Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Sadie turned back in surprise. She looked up at Selene and felt relief wash over her.
“Sadie, can you stand?” she repeated.
Sadie nodded.
“Yes, but Stefan is badly hurt,” she said.
Selene looked down at Stefan. She clenched her jaw at the sight of him. She reached up and pulled the pin from her collar, placing it on the remains of his shirt. Small chords surrounded his body.
“That will protect him for now,” Selene said, “we need to get out of here.”
Sadie nodded, but another screech drew her attention back to the creatures fighting.
The attacker had managed to crack the carapace of the first creature. Now it screamed as the attacker ripped it open and tore it off. Finally, the creature’s remaining legs gave out. It fell to the ground with slight convulsions of its legs and one remaining claw. The attacker then used its heavy claw to crush the head of the dying beast until it moved no more.
Sadie quickly got to her feet, ignoring the protests of her body. She expected that once the first creature was dead, the second would focus on them as its next victim. So they needed to move quickly before it saw them.
But, to her surprise, that didn’t happen. Instead, it just stood there doing absolutely nothing.
“Do you have them?!” came a shout.
Sadie’s heart jumped at the voice. Then, back by the tree line, she saw the other children and standing before them, his jaw clenched and his eyes glowing a bright green, was Myka.
Instantly she felt relieved.
Selene leaned forward to pick Stefan up, but the creature began to shuffle and thrash in the dirt as she reached for him.
“Myka?” Selene called out with concern, her eyes on the beast.
Myka fell to one knee, grabbing his temple with a pained expression. A trickle of blood ran down his nose. Sadie ran to his side.
“I… can’t hold… it…!” He growled through gritted teeth.
Selene stood up and pulled out both obsidian karambits.
“Hold as long as you can,” she said. “But let go before you don’t have the strength to carry him and get out of here.”
Selene didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she charged forward and jumped onto the creature’s back. Then, turning both blades down, she raised them above her and brought them down forcefully onto the thick carapace. Though the obsidian worked better than other blades, they still could not cut through in one go.
Myka let out a roar as his head ached, and the creature broke free of his control. Selene quickly corrected, and instead of trying to cut open the carapace, she severed one of its legs and then jumped to another.
“Selene!” Myka cried out.
“Go!” Selene shouted. “Get them out of here now!”
Myka clenched his jaw, he didn’t want to leave her behind, but he knew she was right. So he ran to Stefan and lifted him into his arms.
“Go, go!” he told the others, pushing them ahead toward the path down the mountain.
The creature bucked and thrashed, finally succeeding in knocking Selene from its back, but on her way down, she managed to cut through another of its legs.
She landed on her back, and the creature immediately turned and tried to smash its heavy claw onto her head. Selene was quick. She rolled to the side and back again as it tried to do the same thing with the other.
She got back to her feet, and in doing so, she found a sweet spot, a crack in the carapace. She lunged forward and caught her karambit in the crack. She tugged with all her might, and the gap grew as the creature roared. Selene quickly stabbed repeatedly into the opening.
It flung its heavy claw back at her, catching her in the chest, and she was thrown backward. She landed painfully in the dirt, and the wind was knocked out of her.
She lifted her head and could see that the damage was done. The creature was barely standing, struggling to hold itself up. As she took deep breaths, she smiled.
But the creature had one final action to take, one parting blow.
It used the last of its strength to turn its body, its tail dragging through the dirt. Then, with its back to Selene, the creature sprayed a bright green liquid from its tail. Selene’s eyes went wide, and she tried to crawl away. But a thick stream landed on her stomach, and without even the protective layer of the armor from her pin, it instantly burned into her flesh and was excruciating.
Selene screamed, and soon the world went dark.
Her consciousness stirred. She was lying somewhere soft and warm. The sound of air being pushed into the room and the faint buzz of an overhead light played in her ears. She took a breath, wincing from the pain it drew from her body.
Selene opened her eyes. She was in a small room she didn’t recognize. The ceiling was white, the walls a sort of salmon beige color. She lifted her head just enough to look around. One small window with sheer rust-colored curtains let the sunlight into the room.
A counter and sink with a cabinet above was on one side of the window. On the counter, Selene could see basic medical supplies like bandages, gauze, and cotton balls. On the other side of the window was a tall, simple dresser. It was dark wood, with two doors that opened out. Just past the dresser was the door she assumed led out of the room.
