Shay had me behind him before it even happened.
Two shots were fired off and everyone was on the ground screaming. I looked around frantically for Copper but I couldn't focus my eyes. Emmett was covering Darcy, but watching Shay for an order.
"Shay!" Ivy screamed from behind me. I whirled around and saw Axel on the ground bleeding. I gasped, but before I could even process any of it Shay was pulling me through everyone to get to them.
Shay let go of my hand and sprinted to them. Luna was sitting there trying her best to stop the bleeding, but it didn't look like it was doing anything.
I stood there watching from a few yards away. It seemed like it was happening in slow motion and I was getting dizzy.
All the sudden Emmett scooped Axel off the ground and sprinted out the doors. The last glance I got of them running was of Emmett carrying a wolf. Darcy was left lying, terrified, on the ground as I stood in the middle of the dance floor, shocked.
Axel was dying. He needed pack blood to survive.
Shay jumped up and I could see the shadow of a wolf in him. He looked around for the person who shot the gun, but whoever it was had a good head start. I heard the back door of the club close and Shay sprinted to get there. He was gone from the crowd before I could even blink.
Bender wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me lightly towards the door that the rest of the pack fled out of. I was still too shocked and confused to make my legs work though so, after trying to get me to follow him he took off to catch up with everyone else. I finally got my wits about me and I ran after Bender. I stepped out of the club just in time to see Luna's little wolf form disappearing into the woods last. I ran after them into the dark woods. I was forced to jog with my hands out so I wouldn't run into anything.
"Shift, damn it! Come on, shift!" I couldn't get my wolf form to take over.
Suddenly I stopped jogging and looked around. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Someone's hands wrapped around me so suddenly that I would have screamed, but whoever it was covered my mouth with his hand. I whirled around to face my offender, but only saw Shay standing there, his eyes fierce.
He grabbed my hand and pushed something cold into it. "Take my bike, go to Luna and Ivy's room, open the door and don't let anyone in unless it is a pack member." Shay whispered as he looked over his shoulder.
My mouth fell open. "Excuse me? I'm part of this too, so you can't just lock me away! Let me help you guys out for once!" I screamed at him.
His eyes widened in anger, but I refused to let him see that I was scared to death. "This isn't the time to train you to be a wolf, Aubrey! I promised you that I would teach you all about being a wolf when we got home! Why can't that be enough for you? Please, Aubrey, just do what I say so I can straighten everything out!" Shay pleaded. I sighed and nodded. He pulled me into a tight embrace. "I'll meet you in Ivy's room in ten minutes. Emmett should have already brought Axel there." Shay lowered his head and refused to look at me as regret instantly washed over me. I didn't realize in the moment that he was sending me to where everyone else was. I instantly assumed that he wanted me out of the way and out of their business.
"Don't worry Shay, we will keep him safe. Go do whatever you need to do and we will all be there when you are done." I whispered and tried to pull him into another hug, but he pulled away. He sprinted into the woods and I saw him disappear, but started to hear wolf running instead of human and I sighed.
I ran back out of the woods and looked at the bike. I froze. I can't drive a motorcycle! What the hell was I thinking? I took a deep breath and slid on the bike just like Shay had been. I had to stretch to reach the handle bars.
I sighed and put the keys in. I started to bike and squeaked in nervous anticipation. I pushed down the gas and it lurched forward. I screamed and closed my eyes.
"What the hell are you doing? Open your eyes!" I screamed at myself. My eyes opened slowly and when they did, I saw that I had somehow managed to make it on the road and in the right direction with my eyes closed.
I laughed and pulled the throttle as far as it would go. I was hysterical laughing by the time I made it into the hotel parking lot. I pulled into the closest parking spot I could find and sprinted off the bike and to the door. I took the stairs to the floor we were staying on.
I barged the door open and locked it behind me before turning the light on. Flicking the light on, I almost fainted.
Axel was lying on the ground in front of me and I couldn't tell if he was alive or not.
Luna ran over to the light and flicked it off. She shhhed me and I nodded.
"Shay come with you? Please tell me that Shay is with you." Luna pleaded up at me. I shook my head and I heard Emmett curse under his breath. I noticed that everyone was in different outfits. The guys were wearing just pants. They must have all shifted and busted through their clothing.
"Well where the hell is he?" Ivy screamed at me. "He is probably making sure that bloody Velknar is alright." Ivy crossed her arms in the darkness.
"Velknar?" I whispered. I could hear Axel start to breathe heavily and I bit my tongue so that I wouldn't puke. "What can I do?" I asked suddenly. They all looked up at me, but then averted their eyes. I put a serious face on and kneeled next to Axel.
"He needs pack blood." Bender whispered
"Well then why isn't one of you giving him blood?" I screamed back and he flinched.
There was a long silence as I glared at them all in the dim light of the hotel room.
"He isn't in our pack." Emmett whispered.
"What? But he is Shay's brother! How can he not be in the pack?" I looked around frantically and Luna was the only one to hold my gaze but she wouldn't say anything.
Emmett shook his head. "That's why he isn't in our pack. Because he is Shay's brother they fight just like each other and therefore, they both have the capabilities of being an Alpha so they split them up into the two minors packs to minimize fighting. We kinda adopted him into ours without any legal run through with Emile. That's one of the reasons Emile is out for us. He knows that we are sheltering Axel from him and I have my own reasons to think that Emile was the one who shot Axel." I nodded and mentally face palmed because I did know that.
