Chapter 6: The Awakening
564 Words
Mara’s POV
Darkness is heavy.
It feels like sinking through warm mud... thick, suffocating, endless. My chest burns. Every breath is a fight I’m losing.
Somewhere far away, a voice keeps pulling me back.
“Mara... stay with me. Please. Stay.”
Declan.
The mate bond tugs at me like a hook buried in my ribs. Pain blooms everywhere... sharp, pulsing, electric. Then hands are on my skin. Warm. Desperate.
Pressure on my chest. A heartbeat against my cheek. His.
“Mara, open your eyes. Damn it, open them!”
A groan slips out of me before I can stop it.
Then everything comes rushing back, the gunshot, the warehouse, Kieran’s wolves, and Declan’s scream.
My lungs seize. I gasp like I’ve been drowning.
Light explodes behind my eyelids as they jerk open.
I’m lying on a medical bed. Declan is hovering over me, bare-chested, blood all over him... mine and someone else’s. His eyes are glowing that dangerous electric blue.
My body trembles violently. The air tastes like antiseptic and iron.
I try to sit up. A mistake. Pain knifes through my ribs and I choke out a cry.
Declan’s hands are on me instantly.
“Don’t move,” he orders, voice breaking at the edges. “Please. You’re still bleeding. The doctor is coming back.”
His thumb brushes my cheek. His hand is shaking.
Declan never shakes.
My throat is dry. “Did... we get out?”
His jaw clenches. “I got you out. That’s all that matters.”
There’s blood smeared across his neck. Claw marks along his shoulders. He looks like he’s been through hell and came back just to stand next to my bed.
“Declan,” I whisper, “I had to do it.”
“I know.” He strokes my face again, like he can’t believe I’m real. “I know, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart.
The word hits harder than the bullet.
“I told you I didn’t need your forgiveness,” he murmurs, voice low and rough, “but you keep giving me reasons to want it.”
My chest aches... not just from the wound.
“Declan...” I swallow hard. “I betrayed you.”
“No.” His voice is sharp. “You tried to protect me. You chose me over yourself. Over your pack. Over everything.” His hand slips into my hair. “I never deserved that.”
Then his forehead presses to mine.
God, he’s warm. Too warm. Like a hearth fire pressed against frozen skin. My wolf whimpers at the contact.
He inhales sharply. “The mate bond... it almost broke when your heart stopped.”
My breath catches. “Stopped?”
He nods once. “For seven seconds.” His fingers grip the back of my neck. “I was ready to raze the entire city if you didn’t come back.”
Something inside me cracks open... something cold and protective and twisted by five years of hate.
I whisper, “Declan... what about Kieran?"
His expression changes instantly from grief to violence.
“I’ll kill him.” His voice is death. “He’s not going to take you from me. Not now. Not ever.”
I exhale shakily. The bond hums between us, vibrant and hot. Dangerous.
My fingers brush his chest. His breath hitches like I shocked him.
“You’re hurt,” I whisper.
- Writer
