Alpha Zane seemed like a cocky little bastard, and I could immediately see why Elijah wasn't fond of him. I raised an eyebrow at him, much less impressed with his grand entrance than he apparently was.
"Where is Elijah? Why didn't he come up here?" I asked, not wanting to waste any time. It didn't make sense that he wasn't responding to my mind-links.
"Elijah is a bit...preoccupied at the moment, so seeing as the whole point of this was to rescue the Luna of Polar Moon, and I promised Elijah that it would be done, I decided to come in his place," Zane responded nonchalantly as he leaned against the door frame.
My heart rate spiked, "What do you mean he's preoccupied? Is he okay?"
"He's injured and currently unconscious, but he will be fine," Zane replied.
My anxiety grew at an alarming rate. My mate was injured because of me. A war was started because of me. Elijah was unconscious because of me.
"You have to take me to him. Now," I demanded.
"He's already being transported back to Night Fire for medical treatment. If you come with me, I'll take you to my pack so you can be with him. I trust my men to stay behind and finish this fight."
Wonderful. A car ride with Alpha Zane was just what I needed to calm my nerves.
Without waiting for any further confirmation from me, Zane turned around and exited the room, making his way towards the stairs. I took off after him, knowing he was my only chance to get out of here. I certainly didn't trust the man, but it was my only option.
As we made our way downstairs, the sounds of war became louder and much harder to ignore. I cringed as I took in the loud, threatening growls and the equally loud whimpers of defeat. I mentally braced myself for the images I may see as I exited the pack house, but such a sight was nearly impossible to prepare for.
We reached the bottom floor and Zane wasted no time turning and heading for the back of the pack house, likely looking for a back exit so Dean wouldn't witness my escape. As we reached the back door, I noticed a sleek back car was pulled up to the exit, ready to speed off with Zane and I in tow.
Zane grabbed my arm and pulled me out the back door before flinging open the door to the back seat and urging me to get inside. I complied, not wishing to draw any attention to us. Once I was secure in the back seat, Zane placed himself in the front passenger seat and motioned for the driver to take off.
"This is my Gamma, Liam. My Beta is in charge of the warriors currently, but Liam will do a fine job of getting us back to Night Fire within a few hours," Zane explained casually.
Liam nodded, but didn't speak a word. He had jet black hair and tanned skin just like Zane, but didn't turn to acknowledge me so I could see his eyes or any of his facial features. It seemed Night Fire and Dark Root wolves had quite a bit in common with their serious demeanor, although Alpha Zane did have a bit of a playful personality. It was tauntingly playful, but more of a personality than Alpha Dean possessed, regardless.
"You're much quieter than I imagined, Lena. I was really expecting you to be a fiery one," Zane said with a chuckle.
"I've been drugged for a few days and want to see my mate. Sorry to disappoint," I growled.
Zane chuckled again, "Ah, there it is."
I decided to ignore his amusement and continue with my own endeavors, "Is this drive really going to take hours? My mate needs me."
"Elijah is an Alpha. He will get on just fine without you," Zane replied.
Great, another misogynistic asshole.
I growled again, "Don't you have a mate?"
"Well, as an Alpha, I'm sure I do have a mate, but no, I haven't found her yet. That's quite alright though. Mates bring such weakness. Just look at the situation Elijah has gotten himself into. He never would've agreed to a war before he met you," Zane told me.
I felt a pang in my chest at Zane's words. I wasn't one to be hurt or offended, but I knew he was right, and that was what hurt the worst. I knew I was unintentionally the cause of these negative happenings in Elijah's life. I knew he loved me, but perhaps I was more of a curse to him than he realized.
"Fuck you," I growled, refusing to show my moment of weakness.
Zane simply chuckled again. I was growing insanely tired of his chuckles.
He didn't make any further comments, so I used the moment as an opportunity to rest my eyes. Although the drugs had worn off, they left me feeling exhausted. Perhaps I could get some sleep for the few hours that I'd be in the car so I'd have a clear mind when I saw Elijah.
Much to my surprise, I dozed off rather quickly.
My sleep was dreamless, which I found surprising considering the amount of drugs that had been pumped through my system the past few days. Although I'd never tried to sleep in a car before, something about it was oddly comforting. Zane and Liam didn't speak much, and they didn't have any music playing either, so the only sound around me was the light hum of the tires on the pavement.
I was awoken sometime later by the brakes being slammed, causing me to lurch forward and nearly fall into the floorboard. I grumbled to myself as I straightened myself up, still feeling disoriented from my nap.
"We've arrived princess," Zane said with amusement laced in his voice.
"And that's how you two decided to stop the car?" I growled lowly, even more annoyed now that I knew they'd slammed the brakes intentionally.
"We had to make sure you woke up," Zane replied simply before letting himself out of the vehicle.
Asshole.
I yawned and rubbed my eyes, stretching my arms out a bit as I slid closer to the door and pushed it open. I was ready to get out and stretch my legs, but even more ready to see my mate. Elijah still hadn't mind-linked me, which told me he was still unconscious. The anxiety hiding in the pit of my stomach grew as I anticipated seeing Elijah. Not knowing what condition he was in made the anxiety even worse.