"Emmett! Don't talk like that!" Luna screamed frantically and it was her turn to look around at all of their shameful looks.
"So we need a member of the Velknar pack to save Axel? Why haven't I noticed another pack around town?"
Emmett shook his head again. "A Velknar or a family member. Shay isn't sure what kind of bullets Axel was shot with so he doesn't want to take his chances with it. If it is a certain kind then it will spread the poison into his blood stream too, so he is going to get Margret. Axel's Velknar pack has always been more laid back so that they don't raise suspicion to any humans that they don't want in their way. None of them go to school anymore and they have strict orders to stay out of our territory."
"Margret's a......a........" I refused to say the last word.
Ivy nodded to me and I turned my attention to her waiting for answers. "She is the Alpha female of the Velknar pack and if we went by tradition then Axel is supposed to mate with her." Ivy looked me up and down. She seemed like she still hated me, but had accepted my presence. Progress.
"So all we need is Margret to willingly give Axel blood so that her "mate" can survive? Seems easy, I mean, why wouldn't she want to help save Axel?" I shrugged my shoulder.
"Not really, Margret is in love with someone else and by the rules, if one of the Alphas is in love with another person or wolf then they may have their first choice as long as the council agrees. That's what Shay plans on doing with you." Ivy nodded looking disappointed.
"Ivy........are you the actual Alpha female?" I whispered.
Ivy snorted. "Oh please! Don't show me your sympathy! I chose to not be with him and he agreed!" She looked away hazily and I blushed as Emmett shook his head again.
Axel changed into a wolf at my feet and I jumped away at all his growling. "Shay....." He moaned. That was when I realized that he only had one bullet hole in him. Either whoever shot was really accurate or he missed one shot. He shifted back into a human and Luna tossed the blanket back onto him.
Shay burst into the door with a struggling Margret in her arms. She was biting him and kicking him. She became dead weight and Shay dropped her. I think he meant to do it, but she took it as a victory. When Shay slammed the door shut and turned the light back on Margret looked around at all of us. Her gaze stopped at me.
"You too? I thought you were clean! I guess I should have guessed this though. You have been hanging out with them all so much lately." She sighed, looking us all up and down. She saw Axel lying on the ground and had a star struck look on her face. "That's what you brought me here for? Yeah right guys, he totally stood me up! There is no way some of my blood is going in those lips." She said shaking her head.
"It's gross when you say it that way," Shay mumbled. "Listen Margret, you are going to save my brother if I have to rip your head off to do it!" He shouted and she shrank away from him and into Ivy. Ivy shoved her forward so that she was sitting right in front of Axel.
Shay pulled me out of the way as Margret looked around at us all. She sighed and looked at Axel with longing eyes. I felt a twinge of sorrow for her, but it disappeared when she just sat there.
"Do it!" Emmett screamed. Luna hovered over Axel protectively.
"You damn Lakotas are so snappy!" She laughed without humor as Axel spazzed again. She stopped laughing and looked back at Axel with surprise in her eyes. "Wow he really is dying!" She chuckled and all the sudden Axel whirled around and grabbed her neck. He pulled her in close to his face.
"Give me your fucking blood!" He managed to rasp. He held her gaze for a long moment before he grabbed her arm and held it out for her to bite.
She took a shaky breath as we all looked on at her. She bit her arm and made it start to bleed. Axel had gone limp again when Margret pushed her arm to his lips. He clutched her arm roughly, but she didn't pull away. Her eyes were totally blank and I was worried that she was dead.
I looked up at Shay to find him looking off into the distance. He felt my glance and met it. I gave him a reassuring smile, but I had never seen him so out of control of everything. He nodded but looked back at Axel softly.
"I'm waiting for your cue Shay." Luna said from next to Axel again. She looked so small down there and I just wanted to hug her and pull her away from all of this madness. Shay nodded, but didn't say anything. He looked right into Axel's eyes like he saw something there.
Luna wrapped her arms around Margret's but just waited. She looked up at Shay waiting for her to tell her to break the connection.
Shay looked at Axel deeply for another moment before he looked away. "They are both in limbo, take them out." He commanded and Luna broke the connection.
Margret sat there gasping for a moment. She looked up at Shay with fear in her eyes and Shay nodded.
Emmett lifted Axel's, now completely still body, onto the bed while Luna grabbed some blankets. Together they covered him up until he stopped shivering. I looked back at Margret and saw that she was sitting there shaking.
If I understood correctly, Margret gave Axel her blood because she is his pack member and the blood can speed up the healing process. I was extremely overwhelmed and it was finally dawning on me just how different of a world these people lived in. I guess, that I live in now too.
"Get out of here Margret and don't you dare mention any of this to Emile." Shay whispered and Ivy helped her up and out the door. Margret nodded and looked back one more time at Axel before leaving.
Shay sighed and plopped down on the chair next to him. "That was a lot of drama for one night." He mumbled.
"Actually you mean for two nights! It's past 12 now." Luna said from beside Axel.
Shay groaned and we all laughed lightly until the door swung open.