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Kissing her forehead, I look back toward the door and see Hollis standing there watching and listening to us. His expression is broken, and his shoulders are curled in attempting to look smaller than the linebacker build he has. Motioning to him, he slowly approaches the bed on the opposite side of me.
“Thank you for carrying me.” Her voice is but a whisper as exhaustion threatens to drag her under.
Pressing his lips to her forehead, he squeezes his eyes shut. “I will carry you till the end of my days if I need to. If it’s your desire, it shall be done.” Reverently, the words fall from his lips as her eyes slowly close to hearing them. In a last effort, Bella reaches out and grabs his hand before sleep pulls her under.
Moving quickly to the other side of the bed, I slide the chair into position for him to sit with her for the duration. Stepping out of the room, I close the door and come face to face with his parents and brothers. “Bella will make it; she just needs rest. Hollis is with her now.” I glance over my shoulder at him sitting there holding her hand like it was the greatest thing ever.
“The surgeon told us how close he was to losing her. She’s a fighter,” Bethane says as she moves past me to look through the window. “He will never forgive himself for not biting her back immediately. He’s been beating himself up since the attack.” The queen sobs sympathetically for her son’s pain and regret.
Resting my hand on the queen’s shoulder, I walk away down the hallway and text my parents about what’s happening. My parents offer to come here immediately to be by our side through this total fiasco. The elders have summoned the council, the attack on Bella as the ruling Queen of the Shadow Court is an act of war. Flint is begging us to head to his kingdom next. He feels his kingdom and his wolves are better equipped to protect Bella.
Pacing back and forth, I hate to admit it. Flint is right. His pack is the perfect place to protect Bella. His wolves can manipulate and create fire out of thin air. The Fae can combat air, but fire? Oh, no, it’s the one element the forest Fae are weak against. I send the one message I’ve been dreading sending. Stepping over the boundaries that I set upon myself, I text Flint and accept his invitation.
The smugness in his reply makes my fur stand on end. A growl escapes my lips as I try not to crush the phone that’s in my hand. My canines lengthen, and I feel the wolf under the surface. He’s clawing at my ribcage, trying to get out. It feels almost as if he’s ripping me apart. Agreeing with Flint feels like the ultimate betrayal to Belladonna. But what choice do I have?
My wolf rips free and stalks the halls of the infirmary on high alert. I have never felt so much anger burning through my veins. Looking down briefly, I notice my paws have changed. They seem larger, more aggressive than before. Padding down the hallway to the metal doors, I look at my reflection. My wolf is almost as large as Bella’s. The shock of the reality of it all makes me sit down.
I hear a gasp behind me, and I turn to face it. Idris is standing there with his hands covering his mouth. “The legends are true. A spirit alpha can even the playing field between mates. She gave you an increased size to match Hollis having bit him. She evened out the size between you two,” Idris says as he looks my wolf over. “I wonder what she will do to Hollis once he completes the bond.”
Shifting back, I look back at my reflection, then back at Idris. Even my human form has bulked up, especially now that she needs me most. “It’s going to be a while before she’s strong enough to finish it.” Looking back toward the door that Bella is behind, then back to Idris. “I feel like I’ve betrayed her. I made the call to go to Flint’s pack next.” Roughly, I run my hands through my hair, trying to slow my racing mind.
“It’s not betrayal. You did what was best for your mate’s safety. She needs to come into her full power to protect the lands and the people.” He paces the hallway, then stops and turns to face me. “A Spirit Wolf can not only take life, but give life back to the dying.” The information he drops in my lap is something new to me. Something I didn’t know my mate could do.
It takes several moments for me to digest the information he’s relayed to me, and it’s clear. “We protect Belladonna, no matter what happens. She’s too important to our species.” Idris nods, agreeing with me as we walk back toward Bella’s room. We stand outside of her room looking in. Hollis is resting his head upon the bed next to Bella. Her fingers are tangled in his natural hair. I almost want to laugh at the disaster his well-manicured waves are in. He takes great pride in his looks, especially in his hair.
“The things we do for love,” Idris says as he pulls me away from the door and down the hall.
Chapter19
Hollis
My mate,my beloved mate, lays here weakened because the Fae deemed her too dangerous to live. Her fingers are threaded through my waves, setting my natural locks free from the ton of gel I had in them. I know it’s late and I know I should have done it sooner. Gingerly, I pull Bella to sit up and cradle her against my chest. Her shoulder under me is bare, clear of any other bite marks. Mates can share each other’s strengths and life force. My power and strength will become hers.
