205: Another Life (Lucky's POV)

205: Another Life (Lucky's POV)
One minute, Finn’s voice was booming through the forest, and Wyatt was standing there. The next minute, Wyatt was gone, and the earth was ripping open rapidly. Trees caved in on top of the area where he’d disappeared. It was deafening. Vincar grabbed my elbow and yanked me back, scrambling back toward the packhouse. His wide, milky eyes were fixated on the ground— at the split that was coming right toward us.

I matched his pace, tripping over the trembling earth and uprooted trees. Molpe’s body was consumed by the free fall of dirt, falling out of view. We were stumbling, barely keeping ahead of the danger that was chasing us.

Then, it all went still. Only Vincar and I made any sound. The earth stopped falling, trees stopped splitting, and the rolling thunder overhead ceased in a single moment. I tripped over a fallen branch, falling on my ass. My eyes immediately went up to the sky as Vincar leapt back over to me, beginning to drag me up. I dug into the ground, preventing him from moving me.

Finn was slowly lowering from the sky. His body was limp, curling in on itself until he was in a fetal position. As he lowered, something swung him toward Vincar and I, just clear of the sinkhole that had formed. Vincar and I watched as he laid down in the dirt beside me, unconscious.

Reika was howling in my mind, only calming when Wyatt’s voice flitted through my mind, Is he okay?

I leapt to my feet, bounding toward the gaping hole in the earth. Where are you? Wyatt, tell me where you are.

I can’t see. I can breathe. I’m not hurt. He chuckled in my mind, Don’t worry about me yet, Wrenlee.

Easy for you to say, I scoffed at him, running a sweaty, dirt covered hand over my face, you didn’t just see the earth swallow your mate whole.

No but I did hear Finn, he sighed, We need him. Get him back, Wren. Please.

An ear-splitting scream sounded through the air. I whipped around to find Vincar huddled over Finn, running his hands over his body. Finn was the one screaming, eyes opened wide in terror. His normally pale skin was flush, pink all over. His fangs were visible as his mouth seemed stuck in a wide-open state. Fingers were digging deeply into the dirt, as if it was all he could do to keep himself from flying back into the sky.

A quick glance up at the sky told me the entire storm had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Deep, bloodied gashes seemed to be appearing on Finn’s body as I looked at him. Vincar began placing pressure on the wounds that gushed, glancing up at me.

I fought every instinct in me that wanted to leap into the pit and start digging for my mate, kneeling back beside Finn again. Right as I reached for the vampire king, Finn’s head snapped and he made direct eye contact with me. The scream stopped as fast as it had come.

His cold hand pulled out of the dirt and reached for mine blindly. Goosebumps erupted over my flesh at the touch. Finn whispered, “Help me. Please. Make it stop.”

“I don’t know how to help you, Finn,” unexpected tears brimmed in my eyes, “Whatever this is, I need you to stop. We need you. Wyatt is buried and he needs you.”

Finn looked just over my shoulder, tears of blood beginning to stream from his eyes. “My love,” he sputtered as blood began to fill his mouth, “I’m so sorry. Please, come back to me.”

“There’s no one there, Finn,” I screamed at him, shaking his shoulders.

Vincar rested a hand over my free one as Finn collapsed back against the ground, lifeless. The healer's voice was gentle, “He’s still alive,” Finn’s chest began to move shallowly with slow breaths. “I’m not sure when—”

A sharp gasp erupted from Finn’s mouth as he sat upright quickly. He looked down at where our hands were still linked together, then around the forest. His fingers shook as he brought them to his still-flushed face, wiping at the blood that was still present. The thick maroon liquid combined with the dirt on his hands and under his fingernails, instantly creating a thick paste.

He looked back to me, “I must apologize, Luna Queen. I thought I still had time. Normally, I keep better track, but things have been...”

Finn kept rambling for about another a minute— a long-winded apology. When he realized I was waiting for him to stop, he froze. I spoke, “I need you to tell me how we can get Wyatt out first. And then I’ll need you to tell me what the fuck just happened.”

“Where is the Siren?” Finn stood, knees wobbling, “She’d be able to help as well.”

“Dead,” I stated flatly, “How do we get Wyatt out?”

The vampire king shot me a look, walking to the edge of the hole. Vincar followed him, eyes trained on the Vampire king. Wolves were beginning to filter in through the trees, finding the edges of the pit Finn had created. Aksel, Cillian, and Eros were shifted and approaching the three of us slowly.

I mindlinked them, Wyatt is in the pit. Don’t panic yet.

We all watched as Finn knelt and placed his palm on the dirt. A small rumbling sound began. The earth began to shake— though not nearly as intensely as it had been before. From the center of the sinkhole, a bump began to form. It rose, growing larger, until it finally broke open and revealed Wyatt. He was sitting cross-legged with his arms crossed over his chest and a wide grin on his dirt-covered face.

Finn turned back to me, “I am sorry. What you witnessed was the price I must pay every year for being alive while my mate has found her eternal rest.”

Wyatt was starting to climb out of the hole. Aksel and Cillian rushed forward, shifting back into human form to assist their Alpha King. I cocked my head to the side, watching to make sure Wyatt was unharmed. “What do you mean?”

“I made a deal with the reapers when they came for me,” Finn explained as Wyatt joined us, placing a small kiss on my forehead like he hadn’t just been buried beneath tons of earth. “I was supposed to die with her. Vampires can’t live without their mates.”

“What sort of deal?” Wyatt arched an eyebrow, taking a blanket offered to him by Cillian and wrapping it around himself.

Finn sighed, “That they would allow me to live if I had to suffer the loss of her and relive those moments every anniversary of her death.”

“Why would you do that?” Vincar cocked his head to the side, lips parted.

“My work wasn’t done.”

“How many years has this been happening, Finn?” I questioned.

He swallowed, looking down at the ground. “Nearly five hundred. It gets a bit worse every year. I try to be away from others.”

Wyatt glanced around the growing group surrounding us. “Let’s finish this privately.”