Chapter 13
1754 Words
Chapter 13
~ARDEN~
The blood on Elana's lips tore every thought from my mind.
I caught her before she met the ground, drawing her against my chest as another violent cough wracked her body.
Warm blood soaked through the front of my shirt.
My senses fixed on her face as the color drained from it with frightening speed.
"Elana," I called, steadying her with one arm while brushing the damp hair away from her forehead with the other. "Look at me."
Her eyes glazed with pain and confusion.
Another cough stole her breath as she tried to answer, jerking her body so hard that I tightened my hold around her, afraid she would collapse if I loosened my grip for a microsecond. .
"I've got you," I said quietly. "Just breathe."
She nodded weakly, though it was obvious every breath had become a struggle.
My mind raced through every illness and every curse I had encountered over the centuries. None of them had begun this suddenly.
Then my wolf stirred.
Beneath the metallic scent of fresh blood, something else lingered.
My head lowered, taking another careful breath.
The scent was faint, but unmistakable.
Poison. A bastard somewhere had done that— but I needed to focus on healing her before anything else.
Ice spread through my veins at the realization.
I inhaled, hoping I was wrong, praying my instincts had failed me for once, but the bitter scent clung stubbornly to the air around her.
"What did you eat today?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain calm.
Her lips parted. Instead of words, another cough shook her body as fresh blood spilled over her trembling fingers.
I wiped it away as quickly as I could.
"Elana, stay with me. Think." My voice softened despite the panic clawing at my chest. "Did you eat anything unusual?"
Her brows knitted together as though she was trying so hard to answer but she cried out in pain
I lowered her carefully onto the sofa, supporting her head with one hand while keeping hold of the other.
Her fingers instinctively searched for mine. She held on with what little strength she had left.
Without wasting another second, I reached for the strongest mindlink I possessed.
Greyman. The connection formed instantly as he answered almost at once.
“Arden?"
“She has been poisoned.” The calm in his voice disappeared the moment he heard it.
“Describe her condition.”
“She's coughing blood. Severe convulsions. Her pulse is weakening by the minute.”
There was a brief pause before he spoke again. “I'm coming.”
“No.” My reply came before he finished the thought. “If the pack sees you rushing here, questions will follow. We still have time to deal with this ourselves.”
“Then tell me everything.” He demanded.
I leaned closer to Elana once more, forcing myself to ignore the fear threatening to cloud my judgment.
The scent had grown stronger and sharper and just enough for me to remember it's name. "...Deadclaw."
Greyman's silence confirmed what I already feared.
When he finally answered, his voice sounded older than I had ever heard it. “Are you certain?”
"I wish I wasn't." My gaze never left Elana's face.
Her breathing skipped, each breath shallower than the one before it.
“Deadclaw was created generations ago.” Greyman said heavily. “It was never intended for ordinary wolves.”
"What do you mean?" I asked him, holding her tight against me as I searched her eyes.
“It was designed to kill those whose wolf genes remained dormant. Those the old world considered incomplete.”
My jaw clenched.
"Wolfless." Greyman sighed deeply before continuing. “The poison attacks slowly at first. It paralyzes the system, then enters the bloodstream and begins destroying every organ it reaches. Once it spreads completely, the victim begins coughing blood as the body shuts down from within.”
I swallowed hard. "There has to be an antidote."
“There isn't.” He disagreed.
"No."
"Arden..."
"No." I repeated with the sting in my eyes. The word came out harsher than intended. "There has never been a poison without a weakness."
“Deadclaw is different.” Urgency and flickering hope synced in his voice. "Bloodlines vanished because of it. The few records that remain all end the same way."
I closed my eyes for the briefest moment. "Death."
Greyman didn't answer, he didn't need to. The silence said enough.
I looked down immediately. Her eyelids fluttered as though they had become too heavy to keep open.
Her skin was getting colder as each minute slipped.
I pulled the throw blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her before lifting her into my arms.
She coughed again but this time, the blood that stained her lips was darker. Far darker.
A terrible knot formed in my stomach. The poison was spreading faster.
“Arden,” Greyman called gently through the link. “How long has it been?”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Nearly twenty minutes."
“Then you don't have much time.” His words settled over me like a weight I refused to carry.
"I can still use my abilities, Greyman."
