My eyes fell to the ground, I couldn't go with Luke and Serena, that was the only way the fighting would end— for me to stay here and do my time. Before I could say anything though, a voice beat me to the chase.
"This ends now." A low voice announced from right behind me.
I flinched and turned around slowly to come face to face with none other than,
Azrael.
And he did not look happy.
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Serena changed aim and shakily trained her gun on Azrael. Her hand was wavering almost as much as her resolve, Serena's brave front was crumbling before our eyes.
"Don't you move another step." She warned.
Azrael did the exact opposite, taking exactly one step closer to me while at the same time Emmanuel crept quietly closer to Serena and Luke. She quickly flew her aim back onto Emmanuel as he neared too close for comfort before directing her aim once more to Azrael.
She didn't know who to threaten or who was the more immediate threat, that much was clear.
Azrael clamped a hand on my shoulder, tugging me backwards and into his chest where he wrapped his bicep around my neck. My whole body felt like it was on fire, I could feel my wolf inside of me howling and practically doing somersaults from being this close to our mate but all I felt was nauseous and slightly out of breath.
"Get your g:ddamn hands off her." Luke spat out and even though he wasn't in his wolf form, he lunged towards Azrael only to be slammed to the floor by Emmanuel. Luke was held down by Emmanuel's paws digging into his chest and silenced by Emmanuel's jaws at his throat.
A strangled gasp involuntarily left my lips, I grabbed onto Azrael's forearm and tried to pry off his vice-like hold on me. "Stop, don't hurt him!"
Not surprisingly, Emmanuel ignored my desperate plea and tightened his jaws around Luke. I watched as Luke went from struggling beneath Emmanuel, to slowly succumbing to his injuries.
Serena took the safety off the gun and pointed it squarely at Emmanuel just as Azrael tightened his hold on me as well. I gasped and coughed as it became increasingly more difficult to breath and once more, Serena turned the gun towards Azrael.
There were tears in her eyes.
I jerked and twisted—I did anything I could to try and free myself because I knew Luke wouldn't last much longer. I needed to get to Luke so I could heal him in time before it was too late.
Azrael leaned his head down and craned his lips so close to my face that they practically brushed against my ear.
"All of this can come to an end in seconds." Azrael whispered into my hair, "Tell them what you know is true, tell them what you're planning to do and I'll call of Emmanuel. Your little friends will be spared."
What I knew was true? What was I planning to do?
Almost as if he was reading my internal confusion Azrael let out a cold rumbling laugh, "You belong to me now and you are going to be spending the rest of your days as apart of my pack." He loosened his hold on me ever so slightly almost as a show of good faith, "Go on, tell them. Save your friends."
My heart sunk, all of my limbs felt like lead. Even my wolf felt totally and utterly defeated by the cruel man behind me.
"Serena," A broken voice croaked...I quickly realized that it was my voice. "I'm not going with you."
She blinked in bewilderment, "What do you mean, Mercy? We came all the way here to save you, we're going to bring you home."
Azrael raised his voice so the others could hear, "You heard her, little girl. I suggest you listen to your friend here as it's for your own good." His patronization visibly made me wince.
Luke groaned lowly in agony.
Serena's attention was drawn back down to him, she gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. "Oh my god, Luke! Stay with me, it's going to be alright."
She whipped her head over to me, "You've got to help him Mercy, please!"
My throat ached from holding in sobs, with every fiber of my being I hated the man holding me hostage; It didn't matter that he was my mate, in that moment my hatred knew no bounds.
I gripped Azrael's forearm out of pure desperation, "Please. Let me help my friend and I'll do whatever you want. I'll say whatever you want me to say—he's dying, I have to save him."
I didn't think it was possible but Azrael pulled me closer into his body, "It's got to be better than that." He murmured.
He wanted my convincing to be more compelling.
Tears rolled down my cheek as I watched Serena's face contort in confusion, "Please, you've got to put down the gun and leave here. This is my home now, I—I want to stay here."
"Much better." Azrael cooed.
Serena shook her head wildly, "Mercy, what are you talking about? Please..."
She obviously had no idea how dire the situation really was, with every second I could feel Luke slipping away from us and Azrael's patience waning. "Serena, I mean it! Get out of here, stop the fighting and just leave me. I don't want to go back with you, I just want you to go away."
Every part of me felt like it was crumbling apart as I watched her anguished face while she lowered the gun. It was for their own good, this was the only scenario in which my two best friends could make it out alive.
Serena tossed it onto the grass looking absolutely betrayed and blindsided. She stepped backwards, away from the scene and raised her hands as a sign of surrender.
Emmanuel quickly let go of Luke's limp and bloodied body, retuning to my side. Azrael grunted, seemingly satisfied with the results of the altercation and suddenly dropped me. I fell in a heap onto the grass, without sparing a moment I scrambled off the floor and ran to Luke's side.
I skidded to a stop, falling roughly onto my knees beside Luke's lifeless body. Instantly my hands were on Luke's chest, my stomach lurched as I felt how frail his life force was. I wrenched my teary eyes closed and willed my energy into him, hoping that it wasn't too late.
