Chapter 52 Saved Me
They both targeted Garrett; that’s when I knew they were experienced. They knew I wouldn’t leave him, that I would fight for him.
They both grabbed him, dragging him away from the car. I drop our bags, lunging at them.
All doubts are gone. This is a fight for our lives. I will kill them if I have to.
They let go of Garrett when my fists made contact with the woman faster than she could block. Garrett staggers back to his feet, lunging at the man. Garrett puts up a good fight against the man while I fight the woman.
She’s armed herself with a silver knife, aiming for all my vital points with every swing. But I’m able to get her before she gets me. I hit her hard enough to make her drop the knife, falling to the ground. I kick her, knocking her out.
I don’t enjoy harming another human, but I have to shut that part of me off right now.
Garrett yelps, and I smell blood fill the air around us. He’s been cut by the man’s knife.
I growl, tackling the man to the ground. He tries to fight me off, but it’s futile.
Garrett holds his stomach, taking the knife from the woman. I go to grab it from him to use on the man. I would have been successful if he hadn’t had a knife in his jacket. If he hadn’t pulled it out. If he hadn’t plunged it into my chest.
The silver hurt more than the knife, piercing my skin. My attacks stop. I lean away from him.
Garrett’s yelling comes through the haze from the long blade in my chest. He pulls me up and away from them.
I didn’t even see him stab the man for me. A matching knife is now sticking out of the man’s stomach. Garrett pulls me away from the scene as fast as possible. We’re almost in the car when a shot rings off.
It grazed my arm, a silver bullet.
I look from Garrett to the car. He can run and get into it. I can slow them.
“Run, get in the car, and drive.”
He shakes his head, a scared look on his face. “I’m not leaving you.” He’s crying.
“You have to. You need to tell them.”
Another bullet whizzes past us. The woman is awake, she’s shooting from the ground. He would’ve made it out, but fate seemed to have other plans for us. Before we could get closer to the car, a bullet came straight at us. It happens in slow motion.
Garrett pushes me.
The bullet would’ve hit me.
Garrett groans as I hear the bullet enter his body. I can hear his heartbeat slow as it hits his heart directly.
I think I scream, but I can’t hear anything except his dying heart. I catch him as he falls, but he pushes me away. “Run.”
I don’t want to leave him. I’d rather die with him than leave him here. But another werewolf pulls me away. I don’t remember the person.
I was told later that they had to drag me away from his body and get me into a car. I nearly died in their backseat.
Apparently, the pack in this area heard of the hunters and came to warn us. But it was too late. The only thing I remember from the rest of that night is the sound of his heartbeat stopping.
He died. For me.
When I woke in the pack's hospital, it took me a minute to remember everything. The next few weeks were a blur. I stood in front of the empty casket. I saw his family nearly die from heartbreak. I felt the heartbreak myself. I couldn’t do anything but look at the closed casket, knowing there was no body in there. Knowing that it should be me there if only he hadn’t pushed me.
My little brother died. I failed my brother. I could’ve saved him. I should have saved him.
I stood at his grave for longer than I should have. It took my mother and father to drag me away.
My injuries took longer to heal because of the use of silver. I heard that if the other pack didn’t come for us, I would have died. They even laced the weapons with wolfsbane. I didn’t want to be saved, though.
I didn’t talk to anyone in the pack for a month. I felt too much anger and resentment towards them and myself. I felt so much guilt that I nearly died from it. I misplaced my anger on Kyson and Noah. If they hadn’t egged him on, we wouldn’t have been out there in the first place. But he was so happy.
It’s my fault for being weak. I spent months training. Months fighting anyone I could, werewolf and human. I vowed never to lose another fight again.
My life was dark, my family tried everything they could, but it didn’t matter.
The pack tried too, but they only made it worse. Seeing their faces made me angry all over again. So I couldn’t stop myself from going after them. It started as a human fight, which quickly escalated to a wolf fight. I won, though. Against both of them. Even though we almost killed each other, I won. It felt good to win a fight, but it didn’t bring him back.
As time went on, I started feeling more like myself, but the guilt never went away.
We never found the hunters. Never found his body. It hurts to know the truth. His young, innocent self is gone forever, and I have to carry the guilt for the rest of my life. But I should considering it is my fault for not protecting him.
The biggest regret in my life will always be that I didn’t save him. But after meeting her, I started to feel the light again.
My life had more meaning. It’s been hard, and it’s hard to remember everything, but I have a reason to keep fighting. He would’ve wanted that for me. For her.
She’ll never know how much she truly saved me.