CHAPTER 18
2466 Words
COLE.
I could swear I heard my heart shatter to a million pieces when I heard Mia's scream.
I didn't even think of the consequences of probably walking into a damning situation unarmed. All I could think about was making sure Mia was okay.
My beast thrummed within my flesh and threatened to make his presence known any moment from now.
I could hear the steady patter of Grand pa Zach's feet as he walked in the opposite direction, probably to alert the rest of the guys.
I came to a halt by the pool, my wolf eyes scanning the darkness, in search of my mate
What happened to the lights anyways? The fine hairs on the back of my neck rose and a flicker of unease swept through by entire frame.
"Mia. Mia, baby, where are you?"
Then I picked up something, a slight sound, just by the pool. A sound my human ears probably would have never dictated.
I didn't even think, I ran to the pool, all the way praying to whoever was listening that she was okay.
If anything happened to her— no, I couldn't think about that, not now.
I stood at the edge of the pool, my eyes scanning the dark depths.
Worst of all, I couldn't dictate her scent anywhere.
This meant that if she was here, her scent was probably masked by something.
I stilled. Another sound had just come from the pool. It sounded like a gurgle this time.
I jumped into the pool without a second thought, just as Marjorie and my brothers arrived.
I couldn't scent her, but I could feel her.
Damn, I could probably feel the little minx in a room filled with a million people.
I sensed her heartbeat immediately when I stepped in the pool. It was weak, it was faint but it was there.
With a silent prayer, I dived into the dark depths, using my wolf eyes to search out my woman in the dark.
I combed the entire length of the damn pool. Where was she? Where are you, baby?
I could still feel the faint thrum of her pulse and it was coming from the other end of the pool.
I quickened my strokes and let out a roar of relief when my hands encountered her soft, wet body.
I pulled her in my arms and made short work to the surface, laying her gently on the tiled edge of the pool.
She was immediately surrounded by her nearly hysterical sister and a disgruntled Marjorie.
Something was wrong.
I could feel it in my guts. My hands itched the way it did when I was about to deal with something bad...and messy.
That's when I noticed the blood pooling fast beneath Mia's body.
She was hurt. My mate was hurt.
I let out an angry roar, kneeling by her side to check the extent of the damage, only to be pushed away by a still upset and now sobbing Maria.
"Stay the hell away from her!"
She screamed, holding her sister's unmoving body in her arms
Why wasn't she moving and why was there so much blood?
"This all happened because of you! Everything is all your fault."
She wiped her cheeks angrily.
"You better stay away from my sister from now on or I swear to God..."
She was interrupted by Marjorie, who was trying to perform some healing spell on Mia's arm.
What Maria said sent a pang of regret through my chest, coupled with a little bit of hurt.
Why did I let her outside so late at night? If something happened to her, I would be cold forever.
And I didn't even want to imagine a world without her f*****g stubborn streak and soft eyes.
I was f****d.
But Maria was wrong. I'll never stay away from Mia.
She was f*****g mine. She belonged to me, damnit.
"Marjorie, what's wrong with her?"
Callaway finally asked.
Marjorie looked up at me, her eyes brimming with tears and guilt.
"Marjorie..." I said in a warning tone.
"Is there anything you want to tell us?"
Even Maria had stopped her sobs, hiccuping softly now.
Marjorie still tried frantically to stop Mia's bleeding. The blood had slowed to steady drops now. Thank f**k.
"She didn't want you to find out."
Her voice was so soft, I almost didn't hear her.
"What was that?"
"She didn't want you to find out, Cole, b-but Marjorie was shot today, when she left the house with Grandpa."
Maria let out a high pitched shriek. Grandpa bellowed,
"Shot? How? I didn't scent any blood on the young lass."
"You were still in shock, Grandpa. Our sense of smell shuts down when shock's involved."
"Could've fooled me." Grandpa didn't sound appeased.
While this was going on, I could swear my heart had frozen somewhere along the line.
All I could see were my fingers as I grabbed Mia's arm when I'd questioned earlier.
My chest constricted, this feeling was strange. This feeling was guilt.
But something just didn't add up,
"I didn't notice any bruises or blood when I talked to her earlier. How is it possible that she was shot?"
"She had me perform a cloaking spell to hide the wounds, just until she could get medical attention. She did not want you to be more upset than you already were about Grandpa."
Fuck.
Mia had stopped bleeding by now and her heartbeat, though still faint, was better than before.
When she survived this, because I swear on everything's that holy that she will, we were going to have a very long talk.
I was ready to f*****g grovel, if that was what it would take to get her to open up to me.
I caused this, I did this. I brought The Poison King and his minions into her life, now they hurt her.
Hot fury swept through my body. I was going to destroy every single last one of them. I will give his little mistress to the rogue werewolves to do as they pleased, I will tear his sniper apart, from limb to f*****g limb.
Then I'll come for him, and I'll burn his f*****g empire to the ground.
No one's ever messed with what's mine and left unscathed. And he hurt what was mine.
"He's a dead man."
I looked up as Eli spoke, realising he'd come to stand beside me.
"He hurt Mia."
I could barely control the fury that leaked from my voice.
Eli gave me a single pat on the shoulder, his wolf eyes blazing.
"Like I said, he's a dead man walking."
I nodded.
I knew we had to plan, strategize on how we were going to keep our family safe from the The Poison that threatened to wipe it out, and the rogue werewolves as well but I couldn't move.
Mia hadn't opened her eyes yet but Marjorie was working frantically to staunch her bleeding and eject most of the pool water from her system.
A semblance of colour had already started returning to her cheeks and I could feel the panic and rush of adrenaline slowly begin to ebb away.
