*****
I stared at my mate completely frozen. No. No. He couldn't be hurt. I needed him right now. I couldn't protect him in this state! I was trying to will him to heal while feeling sick at the thought that he would get hurt more because of me, because I couldn't help him like he was trying to do for me. He screamed again as they pulled the sword out of him and I realised my just standing there was giving us – giving him – even less of a chance of survival. I attacked the person that had stabbed him and he fell easily being too caught up in his delight of killing an Alpha.
"Karabo –" I began to kneel down to where he had fallen as soon as the sword was extracted but he lifted his hand to weakly shove me away from him.
"Eli," His eyes shifted by me widening and I turned as someone swung a sword at me. I caught it, my fingers slicing on the jagged edge and I looked at my hands as they burnt lightly against the sword as it was coated in wolfsbane, but I barely felt it. I guess the wolfsbane smeared on the sword had no effect on me after everything I had been through. I traced my eyes from my hands up to the person holding the weapon and smirked as my eyes met his shocked face. I ripped the sword from his hands before flipping it and then stabbing it into his leg. He screamed as he fell back onto the ground.
"E-Eli, we need to leave." Karabo groaned from behind me.
"Just a second," I replied tapping my fingers on the handle as the guy begged for his life. He was crying and squirming yet somehow the smell of his burning flesh made me feel... calm. "What? Does it burn?" I gave a chuckle as I twisted the sword making him scream louder. I felt myself smirk as I looked at the wound on his leg, the thought of hurting him more suddenly excited me. I ripped the sword from his leg before stabbing it right back into him to earn another pain-filled blood-curdling scream that basically sounded like music to me as I twisted it in the wound again.
"Eli." My head turned to Karabo as I heard him wince and I stopped moving the sword seeing his face.
Did he look afraid...? Of... me? I turned back to the wolf and swiftly pulled the sword from his leg before piercing it into his heart not interested in messing with him anymore. I twisted it to make sure he would not be able to heal after I pulled it out if the wolfsbane was no longer enough to prevent his healing. I rested the sword on the grass beside me as I knelt down beside Karabo. I shut my eyes annoyed and exhausted as I heard more running approaching us. How many wolves had Nicholas convinced to join him?
"You-you have to go be-before more of them show up." Karabo coughed breathlessly.
I looked around trying to smell for some type of plant or something that was strong enough to mask our scents. With him unable to fight and me not strong enough to just carry him home while running, our best option at the moment was to hide.
"No, we can't. They-they'll smell my blood. Leave, Eli." he ordered as he shoved my chest, but his Alpha tone had no effect on me as I was certain mine would have on him but just the fact that he tried to order me to do something...
"Do not fucking command me," I replied pulling my shirt off and pressing it to his wounds in an attempt to slow the bleeding while his body fought against the wolfsbane to heal. I clenched my teeth. He wasn't supposed to be there. He wasn't supposed to get hurt.
"Why can't you just listen to me?! Just once!" He yelled frustrated before leaning his head against me. I wish he hadn't; with his skin against mine I could clearly feel his energy decreasing and all it did was cloud my head with worry as the terror in my chest increased.
"I might after this, but not right now," I said calmly.
"Sure, you will." He muttered. I looked at his face to find his lips puckered in annoyance.
"Are you seriously pouting right now?" I asked feeling my lips tug into a smile. Despite the moment, it was so cute it brightened things just a little.
"Please leave," he begged. I felt a knot in my throat as he let out a sigh and shut his eyes causing tears to run down his face, "Don't make this for nothing."
"Stop acting like you're going to die." I snapped. He didn't reply and it angered me. "Karabo, please. Please don't do this to me." I felt my voice crack. I couldn't take that. Not above everything else.
Damn it. I looked up realising I had just been wasting time. I had to find somewhere to hide immediately, they were nearing us. I bit my lip slipping my arms under Karabo's legs and around his back.
"What-what are you doing?" he groaned in pain as I picked him up.
"Just be quiet," I said trying to jog my way through the trees.
"Don't tell me what to do," he muttered weakly.
"Would you rather I gag you?" I asked placing Karabo on the grass between some bushes.
"Eli... That'd be nice, buts it's not something you should be thinking of in this situation." I looked at him feeling my face heat and he gave a weak giggle. I laughed as I leaned my forehead down against his, giving him a light kiss before I sat back up. "You have to leave." He said. I nodded slowly and he seemed relieved.
"Just... stay silent. I'll be back for you." I said.
