Chapter 255

Chapter 255
Steven's POV

Air rushed into my lungs with a desperate gasp. I snapped my eyes open, vision blurry, trying to comprehend the impossible fact—I was still breathing.

I was alive. How the fuck was I still alive?

"Hati?" I called out mentally, searching for my wolf. No response.

My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, limbs leaden as I struggled to remember what had happened. The battlefield. The silver bullet piercing my chest. My heart stopping. Darkness descending.

I was certain I had died.

But now—silence. No gunfire, no screams, no sounds of battle. Just moans and whimpers surrounding me, the aftermath of violence rather than violence itself.

I love you too, Steven.

Hazel's voice floated through our bond, weak and fragile, like a whisper carried on a dying breeze.

She sounded completely drained, as if she'd burned herself to ash saving us.

"Hazel!" I shouted in my mind, desperately reaching for her through our connection.

But as I tried to grasp her consciousness, I felt it fading, slipping away like water through my fingers.

I forced my body to move, pushing up onto my elbows.

"HAZEL!" My voice tore from my throat, raw and desperate, as I searched for my mate among the bodies scattered across the battlefield.

That's when I saw her—lying motionless on the ground several yards away.

Grace and Skylar had just turned toward her, calling her name, shaking her shoulders with increasing urgency. Their voices carried across the field, tinged with panic.

I couldn't stand, my legs refusing to support my weight, so I crawled toward her—dragging myself across blood-soaked earth, past wolves shifting back to human form, past hunters reduced to dust.

"What happened?" I gasped as I approached them. From the corner of my eye, I spotted William struggling to sit up, looking as disoriented as I felt.

Skylar's eyes were filled with confusion.

"I don't know. We were losing. Everyone was dead or dying. You, William, Ethan—all of you..." Her voice broke, unable to continue.

I finally reached them, gathering Hazel's limp body into my arms.

She wasn't dead—our bond was still intact, but dangerously weak, like a thread stretched to the breaking point.

Ethan stumbled toward us, collapsing beside Skylar and pulling her into his embrace, burying his face in her hair. She clung to him fiercely, whispering for him never to leave her again.

He lifted his head, eyes focusing on Hazel's unconscious form.

"What happened?" he echoed my question, his voice hoarse.

"I think..." Grace began, glancing at William who had crawled to her side. "I think she channeled our power to kill the hunters, but she must have also used Skylar's healing abilities to heal the packs. Not just us—I think she healed everyone. I can feel all the pack bonds that were severed during the battle. They're restored."

As she spoke, I realized she was right. I could feel every member of my pack again—bonds that had snapped during battle now humming with life once more.

Benjamin limped toward us, having overheard our conversation.

"It wasn't just your power, Lunas," he said weakly. "She drew from all of us. Every wolf in all three packs. We all felt it—like she was pulling our last bit of strength out. Good thing she killed the hunters first, because none of us could have kept fighting after what she did."

"Everyone?" William asked, looking as shocked as I felt.

He turned to Grace and Skylar. "Did you know she could do something like this?"

Skylar shook her head. "No one has ever found Hazel's limits. I don't think even she knew."

I looked down at my unconscious mate, my heart squeezing painfully in my chest.

"I need to get her home. She needs Dr. Bell to check her. I can feel she's alive, but barely hanging on." I glanced at the others.

"Can you feel your wolves yet?"

Grace and Skylar nodded, but William and Ethan shook their heads.

I turned to Benjamin.

"Find Maggie. Help organize our pack's return, especially those who need extra care." He nodded, immediately moving to carry out my orders.

I gathered Hazel in my arms and began running as fast as my weakened body would allow. But it was painfully slow—my weakness, Hati's absence, and Hazel's precious weight in my arms all slowing me down.

I had barely reached the edge of our territory when Maggie appeared in a car, racing toward us.

"How is this possible?" she asked as she helped me get Hazel into the backseat.

"I felt Callum die. I felt him go." Her voice cracked as she sped toward the pack hospital, the car bouncing over rough terrain. I sat in the back, holding Hazel to protect her from the jolts.

"We don't know either. We think she channeled Skylar's healing powers. I'm not sure what condition she's in now. She's alive, but our bond is very weak." My voice broke. "Maggie, we can't lose her."

I could have accepted my own death, but I couldn't imagine life without my mate.

"We'll check the baby first," Maggie said, focusing on the road. "I'm guessing Lupa is protecting the baby, which is why she can't heal Hazel."

My world suddenly stopped. "Baby?"

Maggie's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, widening in shock. "She didn't tell you?" When I shook my head, she continued, "She said she wanted to surprise you. I thought..."

"It's not your fault," I said, looking down at Hazel with new understanding. "She knew what she was doing. She knew if I'd found out she was pregnant, I would never have let her anywhere near that battlefield." I swallowed hard. "And if she hadn't been there, we all would have died."

I saw Maggie shudder, undoubtedly imagining life without a mate.

Too many in our pack now understood that feeling.

As we pulled up to the hospital entrance, Maggie asked, "What about the hunters?"

She opened the door, and I carefully carried my mate—my family—out of the car.

"We're not entirely sure. It looked like a massacre. We know Hazel killed them, but no one knows exactly how she did it." I shook my head, reality setting in.

"It will take days to clean everything up. We'll need to burn the remaining bodies. There were too many hunters—their presence can't be hidden from humans."

As we rushed through the hospital doors, my thoughts remained fixed on Hazel and the child I hadn't known existed until moments ago.

A child who might lose its mother before even being born.

"Hang on, baby," I pleaded through our bond.

Both of you, please hang on.