KOL
Do you know how many bottles of bourbon it takes for a wolf to get buzzed? About three, possibly four. Do you know how many bottles it takes for a wolf to pass out drunk? Eight. I counted.
Two months.
My Gia had been in a coma, so to speak, for two months. I was going crazy. I could feel her getting weaker by the day. She was fading before my eyes.
I should have gone to her that day. I shouldâve spoken to her when she lay on the ground, crying in grief, but I hadnât. Iâd stayed away.
Iâd left her alone, unprotected, and now my mate had been lying on her old bed with a fucking snow cloud over her the last two months, her chest moving up and down so slowly I had to squint to see it, and I was here drowning my sorrows like some pathetic halfwit.
My parents came back as soon as they heard. Dad was running the pack again, because I just couldnât function without her. When they asked what happened, I cracked.
I couldnât even tell them. Frieda had to explain what sheâd done and why she wasnât waking up. When Gia went into death, she didnât just pull one or two wolves back, she pulled them all back.
Every. Single. One. Shredding her soul in the process, and now she was stuck there, and no one knew if sheâd ever make it back or how to even get her back.
Only someone who could enter death freely could bring Gia back, and the only one who could do that here was her. The irony was not lost on me, believe me.
Every day since weâd gotten her home to the castle, I sat by her bed and drank myself into oblivion to numb the pain, I guessed so I didnât feel our connection weakening with every passing moment anymore.
Frieda had hunted down nearly every goddamn coven in the country and was working around the clock to find a way to wake my Gia up.
I saw more and more where Gia got her determination and stubbornness from.
Iâd always thought it was her father, and while he did contribute traits to her personality, like her temper and serious lack of patience, Gia was so like her mother.
Raphael locked himself in his study, his once raven hair now littered with gray. Every so often he came into the room and just stared at her, never saying a word, then he left and locked himself away again.
Iâd seen him scream; Iâd seen him roar. Hell, Iâd even seen him murderous, but I had never seen him like this.
Diego had gone on a rampage almost immediately. Last Iâd heard, he was up north, mauling some rogues singlehandedly. Honestly, I felt bad for the rogues.
A rogue wolf was a wolf that had been shunned by his/her pack. They were mostly criminals who had committed serious crimes against their pack or alpha.
They belonged to no one and followed no rules, wolf or otherwise, and neither did Diego. When it came to family, he was ruthless and merciless, and thatâs how he got shit done.
He did ask me to join him when he called to check on Gia, but I couldnât bring myself to leave her, so I avoided the question until he stopped asking.
You would think with three strong alpha males in one family that we would get shit done and sorted out while the women fell apart, and that would be the end of it.
But it was actually the other way around. I had no problem admitting that if it hadnât been for the women of this family, our world would have crumbled completely!
If it hadnât been for Liv, I thought, I would have died sometime around week two or three, to be honest. I knew now why Diego always called her angel, because she fucking was one!
She made me eat, she made me shower, she forced me to speak my mind about my fears, my hopes, my deepest, darkest thoughts. She never judged; she just listened and offered advice where she could.
Iâd tried being there for her too. She had lost her best friend, and her mate was off God knows where getting into God knows what kind of trouble, and there she was, babying me and looking after me.
So when she came to the room and hinted at some girl time, I obliged. She needed her friend back just as much as I needed my mate.
I stood under the shower for what felt like eternity. Iâm not going to lie to you, I cried. I did! I cried like a fucking baby!
My wifeâs life was hanging on by a thread, and I was feeling sorry for myself. I needed to feel useful like I was doing something, but what?
Once my body started to shrivel from the water, I got out and stared at myself in the mirror. Diego was on a hunt.
Sure, he was the Iron Soldier; he was a savage beast, an unstoppable force, but maybe he could have used a berserk at his back.
My biggest fear was that I would lose myself to the violence, and I wouldnât be able to return, but I had to. For Gia.
I dried myself off, got dressed, and shaved for the first time in two months. Once I felt somewhat back to normal, I pulled out my phone and texted Diego. Whether heâd reply or not, who knew?
Kol
Hey man any updates?
Five minutes went by, and I had begun my pace of his room. Funny how a year before, weâd hated each otherâs guts, hadnât even really known the other existed until that night we were forced to meet.
That night, heâd thought I was some random wolf groping his sister, and now look at us.
Partners in crime, best buds; Iâd even have gone as far as to say brothers. Pacing, more pacing, and my phone buzzed.
Diego
yeah I hunted a few rogues down all came up empty but I have a couple of leads I need to follow up on.
Kol
fancy an extra set of eyes and a nose?
Diego
yeah Iâm at my parents cabin up north mom will tell you where. Meet me there tomorrow and stay alert. Trust no one man.
~Trust no one?~
~Shit, what kind of trouble has he gotten into?~ I bolted out of the room toward Friedaâs sanctuary on the top floor.
I needed to get to Diego fast.