Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Kassia POV

"What?" I manage to croak out at Adrien as I watch the life-giving blood slipping out of Gonzalo. I was losing him. I could feel the sparks of the mate bond less and less as the blood left his body. Adrien's words were trying to penetrate through my grief, but it was hard. I saw Gonzalo's eyes close. "No," I whimpered as I put my forehead to his. "Don't leave me again," I begged him. "I can't live in this world without you again." I only just got him back. I ignored the pressure building in my head as I prayed for him to wake up. "Bite him, Kassie," Adrien said again.

"You can't turn a werewolf, Adrien" Helios answers his voice cracking at the end.

"Not turn him. Mark him. Make him your Beloved. You're a princess Kassie. Even if they took your title, your blood is strong. It is royal vampire blood. It will help him hang on and speed his healing even with the wolfsbane and silver."

I hiccup. Could it work? I moved to his front, pushing his face to the other side of his neck. I only hesitated taking away his choice for a moment. What did it matter if he was mad at me if he lived? I bit his neck and pulled. The taste of him burst into my mouth but the draw was sluggish. He had lost too much blood. I released my marking venom into his neck and I felt his body jerk slightly and I pulled back. I ripped the skin on my wrist. Blood flowed rapidly, causing it to drip all over him as I brought it up to his lips. I filled his mouth but he didn't swallow. His heartbeat was so slow. I could barely hear it now.

"No. Come on baby, swallow. You need to swallow." I said frantically as I moved his lips. Nothing. Desperate, I kissed him, blowing air down his windpipe, trying to get his mouth to swallow my blood. This wouldn't work if he didn't finish the marking. His heart stopped and the sparks disappeared. A gut-wrenching sob left my throat as I started pumping it for him. Compressing his chest and blowing air into his lungs. I just need one. One heartbeat, one gulp. I kept pumping and when I thought all was lost, I heard it. It was faint but it was there. His eyes fluttered open slightly before they closed again and I tore at my already healed wrist and fed him my blood again. He swallowed. I continued to pump his heart for him for a while longer and then stopped to listen. The entire room stood silently waiting and then...there it was. A precious beat, followed by another beat. The most beautiful sound in the world to me aside from his laugh. I let out a relieved breath as his heart started returning to normal which came out sounding more like a sob. I dropped onto his chest and listened to his heartbeat as I felt the sparks slowly return to their original intensity.

"Kassie. We need to get him outside so Nat can finish healing him." Helios' voice cut through my many thoughts of thanks to the moon goddess for letting him come back to me. I lifted myself up and swayed.

"Crap. She's lost too much blood. She was shot before marking Gonzalo." Adrien said as he came over to steady me and inspect the wound that was still open on my abdomen. I only then noticed that Seb and Theo were in the room too, both of them holding each other with tears in their eyes.

"I'm fine Adrien. Help Gonzalo." I told him as I tried to push away from him.

"We've got him. We have blood on the bus. We'll be right behind you with Gonzalo." Helios said.

I simply looked at him, too tired to even lift an eyebrow in argument. He sighed as he wiped his tears from his face "Yeah OK. Adrien, pick her up. We'll take them both together," he said as he picked up Gonzalo.

Theo and Seb opened the double doors and they took us outside towards the bus. I sat at the edge of the cargo bay under the bus as they put Gonzalo next to me. His head was placed on my lap. His cut was healing, but it was still trickling a little and it kept reopening as it tried to repair itself. I put my hand over it. The mate bond is supposed to help. I felt Gonzalo stir. His eyes fluttered open slightly. "Kassie," his voice was barely audible, "I saw her."

"Saw who my love?" I asked, but he went unconscious again.

"It's the silver. We need to clean it and then let Nat finish healing him," Theo said. I looked over to the side where Helios was holding Nat as she tried to clear the wolfsbane from her lungs so she could bring her wolf forward. When they approached two minutes later, I asked, "Are you OK? Your pup.."

"We're fine, Kassie. The wolfsbane was minimal. May I?" She asked. I nodded as Helios brought over a cooler for her to sit next to us. She gently wiped the cut clean before she puts her hand on it and closes her eyes. She smiled when she opened it back up and when she removed her hand, there was nothing but a scar on his neck. "It tried to close too many times on its own. I couldn't stop the scar tissue from forming." She said apologetically.

