Page 5 of Silence Falls a New Alpha
"It's wolfsbane, we have to get him to the infirmary now or he won't make it." Derrick said his voice was cold and shaky as he stumbled over his words.
I quickly grabbed Damian and ran from his office to the other end of the mansion and down the stairs into the medical wing. Katie and Derrick were chasing after me, but I stayed decently ahead of them. I pushed through the exhaustion because Damian meant more than me. His living meant more than me hurting myself pushing this hard.
Once I laid Damian on the table, Derrick was searching through the drawers looking for the antidote to wolf's bane. Derrick was moving so fast or was it that his hands were shaking too bad. We had to hurry because if not it would spread to the alpha's heart and kill him. Wolf's bane must be cured and can leave lasting effects even after being cured. Effects that would ruin Damian as a strong alpha. Why are rogues using this, of all things? Humans, sure, but our kind is sick, I thought to myself. I shifted my gaze to Katie, she was broken. Her father lay before her barely breathing, bleeding out, and unconscious. My heart was beginning to break, the woman I love could lose her father and it's all my fault. I went to her to attempt to comfort her, but I was covered in her father’s blood.
Katie's POV
I heard the screams and smelled blood. Rushing down the stairs in my almost see-through silver silk nightgown, my blonde hair was a chaotic mess, and my exhausted teal eyes searched all around. I wandered down the halls towards the bone-chilling screams. It was as if someone was dead in the mansion, but who? My heart began to race as I found my pace picking up. The hunters were gone with my father and Alexander, and this had to take place on my watch. An uneasy feeling rushed over me, what if it was one of them?
I didn’t realize that I was headed to my father’s office until I saw him lying there on the floor bleeding out. He was not healing from the stab wound like he normally would. Why wasn't he healing? I looked at my father and started to cry, please I can't lose you too my thoughts were racing. Don’t take my father you already took my mother I prayed to the only god I knew, begging even.
Alexander was beside him trying to get him warm while I was frozen. I fell to my knees and screamed, unable to even move. The terror took over and locked me into a paralyzed state. I tried but my body wouldn't do anything but cry as my heart raced as if it would burst from my chest.
Don't leave me all alone father I called out to him telepathically.
Chills sent shockwaves down my spine as I thought about him dying before my eyes as my mother did all those years ago. He may not have been the best father since her death, but he was still my father. Alexander looked at me with a hurt I was all too familiar with. He was covered in my father’s blood and was actively trying to stop the bleeding with pressure. Derrick, our pack’s doctor ran into the room with Nick behind him and started looking at my father’s wound, it's still not healing. I knew this was it, this was how I would lose my last living parent.
Derrick was six foot three with dull hazel eyes and almost matte black hair. His olive skin always looked rough and not well taken care of. He was athletically built like most of the pack, but he has no scars covering the majority of his body. His voice is a heavenly country-boy accent.
"It's wolfsbane." Derrick says shakily. That's why he isn't healing. This isn’t good, wolf’s bane is an insanely strong poison. Why would anyone have this?
"Save him!" I screamed a glass-shattering scream as Alexander lifted my father and ran to the infirmary so that Derrick could treat him. I ran after them as close as I could, my legs carrying me in a full sprint. I didn’t care that I was in a nightgown and had no shoes. My bare feet slammed into the cold marble floors below me. Nothing will stop me from being by my father’s side, not even Alexander himself I told myself as I felt a pain growing in my chest. This may be my last time seeing him, and it could be my breaking point.
I finally get to the infirmary after what feels like forever. My mind was all over the place and my heart rapidly beat in my chest as if it was trying to escape. The doors were open, and I could hear voices shouting at each other, but I was locked on the table before me. It had blood dripping into the floor from where my father’s blood escaped his almost lifeless body. My father laid there with his chest moving barely with each breath he took. His complexion was fading. I tried to go to his side as if his body called me, that’s when I stepped into his pooling blood on the floor and fell. I tried to stop myself and I failed as his blood got all over my hands and legs. Shaking, I tried to stand until I was at eye level with his body as Alexander turned around to the sound of my fall.
Fear overtook me as I looked at my father and collapsed to my knees with my father's blood on my hands. I stared at the blood running through my fingers and sobbed. It was still slightly warm going on cold, thick but not too thick. Please I'm almost eighteen, please, don't take my father from me. I'm not sure how long has passed but Alexander rushes to me. He was always by my father’s side…how could he let this happen? He grabs me and holds me tight in his arms and I try to push away. I didn’t want to look at him right now, I wanted space.