Deadclaw cannot be forced out like ordinary poison. "You said your powers haven't returned and even if they have, we don't know yet…"
I cradled her securely against me as I carried her upstairs to our bedroom.
I laid her carefully across the bed before pulling a chair beside her.
Despite her uneven breathing, she was still conscious enough to look at me with fear in her eyes.
I took both her hands in mine and closed my eyes.
Healing was one of the oldest gifts possessed by spirit wolves, but it demanded precision.
It wasn't enough to flood a body with power. The energy had to seek every wound, repair damaged tissue, strengthen failing organs, and drive out whatever threatened the life within.
I had performed it before.
But never on someone who mattered this much.
Never with so much at stake. I still had my powers as at the time— I was fully the realm's Soul Reaper.
Warm violet light slowly gathered beneath my palms.
The air around us grew still.
Outside, even the evening wind seemed to pause.
I released the healing energy into her body slowly.
"Hold on, princess," I whispered. “I got this."
The light spread gently beneath her skin, illuminating the faint network of veins along her arms as my power searched for the poison buried inside her.
I felt it— the instant my power met the poison inside her body, I knew something was terribly wrong.
Healing energy was meant to mend broken flesh, strengthen failing organs, and purge sickness from the bloodstream.
Instead, the darkness woven through her veins resisted me with force.
Every thread of spiritual energy I pushed into her only seemed to awaken it, and I felt the poison spread farther beneath my hands.
I broke the connection immediately. She cried out and curled onto her side, coughing blood onto the sheets.
I caught her shoulders before she could roll from the bed.
"I'm sorry," I brushed the blood away from the corner of her mouth. "I thought it would help."
Her breathing came in shallow, uneven pulls. She tried to answer, but all that left her lips was a weak shake of her head.
I reached for Greyman again.
"It's resisting healing powers," I said through the mindlink. "The more I wield my power to heal her, the faster it spreads."
His silence pushed dread to settle in my chest.
"That's what Deadclaw was made to do," he replied quietly. "It feeds against spiritual interference. Every attempt to remove it hastens the damage."
"There has to be another way."
"Arden..."
"There has to be."
He sighed. "I've searched every record preserved in the Spirit Archives. No one has ever survived once the poison reaches this stage."
I closed the link before he could say anything else. I refused to believe that.
Elana's fingers searched weakly across the mattress until they found my hand.
I laced our fingers, forcing myself to stay calm.
"You will be alright" The certainty in my voice surprised even me.
I wasn't lying to comfort her. I simply refused to accept any future that'd exist without her.
Gathering every reserve of power still locked within me, I pressed both palms against her chest.
This time, I didn't draw healing from the world around us—I drew from myself.
Pain spread through my body as I poured into hers.
My vision blurred, and an ache settled behind my eyes, but I kept going, willing every bit of strength I possessed into the woman lying beneath my hands.
For one hopeful heartbeat, her pulse grew stronger and it weakened again because the poison swallowed everything.
My breathing ragged.
When I called her name, she opened her eyes with obvious effort.
"I'm... tired," she murmured.
"No, you're not leaving me."
A faint smile touched her lips. "You always sound... so certain."
"Because I have to be, Elana."
She looked at me for a long moment, and there was no fear in her eyes anymore. Only trust that broke something inside me.
"I'm sorry," I kissed the back of her hand, smoothing her hair.
Her brows drew together."For what?"
"For not telling you everything."
She tried to answer, but the strength left her before the words could form. Her eyes drifted shut.
"Elana." She didn't respond.
I reached for her pulse. It was there, but weak and fading.
Another breath escaped her lips. Then another.
The next never came.
My heart stopped but I checked again and there was still nothing.
A violent gust swept across the estate, sending curtains whipping wildly through the room as moonlight flooded the floor.
No. Not what I was thinking, right?
I pulled her flat onto the mattress and began pressing firmly against the center of her chest.
"Come on." I counted through the compressions before breathing air into her lungs.
Again. Nothing.
Again, I pressed harder.
Still nothing.
Blood stained my hands, but I refused to stop.
"You don't get to leave," I said, my voice breaking for the first time. "Do you hear me? You don't get to leave me."
I started another round of compressions, pumping force into her chest as her name broke from my lips each time.
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