I thought for sure I was dead until I suddenly felt something force me back and that someone was Lily and Layla. Her panic pulled me back. Even Darian thought this was it. Yet waking I felt this strange tug forcing me to my feet and suddenly my wounds started healing rapidly. Pain that filled my body was now gone.
“Layla” Was all Darian muttered, and I felt him force the shift and run towards the pack house. Alarms blaring loudly and I hear Darian mind link the entire pack. Telling them to get to their Luna, their angry echoes forcing me to run faster.
Running, I notice the bodies of the wolves that I originally went looking for dead just on the northern forest edge. Not having time to stop, we ran through the town keeping in the direction of the pack house.
“How are we still alive?” I growl. Nothing makes sense. I felt myself dying, felt my soul slipping into oblivion..
“I think when we marked her our life line became tethered to Layla’s somehow, I can’t explain it. I could feel her getting weaker and us getting stronger” He tried to explain, which just worried me. If Lily's wolf is weakened, can they still shift? Can she fight her way out? But most of all, can we get to her in time?
As we get closer, I see Callie and around twenty warriors run alongside us. Heading toward the Packhouse. When it comes into view, I hear the wailing of a woman screaming hysterically from the back end of the pack house. Her cries are guttural and heartbreaking. Rounding the corner, we all skid to a stop, my paws ripping up grass as I stare at what I see.
Lily in the middle of the yard next to the mighty Banyan tree on the ground, rocking back and forth, clutching someone in her arms. I see Tabitha standing horrified on the back verandah, tears running down her face as she stares at Lily. I can vaguely hear the sounds of a baby crying but tune it out as all I can focus on at this moment is my mate.
Shifting, I walk towards her, linking the pack to search the forest. She doesn’t even look up as I approach, completely lost in her grief, and I see why when I see the man in her arms is her father. His lifeless eyes looking up at the sky, hollow and dead.
Moving behind her, I touch her shoulder and she growls loudly and I realise her and Layla are one at the moment. I feel Darian shake his head in warning and I can feel through the bond a mix of burning anger and sorrow.
“Lily” I say but she doesn’t answer. Just continues to rock back and forth, cradling her father’s head.
“Lily” I repeat and her head whips around so fast I thought she was going to attack me, her eyes blazing before recognition hits her and they suddenly lose their light.
“He’s gone, he’s gone because of me” She sobs, her hands clenched in what’s left of his shirt. I hated my father, but seeing her like this, I could tell she truly loved hers. I always thought of Lily as strong, even when she didn’t think she was, stronger than life and vibrant, compassionate. Yet looking at her now, she looked broken. Devastatingly broken. And I didn’t know how to fix her.
Crouching down beside her, I brush her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
I wasn’t used to dealing with tears, not from her, and I was lost with what I should do to comfort her. Usually I caused tears, not try to stop them. Looking at Lily though, I wanted nothing more than to stop her pain, take it from her like she did me.
“Come on” I tell her, trying to get her up, but she refuses to let him go. Callie and Max both walk into the clearing and Callie comes over to her.
“Lily, we will take care of him promise, go with your mate” She says and I am suddenly grateful for her pain in the ass being here. Callie usually frustrated me to no end. Always challenging my authority, but I could tell she loved Lily and considered her a friend. Maybe that’s why they get on so well, they are a lot alike.
Callie grips Lily’s face, forcing her to look at her. “Go with your mate, I will look after your dad okay” Lily nods her head, her blonde hair looks like it has been dipped in blood. Lily stands and Max comes over, picking the Alpha up.
Lily looks at him, and I can feel her through the bond as she forces herself to harden her resolve and pull herself together. Callie squeezes my shoulder as she walks past, and I nod to her as she follows Max. Max's voice echoing to me loudly as he tells me Kade wasn’t found. Leaving more questions as to how he got in without the Pack seeing him here.
Placing my arms over her shoulders, I tug her against me and she relaxes slightly against me as we walk into the house. Walking in, I am horrified at what I see. Body parts strewn throughout my kitchen and dining-room, smashed windows. Kitchen doors ripped off and a hole in the wall.
Lily walks in like she doesn’t even see them, just stepping over and trudges blood all over my floors. I shake my head at the sudden urge to clean the house, forcing myself after her.
“I need to call my sister” Lily says, not even looking back at me as she walks out fast leaving me in the kitchen gobsmacked.
I don’t understand, if Lily couldn’t shift, Did David cause this mess? I said to myself, looking at the body parts scattered everywhere. When I thought my shock couldn’t get any worse, Tabitha walked in, her voice hitting me first as I turned to her.
“I think her wolf did that, except that one. That was me. The rest was her though” Suddenly my eyes darted down when I saw something wriggle in her arms. My eyes go to the baby she held, she hugs her a little tighter. I step forward when Tabitha shakes her head, and I don’t understand until the scent hits me.
Chapter 31
Damien’s POV
“What the fuck have you done, Tabitha?” The anger I felt in this moment was unbelievable, all this drama. The trouble she caused and the strain she has placed on my relationship with Lily, which is only just hanging on by a thread and the kid isn’t even mine. How does one fuck that up so badly?
“I’m sorry, I thought when I got the results back it was yours” She stumbled over her apology.
“Have you any idea, the problems this baby has caused me and it isn’t even mine? What were you thinking, I just wouldn’t notice?”
“No, that’s not it, I didn’t know. I swear”
“Who’s is it then, it clearly ain’t mine? And where did you get the test done” She looked away guiltily. I watched tears brim in her eyes before catching movement as the bundle in her arms wriggled. Stepping closer, I pulled the blanket back, It’s scent hitting me like a slap in the face. Tabitha stepped back worriedly.