Chapter Eleven

Christopher

My beast and I are exhausted. I have killed six lycans that were hunting Celina. I haven’t even found her, and that’s making me relax a little. If I can’t find her, no one else has. Right? I back away from the corpse of the sixth rogue; my beast struggling against me to take full control. He wants to go find our mate. I’d rather protect her, and remain in good standing with the Beast Council. She will be wearing my mark after this primitive event; I will make sure of that.

Eventually, I find the scent of daisies and honied cinnamon; immediately making my mouth water and drawing my beast forward. My heart feels like it’s being squeezed for a moment, realizing I also smell her blood. I follow it and find three bodies in a field filled with daisies. One of them is a lycan. The man has black hair and a sharp jawline. To a female, he could be considered handsome. None of these three are rogue, but he does smell like my Celina. I carefully smell him and growl. Celina’s blood is on one of his nails. He scratched her. Judging by the wounds he wears, Celina got more than enough revenge.

I squat next to him. So, this is Celina’s stalker. Rajin wants to rip out his throat, but I restrain him. I wish I didn’t have to. If I did kill him, Celina would be blamed and be in a lot of trouble with the Council. She has enough going on with them, so I’m not going to make it worse for her.

I follow her trail. It’s easier to find now since she wears her ex’s blood. I’ll have to correct that when this is over. While following it, I find the four others that she destroyed. She’s walking wide, never staying in one direction for long; making it harder to follow her and drastically slowing me down; which is frustrating my beast. We both understand we can’t get involved with this barbaric event, but we can protect her and that is our goal.

A pained cry sounds out, immediately capturing my attention. It’s not Celina, but it might be a rogue attack. Another cry of pain puts me in motion. I’m still pretty far out and I hope I can get there fast enough.

When I get there, I find Celina breaking the neck of a black lycan, another silver lycan flitting towards her; unnoticed by her. He slams her on top of the dead lycan, making Rajin roar in anger; forcibly taking over me in our absolute fury. My mind blackens when my beast overpowers me, and I cannot understand anything in our body other than pure rage.

My senses return after a few moments. I see red, my thoughts consumed by torturous ways to destroy this pathetic excuse for wasted space. I know this beast, and I’ll gladly rip out Rue’s throat. This traitor is an advisor on the Board of Relations, specifically between werewolves and vampires. I count his breaths, picking the number that’s going to be his last. I can’t even think clearly. All I want is his blood.

I let out a loud growl, making Rue pause. He wasn’t expecting to see me here. That much is evident in the way his body is trembling. In a flash, I am on top of him. My hand wraps around his throat and I use my other foreclaws to rake down his face; mercilessly shredding through his skin and bone while he lets out blood-curdling screams. His blood rolls down my wrist as he begs for forgiveness. Granting his wish, in one swift move of mercy, I stab my hand through his chest; piercing his barely beating heart. His eyes fade out as I yank my hand out.

Rajin howls loudly, signaling his win while I take over. I look over to see Celina still lying on her kill and its massive puddle of blood. She’s not shifted. My heart drops and my lungs freeze. Rajin is the first to respond, running straight over to her. I shift our body back to human, so I don’t accidentally hurt her. I roll her over, horrified to find burns covering her mouth, half of her face, and anywhere else the scent of the black lycan’s blood touches her; which appears to be from head to toe since she was pushed into her fresh kill. I growl out loud, finally recognizing the strong acidic smell of Wolfsbane.

Unnerved, from seeing her like this, I pick her up and start racing toward the infirmary. I reach the King’s house within minutes and force my way through hundreds of recently marked wolves; aware that with every moment that passes, her burns are worsening. Several staggard wolves begin yelling and calling for the Alpha King, panicking when they see Celina unconscious and covered in blood. A few of the wolves who quickly recovered from their surprise run in front of me, calling for the pack doctor.

When the helpful wolves push open the infirmary doors, I see Dr. Benson racing toward us. “What the hell happened?” She’s visibly shaken when she sees the Alpha Princess in such a dire state; I am too.

“Wolfsbane,” I inform her, setting Celina gently on a bed. “She killed a lycan, and his blood was laced with it.”

There are several gasps and murmurs behind me while Benson starts wiping the blood from Celina. “Get them out of here. Keep her father out when he gets here.”

“Celina,” Marcus yells, entering the room; his exploding aura sends every non-medical staff, or patient, out of there.

Regretfully I turn around and put my hands on Marcus’s chest. “We have to let Dr. Benson work,” I explain while I force Marcus back out of the room. I close the doors while still restraining her father.