Slowly, my canines break through my gums, and I press my teeth to her flesh. I hesitate for only a moment, remembering my previous hesitation was the reason we are where we are currently. Clamping down my jaw, my canines break through her skin and the copper tang of her blood fills my mouth. She reacts almost immediately as she wraps her arms tighter around me, holding on as if I am her lifeline. Immense pain hits as her canines sink into my shoulder.
The cycle of power moves between us, and she tightens her grip with her teeth. I open my eyes to see Kaedyn moving toward us and onto the other side. He renews his bite on her opposite shoulder and the power doubles. I can feel Bella getting stronger by the moment the longer Kaedyn and I hold her in our teeth.
The rumble from her beast is soothing. It gives me hope that what we are doing is the right thing and that it will help her immensely in the long run. She lulls her head back and lays it against Kaedyn’s shoulder as her hands stroke my sides, comforting me while we hold her in our grip. Her breathing slowly evens out and her arms fall to her sides, and she’s asleep again. Carefully, Kaedyn and I release our grip and lick the wounds that we had just created, only to watch them heal. “Do you know what this means, Hollis?” Kaedyn asks with an excitement in his voice I haven’t heard in a while.
“No man, remember, this is the first time I’ve bitten someone.” He motions to our bite marks, and they turned into little silver scars.
“She’s gonna be okay, man,” Kaedyn says with a smile. “When she wakes up this next time, she’s gonna be starving. We need to go find food for her.” I hear the words that are coming out of his mouth, but I cannot get myself to move from her side.
“Nah dude, you need to go get the food. I’m gonna stay here with her. My wolf won’t let me leave.” Hopefully, he understands the torment that I’m in at the moment. A part of me feels that this is my fault because I didn’t bite her when she bit me. But the other part of me knows that this was an attack by the Fae to end her bloodline.
Kaedyn looks between Bella and me, then nods in agreement that one of us should stay with her. He kisses her forehead gently, whispers something in her ear, and then walks away. I’ve put myself on self-imposed guard duty to make sure that my mate remains safe and sound until she’s back to her old self. I feel like such a fool for not returning her bite and that thought itself haunts me. It probably will haunt me for the rest of my days. I thought mating bites were only exchanged in private. The fact that she claimed me in front of all the other females should have told me otherwise. I made the mistake of allowing everybody to congratulate me and touch me without returning the bite to her. I guess she felt it was like a rejection. It honestly wasn’t. It was just my naïve stupidity.
I sit beside Bella, gently using my fingers to remove the tangles from her long obsidian tresses. After all, I want her to wake up feeling beautiful and not be concerned about appearances. Kaedyn returns much faster than expected, wheeling a cart full of different meats and desserts. We watch Bella’s nose twitch as the tray gets closer to her bed. Her eyes suddenly pop open and she looks at the tray beside her. A smile graces her sanguine lips as she rolls over to pick at the different delicacies that Kaedyn has brought her. Part of me now feels like a fool for not providing for my mate. But then I have to remember I was providing security for her; watching over her while she slept. I can’t believe it’s been over thirty-six hours since the attack. It seems like it was just a few hours ago and not almost a day and a half.
Bella gorges herself mostly on the meats and on the occasional sweet dessert. She giggles softly when Kaedyn boops her nose and put some whipped cream on it. I laugh, watching the two of them, and then she turns to look at me. She shoves something in my mouth mid-laugh. I guess the look of shock on my face must have been funny to her. Because she laughs hysterically, watching me try to process what just happened. It’s not that I don’t trust my mate. I’m just not used to people feeding me.
So I carefully chew what she put in my mouth and realize that it’s a nice bloody cut of roast beef. A deep, appreciative groan escapes my lips and Bella’s eyes dilate. The most important part of the mating still has yet to happen, and she’s responding to the sounds I make. I know she’s not strong enough yet, but then again, the way we just cycled power through her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t throw me down and take advantage of me completely, because at this point I will not fight her. I don’t wish to hurt her. I’m damn close to three hundred pounds and she’s maybe a buck seventy, maybe a buck eighty at most.
Her hand reaches out and caresses my cheek as she smiles. “What’s my gentle giant thinking about?” I turn and kiss her palm and watch her reaction. It’s nothing short of pure bliss.
“Well, my queen,” I say with a sly smirk, trying to be as playful as possible. “We have some unfinished business to attend to.” She reaches out and runs her fingers down my chest between my pecks, then down to the hard planes of my stomach.
“Yes, yes, we do.” She giggles again, and it’s music to my ears, even though the way she’s touching me is making my cock hard as a rock.