If he was as weak as I thought he was, he wouldn't be able to hear me. I made my way back to the area we had just fought and found some men staring at the bodies scattered on the ground. Some were dead because of me, most were not.
"Pretty, isn't it?" I said making the three heads turn to me. I was certain I had heard more people earlier...
"Eli." I raised my brows at the person that looked familiar but I had no idea who he was. I tilted my head still confused about how he knew me and he chuckled. He had black hair and a mark on his neck. Mated. I hid my sudden surge of anger as his mark reminded me of Karabo. I had to keep them there. His eyes ran over me and smirked. "I heard about your... masculinity issues. News travels fast." he chuckled.
"Yeah. Where are the others, you couldn't possibly have done all of this on your own."
"For people who think I couldn't have done this on my own, you're not very eager to take me out." I said.
One opened his mouth but I grabbed the sword I had left on the ground earlier and swung it at him. He barely dodged it and got his arm slicked in the process of moving away. I immediately attacked him again while trying to dodge the movement of one of the other two from the corner of my eye. I was actually surprised as it pierced into his shoulder, because he felt like he was strong enough to be able to move fast and dodge it. My eyes widened as I realised they weren't used to their newfound power and that, though they could hit harder and run faster if they focused on it, it wasn't natural. I kicked him in his chest to get the sword back and tried to swing it at one of the others but I was knocked over from behind by a wolf. I turned over and attempted to stab the wolf but the sword was kicked from my hand.
"Eli!" I froze as the guy above me looked towards where I had left Karabo.
"Hey –" I tried to get their attention back.
"I'll take care of it." The black-haired man that had first spoken said. Shit! I shoved myself to my feet and grabbed his shirt.
"You're not going anywhere," I said. He laughed before swinging at my face. I fell back onto the grass and clenched my fist as my heart raced in worry and I barely felt the effect of his punch.
If Karabo and I managed to survive, I was going to kill him for not listening to me right now. I ignored the wolf and the other guy and took off to chase the one now headed towards my mate, I could hear them rush to follow me but I stumbled to a halt when I heard the guy in front of me growl as he shifted. How could I keep up? We were so much faster in our wolf forms than our human forms. I shook my head and pushed myself to begin sprinting through the trees. I could keep up, I had trained twice as hard as the Deltas in my pack all my life to keep building my strength as an alpha, I could catch up with a normal wolf if I pushed myself and I needed to to protect him. I was surprised by how much stronger I suddenly felt as I followed the wolf racing through the trees. Adrenaline? Wasn't the spike supposed to happen at the beginning of all of this? No. It was different. I felt... incredibly possessive, desperate to get to Karabo and just... angry. I had been angry the entire time but now... Now I was shakingly mad.
Wait... I shut my eyes and gasped when I actually began to shift and in a second my paws hit the ground still running. I felt the wind brush through my fur as I sped up sprinting until I was right behind the wolf. He turned to look at me and I took advantage of his temporary shock, pouncing on him and sinking my teeth into his neck before ripping his throat apart. I looked up wondering why the other two wolves had not caught up and my ears perked up as I heard fighting.
'Eli? You here?' I felt relief wash over me as Ashton's voice sounded in my mind.
'I'm good. Karabo isn't.' I linked back, 'I... I need your help.' I didn't wanna make drinking his blood a habit, but this wasn't about me.
I shifted and looked back the way I came. It sounded like there was more than Ashton back there, they didn't need me.
Moving away from the dead wolf, I finished making my way to my mate and stumbled over to a barely-awake Karabo who I hugged tightly and he tensed in my arms. He felt so drained.
"Karabo?"
"A-are you naked?" His tired eyes managed to widen at me. I rolled my eyes. Only he could be shocked by my nudity even though he was a werewolf who had hinted at BDSM earlier. I chuckled and just hugged him again resting my chin on his head. "Did you shift?" His voice was hopeful but still soft, drained.
"You made me find my wolf," I mumbled feeling my eyes burn as I squeezed him.
"Ahhh." he groaned in response.
"S-sorry." I instantly let him go.
"No, hold me." he mumbled clinging onto me, "Not... so much, but still."
"You're not healing?" I asked concerned about how breathless he sounded and how his hands barely managed to grip me as he tried to hold onto me. How much wolfsbane had been on the sword they used on him?
"It's faster now... I'll be okay," he replied. I clenched my jaw. Of course he would lie about it, I would have done the same.
