Page 65 of Blade's Battle
ANNA
Anna woke up screaming.
“I’m right here,” a woman said throwing her arms around Anna. Someone flipped on the light. Nothing about the room was familiar. Then the alpha stepped into the doorway. It took Anna’s brain a moment to place Damien’s name with his face. That meant it was Tess who was hugging her.
“Where is he?” Anna demanded, even as she pushed out of Tess’s embrace. “Where is Blade?”
Tess exchanged a look with Damien. “We don’t know. But I promise he won’t hurt you again.”
Hurt me?Someone had said that before. They thought Blade had hurt her? They were hunting him!
“Don’t kill him!”
“He’s feral. It’s the shifter way, Anna. He has to be put down before he attacks anyone else, or kills someone.”
Anna jumped out of the bed and headed for the door, but Damien blocked it. She lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Blade didn’t attack me, his wolf did.”
“We know that. Blade would never—”
“I have to find Blade. Blood-bond him so he can get his wolf under control,” Anna said, despite the voice inside of her telling her not to open herself up to the pain that would surely follow. If Blade had indeed turned feral, there wouldn’t be much she could do for him in terms of gene therapy. Blood-bonding was the only way. She would have to steel her heart, never let him in like she had Kurt. Never again would she open herself to that pain.
“I’ll go out there and call to him. Blade will come to me. Once he overpowers his wolf—”
Damien’s face fell. “That’s not Blade anymore. It’s his wolf, feral and out of control.”
“Blood-bonding him will—”
“You’re wrong,” Damien said before she could finish her sentence. “Blood-bonding a shifter when he’s feral causes the other shifter in a blood-bond to go feral too. It’s the only way a female ever goes feral. I’m not sure what it would do to a human.”
“I have to do something! I can’t just sit here!”
“Anna. . .” Tess said, as she put her hand on her back and started caressing in circles as one would soothe a child.
“I won’t give up on him!”
Tess bit her lip. “You’re right. There’s feral and then there’s feral.”
“Tess?” Damien raised an eyebrow.
“She’s right, Damien. We shouldn’t be giving up on Blade. If I had given up on you after you left here feral, then you really would be feral.”
“I wasn’t fully feral,” he corrected. “My wolf had pushed me down, but I could still hear you. You were like a lifeline, showing me the way out. You gave me the motivation to fight my way to the surface.”
“Blade never would have attacked her. His wolf has taken over.”
“Blade was still in there. He spoke to me, told me to run, even as he was baring his teeth. He hadn’t fully given in to his wolf yet, Damien. I’m sure of it!”
“Are you sure he spoke to you?” Damien’s eyebrows lifted as a glimmer of hope suffused his face.
“I’m sure. It was only one word, but he was trying to save me. Blade was fighting his wolf. He hadn’t given in!”
“Then there’s still a chance Blade isn’t too far gone. A blood-bond could work,” Tess agreed, adding to Anna’s hope.
Damien inhaled sharply.
“What?” Anna asked.
“I have no way of telling those who are tracking him to bring him back alive.”
