Chapter 31 A BIG LIE
DALIA
This place is hidden with her spell. I need to leave here immediately. If I faint here, no one will find me and I will bleed to death. I'm weakened, but I still manage to tie her up once again. I make sure the roots go around her three times. There's no way she can break free before I'm done with the spell.
I continue chanting the spell, and after a few minutes, I'm done. She will remain this way for many hours. The spell will keep her bound.
“You bitch! This is so tight. Release me!” She screams.
“I won't forgive you for this.” I mutter, looking at my bleeding stomach.
“That's if you survive. You are immune to magic, but not black magic.” she says with a sarcastic laugh. Guess she figured it out.
If I faint here, no one will find me and I will bleed to death. I need to leave here. I try standing but fall back down. I'm feeling so dizzy. My eyes are turning. I can't see clearly. Everywhere is blurry and moving in a circle.
The dark magic in the knife is strong. It's draining my strength. Even without her saying there's dark magic in the knife, I will know. Because a stab from a normal knife won't make me feel this weak.
“We are both going to get stuck in here. I just hope you don't die. You are needed alive. I just need to find a way to get you out of this pack with me.” she mutters.
Why do they need me alive? There's a lot I want to hear from this witch.
I'm destined to stop this war, so the sensible thing to do is to kill me so I won't fulfil my destiny. What will they benefit from keeping me alive?
I would say that they want to torture me before killing me. But why will they go through the stress of sneaking me out of Ezekiel's pack to do that. Can't the witch torture and kill me here?
There's a lot I need to find out about, and I need to be alive to do that. With a strong determination, I drag myself up and limp towards the entrance of the abandoned house. I'm losing so much blood. The wound is not even that deep. I think it's the work of dark magic. I even coughed out blood. I think it's because I use my power to cast the spell when I'm weak.
I think the knife is making the bleeding worse. Afterall, it was forged with black magic. If I leave it in my stomach, it will cause more harm. I bite my lower lip in pain as I pull out the knife and tear the lower part of my shirt and tie the bleeding spot.
I'm breathing heavily, feeling dizzy and the need to give up, but I don't. I use all the remaining strength in me and I finally walk out of the barrier. I try to continue walking, but I'm too weak. My eyelids are so heavy. I can't keep them open. Against my wish I fall on the ground. My eyelids give up, and I'm met with darkness.
EZEKIEL
I don't know how I quickly arrived at the place where Aaron found Dalia, but I'm sure I've not run this fast all my life. When I get there, Aaron is trying to stop the bleeding while putting pressure on the wound.
“I am trying to stop the bleeding and get her to the hospital. She's bleeding a lot, but she's still alive,” he says.
“Move aside,” I say, breathing heavily. I scoop Dalia into my arms and start running towards the pack hospital. My heart is beating so loud and fast. I'm filled with fear. I can't lose her. I might go crazy if I lose her.
I will give that witch the most painful death for hurting what is mine. The search for her is ongoing.
I mind-link Lena to meet me at the hospital. She's the only one I can trust Dalia to. Lena is a good doctor. She can definitely save her. Arriving at the hospital, Lena is already waiting there for me.
“What happened to her?” she asks as she follows me to the emergency room.
“You need to save her, Lena. Please,” I say as I drop Dalia on the hospital bed. Lena assesses her by removing the piece of clothing covering the bleeding part and checking it out.
“The wound is not deep. I will quickly stitch it up. You need to step outside,” she says.
“I will be here. I won't leave this room until I'm sure she's safe.”
She doesn't argue with me. I'm glad about that. I may lose my sanity if I step out of this room. I need to be here to make sure that everything goes well.
“I will go get the tools I need.”
Once she's gone, I focus my attention on Dalia. She's still bleeding. I try putting pressure on her wound to stop the bleeding but it's not working. Lena said that the wound is not deep. Why is the bleeding not stopping?
Lena returns with the medical tools she needs. I step aside to give her space to work on Dalia.
“She's bleeding a lot. You said the wound is not deep.”
“Yes it's not. I don't understand why she's bleeding so profusely.” She checks the wound again to be sure. “Its definitely not deep. Simple stitching will be enough. But I will use the fluoroscopy machine to check to be sure. To know if there's any internal cut that will require surgery. Before that I need to try and stop the bleeding. She's losing so much blood.”
She uses gauze to clean the surface and press it on the wound. She applies pressure while she adds more gauze to stop the bleeding. The bleeding refuses to stop. She adds more gauze and also uses a tourniquet. She ties it between Dalia's heart and stomach and tightens it. After a while the bleeding stops and she ties a bandage around the wound.
All the while she's working on Dalia, my heart is beating rapidly. I don't think I will be able to calm down until I'm sure she's out of danger.
After she's done, she uses the fluoroscopy machine to check the wound. “The wound is not deep. It only cuts through the skin and outer layer muscles. Simple stitching will do the job. And there's no internal bleeding so no need for surgery. The only problem is that she lost so much blood and needs a blood transfusion. Do you know her blood type?”
“No.” I mutter. And for the first time in my life I feel useless. My stupidity made me not know anything about my mate. That tiny voice that always reminds me to not accept her as my mate is ringing in my head, but I chose to ignore it this time.
“I will conduct a test to find out. Let me stitch up the wound first,” she says as she removes the bandage and the gauze. She cleans the surface and starts stitching it up.
After stitching it up, wrapping it with a clean bandage and removing the tourniquet on her upper abdomen, she gives her some injections and puts her on IV drip.
“She's out of danger. She will be fine after the blood transfusion.”
“Thank you Lena.” I murmur, feeling relief. But not fully. I want Dalia to open her eyes and speak to me, then I will be fully certain that she is fine.
“You care for her,” she whispers as she starts packing up the medical tools she used.
“It's the mate bond.” I mumble.
“That's a big lie.” she scoffs before walking away.
Is it?
I look at Dalia. She's pale and still, but breathing. That means she's alive. It means that I won't lose my sanity.
Is all these feelings really because of the mate bond?