The Beast And The Blessed by Ashley Breanne
Chapter 61
Killian’s P.O.V.
She was mesmerizing. The way her body glowed a bright white, similar to the moon was enchanting. But that was before she started screaming, crying for the pain to stop. Before she started scratching her chest open and coughing up blood.
Was it mine or hers?
The audience had been in awe of her, just as I was. I could feel it through our pack bond how hypnotized they were by her ethereal glow. The feeling was quickly washed over by horror. Was my mate going to die in front of the world?
Had it been an attack from our enemies? Was she having a reaction to my blood?
I didn’t have to call for her, Joselin transported next to Natalie, eyeing her with wonder.
“There is so much power.” She mumbled as she tilted her head to the side like a dog who had heard something unusual.
I couldn’t spare her any of my focus. I had just barely caught Natalie as she crumpled to the ground screaming in pain.
“Do something!” I growled, my Lycan coming forward. I pushed down my beast, knowing that it was more urgent that I be present in this state for her.
Joselin stepped forward, but then I felt it. It was barely there, but her bones shook as if they were trying to move…to break. Her scent grew thicker, and my eyes widened as I grabbed Joselin’s wrist before she could take Natalie and me away from here.
“No.”
Joselin hissed as she ripped her arm away. “You just told me to do something. I need to get you both out of here and to safety.”
I just shook my head, my eyes meeting the bloodshot ones of my mate as she gasped, trying to take in air but unable to. “She is trying to shift. She needs the moon.”
Natalie’s eyes darkened at my words, and I knew while she was in agony that she was excited. She had been waiting to shift for years but was never able to. “Baby, I know this hurts, but I need you to listen to me. I need you to try to feel your wolf. Find her. Let her in.” I knew she wanted to listen. She wanted to shift.
But her body was working against her mind, and she let out a scream of pain, sobbing just after. I wasn’t even sure if she could hear me.
The stadium grew louder as the wind whipped through the area, surrounding us in a whirlpool that threatened to take the air right out of our lungs at a moment’s notice.
“Killian,” Joselin muttered, and I glanced up at her to see she was staring down at Natalie still. “She won’t… she needs to get to the infirmary. There is too much. Too much power. She’s not focusing it.”
My eyes narrowed as I looked back down at my mate. She was a wolf. I could smell it. Had I confused her body with my blood, with my strength and power? Was I indirectly killing her?
“She can shift. I can feel it.” I whispered as I gathered her tighter in my arms, her cries growing quieter with my touch. “I can feel it. Stay with me, baby.”
“You’re leaving me no choice,” Joselin muttered, and I growled as she launched on top of us, wrapping her arms around us and transporting us away from the arena.
The air continued to swirl around us until the room stopped spinning, and the infirmary flickered into view. Natalie groaned in pain, her eyes lowering as the cyclone surrounding us dropped, and a wall of dirt and crushed flowers coated the once-clean room.
Flora was the first healer to approach us, and I forced my arms open and let her see my mate. The golden crown clattered loudly to the ground from her head as the healers surrounded us, each of them trying to inspect my mate.
There was a flurry of activity as they gently guided me to rise from my knees and take my mate to a bed. I did as they asked, my eyes never straying from my mate’s as hers remained closed. Her body had given up, or she had given up… The shift would have healed her. Her wolf would have protected her.
Instead, she lay in a hospital bed. I gripped her hand and refused to let go as they worked, feeling the energy flowing through the limb from their magic and efforts. Joselin stayed back by the door, for which I was grateful. While she had done the right thing, there were already too many people around my mate. It had me on edge, and I was glad that she wasn’t pushing to be another person among the many.
She held the dagger in one hand, gripping it tightly, and the chalice in the other. I wasn’t sure when she had gone back for them, but I was grateful that she did. “Was it the shift?” I asked around an hour later as the healers began to walk away one by one, having done all they could do. All they need now was for her to wake up. “Will she not survive the shift?”
Flora was newer to our pack, but she had healed my mate once before and Natalie liked her well enough. It made me trust her over the others. “She is very powerful, but not the way a wolf should be. I believe that your blood in her system is what saved her tonight.”
I nodded slowly, trying to find a solution for the next time her body tried to shift. It could happen at anytime, and I had to be prepared.
“I don’t think it was your blood.” Joselin’s voice called out, and I turned to look at her as she approached. “She has always felt powerful, and she could feel the magic when Heath and Nolan were cursed.”
“A hybrid?” Flora asked, her voice lowering as she glanced around, but the others were too far away to hear. Being healers, they didn’t have the hearing that wolves and Lycans did.
“It’s possible, but one or the other should have come forward years ago. I’ve never heard of both sides staying dormant this long.” My eyes traveled back to my mate. I watched her chest rise and fall with every breath, the scratches healed. While I could hear and see that she was alive, my other hand moved up to grab her wrist, needing to feel the strength of her heartbeat as well.
“I think she may need to go to the Sanctum of Light.” Joselin sounded hesitant, but I knew it was just because the place had always made her feel uneasy. We had explored it a few times as children, and she had refused to go back.
She had said it felt like there were eyes on her while she was in there, and the power she felt was suffocating. To others, the overwhelming concentration of power made everyone believe it was a way for the Goddess to connect with us and us with Her.
We remained silent as we tossed the idea around in our heads. I had never heard of a hybrid having this issue. One side always dominated the other, and eventually, only one side remained. It seemed she needed something to push one side to come forward.
She could have been anything that had or was able to sense magic, and that gave endless possibilities. Fae, witch… maybe she was a siren after all. “After she has a chance to recover, we will go. The sooner, the better.” I agreed, nodding my head once.