"Thank you, Nat," I said as Adrien brought down a bag of blood for me. "Dude, where's my tumbler?" I asked, annoyed and tired.

"I couldn't find it." He shrugged as he handed me the bag.

"Drink Kassie. No one here will judge you," Helios said. I sighed and nodded as I tore a hole into the bag and drank. After the second bag, I felt a little less tired and Adrien looked a little less worried.

"The rest of the lab has been secured. Nat, we've got a few coming out that need to heal. There were more than one aerosol cans released. Thankfully none of the injuries are too serious other than a few broken bones."

"Alpha," I said as I combed my fingers through Gonzalo's hair. "The door on the other side of the lab where Gonzalo was shot. A man went through it. The doctor that injected me. Someone should check to where it leads." "Did you find out anything?" He asked as he called over two trackers.

"No. He gave me a choice. I could beat him for answers or I could try to save Gonzalo so I let him go." I answered without looking up.

"Thank you," Helios said. My eyes snapped to him. He raised his hands before I could say anything. "I know. I'm not trying to say that you would have made another choice. I know there was only one choice for you. But just...thank you. You saved my best friend," he said. I nodded and went back to combing Gonzalo's hair.

The rest of the evening passed by quietly. There were 3 total deaths on our side. Six of the kidnapped shifters were killed with silver when they discovered that we were in the building. The only shifters that survived were bears and they were found half dead. Nat had to stop healing for an hour to regain her energy after she brought them back from the brink. In total, we only managed to rescue 3 bears and 1 vampire. Gonzalo hadn't woken up four hours later, but Nat assured us that he just needed rest to make up for the blood loss.

We didn't find the doctor, the door led down a corridor with an exit. We did find out his name and grabbed his personal computer. Meryl Argyle. Such a common and disappointing name. It didn't sound like the name of an evil genius like I'd built him up in my head. Hopefully, we can get some information from it as to what happened to me. I didn't hold out much hope, but I would trade answers for Gonzalo any day in a heartbeat. All in all, when we helped all the wounded into the bus, the mood was grim. I don't think anyone was thinking the results were worth the lives we'd lost and I mostly agreed.

We got back to Edinburg to stay the day in another seedy motel. After I made sure that Gonzalo was clean and as comfortable as I could get him. I went to see if Helios needed some help.

"Kassie, go rest," Nat instructed as Adrien grabbed me and turned me to go back towards the room.

"How are you feeling? You and Elias got shot too, right?" I asked as he escorted me back.

"We're good. Nat healed Elias of the silver and I healed pretty quickly," he said, then stopped and hugged me. "Not that I didn't age 100 years seeing Gonzalo like that. Are you OK?" I nodded and a tiny sniffle escaped. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Get some rest, Kassie. Being with Gonzalo will help you. If you need anything, call. I will cover myself in a blanket if I need to and be here in a jiffy."

"Thank you, Adrien. I know you keep saying I'm your mom, but sometimes it feels like you take more care of me than I do of you." I said quietly.

"Nonsense. You usually would have had to beat the crap out of 5 people by now because of my big mouth. We take care of each other. Now go sleep mother," he ordered.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I chuckled and went back into the room. I took a hot bath to wash away all the blood on my body and then crawled into bed with Gonzalo. I didn't bother with clothes. I needed to feel his warmth next to me. To assure myself that he was still here. I had a nightmare. I was trapped in the lab bed again. Except I wasn't. It was like the vision Celeste had shown me. I was watching as this was happening to myself. I see the serum being pumped into my veins and I see her appearing again. She bends down to kiss my forehead and I hear her, clear as day. "I'm sorry. This is the only way to save you." I feel like the scene is about to end as I watch myself screaming in agony when Selene stands and looks my way. "He will give you answers, but he doesn't have the ones you need. Your torment will be over soon. Trust your mate. Trust in the bond I've forged between you."

I woke up dazed. I looked around as the dream begins to fade from my memory no matter how much I try to hang on to it. Within minutes, I can barely remember what she said. Something about trusting Gonzalo and answers. After trying to remember and failing, I went back to sleep. I woke up again sometime later to a knock on the door. I put on a long shirt and Gonzalo's spare boxers.

