Page 67 of Overcoming the Beta

Alex shifts back into our human form, giving me full control. I remove the arrow from my arm. Luckily for me, it’s just a minor flesh wound, but that silver tip hurts like a motherfucker. When I get to Max, he staggers to his feet while the palace warriors provide cover and protection.

“Here buddy, let me get this out of you.” I grab the arrow, and with one swift move, pull it from his side. Like the arrow that hit me, it’s just a minor wound. He yelps from the pain, but like the tough bastard he is, he recovers quickly.

I quickly shift, giving Alex full control as we find ourselves surrounded by fifty more werewolves in their human form. They’re wielding knives, swords, axes, maces, and other medieval weapons. Where the hell did they get these weapons, the local museum? The fighting is intense and chaotic, as more of our warriors and palace warriors join in on the fight.

I hear Kelsey shout through our open mindlink to find the ones shooting arrows at our heads and destroy them. Max and Alex, along with the original five palace warriors, are getting exhausted and slowing down. Alex is concentrating on the two in front of us and never saw the bastard with the silver dagger aimed right for our chest… but Max did. He jumped in between the dagger wielding bastard and Alex. Max took the full brunt of the dagger to his shoulder, but he made sure to rip that bastard’s throat out.

Max suddenly becomes too weak to continue and shifts back to his human form. And that was the moment I knew Zane’s life was in danger. Rushing to Zane’s side, I was hit with two arrows that stopped me in my tracks and dropped me to the ground. Too weak to continue, Alex shifts back to our human form, giving me control again. That’s when it occurred to me, the arrows were dipped in wolfsbane, and Zane just took a huge dose saving me.

I push through the pain and crawl to him when I see a mace wielding lunatic aim for Zane’s head. Time slows down, leaving me feeling like I’m watching a movie in slow motion. Zane is too weak to move, and fear spreads across his face. He raises his arms, shielding his face and bracing for impact. I try to crawl faster as I scream and shout for warriors to help, but everyone is in the heat of battle. As the mace makes its way towards Zane’s head, Alpha Oliver’s ten-year-old son appears out of nowhere, carrying a large wooden medieval shield. He throws his tiny body over Zane’s, holding onto the shield with everything he has in him. The force from the mace impacting the shield knocks the boy unconscious. All I can see are his tiny motionless legs between Zane’s body and the shield. Somehow, I’m able to scramble to my feet, only to feel the searing pain from two arrows hitting me before my world goes black.

The battle ended as quickly as it started. Even though I’m fading in and out of consciousness, I’m still aware of the chaos surrounding me. All I can think is, I have to get to Zane, who is just mere feet from me. A palace warrior pulls two arrows out of my body, and I flip on to my belly. With every bit of strength I can muster, I push through the pain and crawl through blood saturated ground to Zane’s lifeless body. He has six arrows sticking out of his body, and he is not breathing. Warriors rush him and me along with the other wounded to Emerald Lake’s hospital for medical treatment, and that’s where we are today.

Every arrow that hit him didn’t cause significant damage, but was laced with wolfsbane, which made him and Max deathly ill. So far, the doctors have resuscitated him twice. He’s had two seizures that caused him to convulse violently, and I haven’t left his side. I forced them to treat my wounds right here, next to Zane. I won’t give anyone a chance to kill him.

After the final skirmish with Alpha David’s most loyal followers, all one hundred lay dead. Sadly, over half were young teens, around thirteen years old. I’m sickened over that fact, that so many young ones had to die, and for what? A blood hungry alpha hell bent on destroying a smaller territory, for his own selfish gains. We lost two warriors, and the palace lost five.Please, Moon Goddess, please let Zane pull through.

“Hey,” Kelsey steps next to me, offering me a coffee. “It’s typical hospital shit, but it’s hot and has caffeine in it.”

“Thank you.” I take the coffee. “How are you?” I ask, looking him over. He’s covered in blood.

“Nothing major. Rebeka, Alpha, and Luna are on their way. I talked with Sonia,” he sighs. “Please call my sister. She knows you got hurt… she felt it. The same way Rebeka felt when Zane stopped breathing. She’s worried sick.” He squeezes my shoulder.

“Shit! You’re right,” I sigh out running my hand through my hair. “I forgot… I,” Kelsey interrupts me before I can finish my thought.

“Had your hands busy?” He smiles, “yeah, I know, and she knows too. Go. It’s my turn to be by his side.”

I step out of Zane’s room into the hall. My fucking nerves are shot and my hands are trembling. I grab my phone and dial Kate’s number. My stomach churns in antiscipation of her answering the phone. All I want is to hear the sound of her sweet voice. The ringing stops and I hear her fumbling with her phone.

“Hello?” Kate’s voice is trembling.

“Hello, love.” I say, fighting back the emotions and tears.

“Ian!” She shouts and cries. Tears escape down my cheek, hearing her excitement. I miss her so much. Her voice is like a breath of fresh air to me.

“Yes, love.” I cry. This is the first time in my life, crying in front of someone. I was raised to be tough and tough meant sucking it up, dealing with it, and absolutely no fucking crying. But here I am, crying on the phone at the sound of my mate’s voice.

“How bad are you hurt?” I can hear the love and genuine concern for my safety in her voice.

“Not too bad, still weak from the wolfsbane in my system.” I sniffle back the tears.

“Oh, Ian… I felt it and I was so scared I’d never see you again. How’s Zane?” Her voice once again trembles. Emotions build in my chest hearing her say she was afraid she’d never see me again. I love this woman with every ounce of my being.

“He’s hurt real bad, love. Real bad.” I slowly inhale and exhale, trying to control my emotions.

“But he’s alive?” She whispers.

“Barely.” I close my eyes and drop my head to the floor. I don’t want to worry her. Zane is like a brother to her. We all grew up together, and she has always been the one tagging along in everything that we did.

“Oh Goddess,” she gasps. “I knew it was bad, because Rebeka collapsed in pain about the same time that I felt yours, and she kept screaming please no, please no. Alpha, Luna, and her… they left about twenty minutes ago.”

“That’s good. Zane needs his mate if he’s going to recover fully. Listen, love… I need to get back to Zane. I’ll check in with you daily, okay?”

As much as I don’t want to end the call with her, it’s physically painful talking with her right now. Goddess, I want her here next to me. I need to feel her arms wrapped around me, holding me tight, letting me know everything is going to be alright. I’m hit with the guilt of knowing that I’m fine and Zane may never feel the warmth of his mate’s touch. All because he saved me. I don’t deserve to be saved. So much of the past was me being a selfish prick, and Zane protecting me. Why Zane? It should be me laying on that fucking hospital table, not him. I don’t deserve to be fine; I deserve to be dead.

“Of course, please take care of Zane. Give my brother a hug for me.” She says through hitched breath.

“Yes, love, I will. I’ll talk to you soon. Kate, I love you to the moon and back.” I wipe the tears that have escaped down my cheek. Never in a million years could I have ever imagined that Kate would have such an effect on me.

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