a7 (Aurora’s pov) “Stand down Christopher.” Beta Samuel snarls, his eyes glowing blue. Chris shakes his head, as if to shake the command of his superior out his head and then growls.
“Stand down!” Beta Samuel roared, taking a step forward but Lily scurried in the middle of the wolves, her hands out to stop them.
“Stop it. Both of you! We don’t have tto fight. God knows how Xavier is judging by the state Aurora is in now.” Lily urges, her eyes pleading for the wolves to calm down their rage.
But a growl comes out of Beta Samuel's chest and rumbles. Lily takes a cautious step toward Chris, yet keeps her posture straight and unafraid. A traitor admirable but in this situation should be treaded lightly.
“Beta Samuel, my brother has trusted your judgment for years and trusts you enough to keep you by his side.
Please, trustwhen | say, bringing Aurora to him would be beneficial and the right thing to do. Please.” Her tone had pitched to one of a plea.
| grow guilty. Here she was trying her best to getto Xavier and all | can do is stay there and accept the pain, yet do nothing about it It’s not like | didn’t want to. | did in fact want to go to him but Sarah’s words heldstill. He either has to rejector acceptfor the pain to stop.
What if he chooses to reject me? Would the pain be more excruciating than this? Can | even bear his rejection? “Aurora,” Sarah whispers, kneeling besideand gripping my arm. “Can you bear the pain a little longer?” She asked.
I only nod, an electrifying pain zapping through my limbs and nearly tearing out a scream from my throat.
| knew | couldn’t bear the pain. | knew | might be a crumbling mess soon Well, more than | was already.
But Goddess, | didn’t want anyone to witness how much pain this was.
| gritted my teeth, my skin feeling moistened with my own sweat. | could very well taste it as it dripped down my forehead, down my brow, to my nose, to the bow of my lips until crawling into my mouth until | tasted the saltiness of it.
It was my only serving distraction from the pain | was currently feeling.
“Just hold on a little longer Aurora. | know you can do it.” Sarah whispers.
| pulled in sair. “Xavier,” | whispered.
How can a simple bond be entwined so deeply into our souls that we get pain from not being close enough? “Beta “It’s still a no Lily. From the moment she stepped foot into the territory everything has gone wrong. The girl is clearly served to be a trick for Alpha Xavier. She has no purpose with him. No future. If this bond is what | think it is, then | am certain it’s not the real thing “Do you hear yourself right now Samuel!? You sound completely insane. How can this bond be fake? A fake bond will not have her feeling this kind of pain! She’s my brother's mate. His to claim. She's his!” Lily snapped, the mark of impatience weighing on her tongue as it lashed out at Beta Samuel who refused to give up.
“And she will be our Luna.” Sarah joins, squeezing my arm reassuringly.
But Beta Samuel was hell bent on defying their pleading and only roared in frustration. “Alpha Xavier is the only one who will giveinstructions and tellwhat to do. You may be his sister, but you're not my alpha.” " With or without your help, | will bring her to my brother. You can Suddenly Lily stops and everywhere grows quiet. Sarah’s hand around my arm squeezes more firmly as she whispers. “Everything will be okay now Aurora.” She leaves my side, scurrying to her feet and struts over to Lily. “You sense him don’t you?” She whispers but | somehow heard her through the ringing of my ears.
I hurl in sair, my stomach turning until | feel nauseated. | wanted Xavier but was afraid to face him knowing he had the power to either rejector accept me.
Lily looks ahead, her gaze wide as she whispers. “His beast. Reckon. He's coming.” Chris who stood protectively beside Lily, eyes grow foggy and in seconds shifts into his human form. The sound of his bones breaking and reforming had my teeth gritting as it sounded to sharp in my ears.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtMy fingers dug into the dirt, my pulse racing as | gasped for air.
