49|One Kiss

49|One Kiss
~Serena~

As I set foot inside the infirmary, my eyes immediately slid to the bed at the end of the hallway. There were ten beds inside the room, all of which were still covered with plastic wraps, except for the one where Declan was resting. Because werewolves have fast healing abilities, everything inside the infirmary was still brand new and barely touched.

I stood before his bed, gazing down at my mate who was slowly fading into the afterlife.

A white sheet covers the lower half of his body, and his bare chest is on display. The cacophony of my hushed footsteps and Declan’s low heartbeat rang in my ears. And as I got near his bed, I noticed how peaceful he looked in his sleep, like a child who doesn’t know how shitty this world was.

Thick lashes kiss his cheeks, his lips were pressed on a soft line, and a faint laugh line creases his face. If I didn’t know how cruel Declan could be, I wouldn’t think he was the ruthless alpha who took everything from me.

Instead of contemplating my next move, I puff a huge chunk of air and reach for his hands. I was instantly sucked into oblivion as soon as our skins collided. 

It was dark everywhere, an endless abyss of nothingness. Here, I don’t feel anything, not even the coolness of the water where I was standing. Barefoot, I took a step forward, water rippling in circles away from my foot.

I looked left to right in the endless darkness, searching for my mate.

‘Declan?’ I called, my voice ricocheting as uncertainty settled within me.

I was familiar with this place, and if I don’t find Declan, I will be lost in this boundless nothingness for eternity. I kept walking without a destination in mind. There’s nothing to guide me here except for this intuition that was slowly pulsing in my chest. I blindly followed it, allowing this gentle voice inside me that says my mate was getting closer.

In this abyss, there was no sense of time either, so I don’t know how long I had been wandering in the darkness until I noticed a ball of fur resting on the watery floor. The water rippled as the wolf breathed, calm circles that faded into the darkness. Even if this abyss took my sense of sight, I would know that that wolf belongs to Declan.

I opened my mouth to call Declan’s name, but no words came out. Then I realized I didn’t have my mouth but my snout, and as I looked down on the liquid floor, I had my paws and not my feet.

I had to remember, this was his oblivion and not mine. He sets the rules, and I have to follow them or he could throw me out on a whim.

‘Declan?’ I murmured through the mind link, unsure if he would hear me. We weren’t in the same pack, so I had no idea if he would hear me.

His breathing was slow, but calm. He was at peace. His wolf was a huge ball of fur peacefully resting instead of a vicious alpha whom I promised to prosecute.

I stepped forward, halting when the ripples of the shallow liquid on the floor collided with the ones coming from Declan’s wolf.

I paused when the wolf lifted its head, looking over its shoulder, and those glowing eyes found mine. He studied me for a second, then went back into its curled position, as though my presence didn’t even catch its attention.

Annoyed, I stepped forward and pushed Declan’s wolf with my front paw. He didn’t move, ignoring me, so I did it again, this time with enough force to move him from the spot. He looked over his shoulder, his gaze sharp.

I pushed him again and again until I got his full attention. He stood on his paws, matching my gaze. The reflection of our wolves facing one another was like yin and yang, day and night, a stark contrast of each other.

His eyes conveyed his annoyance, but I merely matched his glare. Knowing that he can’t hear me, might as well glare back at him so he would know that I am not happy to be in his presence either.

I could imagine Declan huffing and rolling his eyes as he shifted back in his human form, dressed in a white jogger and nothing more.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his legs parted and planted securely on the ground.

He forced me back into my human form, ready to talk. “I should ask you the same thing. What are you doing here, sulking like a toddler with a tantrum?”

He sighed. “You know why I’m here. Isn’t this what you’ve been wishing for since we met? Me dead so you can have your revenge?”

The cloud of contentment surrounding him made me glower. He thinks he was the hero of this story because he decided to take his own life. Well, I’m here to tell him that this chivalrous act is absurd and ridiculously stupid.

“Yeah, I want you dead, and I want my revenge. But suicide isn’t revenge now, is it?”

He smoothed a lingering gaze over me from head to toe, as if he could see through the fabric of my dress. Maybe he could. This was his oblivion, after all. But he could only see what he wanted to see and what was really underneath these clothes. The body he was seeing was the one he saw on the night of our wedding, and not the one who suffered the aftermath of his punishment bestowed upon me five years ago.

“It both has the same ending, me not breathing so again, why are you here?” his voice low and husky, holding my gaze without blinking, and he doesn’t smile.

I pulled in a huge breath. “Stop this nonsense right now.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Or what?”

I didn’t exactly show up here with a plan or a speech. I searched my brain for a good reason to make him stop this nonsense and came out empty-handed.

“See?” Declan murmured. “There’s nothing for me out there. I was only alive because I wanted to honor my promise to you of keeping Embercrest safe. Now that you’re alive, you can do that yourself.”

I plan to take back Embercrest, but not this way. I am not yet ready to face the fact that I failed.

Declan was ready to spin around, but I blurted out the first thing that came into my mind. “Aren’t you going to change my mind about the mate bond?”

Those words were a double-edged sword, but it was the only reason I could give him.

He paused. “That’s a fool’s hope, Serena.”

“What if… What if it isn’t?” My voice was a mere whisper.

Am I really doing this? Why can’t I just give up on him? Cora said I just needed someone to mark me the moment the agonizing pain of my mate’s death rolled over me.

He mulled over my words, staring at me intently before he spoke again. “One kiss, then I might consider stepping out of this peaceful place for you.”