"Coming," I said.

"Just unlock the door when you're ready Kassie. It's still daylight." Helios' voice came through. I opened the door and walked over to the bathroom.

"It's safe Alpha," I said as loudly as I could without disturbing Gonzalo. I knew he wanted to check in on him. I heard the door open and close. I walked out of the restroom and sat back on the bed. Helios took a chair over to Gonzalo and checked his vitals and his

eyes.

"It looks like he's good. Dario is still present and healing him. He'll sleep a while longer and hopefully he'll be up by the time we have to leave. How are you doing?"

"I'm...fine now. I just need him to wake up and I'll be better." I answered truthfully. "Do you think he will get mad?" I asked nervously as I looked over at the silver Beloved bite on his left shoulder.

"For saving his life?" Helios asked incredulously.

"For taking away his choice," I corrected. "We spoke about how he shouldn't mark me until the full moon. We never discussed a Beloved mark."

"You think Gonzalo and Dario won't jump for joy at the thought of being bonded to you in every way? He's loved you for 200 years, Kassie. You don't have anything to worry about." I let out the breath I'd been holding, then I noticed the smile disappear from his face. "I have some information I thought you deserved to know."

"About Gonzalo?" I asked.

"No. The doctor. The one that experimented on you," He started.

"What about him. He got away."

"He did," He mentioned, "At first. I left two trackers to follow his scent." I tensed at his words. "They found him in the forest about an hour after we left. He's an old man, so he didn't get very far. They found him under some brush, trying to wait us out."

I stood up. "Where is he?" My blood was beginning to boil and all I could see was red. Gonzalo stirred. His eyebrows furrowed and I realized he could feel my anger now. I took a steadying breath as I sat back down on the bed and pushed my fingers through his hair to calm him down. "I want to see him," I said more calmly after a few minutes.

"I know you do. We have him knocked out right now. We'll be taking him back with us to Guardian Moon. You can question him there. Can you hold on that long?" He asked.

"I've waited 23 years. I can wait a few days." I answered without hesitation. He looked relieved at my words.

"Do you need anything? If Gonzalo isn't awake by sunset, we're just going to wait until tomorrow to leave." He said.

"I'm fine. I just need him to wake up." He nodded in understanding and left. I cuddled up to Gonzalo again and went to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later as I felt a strong arm go around my torso and sparks blossomed from where our skin touched. I opened my eyes and looked up at his walnut brown eyes, full of emotion. I felt my heart flutter "You're awake!" I cried as I stood up and pushed him back into the bed and bent down to kiss his face. I kissed his eyes, his nose, his ears, and his cheeks. He started chuckling and let me do what I needed. When I finally got to his lips, his hands grabbed my face and held me there as he deepened the kiss. He pushed me over to my back when I moaned and he plunged his tongue into my mouth. My whole body lit on fire at his touch but it was too soon. I could feel how his chest was moving too fast. He was running out of breath too quickly. I pushed gently on his chest and he fell back onto the bed. He was trying to catch his breath and he still looked tired.

"Are you OK?" I asked. He pulled me to his side and nodded. His breathing evened out fairly quickly but I saw as a tear gathered and fell from his eye. "What's wrong? Does something hurt? Should I call Nat?" I grabbed his face and turned it so I could see the scar on his neck. He grabbed my hands and brought them to his face. He kissed each one before he pulled me down to lay on him.

"I thought I was gone. I thought I wouldn't see your beautiful eyes again. How am I still here?" I got nervous at his question. Would he be mad? Helios said he wouldn't be. "Kassie?" he asked.

"I...I marked you." I said. I saw his eyes go wide and his hand went to his neck to feel for the mark. "I'm sorry. We never talked about making you my Beloved, but it was the only way to save you. My blood helped you heal and bring you back. Since I have royal vampire blood in me. Dario was still suppressed so he couldn't heal you," I word vomited nervously. I watched as he just stares into my eyes. His face is displaying no emotion at all, but I can tell he's searching for something. He hasn't claimed me, so I can only sense a slight tense undercurrent from him from the mate bond before he shuts me out of it. My heart is caught in my throat as I wait for him to speak.