“Eli has wamed that Reckon has taken over and he’s almost here,” Chris grumbles | lift my head to face the wolves noticing a bright red Lily who kept her gaze respectfully on the back of Chris's head.
| myself move my gaze away not wanting to see too much of the three naked wolves. They were used to being like this with each other but to others, it was quite frankly embarrassing.
* Is he uncontrollable? Wild?” Beta Samuel's question was directed at Chris.
“Eli didn’t say. Only said he’s too fast to catch up to.” Chris responded with an edge in his voice.
Suddenly there’s a sound of paws hitting the earth and wild animals scurrying away as if in fright.
“He's here,” Lily whispers in astonishment.
“Stay behindLily.” Chris utters.
“It annoysthat you men think | can’t protect myself. | assure you Her words die out.
I pull in sair into my lungs, my gaze lifting when | heard the sound of a twig snapping. But as soon as my eyes fall on him, everything, the pain altogether stops suddenly.
“Xavier?” | whispered unsure if this was an illusion as | stagger to my feet unsteadily.
My body has a kind of delicious buzz, a tingling that I felt in my bones as he pinsdown hotly. It's like we were the only two people here. There was no sound except for my breathing and his snarling, But as | continued to look into his red eyes, | saw something raw and terrifying. This wasn’t Xavier. But his beast.
“Xavier wait!” | heard a yell. | was sure it was Lily but wasn’t quite certain. For all | knew, this was yet another hallucination | stay still, my heart pounding in fear as he reaches beside me, his big hand clamping around the back of my neck, holdingfirmly there so I'd not shift much.
I draw in a gasp, my eyes staying on the sight of his wild eyes. It was truly his beast.
| bit my bottom lip when his head dips to my neck. | hear him breathe in my scent and | shivered despite fearing him this way.
Without thinking much into it, | press my body closer to him, enjoying the hard planes of his body. | cared little of those knew were around us. All | seem to focus on right now is Xavier.
This wasn’t a hallucination. He was really here.
He was real He cfor me.
The thought hadnearly melting into his arms despite knowing it wasn’t truly Xavier but his wolf.
But then | stiffen because of the sudden feel of something sharp touching the skin of my neck. Wordlessly, he arches my neck, his other arm coming aroundto keepplastered to his warm body.
But then, those sharp points pierce into my neck, inch by inch sinking deeper. | arch my back, gasping out his nunable to register what was happening until | am overcwith a wave of pure utter pleasure.
I dig my fingers deeper into his back, using it as an anchor as the sharp teeth sink deeper into my flesh until | could feel the most pleasurable pain that hadshuddering in his arms.
But all too soon he retracts his canines from my flesh, makingarch my back and moan in. But then he licks where he bit my shoulder and all | can feel is pleasure.
Utter bliss.
But sometimes happiness doesn’t last long. And that was exactly the case for Xavier and | as he staggers away fromquickly like | had burnt him.
| looked at him in distress, only to see that the amber had emerged back into his eyes, but what would hauntwas the look of alarm and pain they showed.
His eyes widen, something like panic deep in his stare as his hand reaches up and grabs around his throat.
Fear.
Was all I could feel until it numbed me.
“Alpha!” Samuel growled.
“Oh my God!” Sarah screeches.
“Brother!” Lily screamed.
Bones crack and the sound of Eli's voice roars. ” Xavier!” But Xavier looks lost as he falls to his knees and soon his entire body collapsed to the ground. He looked at me, his eyes deep with dread before they shut.
My heart stops, my mind race, and my fingers tremble as | fall to my knees beside him. | reach to touch him, my entire body cold as | stare at his unmoving body.
“Xavier,” | whispered, my eyes filling with tears from not knowing what to do.
“Brother!” Lily screeches in fear, racing toward Xavier and falls to her knees on the other side of him.
“Alpha?” Sarah whispered in pure horror.
“She’s a witch!” | hear Beta Samuel snarl followed by the sound of bones snapping.
I lift my head, my heart jumping in my throat when | see Beta Samuel's huge wolf bound over to me, jaw snapping and eyes glowing with a murderous glare.