Before being taken to Mortal Pack, I'd never really regularly attempted heals that were as challenging as the two wolves from the clearing. The last time I managed to heal something to that degree of urgency was with Weston; and after I managed to heal his paralysis I was bed ridden for days from pure exhaustion.
In a span of two days, I already healed two exceptionally difficult cases and was about to attempt a third. My father never warned me about any consequences or complications regarding our gift but I now worried that I was treading on thin ice by pushing my abilities to the brink like this.
Any risk didn't matter at the moment.
Instantly my entire body ignited in pain, the sensation ripping through my limbs and spreading throughout. I cried out involuntarily, it never felt like this before. I've never once been in this level of excruciating pain whilst helping someone. It almost was as if I was ripping apart at my own life force, dangerously draining my life far past my own healing capabilities to be able to heal him.
Like before, my body began to shake. It felt like I'd hit an invisible wall and I knew it had to be because of the amount of blood Luke lost—something that even I couldn't fix for him.
I opened my eyes to check the progress and noticed fresh blood dripping down onto his chest, it was then when I realized my nose was bleeding.
Luke woke up from his stupor with a gasp, instinctively from the adrenaline his body, lurched forward to escape the pain I was sure he was still going through.
The primary incisions at his neck were nearly closed and the abrasions across his body were significantly better but it still was a fragile situation.
I closed my eyes once more to focus and finish the job when I was suddenly torn away from his body. Yanked backwards gruffly.
I hit the grass hard and rolled onto my side. My arms trembled as I tried to pick myself up from the dirt and get back to Luke but my arms collapsed underneath me and I fell back down.
"I told you, Alpha." I dimly heard Emmanuel's voice, at some point while I was healing he must have shifted back. "She's got magic."
I looked up from the grass and watched as Azrael's enraged glare fall on me at full force, "She's an abomination, that's what she is."
The sobs I'd been holding back suddenly ripped through my chest, "Please."
Azrael looked away from me, back to Serena and Luke. "You've got five minutes. Call off your pack, grab your pathetic little pup and get the hell out of my pack before I change my mind."
Serena was frozen to her spot, no doubt falling into shock.
"That would mean now. You're on the clock, if I find any of your scum are still in my territory by the end of time I will make it my personal pleasure to burn your pack to the ground." Azrael threatened.
That was enough to spur Serena into motion, she stooped to the floor and wrapped Luke's arm around her neck. She struggled to carry his weight on her own but he slowly came around to holding himself partially. He was conscious, that was good. I knew he wasn't completely healed but I silently prayed to the Moon Goddess that he'd be alright form here on out.
The two did their best to scramble away from us, rushing towards the fighting to no doubt so they could warn the rest of the pack about the time sensitive situation they were now all in.
Azrael turned to Emmanuel, "Make sure you help them if they can't seem to adhere to the time constraints."
We all knew what "help" certainly meant.
Emmanuel took off, following behind Serena and Luke to monitor the situation and no doubt facilitate the destruction of my pack if they didn't succeed.
We were alone now, just Azrael and I.
He squatted down in front of me as I was still too weak to bring myself up from the grass, Azrael picked up a strand of my hair and twirled it around his finger. "I have half a mind to reject you right here and now."
I pushed up against the grass one final time and managed to sit up, pulling my hair away from him in the process. "Then just do it, there's nothing you can do to hurt me anymore than you already have."
Azrael narrowed his eyes, silently warning me, "Don't be daft, you and I both know that's not true."
He sighed, "Emmanuel was right all along." Azrael begrudgingly admitted.
"I not only just witnessed it with my own two eyes but I felt you..." Azael growled suddenly, "I felt you take him from me."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't take anyone, if anything you've taken me." I explained drowsily, I was barely holding it together.
"I am the Alpha of the Mortal Pack, don't you have the slightest clue of what we do here or are you as thick as your friends?" He mocked.
Azrael rolled his eyes after a while of me not responding to him.
"I am not just the Alpha of Mortal Pack, I am also the Alpha of the Other Side—of Death. I am the ferry between life and death, I guarantee that wolves move on and ensure that the dead stay dead." Azrael explained lowly. "I don't know how you did it or how you managed to acquire such a foul little trick but you broke the laws of nature and took a life from it's destined course—from me. I felt you fighting it, pulling him back from the other side."
So that was why it felt incredibly more taxing than usual.
Azrael rubbed the ride of his jaw, "I dimly felt when two lives were saved earlier but I didn't think anything of it with the attack in full swing. But this..." He trailed off, "...Is unnatural—criminal even."
"Saving my friend isn't some kind of crime." I spat back, "And if you really think that way, you're even sicker than I thought."
His jaw tightened, "Death is the only certain thing in this world, little mate, the sooner you accept that the better. Every action has a consequence."
I furrowed my brows together in confusion.
"You took lives that were rightfully mine, wolves that had already wandered too far away from existence to come back on their own. No amount of natural healing could have saved them, nothing could change their fate—you altered their destiny." Azrael growled.
"A life for a life. You broke the laws of nature, whatever magic you possess just landed three innocent people a trip to the Other Side." Azrael finished proudly with a smile.
"Now, you're going to face punishment for your crimes." He grinned down at me, " And I'm going to enjoy every minute."
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ahhh chapter 4! how'd you like it (-8
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