But I knew I would never be able to settle completely if I wasn't convinced that my woman was completely okay.
I walked towards them and crouched beside Marjorie. Mia's nasty looking wound sent another rough pang across my chest, I was almost tempted to rub my palm across my chest, to soothe the pain I was feeling.
"How's it looking, Marj?"
She looked up at me briefly, before going back to patching the hole in Mia's arm, concentration and guilt tightening her features.
"It's looking good so far. I've been able to stop the bleeding completely. I just need to cover up the wound, you know, to prevent any forms of infection."
That was good.
I looked up to find Maria still holding her sister tightly in her arms, her eyes shut tight and lips moving.
She was probably saying a prayer for her.
Well, I couldn't do that, but I could give her revenge and the heads of every single last person that have ever dared to lay a violent finger on her— the unknown fuckers from her still secret past included.
I draped my arm across Maria's shoulders and her eyes flew open, piercing me with angry blue depths.
"What are you still doing here? I told you to stay away from my sister."
I scratched my chin, trying to curb my annoyance at those words.
"Look, kiddo, if you ask me to burn down the entire world and find your enemies, I'll gladly do that. If you order me to bring you the severed limbs of the people that hurt your sister, I would do that. But do not ask me to stay away from her. That is not going to be even remotely possible."
She huffed and looked away, trying to hide the tears that filled her eyes.
"I'll just have to take my sister away from here then, we'll run away again. We've always done that in the past anyways, it's no big deal as long as she's safe."
I tried not to show how much fury Maria's words sent through my body, but I guess when it came to this woman, I never did anything half ass.
My voice ended up coming out low, and threatening.
"You will not take Mia anywhere, do you f*****g understand me? It's not safe out there. For both of you. You will both stay here from now on, where I'll be able to keep an eye on you." On her.
Maria gave a sarcastic sigh,
"Yeah, you did a very good job of keeping an eye on her when some i***t shot her then another i***t pushed her into the pool, in your own house."
Her voice rose,
"I do not believe for one second that my sister and I are safe here. You may even be working for the rogue werewolves for all I know. My parents always told us never to trust anyone from your species, but Mia's always got a soft heart, hasn't she?"
I gripped the edge of the pool tightly to prevent my self from lashing out. How long has she harboured such disgusting thoughts about us? Did Mia think so too.
Of course she did, she barely trusted me with her secrets.
Thankfully, Marjorie stepped in.
"Maria, sweetie, we would never, ever hurt you. We're here to protect you. What Cole meant to say was that it would be a lot easier to look out for you if you're within the vicinity. Please do not think of running away, sweetie. Your sister's weak and injured. If some rogue werewolf or The Poison King himself were to come after you, you wouldn't make it very far. And I'm sure you do not want Mia to be hurt more than she's already been. Think of her, Maria. You both will be safe here, I promise you that."
Maria looked up at Marjorie with tear filled eyes.
"You promise?" she whispered.
"Ofcourse, I promise. Now, we have to get Mia inside, it's getting cold and the healing spell I've cast needs a warm place to become effective."
I immediately stepped up and scooped Mia's cold body in my arms. She was so cold. So f*****g cold, I doubted if she will ever get warm.
But that was not an option. Mia would recover, she had to. If she thought she could escape me with death, I'll kill all her enemies then follow her to depths of heaven or hell. I couldn't care less, so long as she was there.
I carried her into the house, upstairs to my suite. Maria didn't know that this was my personal room, but she didn't have to— right now. All I knew was that Mia was sleeping and recovering in my arms tonight—in my bed, and there was nothing anyone could say that would change my mind.
I laid her on the massive bed, covering her with soft white sheets, all the way to get chin.
Marjorie gave me a strange look. She was probably wondering why Mia was here and not in any of the guest rooms. Oh well, let her wonder.
When I was sure Mia was settled, I decided to step outside for some air. I went back out to the pool, looking down at it's black depths and urging whoever pushed Mia in to come out and try it with me too. That was a sure way to get the i***t's neck snapped.
I felt her before she came to stand beside me, huddling under a blanket. Her black hair gleamed under the pool lights, lights that had been miraculously restored after Mia's accident.
But she didn't have those beautiful, cobble stone black eyes that haunted my dreams every damn night.
Hers was blue and currently burned with a fire I knew too well, anger, soul blackening anger.
"What do you intend to do about those that hurt my sister, about those that hurt us in the past and are still hunting us?"
"You don't have to know that, kiddo."
Her eyes flashed.
"What do you mean by I do not have to know. My sister lies motionless in there, do you know how angry I am right now? I want to be involved in all your plans."
"Would your sister approve of that?"
She faltered, biting her lips as if struggling to keep tears at bay.
Then she spoke, her voice barely audible.
"I'll tell you."
"Excuse me?"
"I said I'll tell you everything that happened to us in the past if that would help you find those that are responsible for this."
This was supposed to be my jackpot. Finally, I could know all the things that Mia had hid from me.
But why didn't I feel like I'd really hit the jackpot?
Why did I feel like it would be incomplete?
Because I wanted Mia to trust me, that was why.
I wanted her to look me in the eyes and tell me her story all on her own accord.
Sudden anger swept through me at the thought that I would never gain her trust. But I was never one to give up. Mia would be completely mine and soon enough.
I lay my palm on her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze.
"Unfortunately, that story is Mia's to tell."
She looked at me like I had grown an extra pair of eyes.
"What? she'll never tell you. How will you help us then?"
"Oh she will, she'll tell me everything soon enough."
Damn, I was sure even she heard the flicker of doubt in my voice.
- Writer