Other than the bed that Selene was lying on, the only other furniture she saw was an end table with only a lamp and a chair not far from the bed.
An IV pole beside the bed was also connected to her arm.
Selene took a deep breath and laid her head back. She still felt drained, and her body ached and burned.
She pulled her arm out from under the blanket. Even that action sent painful jolts through her body. Then, moving the blanket down, she saw that she wore a sports bra and that her midsection was covered entirely in bandaging. She lowered the blanket to her hips before pulling it back to cover herself.
Selene closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
What happened? How had she gotten here? Where was she?
The last thing she remembered was the green liquid spraying toward her. She remembered screaming and then seeing black. The pain must have overwhelmed her. But then what happened?
There was a flash of another memory, of more screams, but there was something else, water?
The door to the room opened, and Selene turned her head. He had his back to her as he closed the door, but she immediately recognized his blue hair.
“Myka,” she whispered. “Where are we? What happened?”
He turned around, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and his arms were covered in bandages. Surprised by the sight, Selene tried to sit up, only to cry out in pain as she was immediately reminded that her body was severely injured.
“Don’t try to move,” he said, quickly reaching her and gently pushing her shoulders back to the bed before sitting in the chair. “We are with Bustling Bush. It’s the closest pack to Moonguard.”
“What happened to you?” she asked after a deep breath.
Myka looked down at his arms.
“Once I got the kids a safe distance, I returned for you,” he began. “I saw the creature was dead and found you lying on the ground surrounded by small sinkholes of that green liquid.”
His voice was tired. Selene wondered how long it had been and if he had even had a chance to sleep.
“I assumed that the creature must have sprayed you with that green stuff before it died… it has some kind of acidic quality. It burned you, and you passed out,” he said. “I didn’t realize about the acid… so I picked you up, and….”
He sighed and raised his arms with a tired smile.
“No good deed, right?” he said.
Selene swallowed. She was grateful that he had come back for her. If he hadn’t, she would likely have died there. But she also knew that none of this would have happened if it weren’t for the choice that she had made to begin with.
“Anyway,” he continued. “I picked you up. The burning was pretty immediate. I didn’t know what to do, but it seemed like a good idea to get any extra off us. So, I carried you into the lake.”
“Into the lake?” Selene asked, feeling a vague memory of the event.
“Yea, I don’t know if you remember,” he said. “You woke up screaming, which isn’t surprising because when the water touched my arms, it was ten times worse than just the green liquid itself.”
“I remember water and screaming… but nothing else.”
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “You passed out almost immediately after waking.”
Selene furrowed her brow. She had experienced pain many times in general, but passing out, twice, because of it, was surprising.
“I’m losing my touch,” she smiled. “Letting a little pain take me down.”
Myka looked up at her. It was the first time she noticed his eyes in their conversation. They were bloodshot and swollen. He clenched his jaw.
“Selene, you almost died,” he said. His voice shook, a layer of anger and concern.
Selene swallowed. Obviously, the situation was not ideal. She was still in pain, but how could she have almost died?
“Your stomach, it’s bad,” he continued. “You may not realize it, but you’re on a heavy dose of painkillers.”
Selene furrowed her brows.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t be. My mind is clear, and yea, it hurts, but it’s not that bad.”
“You’re wearing a medical pin,” he said. Pointing to her shoulder.
She reached up, touching the strap of her bra she felt a small button. It was similar to the armor pin she always wore. Now that he had said it, she could see just a hint of an iridescent shine on her arm.
Alexander had told her about it months ago, something new they were developing in one of the labs. It was meant to work in emergencies, like how they had used their pins to help stabilize someone with basic wounds.
But the medical pin would be able to cover the body in a thin, almost imperceptible skin. Providing a sterile environment, giving antibiotics, numbing agents, or pain medications directly to the wound, and avoiding the side effects on the brain.
But as far as she knew, the medical pin hadn’t been finished yet. It certainly wouldn’t have been released to the minor packs even if it had.
“How?” she asked. “How do I have this?”
“The team that came from Summer brought it.”
Selene furrowed her brows.
“Team from Summer?” she asked. “What team? Why is there a team from Summer here?”
Myka looked away, clenching his jaw. Then, after a moment, he looked back at her.
“Axel requested that they come,” he said.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?