“No!” Lily yelled “Beta!” Sarah screamed.
But another wolf, a tad bit smaller and recognizable as Chris pushes him away. The force sent Beta Samuel flying into a nearby tree. His wolf whines at the impact but rises quickly..
He snarls, his gaze is furious that Chris got in his way. But Chris doesn’t back away, he only rises to his full height snarling and growling, his back legs tight with tension as if ready to pounce at any second.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmEli, soon comes beside Chris, his hand pushing out in a gesture to tell the furious Beta to calm down.” Calm down Samuel. She didn’t do this.” Samuel quickly shifts back into his human form, his body rigid with anger. “It’s not a coincidence this happened to him after he bit her-" “Would you stop it! We don’t have tfor this right now. My brother can be dying and all you want to do is kill an innocent girl! My brother's mate to be more precise! Someone helpbring him back to the pack doctor.
Now!” Lily growls, cutting in the confusion between Samuel and Eli.
Her tone was very demanding. Samuel looked at her then Xavier before huffing. “I will shift and Eli will place him on my back. We need to hurry.” He steps aside and shifts, not before glaring at me.
” Aurora. Aurora look at me.” Lily demands.
| didn’t realize my entire body was shaking until | saw her amber gaze scanning my body in slight panic.
“He’ll be okay.” She tries to reassureknowing the reason | was trembling so badly was because of my fear.
I nod, gulping as Eli steps beside me, crouches and lifts Xavier in his arms with a grunt.” Dude weighs a ton.” He grunts, struggling to hold Xavier's weight.
But my eyes were still stuck to his motionless body, not comprehending what could’ve gone so wrong to put down a powerful Alpha his size.
But then as Eli fixed him on top of Beta Samuel's huge wolf, | looked at his face and then something clicked.
My blood There was no other explanation.
He had sunk his teeth into my flesh, tasting my blood and licking it. My blood, the wolfsbane. Toxic to wolves.
| touched my neck where he bit but there isn’t any blood nor can | feel any punctured hole his canines left on my skin.
| grow confused when | felt something under my fingertips. It wasn’t a bump to raise alarm but it oddly felt like it was a branding o f ssort “It's a mark. He claimed you,” Sarah whispered when she notices my confusion.
My heart races. So that’s what he had done. | wanted to feel relieved, happy even but all | felt was dread and fear. Fear of knowing that | was the cause of Xavier now in pain.
| blinked, feeling the tears in my eyes ready to spill. My heart pounding painfully as | watch his limp body on Beta Samuel, only to watch his disappearing body seconds later as Beta Samuel raced towards the packhouse.
| looked at Sarah then Lily and it feels like someone had just ripped my heart out of my chest when | saw the pain and fear in her eyes. | caused this.
| opened my mouth to tell them the truth. To tell them that | was the monster who had done this to their Alpha.
And that I didn’t deserve to live for what | had done.
But no words cout but a strangled sound that oddly was similar to a gurgle.
“Let's go quickly. ” Lily rushes, fixing herself on Chris's huge wolf that took off as soon as she clutched his fur and was secure.
“Aurora will cwith me.” Eli tells Sarah, smiling atreassuringly but | can’t seem to return the gesture.
| knew | didn’t deserve their smiles or their protection. Not when | was indeed their enemy. 4 But despite knowing that | was the cause of all of this. | wanted to make sure Xavier was alright. That | hadn't hurt him too badly. | wanted to be by his side even though | didn’t deserve to be. | can’t help it. He cfirst before my own selfish reasons to flee now before they found out.
“Alpha is a strong wolf Aurora. The strongest actually. Whatever has happened to him, he will overcit. With you by his side.” Sarah’s hand squeezes my shoulder in reassurance, perhaps had seen the doubt on my face.
| gave a single stiff nod and waited until Eli shifted into his wolf before going to him. When | was securely on his back and holding his fur, Sarah shifted into her wolf and we took off after Beta Samuel and Chris.