"I'll take you to the infirmary," Zane said as I got out of the car, gesturing for me to follow him.
I sped up and forced myself to snap out of the grogginess at Zane's words. I didn't want to waste any time getting to Elijah, after all, and I needed to appear to have my shit together so he didn't worry. Elijah only needed to worry about himself right now, not me.
The first thing I noticed about Night Fire pack was that it's climate and scenery was like nothing I'd ever seen before. There were absolutely no trees, no grass, and little to no breeze. The air was hot and dry, the sky was clear, allowing the sun to pierce everything in sight, and the ground appeared to be nothing but dirt and sand.
"Such a homey place," I mumbled as I followed behind Zane to the pack house doors.
"It's an acquired taste," he rebutted.
Although I'd only seen two pack houses so far in my days as Luna, I felt the Night Fire pack house was extremely unique. It stood just as large and tall as the others, but was a light red-brown in color with oddly curved features, resembling an adobe-style structure. It appeared to have four floors and was surrounded by smaller, similarly styled structures that were likely stores and other facilities, just like in the other packs.
As we walked inside, I was greeted with a very elegant interior covered in granite with pops of red décor. Although the outside looked very nice, I hadn't been expecting such a fancy interior.
Zane, however, being used to the surroundings didn't slow his pace in the slightest. I noticed he was several strides ahead of me and struggled to catch up, still feeling week from the lingering effects of the drugs. We remained on the first floor and zig-zagged through several corridors until we came to a set of double doors with the word 'INFIRMARY' printed above them. Being self-explanatory, I knew I was seconds away from observing my mate's condition.
Zane shoved open the infirmary doors and led me inside, completely bypassing the front desk. The receptionist only glanced up momentarily to see her Alpha entering and didn't bother with a greeting or any questions.
We walked through several more hallways, which prompted me to make a mental note of how many hospital rooms Night Fire pack had. Polar Moon only had about fifteen, as only the elderly or expecting mothers typically found themselves in the infirmary. Once I remembered Zane's enthusiasm about the war and his vast amount of warriors, it all made sense.
Finally, Zane came to a halt outside of a closed door with the number '103' printed on the outside. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the worst as Zane reached out and knocked.
Before an answer could be heard, he turned the door knob and pushed the door open, gesturing for me to go in ahead of him. I held my breath and nodded as I took a step forward into the hospital room.
On the hospital bed laid my mate. His eyes were closed, his hair was caked with rust colored blood, and his skin, although normally pale white, seemed dull and lifeless. I felt as if my heart stopped as the tears began to well up in my eyes. I'd only thought I was preparing myself for the worst.
Multiple machines were hooked to his body via needles and stickers. I could tell he was breathing on his own, but the breaths seemed too few and far between. I rushed over to his bedside and slid onto the edge, immediately reaching for his face to gently cradle his head in my arms. Never in my life had I ever felt so powerless...so lost...than in that moment, as I looked down on my mate who was at the edge of life and death.
My wolf cried out to the Moon Goddess, howling in my head, begging for her to heal our mate. We simply hadn't gotten enough time with him. We couldn't lose him so soon...not like this. Not when we were the reason he ever agreed to war in the first place.
War. Zane.
I felt anger begin to build in my chest, and my gaze shot over to Zane, who was still standing in the doorway.
"You wanted this war!" I yelled. "Why didn't you help him? Why didn't you protect him?"
Zane stared back at me, stunned, contemplating his response, "We're Alphas, Lena. We don't need to protect one another. We split up so we could cover more ground, and apparently Elijah got the worse end of the deal."
I closed my eyes as I took in Zane's words. I knew he was right. Alphas didn't protect each other. They were the strongest out of the entire werewolf population. I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes as they flowed down my cheeks.
"Has he woken since then?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"No," Zane replied.
"Why not?!" I cried out again, my emotions overwhelming me. I stroked Elijah's cheek gently, mentally urging him to wake up, but the action only cause my tears to fall harder as I noticed how faint the sparks between us were at the moment.
"We don't know," Zane said sternly, his face now hardened. "We were hoping that bringing you here would help heal him faster."
Whether Zane was referring to the power of our mate bond or my individual healing abilities, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I had to stay with Elijah. I had to stay there and try everything I could to heal him. The guilt was overwhelming, and I knew I had to put forth every ounce of effort within me to try and heal my injured mate.
I clung to his body and attempted to force out all of my negative emotions. Sofia had told me that only positive energy could bring healing. I noticed Zane exit the room from the corner of my eye, and I decided this was the perfect time to begin. I may have not been experienced, but for my mate, I would try anything.
"Don't leave me," I whimpered as I pressed a kiss to Elijah's cheek. I then closed my eyes and forced all of my energy into healing my mate.
AAAAH! I just barely got this up in time! So sorry for the delay. Please continue to read, vote, comment, and follow! Check out Luna Hana and Luna Audrey too, of course!
xoxo -V