Chapter 96

VANCE

"Vance!" A voice pulled me out of my subconscious.

"Vance, hold on!"

Voices swirled around me, which I recognized as Kael's and Lukas's. Footsteps...

I felt like I was floating, aware, but not aware at the same time. I felt strong hands slide under my shoulders, helping me to my feet.

"Fuck, he's bleeding!"

"Infirmary now."

I wanted to argue...to beg Kael to go after Eria instead, but the words died in my throat as exhaustion gripped me. I let them carry me inside instead.

I woke up to the smell of antiseptic and salve. I recognized the white of the infirmary immediately. My limbs felt like lead. I could close my eyes, opt for more sleep. But then I thought of Eria, trapped in a room at Dominic's mercy. Someone had to go and get her.

I propped myself up with my elbows and managed to sit up, instantly regretting it. Pain shot up my side.

I glanced down at my bare chest, a bandage wrapped over my ribs. They must have stabbed me there, I thought, recalling the fight. The effort made my head throb with a headache.

"Easy," Lukas stepped into the room, his brows knit in worry.

"It's like deja vu," I muttered, pulling away the blankets. Someone had changed me into a fresh pair of joggers.

"You keep getting yourself badly injured," Lukas sighed. "How are you feeling?" he asked, walking over to the bed, a cup in his hand.

"Like I ran a thousand miles in the middle of the night with blood dripping from my side," I said, which was basically what happened.

Lukas handed me the cup of brown liquid. "It'll make you feel better."

I doubted it, but took it anyway, gulping it down. It felt warm against my throat and was mostly tasteless.

"Can..." Lukas hesitated. "Can you reach your wolf now?" he asked.

I used the bedpost and managed to stand up, ignoring the pain. "I don't know. I'm too weak to find out right now, but we're going to have a long conversation about timing," I gritted my teeth.

Lukas gave a small smile. "You did a lot last night. I just wish you wouldn't run off so often. I should have been there for you."

I looked at my brother, like really looked at him. He looked like he could do with some rest himself. Resting was a luxury we couldn't afford right now, I thought grimly.

"I'm not your baby brother that you have to look out for anymore, Lukas," I said, then added, "It'll all be over soon."

Lukas nodded. "The alpha wants to see you, by the way. But you don't have to go if you're not in the right..."

He trailed off, watching me grab a spare shirt and tugging it over my head before heading for the doorway.

"Where is the alpha?" I asked.

Lukas muttered something about me not getting enough rest and stepped out of the room, leading me down the corridor.

The men I saw were in the weaponry. Somehow it had been turned into a meeting room, with a large table in the middle and Jared serving coffee.

The two alphas, Kael and Markov, sat beside each other, conversing in hushed tones. Thalion sat along with Councilor Merrick, both men looking like they were somewhere else. No Maya, Raven wasn't present either.

They all looked up as Lukas and I walked in.

"You look like you barely survived a landmine," Kael commented, waving towards one of the empty chairs, which I sunk into gratefully.

"Listen, men, there's some sort of twisted business going on in the mystic plan, and they have Eria," I said, then proceeded to give them the full summary of what happened.

They remained grim-faced and shocked when I finished.

A pin-drop silence stretched across the room, all of them in their own thoughts.

It was Markov who broke the silence. "Well, we should have guessed that. Dominic must have been waiting for a long time to kill Michael," he said, his voice tight.

"I don't know," I sighed, taking one of the cups of coffee. "But I know what I saw. Dominic called it a party."

"Dominic has to be stopped. The mystic pack has allied themselves with the enemy. The order is too abstract an army to strike. Now we have something to project our righteous fury towards. We go against the mystic pack and ask them to give up Dominic. They will defend their alpha, and we will strike down anyone who comes in our way..." Markov was saying, his eyes shining with, as he called it, righteous fury.

"No," Kael said firmly, cutting him off.

"They are being misled. They just lost their alpha. I am not a killer."

"They have your sister," Markov continued. "Her life will be compromised for every minute you stall, Kael. This is battle. You cannot long for peace at the same time. I'm not going to sit around until Darian finishes whatever he has planned. It doesn't matter who makes the first strike."

I stood up. I found myself agreeing with Markov's idea. It was practical and more than justified. And it involved going after Eria before Dominic made her his Luna and who knows what else.

The men argued at the table, Kael strongly against the unnecessary bloodshed, reminding Markov that the order was their enemy, not the mystic pack.

"This is a move that they don't expect," Markov continued, unwilling to let down his argument.

I leaned against the window and looked out at the mountains and hills stretching afar.

Eria was far away. Her last words were, 'I love you.' And I had to get her back. Any plan that included that was a pretty solid plan to me.

"What do we suggest we do then? Wait for Dominic to come to his senses, escort your sister back, and offer you a treaty?" Markov's voice cut through, harsh and sarcastic.

I looked up at the sky, but staggered back, seeing green clouds swirling up above and spelling out the words "surrender," just like yesterday.

"Alpha Kael," I muttered, turning back to the table. "Over here for a moment."

Kael was beside me in an instant, his face paled as he stared outside. Markov and the rest of the men in the room came for a view.

"Worse than I thought," Kael muttered.

"I hate being threatened. Make your move now, Kael," Alpha Markov turned to Kael, his eyes serious.

"My men did not come here to die while you wallow in your own indecisiveness." With that, he marched out of the room, banging the door shut behind him.

Kael clenched his fist but said nothing. He, too, turned around and left the room.

I glanced at Jared, Lukas, and Thalion, the tension still thick in the room.

"Darian is too powerful for us. If they gave the mystic pack on his side, that makes him scary," Thalion muttered.

Markov is right, I wanted to say but kept my opinions to myself.

"We'll meet the storm whenever it comes," Lukas said. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You've done a great job. Try to get some rest before everything blows up."

He gave me a squeeze and backed out, walking out of the room.

I nodded at Thalion and Jared before stepping out myself. Darian was still threatening us...or mocking us, either. There was something that he knew that made him feel superior to the rest of us.

There had to be an easy way out of this, I thought.

But there would be no action until the two alphas reached an agreement on what our next moves will be, I thought.

My palms ached for a weapon to wield, but I was still too weak.

Doctor Simon was waiting for me at the entrance of the infirmary when I walked in.

"I don't like it when my patients disappear," he muttered.

It wasn't really a question, so I had no answer for him. I just sat at the edge of the bed and watched him work, pulling my shirt up and checking the wound now.

"I found traces of silver in your blood," he said, standing up straight. "You are going to have to stay away from physically demanding actions for a month or two."

"I don't have a month," I gritted my teeth. Eria was out there, and everyone I knew was going to be sacrificing themselves one way or another.

He gave me a measured look. "You were stabbed with a silver sword mid-transformation. You hadn't fully recovered from the order either. And you lost a lot of blood. So yes, Vance, you will have to wait if you do not want to fall in the middle of battle."

"Dammit," I cursed, fisting my hand on my lap. "You're the doctor. Can't you give me anything?"

"I'm afraid not," he said, shuffling through the shelves of drugs.

"And what about Orion?" I asked suddenly.

Dr. Simon hesitated. "The baby is fine. But that is what fears me. Because knowing Viper and the order, she would have done something."