"Yeah, it will." I looked up at Ashton as he knelt down and held his wrist in front of my mate's mouth, "Drink." he ordered. I raised my brows at him hearing the tone he used towards my mate. "What? You said I could have the pack. Technically, I'm Alpha."
"You wanna fight for the title?" I smirked.
"Shut up, Asshole. Here." I smiled as he frowned at me tossing me his jacket before he laughed. Karabo gave him a sceptical glassy-eyed glance and I sighed lifting his head closer to Ashton's wrist.
"Bite," I said.
"Bite...?" My mate mumbled uncertainly.
'Trust us.' I linked to him.
Karabo looked at Ashton concerned as he bit into his skin, probably to observe Ashton's reaction. Ashton just smiled. I turned my back to Karabo when he was done drinking the blood that had dripped from Aston's wrist before it healed.
"We're gonna help clean up," Ashton said. I nodded and watched my Beta and Ben leave before I looked over my shoulder at my mate wondering why he wasn't on my back yet.
"What? I don't – ah – need you to carry me. I can walk. It's just... stabs." Karabo frowned at me, groaning slightly as he pushed himself off the ground because he was not yet healed.
"Really? You don't want to ride my back all the way home?" I asked. I knew for certain he would want to because 1, he was childish enough to want to have a piggyback and 2, I knew he really wanted to be near me. Of course I kind of wanted him to as well... "Well, fine."
He seemed to contemplate it but I laughed when he practically jumped on my back as I shrugged and began to get up. I stood up gripping his thighs against my waist as he slid his arms around me securely and leaned his head on my shoulder. I swallowed the slight feeling of wanting to push him away.
I'm good now. I should get over it. I'm stronger than he is, he won't take my place because he can't.
"You okay?" he mumbled.
"Great," I replied.
"Please don't do that right now..." he sighed tightening his hold on me. I bit my lip.
"I'm good, a little better... Tired, but I'm happy with you like this." I said honestly. It was true, while he was against me I could better monitor how he felt as he healed and regained his strength.
"You're happy with me recovering from almost fatal wounds?" he mumbled.
"You've already recovered and you know what I mean," I said. I felt him nod against me as he laughed.
By the time we reached my house, he had been asleep on my back for a while and as I made my way upstairs I was anxious about the one person who had not joined our fight, as could be expected from him. Craig.
What he did for Nicholas and all those wolves was crazy. How had he boosted their strength? I needed to get rid of him before he created a bigger problem than Nicholas; before he found an Alpha and actually convinced them to join him. What was I thinking? He offered more power. Most Alphas wouldn't need any convincing.
I looked up when I reached a bed and raised my brows amused at myself seeing that I had walked into my own room. Blaming it on my fatigue and using it as a reason to avoid carrying him to the guest room, I laid him onto my bed. I frowned down at the blood all over his clothing and glanced towards my closet but shook my head deciding that it would make me look really creepy. Then again, he was my mate. By now, most mates would have been mated already. We didn't need to mate though, I had no idea if he would even be there days later. He needed to go home and a mate connection would just hurt us both despite how much I had wanted that when he was far away. It was just a shirt though, I wasn't marking him. I nodded deciding it would be best to clean him up, at least a little until he woke and could do it himself.
I chuckled as he snuggled into my pillow turning over just as I had grabbed the hem of his shirt making it harder for me to remove it. I decided to just rip it off slowly and felt my face heat once I was left staring at his bare back. I attempted to pull the rest of the shirt off but he groaned mumbling a 'go away, Ma.' I bit back a laugh until my eyes fell on his chest. I held my breath taking in his toned torso and the pack tattoos that stretched up to his chest, shoulder and onto his right arm inviting me to study each line and his body more closely. My view traced up to his neck and I felt my wolf stir. No. Calm down. He let out a whine in my head. He was so sad I could feel it weigh heavily in my chest. My wolf's presence was so blatant after not having felt him for a while. I stared at my mate's resting face and tensed when I realised I had been leaning forward. I cursed at my wolf receiving a growl of annoyance back and I felt the urgent need to kiss Karabo's neck. I shook my head forcing myself into complete control of us as I moved away from Karabo and quickly covering him in my blanket. Forget changing him, at least I had managed to take his bloody, ripped shirt off.
I left my room quickly before making my way to my office and locking myself inside where I then leaned against the door.
"I don't know why I wanted you back," I muttered to my wolf.
He growled and I rolled my eyes. If he was going to act like this I would not shift until Karabo was on a plane, knowing my wolf would probably mark my mate the second I let him have the slightest bit of control.
*****