AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her entire focus was on joining her fallen mate.
I could feel the pull of the Chaos. It was like an elastic band stretched to breaking point between the pair. Carbon’s wolf gurgled and scratched pitifully on the floor as he tried to ease the strain of their fate.
“His lungs are filling with blood,” Doc growled. “Chocolatedip, fetch my kit and drag Carbon closer.”
“Shh, now.” Winter calmly picked up the med bag from my booth without taking her eyes off her mate and reached inside to withdraw a conical tube. “It’s going to be alright, you crazy mutt.”
Doc’s eyes flew to Winter’s face in surprise. Whatever he saw there had the protective growl die in his throat. My friend bent over Carbon, brushing a soothing hand along his snout. While she petted him, her other raised purposefully into the air causing the wolf’s eyes to roll in panic.
“Hold him down, please.”
Winter’s voice was soft but full of authority, carrying easily over the animal’s fear.
Chocolatedip and Nightshade rushed to obey, braving Carbon’s snapping teeth to hold his body still while Winter plunged the stint in between his ribs. With sure fingers, she angled it just right to drain the excess liquid from his lungs allowing the animal’s chest to rise and fall more easily.
“Told you,” she muttered to the injured shifter. “You should listen to your mate.”
The wolf whined in relief and licked her hand as Winter pressed a lightning kiss to the tip of his snout before looking back up, her professional mask back in place. Ready to order the rest of us about. Carbon had other ideas. With what sounded like a monumental effort, the Soul Reaper forced a shift back to his human form.
“Knew—you wanted me—to—stick around,” Carbon wheezed, grinning up at his shocked mate before he slumped back to the floor in a dead faint.
“Idiot,” Winter scoffed. “You weighed a lot less as a crazy mutt.” She gave the naked biker a nudge with her foot but he was out cold. “I need to get him back to the infirmary. You have a stretcher, Doc?”
But Doc’s attention had drifted back down to Strawberry lying cradled in his lap.
“She was like a daughter to me.” He brushed the matted hair back from her face, like he was comforting a child. Even from here, I could tell that her skin was clammy and her breath thready and irregular. Strawberry was dying. “I took her in off the streets. Just another runaway looking for a safe place to catch her breath. Failed her in the end, though, didn’t I?”
“Say your goodbyes, Doc, but leave the recriminations out of it,” Winter intoned. “She died to save a friend. We should all be so lucky. She was happy here, she was loved. That’s all that matters.”
“How do you know?” Doc peered up at Winter, his breath catching in his throat.
“It was in her walk. She never walked like she was afraid. You gave her that, Doc. You and the Soul Reapers. Strawberry had a good life.”
Tears streamed unhindered as the medic looked back down to his fallen charge. The pain draining out of the sweetbutt as her breaths became fewer and farther between.
“She won’t suffer long,” Winter added, more gently than before.
“Then I guess I’ll join you soon.” Doc swallowed thickly before clearing his throat. “Plenty of idiots to patch up. Like our little alpha over there. Sasha?” Doc barked, causing me to jerk my eyes back open. I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them. The hand still holding his gun was slumped along with the rest of me over the table. “You still with us?”
“Yeah,” I croaked. “Unfortunately.”
I strained my ears trying to pick up on what was going on beyond my body’s heavy desire to sleep. It sounded like the battle had died down outside. That was good. The endless waves of charging bikes and the staccato of bullets had fallen silent. Inside the clubhouse, only a few scuffles remained as our people finished off the last of the intruders.
A bloodthirsty spike from Mongrel surged through our bond, dragging my attention back to my mates. His elation was thick and heavy on my tongue as he headed our way, intent on tracking his prey.
I could feel Grimm, too, stalking purposefully along in my beta’s wake. Guarding his back.
Sagging in relief to know that the two of them were unharmed, I reached for my third mate—my sweet omega—but there was nothing sweet about Silver’s savage wolf right now. The animal was across the room finishing off a biker who’d been too slow to fill him with lead. He was intent on his kill so I sent him a nudge of support and left him to it.
At least all three of them were still up and about. I allowed my head to slump back down with a groan while my feverish cheek soaked up the blessed cool of the table top. If we’d won, why did this feel so much like defeat?
Tears pinched at my eyes. Everything ached. Suddenly, it all seemed too much. My mates lived but Strawberry and Gods knew how many other soon-to-be corpses lay strewn about our territory. How many more deaths would we have to face before we put this nightmare to rest?
“Chin up, little alpha. You made it through your first MC war. Pretty sure it won’t be your last,” Viola sounded chipper as she slid her blade smoothly along Crusher’s neck. Slitting his throat, she wiped the knife clean on her pant leg. “The Soul Reapers don’t seem too keen on making friends. At least, not the wrong sort,” she winked, then looked to Winter. “Need an escort?”
Winter nodded before fixing me with a stern gaze. “See you in the infirmary. No dilly dallying. That wound is starting up again.”
My heart beat a little faster when our eyes caught. There was no mistaking Winter’s words for anything other than what they were. An order. From a medical professional to a patient. But underneath that, there was something which sounded suspiciously like my once-upon-a-time friend gave a damn about my fate.
