The Shot Meant for Me
1777 Words
For one second, nobody moved.
Kael’s hand stayed over mine, burning against my skin where I had pressed my palm to his chest. Outside, the warning howl faded into the rain, leaving behind a silence so thick it felt alive.
Then everything exploded into motion.
Rhys yanked open the infirmary door. Mara grabbed a tray of medical supplies and shoved it toward me. Elias disappeared into the hallway, shouting orders I didn’t understand. Somewhere deep inside the lodge, more howls answered the first, one after another, until the entire building seemed to vibrate with them.
I stared at Kael. “What do you mean they came for me?”
His eyes were fixed on the door, but his hand tightened over mine. “Exactly what I said.”
“That is not an explanation.”
“It is the only one we have time for.”
He tried to sit up again.
I shoved him back down.
Or tried to.
It was like pushing against a brick wall with a medical degree.
“Are you insane?” I snapped. “You have a deep leg wound, blood loss, and probably enough bacteria in your system to grow a science project.”
His gaze cut to mine. “My pack is under attack.”
“And your pack needs an Alpha who can stand without passing out.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Move your hand, Mira.”
“No.”
The room went still.
Even Rhys paused in the doorway.
Kael looked at me slowly, like he couldn’t decide whether to be furious or fascinated. “No?”
I lifted my chin, even though my knees were shaking. “You are not going out there bleeding all over the floor just to collapse dramatically in front of your enemies.”
Mara made a strangled sound beside me. “Girl—”
“She is right,” Rhys said.
Kael’s head turned toward him.
Rhys immediately looked like he regretted having a mouth.
But he kept going. “You cannot fight like this. Not well. Let the guards hold the line until we know how many crossed.”
A low growl rumbled from Kael’s chest.
The sound rolled straight through my palm.
I should have pulled away.
I didn’t.
His eyes snapped back to mine, sharper now. Hungrier. Like he had felt that tiny betrayal from my body, the way my breath caught, the way my pulse jumped beneath his touch.
“Fine,” he said at last.
Relief almost made me dizzy.
Then he added, “You stay beside me.”
My relief died immediately. “Absolutely not.”
“If they came for you, you do not leave my sight.”
“You keep saying that like you own sight.”
His mouth curved, dark and brief. “I own this territory.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“To me, it is.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but another gunshot cracked outside, closer than before. The window rattled. Someone screamed in the distance.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Kael’s expression changed.
The man who had teased me vanished. The wounded patient vanished. In his place was something colder, older, and far more dangerous.
An Alpha.
“Mara,” he said.
The older woman straightened. “Yes, Alpha?”
“Finish binding my leg. Rhys, get her a coat and shoes. Elias holds the east line. Dom takes the west. Nobody shifts unless they breach the inner gate.”
Rhys frowned. “If they have silver rounds—”
“Then we do not give them clean targets.”
The room shifted around his voice. I felt it again, that command that seemed to sink into the walls, into the floor, into the people around him. No one questioned him now. No one hesitated.
Except me.
“Wait,” I said. “Silver rounds?”
Kael looked at me. “Silver slows our healing. Enough of it can kill us.”
My eyes dropped to the wound on his leg.
The trap.
The blood.
The way he hadn’t healed instantly.
“That trap had silver,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
Cold slid through me. “And I touched it.”
His expression hardened. “Which is why they know you helped me.”
Mara wrapped fresh bandages around his leg with practiced speed, much tighter than I would have allowed if I wasn’t busy trying not to panic. Rhys returned and shoved a long dark coat toward me, along with a pair of boots that were too big but better than my soaked clinic shoes.
“Put these on,” he said. “You’ll freeze.”
“I’m not planning to be outside long enough to freeze.”
Rhys gave me a look. “That’s optimistic.”
I hated him a little for being right.
Another howl rose outside. This one ended sharply, like it had been cut off.
Kael stood.
This time, no one stopped him.
Not even me.
He swayed once, just barely, but I saw it. So did he. His jaw tightened as if the weakness offended him personally. The black coat hung open over his bare chest, and the new bandage around his thigh was already showing a thin line of red.
“You should not be standing,” I muttered.
“And you should not have opened the clinic door,” he said.
I glared at him. “Fair.”
