Chapter 78 Peril

Chapter 78 Peril
LEON
    Rain battered the windows relentlessly, mirroring the turmoil in my heart.

It had been four hours. Four endless hours since we'd subdued the revenants. Four hours since Zade had collapsed. And he still hadn't opened his eyes.

The infirmary smelled of blood, herbs, damp earth, and smoke. Candles flickered along every shelf, their flames trembling with each roll of thunder.

Zade lay motionless on the bed, except when the seizures took him.

Every few minutes his back arched brutally. His muscles locked. Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth where he'd bitten deep into his tongue. Then the fit would pass... only to begin again.

I held him down each time. Not because I wanted to, but because if I didn't, he'd hurl himself off the bed.

"Easy," I whispered, though I knew he couldn't hear me.

Another tremor ripped through him. I caught his shoulders before his head could slam into the headboard. His teeth ground together so hard the sound turned my stomach.

"No..." I breathed. Please stop.

His hands clawed uselessly at the sheets, his knuckles bone-white.

Indie was there in an instant, grabbing one of his hands between both of hers. "Zade... I'm here."

His body gave no response.

Another seizure tore through him. I felt every impossible strain, every desperate fight against something none of us could see.

I had watched men die in their hundreds and thousands. Nothing had prepared me for this.

This wasn't death.
This felt as though our mate was being stolen, piece by piece, right in front of us.

I bowed my head. A tear splashed onto the blanket. Then another. I scrubbed angrily at my face with my sleeve.

I couldn't afford to break down now. I couldn't lose him now. We were yet to experience true happiness.

"...Leon."

Giselle's exhausted voice broke the silence. She looked like she had aged ten years since this morning. Dark circles bruised her eyes, and blood stained the cuffs of her sleeves from attempting to heal him again and again.

"It isn't his body anymore."

The words settled over the room like a rush of icy wave.

Indie looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

Giselle rubbed a trembling hand over her forehead.

"I've checked everything. The plague. The drain. The resurrection magic. The poison. It's... none of them."

Lightning flashed, turning the room stark white for a moment before darkness swallowed us again.

Giselle looked at Zade, her voice dipping to a whisper. "I think Varak is winning. I think he's taking over Zade's mind."

A heavy silence crashed in.

Indie shook her head immediately. "No."

"It would explain the seizures. Why we can't wake him—"

"No!"

Indie shot to her feet. Golden fire exploded across her skin, so fierce the nearest candles melted. The temperature in the room spiked.

"I won't let him!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "I won't let him have him!"

The bond pulsed painfully through my chest. I grabbed her shoulders. "Indie."

She collapsed against me, her sobs shaking us both. "I can't lose him. I just got him back. I don't know how to save him."

Neither did I. Gods help us... neither did I.

Another seizure slammed through Zade. A weak groan escaped his pale lips. My heart cracked in two.

I hurried back to the bed, steadying him before he rolled sideways. "It's okay. I've got you."

The lie tasted like ash.

For one impossible second, I thought his fingers squeezed mine.

"Zade?"

His hand went limp again.

Thunder shook the walls. Downstairs, pack members shouted as they repaired the damage from the attack. Life kept moving.

Even while ours had stopped.
A quiet knock sounded at the door. No one answered, but it creaked open anyway.

Tiny footsteps padded across the floor. Lila stood in the doorway in oversized pajamas, Mr. Wolf tucked under one arm. Her curls were messy from sleep, and her wide eyes blinked at us in confusion.

"...Daddy?"

The word shattered my bruised heart.

Indie bit down hard on her lower lip. Her shoulders began to shake. She turned her face away, trying desperately not to cry in front of her daughter.

Lila looked from Indie to me, then to Zade. Slowly, she walked to the bed. No one stopped her. She climbed onto the mattress with careful little movements and sat beside him.

Her tiny hand reached for his. It looked so small against those scarred fingers.

"...Daddy?" she whispered. "You said... you promised you were going to get better."

Indie covered her mouth, but a strangled sob still escaped.

I looked away. Because if I watched one more second, I was going to fall apart too.

Lila didn't say anything else. She simply climbed higher onto the bed until she lay carefully against Zade's chest, the way she sometimes did after a nightmare. She wrapped her little arms around him as far as they would reach, her tiny fingers bunching the fabric of his shirt.

With such heartbreaking tenderness, she reached up and began stroking his dark hair with slow, gentle strokes, exactly the way he had always stroked hers when she was frightened.

"It's okay, Daddy," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I'm here."

Her small hand kept moving, smoothing the hair from his forehead.

"You always make me feel better when I'm sick. So... now it's my turn."

The room fell utterly silent. Even the storm outside seemed distant.

Lila pressed a small kiss to his chest and rested her cheek there again.

"You said brave wolves don't give up." Her voice cracked. "So don't give up."

A tear slipped down her face and disappeared into his shirt.

"I still need you."

She sniffled loudly. "I didn't even get to show you the drawing I made today."

Her fingers continued their slow, repetitive strokes through his hair.

"And... Mommy keeps crying."

She looked up at his peaceful face, waiting. Waiting for him to smile. To tease her. To call her princess.

Nothing happened.

Her lower lip wobbled. "Please wake up," she whispered, barely audible. "I don't like it when you're this quiet."

Across the bed, Indie broke.

A raw sob tore from her before she could suppress it. She turned away at once, one trembling hand pressed over her mouth.

I covered the distance in two strides and pulled her into my arms before she could collapse. She buried her face against my shoulder, crying soundlessly now, every breath hitching as she tried not to let Lila hear.

"I've got you," I whispered into her hair, though my own voice was cracking.

She shook her head. "We're losing him..."

I closed my eyes.

Gods... I didn't know if I was comforting her or begging myself to hold on.

A violent crack of thunder split the sky. The windows rattled.

Then the door burst open, slamming against the wall.

Every head snapped toward it.

Mason stood in the doorway, rainwater streaming from his clothes onto the floor. His chest heaved as he fought for breath.

For the first time since I'd met him, the unshakable Beta looked genuinely stunned.

"Alpha—" His voice faltered when he saw Zade lying motionless beneath Lila. He swallowed hard and forced himself to continue. "They're here. The witches."

Lightning flashed, illuminating the room.

Mason looked from me to Indie, then to Giselle. "The same ones who came before. They're asking for permission to enter."

His expression hardened.

"They said... they've come because the dead plane has begun to open."

The storm roared louder outside. Anyone might have heard the deafening crack of my heart shattering into pieces.

"No," I croaked. "Don't let them in. They have an agenda. It's too dangerous."

Indie sobbed. "They might be our only shot."

I exhaled shakily. "Notice how they emphasized the dead plane and not our mate? They don't care whether he dies or lives. All they want is to stop Varak. Even if they have to kill Zade to do it."