The Pack (43 page)

    
Alec
stumbled next to her
and she knew he was done
so
,
when the wolf
advanced
she did the only thing she could think of an
d threw herself in front of him
deflecting the
final
blow meant for him.
A dumb move cost her dearly. H
er body
slammed into a giant oak tree
,
th
e air rushing out of her
as her bones shattered under the impact
before she fell to the ground in a broken heap
.

     Blade
snarled and
bared his teeth
and advanced towards her,
ready to kill
her
for interfering
,
but
he
never ha
d the chance.
As he leapt for her
Gregory’s massive form barreled into him knocking him to the ground
far away from Mercy
and his son
. S
eeing his son
and his mate so badly battered
,
broke Gregory’s
well-known
control.
Blinded by rage h
e showed no mercy on the wolf
that had dared to harm his family. He
made quick work
of ripping into him
with his sharp canines until Blade
shuddered under him
and took his last breathe
.
The other wolves slunk backwards towards the wood line, but his own pack and Mather’s were there waiting to corral them.

     Gregory, having been victorious, stood over the dead wolf,
blood coating his fur a
nd running from his jaws as he howled
fiercely to signal
his pack and the others
in the forest that
he was victorious.

    
Mercy watched
it all
through bleary eyes
horrified by what she saw and what she had become
.
She was now the very thing that had killed her
parents
and Gregory who
now
watched her with his piercing blue eyes was the wolf she had saved so long ago.

     Lucan advanced on her
in his human form,
but her only concern was Alec and she began pulling her
battered,
broken
body
across the ground towards where he
lay barely breathing in a
pool of his own blood.

    Gregory shifted and ran to
his son
’
s side falling to his
knee
s, running
hand over Alec’s
fur
,
tears clouding his eyes as he spoke softly to him. Alec answered
with
a
soft
canine
whine
and his father looked to Mercy nodding
.

    
Mercy
knew he was asking him to watch over her
and it tore he
r
heart out that even as he lay dying he worried for her
.
Sorrow
gave way to ange
r and she forced herself to move quicker
ignori
ng the pain
it caused
.
Lucan
seeing her struggle
lifted her in his arms and laid her next Alec then took a step back.
She poked Gregory
with her nose,
rolling
painfully
onto he
r back exposing her belly to him knowing instinctively he was the only one who could help her shift
.

     Gregory
nodded and laid his hand
on her fur understanding s
he ha
d given herself over to his
Alpha
,
an enormous gestur
e he prayed she would not
regret
later
.
“Shift,
” h
e whis
pered
.
H
er fur changed and
her
body contorted bringing her back to human form
entirely
too quick
to heal her
own
wounds effectively
.
He tried to slow the shift
down
,
but she fought him
,
quickening her transformation
,
so she co
uld aid Alec
.

     Lucan came to her side wanting to see to her wounds, but she turned away and placed her hand on Alec’s chest
ignoring his attempts to help her
.
Her eyes closed and her body stiffened as
she focused
her healing energy into him
ignoring the pain
each movement caused to her own body.

    
Her energy
move
d throu
gh his body mending the damage and more than once she feared he wouldn’t survive,
but she hardened her resolve
and
pushed on until she had done all she could. As she moved
back inside
her own
body,
she
felt his hand clasp hers
tightly
and she knew he was aware what she had done
.

     “I’ve done all I can the rest is up to you
,” s
he told Gregory, blood rolling
from her bottom lip
to drip to their connected hands
.

     “Shift
son,
”
Gregory
commanded
forcing what he knew would be an excruciating
, but necessary
transformation
.

      Alec’s howls turned into human screams as the change took over a
nd
his body reshaped itself
. It
was
the last thing Mercy hea
rd
before she passed out
.

    
“
Clear the way
,
we need to get them home
!
” G
regory called out to his
pack as he sat next to his son cradling his head in his lap.
Never had he thought he would lose the only truly important thing in his life and now thanks to the little girl who once saved him
,
his son also lived.
He owed Mercy more than he could ever give and prayed she would one day allow him to call her his daughter.

     “Mercy?” Alec whispered
his
free
hand falling on her head stroki
ng her hair
as she lay
silently
over
him
her breathing almost nonexistent
.

     “We will do all we can son,” h
is f
ather told him
.

     “How could you let h
er?” h
e whispered. “You should have saved her.”

     “It was not my choice.”
Gregory
answered solemnly
.

     “I will take he
r home,
” Lucan said
kneeling
down
to l
ift her in his arms grimacing when
he saw the extent
of the damage to her body
. Her left arm hung
at an awkward
angle, blood seeped from
where her ribs had taken the impact of the tree
and
were now protruding
from her skin
. Her face
was
mottled wit
h bruising, her right
cheek swollen, blood pouring
from a
jagged
wound
there
and her
breathing barely registered
. The fact she had not even
whimpered
when he moved her
was very telling of the sacrifice she had made. By shifting
so quickly
to save Alec
,
she had given
up
her chance for
a full, easy, recovery
.

     “Lucan,” h
e turned as Nina walked into the clearing her soft
presence calming him
instantly
. “Bring her home
.”

    
Nin
a went to
work immediately
u
pon their arrival at the house,
repairing
the damage Mercy
sustained
as best she could.

      A
s time passed,
Lucan’s shoulders slumped lower and lower. Nina remained silent, but the expression of sadness on her face when she came back into her own body spoke volumes. H
e feared the worst
,
p
rayed for the best,
and
was slowly losing his sanity with every passing second
.

    
The clock ticked
loudly as if goading him, he growled
loudly,
moved across the roo
m
,
grabbed the clock from the
wall
and crushed
it on his hands before falling to his knees sobbing
like a child
.
“Why did you let this happen?”
h
e screamed looking heavenward. “How can you take her from us like this?” He lowered his h
ead and sobbed, tears of rage and frustration falling freely down his face
.

    
Nina’s
arms wrap
ped
around him
from behind
and she pressed her face against his back
. “She’s fighting,
that’s all we can ask for.”

     He turned swiftly and laid his head against hers seeki
ng th
e comfort only she could offer
.
“How bad is it?” he
asked
,
his voice shaking as he ground out the words dreading her answer.

     “She s
acrificed her own health for Alec
’s. N
ormally she could have shifted slowly and repaired most of the damage
,
but
by the time I got to her
,
the bones
had
started mending
.
I
had to break
and reset each one
,
o
ne rib pierced her lung and another broke through her skin.”

    
He gasped as the enormity of what she was tel
ling him crashed down on him.
“What are her chances?” he asked woodenly.

    
“I’m optimistic
. G
ive her a chance to live before you mourn
her loss
.” She hugged him close
hoping to ease some of his fears
,
but she
was not
entirely
sure if the young girl had the strength
it took to survive
such massive injuries
.

     “This is my fault I should have told her sooner
,
ta
ught her to embrace her Were side
,
it might have helped her today.”

     “It would not have mattered. S
he sacrificed herself
for her mate
,
you can find no fault with that,” s
he reminded him.

     “
H
e
let himself be a shield to keep
her
safe until we came
,
he does not deserve to lose her. None of us deserve to lose her,” h
e told her his voice breaking.

     “Luc?” Gregory walked to his side and placed his hand on his shoulder
looking worriedly towards the bed
.

     “We do
n’t know,” he
told his
Alpha
without even questioning what he wanted to know. “How’s Alec?”