"Do you wish you didn't have to mark me? That there had been another way to save me aside from claiming me as your Beloved?" he asked. His voice had a slight quiver at the end and I thought I could see his wolf in his eyes. I didn't understand his question. He can't possibly mean what I thought he was asking. I have made my stance on him very clear. There had ever only been one for me.

"I wish I hadn't been in a position to mark you against your will. I wish you hadn't gotten hurt," I answered him. When he still only looked at me, waiting for me to continue, I started getting mad. "I wish we could have talked about it and I wished it would have been the special moment my mother always told me about." He said nothing. I went to get up out of his embrace and he tried to pull me back. He was still very weak, so it didn't take much effort to overpower him and leave the bed.

"Where are you going?" He asked, sitting up.

"I am going to shower Gonzalo and when I come back out of that bathroom, I better not hear the question you just asked me again." I grounded out.

He nodded. "I understand," he said quietly, looking away.

I almost hissed and slammed his perfect body into the bed rest. How many times and how many ways can I tell him that I wanted forever with him? I showered quickly and when I came back out, he was falling asleep sitting up. My heart hurt at how weak and vulnerable he still looked, and I wanted nothing more than to hold him in my arms, but it hurt that he still doubted my love for him. I needed air. Everything was just too much right now.

I grabbed my cellphone and wallet and put on my shoes. "Where are you going?" He asked a second time. I stopped at the door when I saw him looking at me. He looked worried and sad.

"I need space. Helios said if you weren't awake by sunset we were staying for another day so I'll be back before sunrise. Think about everything you just said to me Gonzalo, and when I come back, I expect an apology." I told him before I left.

I went out of the room and saw Nat walking toward me. "Hey, I was just coming to check on you. Where are you going?" She asked me.

I sighed. "I am going for a walk before I beat the s**t out of my mate. Try to heal his brain, there's something wrong with it for him to ask me what he just asked me." I walked away leaving a very confused woman behind me. I would apologize after I've calmed down. I wasn't sure where to go, so I just walked over to the strip where we found the guided tours. I picked a ghost tour at random. I sat on a corner of the bus and intended to tune out the guide as I watched the dark city move past us and thought about how I would proceed from here. The guide caught my attention though when I realized the entire ghost tour was a series of tragic love stories. Love that didn't last. Love that wasn't strong enough. Unrequited love. Love betrayed. Love that was torn apart.

I felt my phone vibrate several times as the tour went on for three hours. I ignored them all and eventually turned the phone off. As I listened to the guide tell her tales of spirits unable to rest because of love, I realized the common theme in all of these stories. Each and every one of them had one i***t that refused to listen until it was too late. If they had just listened. If they had just talked, so much pain would have been avoided.

I thought back to the way Gonzalo refused to listen to me when I arrived at Guardian Moon. Had I forgiven him too easily? If I had made him see how much pain he caused me when he pushed me away, would he doubt the way I feel for him the way he had done earlier? I made the decision then that we would have a talk when I got back. He was going to learn what his words did to me. I was not going to let him do to us, what these idiots did to their loved ones. I was going to knock sense into him if I had to physically knock his head against the wall. I wasn't going to let us end up another tragic story. f**k that. I deserved better.

I thanked the tour guide after we got back and left her a big tip. I turned on my phone as I walked back to the motel. There were many missed calls and voice messages along with a text from Adrien. He said Gonzalo was threatening to go look for me but that he supported me making him suffer and to just let him know that I was OK.

I walked into the bedroom a bit later and hit someone in the shoulder as the door opened. The entire gang was here and Gonzalo was sitting up on the bed, looking tired and worried. His worried expression turned to relief, but quickly back to worried as I addressed everyone in a tone that gave no room for discussion. "Please let me have a moment with Gonzalo. We have a lot to discuss."

One by one, they filed out. Some looked more worried than others. Adrien himself hugged me tightly and whispered "Give him hell" on his way out, which made Gonzalo sigh and say "I heard that Adrien. You're grounded." I struggled not to smile at his words. I needed to stay on task. Once the door closed again, I turned back to Gonzalo, who looked nervous.

"Kassie, I-" He began.

"No, Gonzalo, this time you listen," I said.