Love Me When I’m Going

My soul hovered over the wet leaves while Alpha Callan fussed over a scratch on Lily’s wrist. A few steps behind him, black blood soaked the front of my dress and ran into the rainwater. Rogues had ambushed us at the border after dark. Wolves tore through the brush on both sides of the trail, and Callan fought in human form. Then an arrowhead caught the moonlight. Silver. I smelled the poison a second before the archer released it. The shot was headed for Callan’s heart. I shoved him aside. The arrow buried itself in my chest. The silver burned through my veins. My lungs locked, my knees gave way, and the ground struck my cheek. Wet leaves clung to the blood around the wound. “Callan!” Lily’s scream cut through the fighting. She had tripped on a root and scraped her hand against a branch. The wound was a thin red line. She pulled back her white sleeve and held it where everyone could see. Callan started to turn at the sound of my fall. Lily cried out, and he stopped. He ran to her instead and crouched over her wrist, turning his back on me. I tried to call his name. A wet gasp came out, lost under the last snarls of the fight. The poison was moving fast. The mate bond was my only chance. If Callan kept it open, he could send enough strength through the link to keep me alive until a healer came. *Callan.* I pushed what remained of my consciousness into the bond. Each word cost another breath. *The arrow. Silver poison. Help me, please.* His irritation struck through the bond so sharply that my body flinched in the mud. *Stop being so dramatic, Selene. Lily is hurt.* My fingers dug through the leaves, packing mud under my nails. He had already decided I was trying to steal Lily’s attention. He never looked back to see whether I was still standing. *I don’t have time for this.* Something wrenched inside my chest. He had severed the bond. For years, the bond had left a steady warmth behind my ribs, even when Callan could barely be bothered to speak to me. Now it tore free. The warmth vanished. The woods went quiet. My lungs emptied and never filled again. I looked down at my body. It lay in the mud, eyes open to the rain. I floated above it, weightless, unable to touch a thing. One hand had fallen toward the trail. Callan would have seen it if he had turned his head. Callan lifted Lily into his arms. He checked the scratch again, murmured to her, and wrapped his Alpha cloak around her shoulders. His sleeve brushed his face. The cloth still carried the salve I rubbed into his shoulders after every full moon to control his rage sickness. For years, I had ground those roots while the pack slept. The salve worked best when it was made before dawn. He paused at the scent. Then his jaw tightened, and he kept walking. “Let’s get you back.” His voice softened for her. He carried her toward the lights of the pack house. My body cooled in the rain behind him. The victory feast had already begun behind those bright windows. I should have been there to bless the first cup, tend the wounded, and sit beside the Alpha. By the time anyone noticed the Luna had done none of those things, the mud would have covered most of my blood.