Chapter 147 Dangerous

Chapter 147 Dangerous
Bailey

I reach the courtyard at full speed, my paws striking stone as I burst into the open space. The air here feels wrong now, stripped of movement and left heavy with the aftermath of violence. Junhera warriors have retreated from the courtyard, and they are nowhere to be seen. 

The allied packs form a loose ring around the center, where Rian is lying in a pool of blood. At first glance, it almost looks like he did not fight back at all, like he just let whoever did this have him. 

His body is torn open in many different places, his blood soaking through his fur and pooling beneath him on the stone. There is no rhythm to his breathing, only broken pulls of air that don’t fully fill his lungs. His chest rises unevenly, like something inside him is refusing to work the way it should.

A howl escapes my throat at the sight of the suffering and pain my mate is experiencing, and I can’t stop myself from crying out in the most guttural and primal way I know how. I’ve never seen so much blood or someone in so much pain before. My love… my heart… my mate….

He’s dying….

“Rian,” I say. “Who did this to you?”

He lifts his head as I reach him. His eyes open wider, and something in them changes the moment he sees me there, like he has been holding on only for this exact moment.

“Bailey,” he says. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous. Retreat!”

I stay beside him, close enough to feel how uneven his breathing is. Each inhale catches before it can complete, his body struggling to do something that should be automatic.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Alpha Vario,” he says. “It wasn’t just an attack. He used something, magic, I think, to stop me from being able to fight back. I could see everything around me. I could think clearly, but my body wouldn’t respond. It stopped obeying me completely. I was locked out of my own movement.”

“Why didn’t any of you step in and help him?” I demand from the warriors around me. 

“Junhera has a wicked force, Luna Gray,” John says. “We couldn’t move until the blood bath was over and the enemy fully retreated.” 

“It’s going to be all right,” I say, looking at Rian. “You are still here. You are not done, Rian Gray. Do you hear me?”

Rian’s gaze stays on me, and I can see how much effort it takes for him to remain conscious, to remain present at all.

I turn toward John. “When the alchemists arrive, tell Freida and Saja exactly what happened,” I say. “Every detail. They need to understand.”

“Yes, Luna.” 

I turn my attention back to Rian.

“Where is Vario?” I ask.

Rian’s voice is strained but urgent. “Bailey, don’t go after him.”

John’s response is immediate. “Yes, Luna, it’s too dangerous.”

“Where did he go?” I demand again.

Neither of them answers, but I already know. The evil stench is still here. It pulls me toward the castle. The doors stand open ahead, and I move toward them quickly.

I follow the sickening smell of cruel magic down a long, dark corridor and into the heart of the castle. The scent is coming from a massive room, a great hall of some sort, and Alpha Vario is there, right in the center of it. 

He is a huge wolf, and his eyes lock onto mine the moment I enter.

In an instant, all my fear transforms into power. All my love for my family transforms into rage, and all the loyalty I have to the Moon Goddess and my pack transforms into courage. 

This asshole is no match for me.



Rian

John must’ve called for the healers. I hear the hooves striking the stones before I see them. The sound is urgent and uneven, breaking through the distant haze that keeps slipping in and out of my awareness. The sound cuts through the fog in my head like something pulling me back toward the surface, even though my body doesn’t want to stay there.

I feel pain everywhere. My chest refuses to expand the way it should, each breath catching halfway like something inside me is blocking it. My blood is warm and flowing, and I can feel it even when I lose focus for a moment, like my body is trying to become completely empty. 

I hear voices above me, sharp and urgent. “He’s still breathing. Get the bandages ready. I need Yarrow, now.”

Hands press against me. I can’t tell who or where at first. Everything blurs together in flashes: torn fur, movement, pressure against open skin. Pain spikes so sharply I lose focus completely for a moment, and then I come back to it again with a gasp that barely counts.

Mordacia is there, and I hear Mona too. I recognize their voices even when everything else feels distant.

“Alpha Gray,” Mordacia says. “Stay with us, Rian.”

I try to answer, but my mind refuses to cooperate. I can feel myself slipping in and out, like something is pulling me under and letting me surface just long enough to realize I’m still dying.

“Bailey,” I manage to force through the link. “Where is she?” I ask. “Where did she go?”

No one answers immediately. That is what terrifies me more than the pain. I try to lift my head and fail halfway through it. My body will not obey. Everything feels disconnected, like I’m no longer fully inside myself.

“Don’t let her go after him,” I force out. “Vario…. He’ll do the same thing to her.”

My vision blurs again. Then darkness edges in.

Jericho. The image of my son hits me like a second wound. He’s at home, safe and happy, but I’ll never see his smiling face again. I should be there. I should not be here on the ground bleeding out under a sky I can barely see anymore.

Moon Goddess, I think desperately. Don’t let it end here. Please.

Hands tighten around my wounds. Something is pressed against me—yarrow, strong and bitter even through the haze. Bandages are wrapped around me. 

Then I hear more movement—different voices, and a stronger presence.

Mona’s voice cuts through. “Alchemists. Now. Opal stones. Jasper. Ruby. Whatever you have. Please, help him.”

As I begin to fade away, giving into the darkness, something is pressed into my side. Warmth follows with a sudden burst of energy. My eyes roll back in my head and then pop open. 

Saja holds an opal moonstone to the wound on my throat, and it glows, dragging prisms of moonlight into my wounds. Freida uses Jasper stones to steady my nerves from the chaotic damage while she places rubies on my chest to bring oxygen into my lungs. The energy pushes through the broken flow of my body like something trying to rebuild what was forced apart.

I finally catch my breath. My body stops bleeding, and the tearing inside my body begins to seal. Bones that felt broken begin to realign.

The spell damage—whatever Vario did to lock me in place—starts to unwind under their hands like something being forcibly undone.

I gasp again, air filling my lungs, and rise to my feet. “Thank you all. You saved my life,” I send through the link to the alchemists and healers. 

They each bow to me. “Of course, Alpha Gray,” one of them says, but I don’t wait to see who it was because I am already chasing after Bailey.

Through the mind-link, I reach every member of Silverhide. “Meet me inside the castle. We need to save our Luna.”