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Chapter 13
Meira
“Oh, Meira,” Dušan murmurs, his hands sliding over my shoulders. His attempt to smile comes out crooked and holds a sense of guilt, as if the news was somehow his fault. “This is why we had to find you so quickly. The disease is slowly working through your human body, and your wolf is the only way you’ll survive.”
I read about human illnesses when I once broke into an old library for shelter. The building had been ransacked, but some books still remained. From what I recall, it’s a blood disorder, a cancer of blood cells. It stops the body from fighting bacteria and viruses, and… I know there was other stuff in the book, but I can’t remember the rest.
“Meira,” Dušan says softly.
But as the information sinks through me, the tears fall. I must have done something awful in my previous life to have so much bad luck in this one.
I sob into my hands, and Dušan gathers me into his arms, his chin over my head, his hand rubbing my back. Here he is, still naked like it’s natural, and I’m falling apart. Everything feels surreal. He kisses my brow and my fingers. But all I can think about is if my wolf had just come out, it’d have solved everything.
“Leukemia is what’s been making you immune to the undead, and your wolf side has kept you alive this far.”
I raise my chin and lower my hands while he wipes my tears with his thumbs.
“Your results showed that your human body is starting to break down and…” He licks his lips, seeming to struggle to find his words.
“What is it?” I ask, needing to know exactly what’s going on with me.
Lucien and Bardhyl approach us, one standing on each side of me.
Dušan says in a whisper, “It’s progressing quickly. Within maybe a week or two, it will spread to your organs. It’s why you’ve been vomiting blood, why we need to find a way to bring out your wolf.”
Dread throbs under my skin. It’s one thing to hear I have a disease that might be stopping my wolf from coming out, but now I’m being told I only have two weeks left to live at most. I can’t fathom the news. Here I worried that staying with the Alphas put them in harm’s way, while a bigger danger lurked over me.
I can’t breathe. My knees weaken, threatening to collapse.
As if my illness wants to remind me this is shit is real, a tremendous ache spreads through my whole body, ripping at me as if someone has whipped me.
My legs give out and I cry, hugging my middle. I wrench over, and the pain spews out past my throat, coating the grass with blood. I feel better getting it out of my system, but it doesn’t remove the reality of my shitty situation.
Lucien is at my side, pulling my hair over my shoulders.
Everything is too unbearable now. Numbness crawls through my limbs, and I look from one Alpha to another, each offering me hope. But I sense their fear, too, that it may be too late. How could things have gotten so bad?
I’ve been different my whole life, and I never let it stop me.
When I look up and wipe my mouth with my sleeve, I blink at my three men.
Powerful Alphas here to help me.
They owe me nothing, but they don’t turn away. The burning in my chest lingers, but it’s less painful now.
Every second ticks away in my mind.
Bardhyl offers me a reassuring smile, and Lucien takes off his jacket and hands it to me to wear while Dušan dresses himself. Then he stretches out a hand to me.
“Let’s go home.”
I doubt anything will be the same again. How can it be? I tried to go back to the way things were, believing I was doing the right thing. But I was wrong.
So now, I’ll take these wolves’ guidance and try it their way. I slide my arms into Lucien’s black leather jacket. It floods me with warmth, his wolf scent like a reassuring blanket cocooning me. It falls to my thighs and keeps the cold at bay. Then I place my hand in Dušan’s.
“I’m ready,” I admit. Ready to survive. After all, there are two options in front of me, right? The one where I continue following Mama’s instructions to keep running, to not trust anyone, to use what I have to continue living. Then there is the one where I place my trust in these stubborn, dominating Alphas who won’t give up on me. Who promise me a new world.
Me.