"He's going to be ok.” He tries so hard to reassure me. “These rogues will pay for what they have done."
I look down at my nightgown. It was stained and blood from the waist down and tears on the chest. My nightgown was so sheer now, every curve of my body could be seen almost perfectly.Suddenly, I heard a monstrous growl escape Alexander. I hadn’t noticed pack members had gathered near the infirmary because of their alpha being hurt. Oh no, they will all see me like this-my body. Alexander growled yet again this time louder than the first, he made it known any pack members nearby needed to leave.
My father’s bodyguards and others were standing there and quickly left the area. I know they meant well but I didn’t want to be seen like this. I didn’t want my father to be seen in such a weak state. I felt Alexander’s eyes looking me up and down in my mess of a sheer nightgown. Quickly, he scooped me into his arms and pressed me against his chest to keep me hidden from the others. His warmth felt like everything I needed at that moment. Something about it was comforting as if there wasn’t a worry in the world. A sigh escaped me as I glanced up at his face, most of my view was his jawline. Was he always this warm I thought to myself, Alexander has never held me before?
He carried me upstairs to my room and waited outside in the hall for me to change. He was guarding my room so no random pack member could approach me. I’m sure they all thought my father was dead, with the amount of blood everywhere who wouldn’t? I rushed into the bathroom and threw up; I'm covered in my father’s blood and the sight of me possibly losing him had me nauseated. I wash the blood off me as thoughts of his motionless body flood my head. I felt my face getting warm almost as if it was set on fire as the tears burst out. I couldn’t stop them no matter how hard I tried. A knock on my door made me snap from the nightmare I felt trapped in, it was Alexander.
I quickly grabbed a pair of ash gray sweatpants and a baggy loose-fitting black t-shirt. My complexion had returned from its ghost-white state, but my eyes were bloodshot from crying so hard. I was a complete mess after seeing my father and a part of me was still panicking while the other knew Derrick would save him, he had to save him. I looked as Alexander had walked in, he stood there with his forest green eyes staring into mine. The hurt look on his face as his best friend almost died.
I could see his fist clenched into a ball as he fought back the tears he so desperately wanted to release. Alexander rushed to me and threw his arms around me; his embrace was almost intoxicating even during this situation. It felt so right even at this moment to be trapped in his arms.
"Katie-" He tried to talk but his voice broke. "I'm sorry I should have-" I pulled away from him and shook my head. I wanted to resent him, but his touch stopped me from that. I knew he wouldn’t purposely allow this to happen to my father and yet my mind still blamed him.
"Alex, I know you did your best." I said as I was sobbing. I hated being this emotional, but I was terrified that my father would leave me.
I walked to the door, and he followed as I headed back to the infirmary, we didn't speak the entire way back. The silence was deafening between us, speaking louder than words ever could. I wasn't prepared for what was to come. Who would be?
"He is stable but in a coma. He lost a lot of blood ma'am and I'm not sure how long his recovery will take." Derrick tells me with worry in his eyes.
It was as if he doubted my father would recover at all.
"He will be ok though." He tried reassuring me and I fought back tears, I was done crying.
I needed to be strong for my father. Alexander pulled me into his arms, his tight embrace like a shield protecting me as I looked at Derrick. My knight in shining armor if you would.
"Please do everything you can. When can I see him?" My voice was shaky, but I wanted to see my father. No, I needed to see my father. Derrick nodded and led me to his bed in the back room of the infirmary.
He was locked away out of sight to stop noisy pack members from seeing him. He was laying on a table, IVs, and cables all over. His blood was all over the floor. He started bleeding again during the move and Derrick tried to clean it after the bleeding stopped. He had a couple of bags of blood being pumped into him. This was the furthest thing from good.
He would wince in pain every so often making my heartache even more. He was suffering. His side looked awful from the dagger wound and was stitched together but it will scar badly due to the wolfsbane. The one thing that anyone can almost certainly kill us with was almost gone from his system, but he wouldn’t heal correctly from this attack. I sat down beside him on an uncomfortable blue plastic chair and held his hand in mine. His rough calloused hand was so cold it was as if he was already gone.
