From His Luna to His Rival's Mate

Chapter 22

SELENE

I could not stay in the room any longer, the quiet felt too loud. I changed into running clothes, laced up my sneakers, and slipped out of the dorm before I could talk myself out of it.

The night air hit my face the moment I stepped outside, cool and sharp and a little easier to breathe than the air inside had been. I started jogging along the quiet trail near the forest edge, letting my feet find a steady rhythm on the ground.

My sneakers hit the dirt path in even beats. I breathed deep and slow, the tall trees stood dark on one side of the trail, and behind me the academy buildings glowed with soft, warm light in the distance.

For a few minutes, with the wind moving through the leaves above me and nothing but the sound of my own steps, I felt almost peaceful. Almost like someone who didn't have a room that had been searched and two men pulling at her from opposite directions.

Then I heard footsteps behind me. I slowed just slightly and glanced back over my shoulder. A student I recognized from class ran a short distance behind me, tall with short brown hair.

He moved with quiet, even steps that didn't quite match the casual pace of someone just out for a night run. He had transferred in recently and kept mostly to himself. I had noticed him a few times without thinking much of it.

I turned my head forward and kept running. Maybe I was being too careful, maybe the break-in had made me see danger in ordinary things.

The trail curved deeper into the woods, the trees grew closer together here, and the moonlight struggled to get through. The path ahead turned darker and I picked up my pace without meaning to.

The footsteps behind me grew closer, then a sharp, burning pain exploded through my shoulder.

I cried out and stumbled forward, nearly going down the path. My hand flew back and my fingers found the shaft of an arrow buried in my shoulder.

The pain was deep and hurt in a way that went beyond normal hurt. Blood soaked through my shirt fast. My legs went weak under me and I gasped, trying to keep moving, trying to think.

"Who is there?" My voice shook more than I wanted it to.

Nothing, no answer. The footsteps had stopped completely. I turned, but the shadows between the trees were thick and still and gave nothing away.

My vision started blurring at the edges, the arrow throbbed with every breath I took, like it was pushing deeper with each inhale. I went down on one knee on the dirt path and the world tilted.

Strong hands grabbed me from the side. I tried to pull away, tried to swing, but the pain made everything slow.

"It is me." Kael's voice, low and urgent, right beside my ear. "Stop fighting. I have you."

He pulled me behind a thick tree and kept one arm around me to hold me upright. I leaned into him without meaning to, my legs not fully cooperating. His face was tight with worry when I looked up at him, his jaw hard, his eyes moving quickly between my face and my shoulder.

He looked at the arrow and cursed under his breath. "Silver." His voice dropped. "That is why it hurts the way it does."

"Get it out," I said but my voice came out smaller than I intended.

"I am going to. Breathe." He gripped the shaft with one hand and put his other on my back to brace me. "This is going to hurt. Don't hold your breath."

He pulled it out hard and fast and I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood, the pain flared white and blinding, worse than the moment it had hit me, and my whole body shook with the effort of staying quiet. Kael dropped the arrow on the ground and pressed his palm firmly over the wound. His hand was warm, warmer than it should have been, and then something strange happened.

The pain pulled back, not completely, not even close. But the sharpest edges of it softened, like something was drawing it away from the center. I looked at his hand on my shoulder and then up at his face.

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

He didn't answer right away. His eyes stayed on the wound. "You are not healing fast enough, something is wrong."

"Kael." I looked at him. "How are you doing that?"

"Stay with me right now." He shifted his arm tighter around me. "Focus."

I leaned against his chest because my body left me no choice. His arms felt solid around me, and even through the pain I was aware of how steady he was, how deliberately steady, like he was choosing it for both of us. My shoulder throbbed in slow, heavy pulses.

"It is not healing," I said. "Why is it not healing?"

"I don't know yet." His voice stayed low and controlled, but his jaw was tight. "We need to get you inside."

Footsteps came fast down the path and Calder broke out of the shadows and stopped dead when he saw us. His eyes went straight to the blood soaking through my shirt and his face went pale so quickly it was visible even in the dark. He crossed the distance between us in three steps.

"What happened?" His voice came out rough and cracked at the edges. His eyes moved over me fast, checking. "Who did this to you?"

"I don't know," Kael said. "There was someone on the trail. We need to get her to the infirmary right now. We can talk after."

Calder looked at him, something moved across his face that was hard to name. Then he nodded once, sharp and decided. "Let's go."

They lifted me between them. I put one arm around each of their shoulders and let them take most of my weight because there was no point pretending I didn't need it.

My shoulder burned with every step, fresh pain rippling out each time my body moved. Blood dripped from the hem of my shirt onto the dirt path beneath us. We moved quickly, the academy lights grew closer.

Calder kept glancing at me. His face had gone from pale to something harder, his eyes moved between my face and Kael's with a darkness in them that hadn't been there when he first appeared.

"You saved her," he said finally, his voice tight and low. "But do not think this changes anything between us, Voss."

Kael didn't look at him, he kept his eyes on the path ahead and his hand pressed against my shoulder. "I am not thinking about you right now."

Calder's jaw clenched but didn't say anything else.

We reached the infirmary and the doors swung open. Two nurses came out the moment they saw us, their faces shifting from surprise to focus in an instant.

They took me from both of them and guided me inside, moving with quick, practiced hands. I was laid down on a bed and a clean cloth was pressed hard against my shoulder. I gasped at the pressure.

"Out," the head nurse said firmly, already turning back to me. "Both of you. We need room to work."

Kael stood at the foot of the bed but he didn't move immediately. His eyes stayed on me, checking my face, checking my breathing. "I will be right outside the door," he said, not to the nurse, to me and I nodded.

Calder stood near the doorway, he looked at me one last time, and his face was a complicated thing... anger and fear and something deeper and darker underneath both of them. He turned and walked out without a word.

The nurses cleaned the wound and wrapped it firmly and gave me something for the pain that began to dull the worst of the burning after a few minutes. I lay on the bed in the quiet room and stared at the ceiling and breathed.

Normal werewolves healed fast from silver wounds, mine was staying open and raw in a way that didn't make sense. The nurse had said nothing about it directly, but I had seen the small look she exchanged with the other one over my shoulder.

I thought about the transfer student on the trail. The way his steps had grown closer without any rush, like someone who already knew where they were going. The attack hadn't felt random. It felt like a decision someone had made before I ever stepped outside tonight. I touched the edge of my bandage carefully with two fingers.

And I thought about Kael's hand on my shoulder, the way the pain had eased. I didn't understand what he had done or how he had done it, but I had felt it clearly enough that I knew I hadn't imagined it. He was hiding something, something that went beyond keeping his distance and choosing his words carefully.

I closed my eyes and lay still in the quiet of the infirmary, something bigger than I had understood was happening inside these walls.

The break-in. Calder losing control, the strange feelings that hit me without warning, and now an arrow in my shoulder on a trail I ran because I needed to think.

None of it was random, and I was right in the middle of all of it, whether I had chosen to be or not.