Chapter 16 BLOOD ON THE BORDER
ALICIA’S POV
The shout left my throat before I'm fully awake.
Sharp pain and burning, like a silver blade dragging across my ribs. Except it's not my pain, it's his. Logan's. Bleeding through the mate bond with an intensity that steals my breath.
I bolt upright in bed, gasping. The room spins. My hand flies to my side, expecting to find a wound, but there's nothing. Just severe agony echoing through a connection that's barely two days old.
"Logan," I whisper into the darkness.
The bond pulses once but weak and it was fading.
No, no, no…
I stumble out of bed, legs shaky, and wrench open the door. The hallway is empty and dark. Everyone's asleep except…
Something catches my eye. A dark shape on the floor right outside my room.
Logan's jacket. The leather one he was wearing earlier. Now soaked with blood.
My heart stops.
I pick it up with trembling hands. It's still warm. Still wet. The metallic smell of blood mixed with something else. Silver. Someone stabbed him with a silver blade.
"Ray!" My voice comes out strangled. "Monty! Kai!"
Doors slam open. Ray appears first, half-dressed and alert. Monty's right behind him. Kai emerges from the shadows at the end of the hall like he was already awake and waiting.
"What's wrong?" Ray demands, crossing to me in sharply
I hold up the jacket, hands shaking so badly I almost drop it. "Logan. He's hurt. I can feel it in the bond. I feel him dying."
Kai's expression doesn't change, but something tinges in those ice-blue eyes. "Where?"
"I don't know. Somewhere close but" The bond beats again, weaker this time. "We're running out of time."
"Border." Kai's already moving. "The western border. That's where the scout said they found bodies earlier."
Ray grabs weapons from the hall rack. "Monty, get healers. Tell them to meet us there." He tosses me a jacket. "Alicia, you're staying."
"Like hell I am." I shrug into the jacket, ignoring how it swims on me. "He's my mate. I can feel him through the bond. I can track him."
"It's too dangerous."
"I don't care." I meet Ray's eyes, letting him see my determination. "You can't stop me. None of you can."
For a moment, I think he'll argue. Pull rank. Lock me in my room like some damsel who needs protecting.
Instead, he exhales roughly and hands me a knife. "Stay between us. Don't do anything stupid."
I take the blade, feeling its weight. "Define stupid."
"Running ahead. Engaging enemies. Getting yourself killed." His hand cups my face, thumb brushing my cheek. "I can't lose you, Alicia. Not to the corrupted bond, not to some bloody warriors, not to anything."
The intimacy of the gesture makes my chest ache. "You won't lose me."
"Promise."
"I…"
The bond flares with sudden, brilliant pain. I double over, gasping. Logan's hurt. Really hurt. Minutes away from death if we don't move now.
Kai doesn't wait for more discussion. He shifts mid-stride, silver-white fur rippling as his wolf form takes over. He's massive, bigger than any wolf I've seen and moves like death.
Ray shifts next, his dark wolf slightly smaller but radiating Alpha authority. Both of them take off toward the western border at a dead run.
Monty stays human, grabbing my arm. "Can you run?"
"I have to."
We race through the packhouse and out into the night. The forest is dark, lit only by a sliver of moon. My human eyes struggle, but the mate bond guides me better than any light could. I feel Logan's location like a compass needle pointing north, pulling me toward him with desperate urgency.
Hold on, I send through the bond, not sure if he can hear me. I'm coming.
No response. Just that awful, fading pulse.
Monty keeps pace beside me, one hand on my elbow to steady me when I stumble. "How bad is it?"
"Bad." The word comes out choked. "He's bleeding out. I can feel it."
"We'll get to him in time."
"You don't know that."
"I have to believe it." His voice is grim. "Because if Logan dies, the mate bond will tear you apart from the inside. And I'm not watching that happen."
We run faster.
We saw the western border through the trees, a cleared space marked by ancient stones. Ray and Kai are already there, circling something on the ground.
No, not something. Someone.
Logan.
He's lying on his back in a pool of blood, three dead Blood Moon wolves scattered around him. His shirt is soaked red, silver blade still embedded in his side. His breathing is shallow, labored, each exhale weaker than the last.
"Logan!" I break away from Monty and drop to my knees beside him.
His eyes flew open, but unfocused. "Alicia?"
"I'm here." My hands hover over his wound, not sure where to touch without causing more damage. "I'm here. You're going to be okay."
"Liar." He tries to smile but it comes out as a grimace. "There’s silver... in the wound. It can't heal."
Kai shifts back to human form, crouching on Logan's other side. "We need to remove the blade. Now."
"That'll kill him faster," Monty argues, arriving behind me.
"Leaving it in will kill him slower. Choose." Kai's already reaching for the knife handle.
"Wait." I grab his wrist. "Let me try something first."
Ray's wolf pads closer, growling low. He is worried.
I ignore them all and press both hands to Logan's chest, right over his heart. The mate bond becomes hot between us—hotter than it's ever been. Electric. Alive.
"What are you doing?" Logan's voice is faint.
"Saving you." I close my eyes and focus on the bond. On the connection threading between us like golden light.
"Alicia, you could hurt yourself"
"Shut up and let me work."
I sink into the bond, letting it consume me. Logan's pain floods through first, it was sharp and overwhelming, but I pushed past it, went deeper into the place where his life force connects to mine.
There. A well of power I didn't know I had. True Luna magic, Elder Pascal called it. The ability to heal, to protect, to save.
I pull that power up and send it flooding through the bond into Logan.
His body arches off the ground, back bowing. Light, pure silver light, pours from my hands into his wound. The corrupted silver in the blade screams as my power burns it away, purifying the poison.
Logan gasps. His hand finds mine, gripping tight.
The bond between us fills the atmosphere.
Not with pain this time. With connection. With recognition. With the absolute certainty that this male is mine in ways I'm only beginning to understand.