14
1325 Words
Rowan
The second the last silver cuff fell away from Elizabeth's wrist, I dropped to my knees beside her and caught her before she could hit the ground. Blood stained my hands almost immediately. Too much blood. Her skin felt cold and clammy. Too fragile and breakable.
Carefully, I slid one arm beneath her shoulders while Cade supported her legs, helping lower her fully to the ground, so Regina could assess the damage without the tension of the chains pulling against her body. Elizabeth didn't stir. She didn't even flinch. That terrified me more than if she had screams. She was nearly lifeless.
Regina knelt beside us, her healers bag already open as she pressed her fingers carefully against her neck, checking Elizabeth's pulse. Her face tightened and I immediately hated that look. I hated every second of this.
"She's alive," Regina said softly. "Barely conscious. Dehydrated. Significant blood loss. At least three fractured ribs... possibly four. Her wolf is suppressed so she's not healing."
My jaw clenched. Cade crouched beside me, unusually quiet. My fingers twitched as I held back the shake in my hand. Regina gently moved Elizabeth's arm and hissed under her breath.
"The silver burns on both wrists are deep. Multiple lash wounds across her back. Bruising along her ribs and abdomen. Her left ankle may be sprained... maybe fractured if she was forced to kneel too long under the weight."
I stared at Elizabeth's face as Regina spoke. She looked so small. So much smaller than I remembered and not just physically. It was like life itself had been slowly leached from her piece by piece. Cade exhaled beside me.
"f**k," he muttered quietly. "She's skin and damn bones..." I looked at him. His expression had hardened into something unfamiliar. It was guilt. "I don't remember her being this thin before we left for training. She was always small, sure, but not like this. Not..."
He struggled for the right word as Regina's eyes met ours. "Emaciated," she supplied quietly.
The word hit like a blade. Emaciated. My mate... my chest felt like it was being crushed. Regina nodded as she continued checking her over.
"She hid it well when she was younger. Baggy clothes. Avoiding communal meals. Making excuses. But it's gotten worse with age." I wanted to tell her she didn't avoid them. She was forced to stay away, but I stayed silent. Her voice was careful now. Measured. "She burns too many calories with labor, training and shifts. She isn't allowed enough food to sustain basic health, let alone proper wolf function. Her wolf does what it can but... eventually... I've treated her when she gets wounded, but that's all I'm permitted to do."
I felt sick. Cade cursed under his breath. I could barely hear anything over the roaring in my ears. She was starving. Not metaphorically. Not emotionally. Literally starving and I had lived under the same roof. I had walked past her and ignored it, missed it. Failed her.
"She should have been removed from this environment years ago," Regina said quietly. "But no one intervened."
The accusation sat heavy in the air. No one, including me. I swallowed hard, feeling like there was glass in my throat. My hand moved before I thought about it, brushing the dirt and blood from Elizabeth's cheek. She didn't wake or move but her lashes fluttered. I hated it. Cade looked at me carefully.
"You know what you did back there has the potential to make this worse..."
I didn't answer because he was right. Instead, I clenched my jaw to keep the emotions locked down tight inside.
"She already had a target on her back," he continued, quieter now. "And now? You just stood in front of the entire pack and practically claimed her. I can feel their stares on us even now."
I stared at him. "Practically?"
Cade gave me a look and I sighed. Fair. He wasn't wrong. I had done worse than protect her. I had announced it. Publicly and loudly. Irrevocably mine. The word echoed again in a terrifying and absolute harmony. I may not have said she was my mate, but people would put two and two together if they were smart. Cade rubbed a handover his face.
"Your mother is going to lose her mind."
"My father too..."
"Both of our fathers might kill someone..."
"My mother will try first," I retorted. My mother had a mean streak toward Elizabeth that I could never understand. After today, it will only get worse. Cade gave a humorless laugh. That was true though. I looked back down at Elizabeth. At the blood and bruises. The damage. "This happened because of me. If I stay near her, they hurt her. If they know what she is to me..."
The words came out quieter than I intended them to. Cade didn't interrupt. I couldn't even finish what I wanted to say. Because I knew... they would kill her. Not threaten or punish. Kill. Cade's voice softened. "So what are you going to do?"
I stared at her for a long moment. I wanted everything. I wanted to keep her. Claim her and protect her. I wanted to wake up every morning knowing she was safe beside me. I wanted every selfish thing my wolf demanded. Mine. But every instinct I had as a future alpha told me the same thing... loving her might destroy her. Keeping her close might kill her, and I couldn't survive that.
"I don't know," I admitted. And for the first time in years, I meant it.
"She's stable for now. I've stopped the worst of the bleeding, but the deeper wounds need sutures. Several of them are bad enough that infection will set in quickly if I leave them untreated." She looked up at me as she sat back finally with a sigh. "I want her moved to the pack hospital."
"No," the answer came out so fast even I startled myself. Regina blinked. Cade turned to me slowly. "Rowan..."
"No," I stood carefully, still refusing to let fo of Elizabeths hand. "Shes coming with me.
Regina frowned. "The hospital is cleaner. Sterile. Safer for treatment..."
"My room."
"Rowan," Cade said carefully. "That is going to draw unnecessary attention."
"Yes," I replied. I knew that. I knew exactly what that would look like. Exactly what it would start and exactly what my mother would do. I knew. But the thought of leaving Elizabeth somewhere I couldn't see her made something violent rise inside me. No. Absolutely not. "Im bringing her to my room," I said again. "You'll suture her there."
Cade stood too. "You're making this harder," he groaned.
"I know..."
"People will talk."
"I know."
"Your mother will..."
"I know!" My voice cracked sharper this time.
Because I was tired. Because I was scared. Because I was trying not to completely lose my mind. There was silence around me. I looked down at Elizabeth. At the girl who somehow managed to become everything. And nothing, because I could never keep her. Not really. Not safely. But I also couldn't let her out of my sight. Not tonight. Not like this. Maybe not ever. I was a selfish man.
"I can't protect her from my parents if I can't see her," I said quietly so only Cade could hear. "I can't trust anyone else with her right now. Not after this..." I swallowed hard. "If being close to me is what hurts her... then I need to figure out how to fix that before I let anyone near her again."
Cades expression shifted. Less argument, more understanding. He nodded once. Slowly. "Alright, Alpha."
I hated how much that word felt real now. We needed to take down our parents. We needed change. Change that wouldn't happen while our parents were in control of the pack. I needed time, and time was the one thing I didn't have much of.
- Writer
