremlin and grabbing its arm. "Weston do something now!"
One of the needles dances it's way over to me. It's sharp point swaying to the beat for a few seconds before it lunges itself at me. I scream and fall to the floor, covering my face from its attack.
I don't feel the poke but my body grows a little warmer and everything just stops.
The dance party of needles, gremlins and snakes goes silent and then the fuzzy room goes dark, I'm scared of the dark.
"Goddess, his heart rate!" I hear Uncle Leif shriek through the darkness.
That's when I register my heart rate had in fact picked up, galloping in my chest as my eyes try to adjust to the lack of light.
"Nephew, can you hear me?" That was Uncle Rhett, but where is he?
"Alpha," I try to find Weston in the darkness when I hear his voice too. A light flickering in what seemed like the end of this nightmare.
"Son, come on back."
I cling onto my Dad's voice, the light in the darkness becoming a little brighter. I walk to it, feeling for my Dad's tether and holding onto what I could of it while I slowly make my way towards the light.
Inch by inch, step by step, I walk towards it. My hands gripping onto nothing but hopes and dreams and prayers at this point as my feet still feel attached to that silly little cloud.
The light grows closer and closer and closer until I'm only mere feet away from it.
"Luxury," I hear someone else whisper, that voice too familiar.
Slowly I turn around and narrow my eyes, looking into the darkness where the voice had come from.
A figure begins to emerge into what little light I had and before I know it, I'm looking at my big brother, Legacy.
. . . Except he's not alone.
There's a man behind him. One that I can't place immediately as his face is hidden within the darkness.
My brother's body faces mine, the man with red eyes — a rogue — stands behind him, claws pressed to my brother's neck.
"This is for my mother." The rogue behind him snarls, the shift in energy palpable. "A life for a life."
Legacy is on his knees, tears streaming down his face as he stares at me like I was the only one who could help him.
Or like he knew his time was up and he wanted to tell me the one thing he never got to say before he died.
I try to move, to get to him, to help him but I can't. I physically can't. My body won't move, my mind won't force it to.
Tears quickly build as my heart hammers within my chest so violently, I grow nauseous.
"I love you so much, Luxury and I'm so proud of you." Legacy whispers to me before the rogue slices through his throat.
His body goes limb as it crashes to the ground in the darkness and the rogue smiles, flashing his canines before running off into the pitch black peril.
I scream when I see my brother laying limb and broken on the ground, his lifeless eyes locked onto mine.
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Gasping and panting, I sit straight up in the hospital bed and grab for anyone, anything to ground me and take me away from that nightmare.
"Hey, hey, hey," I hear my Dad panic next to me, his hands grabbing for mine as he pulls them to his chest. My wide, tear filled eyes quickly find his as I fight for a normal breath. "Calm down, pup, I'm right here. I'm right here."
"Dad?" I sob, just to make sure it was him and that I'm not still stuck in that awful place.
He nods, stepping closer to the side of my hospital bed. "It's me, pup. You're ok."
A huge sigh of relief leaves me as I crash into him. Hugging him tighter than I ever have and needing his scent and his aura to calm me down like never before.
"Wrap me in your aura," I tell him, still panicked as visions of what I'd witnessed with Legacy filter through my mind.
Dad pushes his aura out, I can feel it the moment he does and his calling wraps around me in that way it always did when I was a pup and needed that security.
He kisses the top of my head and rubs the small of my back as I tighten my grip on him, ignoring the choked sound that escapes him when I do.
"I saw him, Dad," I cry into his chest, body still trembling from what just happened. "I saw Legacy, I saw him die."
Dad's body tenses against mine as he quickly pulls back enough to look into my eyes. His finger hooks under my chin as he tilts my head up.
"What?" Dad asks, his brows knitting together.
I nod, gasping a little as I recall what I'd just witnessed. "I saw Legacy in the darkness. I saw him die. He told me he loved me and he was proud of me and then I saw him die."
Dad's frown morphs into fear and then a very recognizable pain and then anger.
His eyes quickly find someone behind me as he growls, "Get rid of that sedative. It's too dangerous."
I frown, blinking a little as I try to register what he was talking about but nothing intellectual comes of my sudden brain power.
The only thing I can picture for sure is the last thing my brother said to me. . . I love you so much and I'm so proud of you.
And the way my brother's eyes looked after he passed. I never want to see that again. I can only imagine how my Dad felt being the one who was there to see Legacy's death firsthand.
What I can't figure out is why in the darkness had the rogue who killed my brother said . . . This is for my mother, a life for a life.
The rogue spoke and somehow figured that Legacy was collateral damage for his mother's death, but why Legacy? Why my brother?
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