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His eyes were wild as he held her limp frame against him, trembling, mad with terror.
“ROOK!”I tried again, knowing I needed to reach her.
Blood matted her hair.
She wasn’t moving.
She wasn’t—
“Ebony!” Rook choked, eyes finally shifting as Ebony crashed to our side. “She’s gone!” Rook’s voice was rough. His whole body was shivering with exhaustion. “I… Why was she here?” Rook asked, voice cracking. “I don’t… I don’t understand. I was trying to…” His expression broke, desperate eyes finding mine. “Everything I do… it… it hurts her. I thought this… I just wanted to do something right. She wasn’t supposed to g-get hurt.”
“It’s not your fault.” It wasn’t.
It was mine. All of ours. Hers.What had she been thinking—climbing into the cage?
“Why… why was she here?”
The medics were trying to get close, but Rook’s grip tightened on her if anyone who wasn’t pack got near.
“Rook, look at me,” Ebony said firmly. “We need to get her help.” Someone had passed him a monitor, and he was slipping it onto Vex’s finger.
“I c-can’t… I can’t hurt her again. I’ve already hurt her so much, Ebony. I just wanted to do something that would protect her. From m-my parents. From me. To make her see maybe I’m not… I’m not like her monsters. That she doesn’t h-have to be afraid…”
All of us were glancing down to read the monitor. Something in my chest loosened as I saw the numbers pop up on the screen, showing pulse and sats. “Rook,” Ebony said, voice eerily calm. “She’s going to be okay. It’s a head wound. They bleed a lot, but you have to let her go.”
Rook just stared at him, uncomprehending, grip still a vice.
“I always disappointed my parents… you know.” His eyes found Love. “And then with you, with the pack, it was different. Until she came, and then you… you saw the truth. And y-you’re all…”
“Hey, it’s fine, mate. You’re going to be fine—”
“I know you all think I’m worthless,” he whispered, tears flooding his cheeks. “And now my family is going to try and break her l-like they b-broke me. And I j-just wanted to… to do something good for her… Just… once.”
“This wasn’t on you,” Love said firmly.
“Rook,” I whispered. “You have to let her go. Please. No one can help her like this.”
The lighting in here was odd. I glanced up, just for a second, to see why. Black curtains had tumbled down the cage walls.
Privacy curtains… But… no.
They did that when…
A low growl slipped from my chest.
No.
She wasn’t dead.
She wasn’t.
The monitor was showing life. Her pulse was right there. Another thing was being passed to Ebony, who was closest to Rook.
“Thirty seconds,” a voice said, quiet enough for Rook not to hear. “Give it to him, and he’ll be out in thirty. Then we can treat them.”
“I’m going to give you this, okay?” Ebony was saying. “It’s for her. If I give you this injection, she’ll be okay, alright?”
Rook stared at him, then finally nodded.