Marcus growls, trying to get past me, but I hold firm. “Let her work,” I tell him, finally letting him go as I push him away. My mind is panicking as well, but I have to keep her father calm. I need to keep Dr. Benson unbothered so she can focus all her attention on healing my Celina.

Marcus growls and starts pacing while pulling at his hair. “What happened to her,” he demands from me.

I force myself to remain calm, but I want nothing more than death brought to every single rogue involved with these attacks. “I found her killing a rogue lycan. She was ambushed from behind by another one, while she was finishing her kill. He was going to claim her, so I had to intervene before he could mark her. After I finished that sorry excuse for a lycan, I found her unshifted and laying motionless in her kill’s blood. Where ever the blood touched, she was severely burned. The burns were from Wolfsbane, and the rogue she had killed reeked of it.”

“Wolfsbane,” Marcus growls, his eyes flashing silver; his anger palpable. “Why the hell would they do that?

“My guess was to weaken your daughter,” Father says, walking into view. “They intended to mark her wolf, and capture her when she was human. Marking her wolf is easier. It’ll start the mate bond, but it won’t be enough to subdue the human side of her, so they’d have to be able to restrain her until she submits to them.”

My father is right. Just because you marked the human side, doesn’t mean they’ll agree to the mate bond. When they submit and accept the mark, that’s when the mate bond is sealed. Marking her wolf will anchor the mate bond, and make it harder to fight the bond. It will still only solidify after the bond has been accepted by her human half.

“Subdue,” Marcus heatedly yells. “They were trying to take my daughter?”

The hospital doors slam open at that point, startling everyone. Dr. Benson fixes Marcus with an irritated glare. “King Marcus, I understand what happened to your daughter is upsetting, but I’m ordering you to keep it down. I have a hospital ward filled with injured wolves from the Claiming. Celina is going to be okay, but she has a long recovery. I have her sedated, for now, so none of this is helping. I will contact you the moment she is awake. Now leave.”

“Sedated for burns,” my father asks while he grips Marcus’s shoulder to restrain him.

Almost unwillingly, Benson answers, “She’s also suffering from pulmonary edema; which is fluid in her lungs. It appears during her attack, she had massive amounts of Wolfsbane in her mouth, which caused blistering in her mouth and her airway. She’s on a respirator right now, until her body can heal itself. She also has bite marks on her neck and scratches all over her body. She’s strong so all she needs is some time. I also have her on antibiotics in case an infection develops.”

“Respirator?” Marcus demands; while I begin to worry. I didn’t think she was in that bad of shape. Then again, she wasn’t moving when I found her. Fear and anxiety start to spread through me. What if she dies before I tell her that she’s my mate? I start berating myself. I should have told her before the ceremony. I always play it too safe with matters that involve the council. I should have claimed her right there and then when I found out and dealt with the repercussions; even if it did end up dethroning me. Even if they ordered my death, it would have been too late for her to participate in that infernal Claiming. Celina should have never been out there. She’s my mate. Mine. No one else’s. I swear to the Goddess that if she survives this, I will do everything in my power to keep her safe.

Marcus bares his teeth at Dr. Benson. “Let me see my daughter, Zoey. Now.”

“Alpha, go,” Benson growls, spreading her arms to block both doors, showing her teeth as well. She may be his subordinate, but she values her patients over her leader.

“Zoey,” Marcus growls while my father physically restrains him.

She growls at him, fixing him with an impenetrable stare. She knows for a damn fact that if he used his aura on her, she’d be forced to submit, but she’s still fighting him. “If you want to do something productive, I’d suggest you find out who marked her wolf. If they mark her in her human form, it will help her heal.”

“Marked?” Marcus shrieks, causing the walls to shake as his aura pulls out. Benson bares her neck; including every other lower wolf in the vicinity.

“Enough,” my father growls, pulling Marcus, “to your office, now.”

I stand there in complete shock while dread and fury battle for control. Someone got to Celina during that attack? My Celina? Mine! No one else’s. I will find who bit her and skin him until every nerve in his body is exposed before destroying him slowly and painfully.

Rajin smirks in my head, amused by anger. Why is he so much calmer than he has ever been; especially since realizing Celina is our mate? Why isn’t he going insane and trying to take control? This should be devastating for him. It should have also hurt us the moment someone else marked our mate. Oh shit!

My beast chuckles while my father gently pulls at Alpha Marcus. “Now Marcus. We need to evaluate the situation away from prying wolves. Christopher, get some clothes on, get your brother, and meet us in the Alpha King’s office.”