Chapter Sixty-Four - Mason

I shut my grandmother’s screen door behind me.

She’d been petrified as I carried her away from the courtyard completely unaware that she’d attempted to hurt me. I would have been angry but the culprit was dead. There was nothing I could do about what happened to her.

At least she’d been cured. I didn’t have to worry about her turning into a giant monster every night.

When I made it back to the courtyard, it was empty. I searched the side streets, attempting to pick up someone’s scent with no luck. Their scents disappeared into thin air.

Which meant someone had picked them up in a vehicle.

I screwed my eyes shut. Who would have dared to come pick up the entire pack? I could only think of one person. My wolf broke free and ran toward the police station.

The time it took to get there allowed my wolf time to reach out through a mind link. No one answered, which meant they were still in their human forms.

Both of the cruisers were gone when I made it. Fear laced around my throat. Had they taken them somewhere to kill them? Had the interaction gone wrong somewhere along the way? So many scenarios played in my head.

My wolf howled into the night, irritation and frustration cementing us to the ground. The only connection we had was through Jessica. My wolf pushed outward through the night to connect with her.

The silence that answered was deafening. She had to be somewhere close. They couldn’t have gotten too far. My grandmother’s house wasn’t that far away from the courtyard.

I paced the parking lot, feeling the hot ground beneath my feet. The hot spots were from recent tire marks. We followed the heat out of the police station and down Main Street.

When it didn’t turn off at the four-way, I knew they weren’t going to the pack house. They were doing something else.

The tracks took us through small back roads, the pavement growing hotter and hotter.

We have to be close, my wolf said. I don't hear anything. That's probably a good sign.

Headlights caught my attention in the closest field. My wolf moved toward the abandoned field, stepping over a broken barbwire fence to join the cruisers.

The officers stood around their vehicles, bent down behind their opened doors with guns pointed into the woods. I bent down behind the tall grass, watching to make sure they were hunting my pack. I felt like a lion weighing in on its prey.

I called out for a mind link but no one answered.

My wolf whined. Had they hurt Jessica? I didn’t feel it in my bones like I assumed I would.

I eased forward, getting closer and closer to the vehicle when one officer spotted me. Standing tall, I prepared to jump when a bullet hit me in the chest.

My wolf stumbled backward, feeling the pressure building in our chest. The shock of it knocked the breath out of my lungs. Shouts of anger and despair rang in the air. I watched the sky as I fell to my side with ragged breathing.

Would I recover from a hit to the chest? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think so. My wolf recoiled into itself, feeling small and unworthy from the hit. My human form came out, and I gasped into the night. I'd never been shot before, but I didn't recommend it to anyone. The feeling of slowly losing your life was hard to explain.

“You hit the wrong one,” someone kept saying repeatedly in the distance.

Had they been hunting lycans? Was this a wrong place at the wrong time situation?

Jacob got to me first, bending down beside me and cradling my head against his lap. “You’re going to be fine,” he said, nodding his head.

My fingers splayed on my stomach moved upward to search my chest as hot liquid escaped me. “I’m dying,” I whispered, blood gathering in my lungs. “Where is Jessica?” I asked. "I have to see her."

One of the officers got on his walkie-talkie, calling for an ambulance but I knew good and damn well they weren’t going to make it.

Jacob stared down at me, his mouth moving but I couldn’t hear the words. “Jessica,” I whispered. "Where is Jess?"

Soft hands touched me soon after.

I blinked up at her beautiful face full of complete fear. “You’re going to be fine,” she said. “You’re fine. The ambulance is on the way.”

I laced my fingers around the back of her neck and pulled her to me. She pressed her mouth to mine and the taste of her tears hit my tongue. Seconds passed before she pulled away and pressed her forehead against mine. “I can hear the sirens,” she whispered. “Please, just hold on. I can’t do this without you.”

I captured her wrist in my hand and kissed her palm. She began to blubber when my breathing grew shallow.

I brushed her beautiful hair back from her face, memorizing each line around her mouth and the way her eyes glistened. Something washed over her face swiftly, I tried to grasp what emotion she struggled with but I couldn’t think straight.

My mind raced with thoughts of death. I’d always believed in God, but suddenly I felt afraid. Not to meet him, but to leave her. She was a new wolf, strong but wolves could die from losing their mates. They could go feral. I didn't want that for her.

Not to mention the pack would lose their Beta. Would Jessica take my place? She was of royal blood…

Jessica placed her palms on my chest and sat up higher on her knees. She looked over at Jacob, and they shared a conversation but the distant sound of music drifted into my ears.

Was this dying?

I couldn’t explain it. My body grew light and numb, and a blissful feeling of joy entered me. Then it was gone.

Jessica’s scream sliced through the air.

She jerked above me, shaking and shivering as pain radiated from her. I leaned forward, but she shoved me back to the ground. My breath slowly came back when it hit me. The reality of what was happening. She was taking my pain. Saving me from death. The joyous feeling drifted away, bringing me back to the field where my mate began to suffer.

I pushed against her again, knocking her back but she didn’t let go of my T-shirt. “Don’t do this,” I pleaded, feeling my body returning.

Something slithered down my chest and onto the ground. The bullet from my flesh glistened in the moonlight.

She had retracted it from my body. Jessica’s eyes fluttered closed slowly, a soft smile hanging from her mouth. “What’s happening?” I whispered. “Jacob, what the hell is happening?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “She…she just saved your life, Jacob.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m not bleeding from my chest anymore. What is happening to my mate!” I shouted.

Strong hands grabbed me and pulled me from her still body. Tears pooled in my eyes until the entire world turned blurry. Someone picked Jessica up as the ambulance neared us in the field.

Two EMTs put her into the back of the ambulance and shut the door. I pulled and jerked to get away, begging to see my mate to no avail.

Exhaustion surged me and my legs went out from underneath me. I hit the ground, my hands pressed against the grassy field as they took my life away in the back of an ambulance.

Jacob’s voice slowly grew closer until I heard it right in my ear. “Come on, Mason. Get up. We’re going to the hospital.”

I climbed to my feet with tears coating my cheeks. “Promise me she’s going to be ok.”

Jacob swallowed and turned to follow the ambulance down the road. My heart began to tear into two pieces as I followed behind him.