Page 33 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
With both their leaders’ dead, the rebels ceased their fighting, retreating instead. I hadn’t noticed over the sound of blood pumping in my ears until Trey knelt down beside me. Some gave chase while others gathered around their Alpha standing vigil for him.
Trey went to touch Gideon and an animalistic sound bellowed from my throat. Trey didn’t seem offended by that. Instead he froze to ask my permission. “I’m just trying to help him.” Breathing heavily, attempting to calm myself, I nodded. I wasn’t sure what he could do. Reed showed me his bullets. I doubted he changed them to the standard silver ones, which would do little to a wolf as powerful as Gideon, as long as they were removed with haste.
Trey ripped Gideon’s shirt open as I crawled towards my mate’s head. “It’s okay.”
“You don’t believe that. I can hear the lie in your voice.”
Forcing a smile, I ran my fingers through his shaggy hair. It was damp with sweat, but it didn’t bother me.
“It’s okay, Isabel. My pack is safe. You’re safe. The last few weeks have been the best of my life because I got to spend them with you. I love you.”
Tears streaked down my face feeling the weight of his words. “I love you too.” I leaned in pressing my lips to his. It couldn’t end like this. We’d barely had any time.
“Will you two stop being so damn dramatic,” Trey grumbled. “He’s going to be fine.”
“What?” I asked unsure I heard him right. The bullets Reed used should have been more than enough to end Gideon unless Reed was mistaken about the dose. Even then Trey wouldn’t have been so sure that Gideon would survive the silver poisoning. Too many things could go wrong.
Hissing, Trey yanked his hand away. “What the…” He touched the wound again only to pull it back like it burned him. “There’s silver in there.”
“Duh, Trey.” I wiped my face across the back of my hand. “I wouldn’t be getting all emotional over a standard bullet.” While a lead bullet would hurt like hell a werewolf would heal the wound in a few hours.
“He should have silver poisoning. It’s in his blood.”
“You’re saying I’m dying,” Gideon groaned letting his head rest on the ground. He was surprisingly alert for someone suffering from silver poisoning.
“That’s what I’m saying. You’re not.” Trey seemed completely baffled by the wound.
“It’s the mating,” my father called out approaching us. “Isabel is already showing signs of abilities she’s gained from the joining. What if what Gideon gained was Isabel’s resistance to silver?”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Trey muttered.
“When was the last time a wolf mated with a hunter?”
Trey pondered this for a moment before his face lit up. “That could mean that during the mating ceremony the gift could be passed to all of us.” Trey went on to explain to us how the wolves became the way they were. Able to shift without a full moon was apparently a gift an Alpha had inherited during his mating and all the wolves in his pack, and all that came after, had been blessed with the gift.
While he babbled on excitedly, I turned back to Gideon. “You think it’s true? I saw the bullets he used Gideon. That much liquid silver should have killed you within minutes.”
“While I don’t feel my best right now due to a hole in my stomach, I don’t feel like I’m dying. If anything, I’m beginning to feel better.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. My father crouched down on Gideon’s other side assisting him. I tried but I only had the one good arm. Gideon glanced at the body of his second. “You killed Adam.”
“He was your betrayer. Claims it had nothing to do with your edict to come out to the humans and all to do with his sister whom you were fucking.”
“Language, Isabel,” my father scolded.
“His sister?” Gideon wondered curiously.
“Oh come on, Gideon. How many women were youfuc—sleeping with,” I corrected but still earned a glare from my father, “before me?”
“Carla?”
“Carla. He says she had no idea and believed she’d have turned him over in a second if it meant gaining favor with you.”
“What a fucked up family,” he whispered. I narrowed my eyes at my dad waiting for him to scold Gideon, but he ignored me, and Gideon’s language.
“Are you kidding me? You’re not going to say anything to him after you just got on to me.”
