Page 59 of Shut Up and Bite Me

Lachlan rushes over to me, jumping up the edges of the fountain, his face twisting in horror. “Go to him. We’ve got Victor.”

Greyson needs me, as does Ethan. I can keep punishing Victor later. But in the meantime, I need to finish and add the final ingredient—Victor’s blood.

“Vivian.” Greyson’s distant whisper tears my attention from the bloody mess before me.

“Don’t you dare kill him. He’s not done paying for his sins.”

Lachlan nods, and I kick off the fountain and race inside, heading straight for Greyson, passing the other wolves. I can feel his heartbeat pound into my ears and the connection between us pulsing strongly, a gravity of its own pulling us to one another.

The sight of him lying on the ground rips my heart out of my chest. He’s holding his throat, writhing in pain, and it makes me want to turn around and break Victor’s back all over again. But I don’t. I have forever to torture Victor. Right now, Greyson needs me.

Grabbing the box of antidote mixes I keep stashed in the coffee table in my living room, I race over to Greyson, tears welling in my eyes. My anger fades to the background, and pure, gut-wrenching fear overwhelms my body.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m right here. Everything’s going to be okay.” His eyes bulge from his head as he tries to catch his breath, his hands wrapped tightly around his throat.

“Vivian! What can I do?” Autumn calls out, dropping to her knees beside me.

Setting the vials down, I pop the cork off the top, hold Victor’s severed finger over it, and squeeze drops of his blood, finishing the potion.

“Mix the other one and get it to Ethan,” I order her, and she jumps into action, taking Victor’s finger from me and running to find Ethan.

Caressing Greyson’s jaw, I tip his head back, his mouth falling open, and I press the glass vial against his lips before pouring it into his mouth.

“Swallow it,” I murmur to him, my chest erupting in pain as I watch the agony warp his features.

He gulps it down, and I wait for the relief to kick in, but nothing happens. I wait another five seconds, but again, nothing changes.

“Stop, make it stop. Why isn’t it working?” I cry out, my words heaving with my desperate gasps as I cry out for help. “Autumn! Autumn!”

I can feel her presence, sense her emotions inside of the house.

My scream builds deep in my lungs, and I release it like a weapon. “Autumn!”

The ground shakes beneath us, the paintings and chandelier rattling with intense power as my cry rips through the house.

My head whips to the side as Autumn rushes over, heading straight for us.

Fear strikes her core as she meets my eyes, faltering her step slightly before she pushes it away and focuses on Greyson. “W-What’s happening?”

“It’s not working. Why isn’t it working?!” I beg her for an answer.

She examines him as he groans and whimpers in pain, the anger boiling back up inside of me.

Her voice is shaky and ragged. “The antidote will work, but only once the venom finishes spreading through his entire body.”

“We can’t leave him like this! Do something!” I snap at her.

Tears well in his eyes as Autumn stutters, “I c-can’t. We have to wait for the venom to run its course in his system. But the second it does, the antidote will heal him. Y-You know that.”

Turning back to Greyson, I stroke his cheeks. His eyes lock with mine before slamming shut, his face twisting, tears rolling down his face.

“Make it stop, please.Make it stop,” I sob.

Hope blossoms in my chest, and it takes me a second to realize the feeling isn’t my own. It’s Autumn’s emotion.

“Say it. What are you thinking? What can I do?” I beg her, not turning away from Greyson.

Sadness and fear sink into her chest. “There’s something else, but I don’t even know if it will work. You’re better off leaving things be.”

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