The Huntress and her Alpha

Chapter Twenty Five

My heart fell into my stomach as the words sank in. Lip didn’t react, but I could tell he was trying to keep it together for the sake of his pack. After all this was his little sister and she was…. Barely alive according to Connor.

I squeezed his hand as I looked at Connor. “Where alpha goes I go. Take us to her please.”

He nodded, turned and started walking back towards the pack house. Lip was quiet as we followed him, I had no doubts he was already mind linking Jack to find out what exactly he had found. If Sarah was barley alive that meant they had already taken her to doctor smith.

We met Jack on the other side of the grounds, near where he had found me. Where our land bordered alpha Andrew’s. Jack looked like he had seen a ghost. In my short time of knowing him I’d never seen him rattled before.

But then again this was Sarah. We all loved her.

“Max. You are sure?” He asked quietly as he looked at Lip.

I nodded. “I want to know what happened too.”

I wrapped my arm around Lip’s, trying to keep him calm while also letting him comfort me. I took in a breath as Jack looked at us and then he started.

“I found her an hour ago. She was in bad shape. Her left leg was bent at an off angle, her right arm looked like it had been torn. Her eyes were closed, but there was so much blood.” He paused and I could tell this was hard for him. “I couldn’t find you and you wouldn’t answer me. So I got Aimee and she grabbed the doctor. She was covered in blood, I thought she was already gone. But they found a pulse, she was breathing but barely. They took her back to the infirmary. That’s when I found it.”

“Found what?” Lip asked his voice breaking. I’m sure imagining his sister mutilated wasn’t easy.

Jack stepped aside and that’s when we saw the blood. It covered the ground, she must have been laying right here on our side of the border. How she had any blood left inside her was truly a miracle because it was still wet on the grass.

I took a step forward before Lip could stop me. There was a paper pinned to the tree that divided our land from theirs. It blew with the wind and I reached out, pulled it off the bark.

She’s not nearly as pretty as you, the bond wouldn’t be as fun with her either. Your daddy wanted a pretty coat, but sadly she put up a fight.

Don’t worry my future Luna, we’ll be reunited soon.

I felt sick to my stomach as Lip pulled the note out of my hands. My hands were shaking as I looked into the dark woods, wondering if he was watching. Wondering if he was getting some sick satisfaction out of torturing me.

“Max.” Lip said my name and I turned around, seeing the tears in his own eyes.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

Lip threw the paper down and grabbed my hand before I could back away from him. He pulled me in and shook his head. “This is his fault, Andrew and your father, no one else is to blame. Sarah wouldn’t let you blame yourself and I won’t either.”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I need to go see her.”

Lip nodded. “Connor will you take Max to the infirmary? Jack and I have a few more things we need to take care of here.”

Lip leaned in and kissed me gently. “I’m so sorry.” I whispered as I pulled away. “So so sorry.”

“Sarah was doing her job, protecting our people. Go see her, I’ll be there after Jack and I decide what we’re going to do.”

I nodded, squeezing his hand. “Be safe.”

“Always.” He answered kissing my forehead before i I turned and followed Connor to the infirmary where my very first friend in this entire pack was laying on what could possibly be her deathbed.

——

Sarah looked like she was sleeping. Someone had cleaned the blood off of her. But she was extremely pale. In the harsh light of the pack hospital she looked like she had lost too much blood to still be breathing on her own.

Aimee was sitting beside her, holding her hand. I pushed open the door and Aimee forced a smile.

“I was hoping you’d come.”

A tear slipped down my cheek as I looked at her. She was still so young. This wasn’t fair, she shouldn’t have to patrol, she shouldn’t have to put herself in danger for someone like me.

“This isn’t fair.” I whispered softly. I ran my finger down her cheek and looked at Aimee. “Did they say if she’ll be okay?”

“She lost a lot of blood. Once they gave her some she started to heal on her own. You know us wolves. But they aren’t sure when she’ll wake up. They said she was hit in the head pretty hard and they’re worried about her memory. There’s some swelling too.”

I closed my eyes as I picked up her hand. “I know Lip said it wasn’t, but this is all my fault. Andrew thinks I belong to him, he’s using Aimee as a message. It should be me in this bed, not her.”

“It was you only a few days ago. You with a silver bullet in your shoulder and our alpha beside himself with worry and anger. This is not your fault, Max. Lip is right about that. This is Andrew’s fault, his obsession has gone too far. Sarah was doing her job patrolling and he got the best of her.”

I nodded. “She’s barely an adult, Aimee. She shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

Aimee laughed. “Remember when you were her age? When you thought you were invincible and went after every wolf you encountered? Sarah is stubborn and a warrior. She knew what she signed up for by taking the border.”

I sighed. “All you wolves are stubborn. Or maybe it’s just the James’s that are stubborn. Either way one of the two of them will end up giving me a heart attack before I’m twenty two.”

Aimee laughed as I looked up at her. She surprised me when she stopped talking about Sarah and looked at me like I was already her Luna.

“You’re perfect for him you know? I mean not just because of the bond. But I’ve never seen Lip the way he is when he’s with you. And letting Sarah get so close to you, even before he knew if the bond would survive or not. He’s very protective of her, especially since they lost their parents. Letting you into his life and his sister’s life, it’s something I’ve never seen him do with anyone else before.”

“I’m in love with him. Not because of the mate bond, but because he looks at me and he doesn’t see a human or a Hunter. He sees me, all my insecurities, all my flaws, and he isn't afraid.” I shook my head. “Before Lip I didn’t know how to be vulnerable, I didn’t know what family actually felt like. But Sarah welcomed me my very first day here and told me I was her sister now. I can’t lose her.”

“We won’t lose her.” Aimee reached across the bed and touched my hand. “Like you said she’s stubborn, which means soon she’ll open her eyes and tell us we’re all pathetic for crying and worrying about her.”

I sighed and looked at Aimee. “You’re my family too you know. You didn’t have to be nice to me my first day, you didn’t have to yell at your mate for hurting me before you even knew me. But I love you too, for all that and more.”

Aimee smiled, her tears staining her cheeks. “You’re my family too, Max. I’ve always wanted a little pain in the ass sister.”

That made me laugh. We fell into a comfortable silence, sitting there holding hands, with Sarah between us. Maybe this was why I had decided to fight with Lip, against the enemy. Because I knew no matter how hard I had trained or how much I had wanted to take over for my father, I never felt like I had a family there.

Not the way I had found my family, myself here in with this pack.