Rhys made a sound that was suspiciously close to a laugh.
Kael held out his hand to me.
I stared at it. “No.”
“Mira.”
“No. You do not get to say my name in that voice and expect me to just obey.”
His golden eyes burned. “That voice?”
“Yes. The bossy, growly, I-own-everything voice.”
“I do own everything here.”
“Not me.”
The words left my mouth before I could soften them.
For a moment, the chaos outside seemed far away. Kael went very still. His hand remained between us, palm open, but his expression shifted into something I couldn’t read.
“No,” he said quietly. “Not you.”
That should have made me feel better.
It didn’t.
Because his voice was too careful. Too controlled.
Like the truth cost him.
Before I could answer, Rhys stepped between us. “As much as I enjoy watching the two of you emotionally stab each other, hunters are currently trying to kill us.”
“Right,” I said quickly, grabbing the coat from him. “Murder first. Feelings later.”
Kael’s mouth twitched.
Then the lodge shook.
A loud explosion ripped through the night, close enough that dust fell from the ceiling. The lights flickered. I stumbled, and Kael caught me before I hit the table, one arm locking around my waist.
For one breath, I was pressed against him.
Completely.
My hands landed on his chest. His skin was fever-hot beneath my fingers. The scent of him surrounded me, wild pine and smoke and rain, and something deep inside me answered before I could stop it.
His arm tightened.
Not enough to hurt.
Enough to make me aware of every inch of him.
“Mira,” he said, lower this time.
Not a command.
A warning.
Maybe to me.
Maybe to himself.
I swallowed hard. “You can let go now.”
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
For one terrible second, I thought he might kiss me.
For one worse second, I wanted him to.
Then Rhys cursed from the doorway. “They breached the outer gate.”
Kael released me.
Cold rushed in where his body had been.
I hated that too.
We moved through the lodge fast. Kael limped but refused help. Rhys stayed ahead of us, while Mara followed behind carrying a small black medical bag that she shoved into my hands.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.
“Keep people alive,” she said.
I looked inside. Bandages, needles, thread, herbs, vials with handwritten labels, and actual medical supplies mixed together like a pharmacy had gotten into a fight with a witch’s pantry.
“Comforting,” I muttered.
We reached the front hall just as the double doors opened.
Wind and rain burst inside.
So did the smell of blood.
My stomach dropped.
Two men dragged in a wounded guard, his shirt soaked red, his teeth clenched against a scream. My body moved before my mind caught up. I dropped to my knees beside him and pressed both hands to the wound in his side.
“Pressure,” I snapped. “Now.”
Mara crouched beside me, helping without argument. The guard’s eyes flashed silver as he looked at me, wild with pain.
“Human,” he breathed.
“Yes,” I said. “And currently the person keeping you from bleeding onto this very expensive-looking floor, so focus.”
His mouth twitched despite the pain.
Something slammed into the doors again.
Everyone looked up.
Kael stood at the center of the hall, blood dripping from his own leg, shoulders squared, eyes glowing like fire. Around him, men and women shifted into defensive positions. Some had claws. Some had teeth. Some looked almost human except for the way their bones seemed ready to change.
The doors shook again.
Wood cracked.
Rhys drew a knife from his belt, its edge dark and wicked. “Alpha?”
Kael’s gaze flicked to me.
Only for a second.
But I felt it.
The bond, or whatever he called it, pulled tight between us like a thread around my ribs.
Then he looked back at the door.
“Let them in.”
My hands froze against the wounded guard’s side. “That sounds like a terrible plan.”
Kael smiled.
Not at me.
At whatever was waiting outside.
It was the first real smile I had seen from him, and it was terrifying.
The doors burst open.
Four men stepped inside, dressed in black raincoats, rifles raised. Their weapons were marked with strange silver symbols that seemed to burn under the light.
The one in front looked straight past Kael.
Straight at me.
His eyes widened.
Then he smiled.
“There she is,” he said. “The human who touched Alpha blood.”
Kael went utterly still.
The hunter lifted his rifle.
Not at Kael.
At me.
I didn’t have time to scream.
Kael moved like a nightmare.
One second, he stood across the hall.
The next, he was in front of me, taking the shot meant for my heart.
- Writer
