Chapter 18: 18: Chapter 18

LEAH

“No, no, no!” I whisper as I kneel by John’s body. All around me, wolves are fighting each other; their yapping echoes across the field, and the smell of blood is overwhelming. My hands tremble as I place them against the arrow in John’s chest.

“Leah…,” he whispers, and I meet his unnaturally calm gaze.

“No, no, no! John, you’re going to be fine, don’t worry, you’re going to be fine!” My voice trembles, and I feel warm tears streaming down my face.

“Don’t worry, Leah. I’m ready to go,” he whispers as he raises his hand to my cheek. The gesture feels too intimate, but I don’t do anything to remove his hand as he caresses my cheek. “I want you to know that I’ve always loved you. In another life, it might have been you and me, but you weren’t meant for me in this life, and now I can finally be reunited with my first mate.”

“John, stop! Please! John, you’re going to be fine. You’re going to be fine!” I try frantically to stop the blood that is leaking from his wound. “You’ll be fine, please John, I’ll take you to a doctor. You’re going to be fine!”

“Take care of the king, Leah, and take care of yourself and your unborn child,” John whispers before his hand falls to the ground.

“No! No! John!” I scream as I see the life in his eyes leave him.

I don’t notice how Zeke has approached us, and it’s not until he lifts me off the ground that I’m thrown back to reality. My grief is replaced by a tremendous anger, and I turn to Camille. Ares must have sensed my state of mind because his wolf matches my energy by growling loudly at her.

“You’re going to die!” I scream before I throw myself forward and shift midair. I don’t hear Zeke calling for me as I zigzag between the rogues, fearless and determined to avenge John’s death.

Ares’s wolf throws itself through the crowd of wolves, and we make our way to Camille at the same time. She smiles wickedly before she tightens her bow once more. I bare my teeth and jump to the side as her arrow comes flying.

“Leah!” Ares roars. “What the fuck are you doing? She’s mine!”

“No,” I growl before I jump right at her. She isn’t prepared for my attack, and we fall backward. The fire from her bow burns through my fur on one of my arms, and I whine from the pain. Ares reacts instinctively as he leaps forward to attack Camille, who immediately brings up a wall of earth between her and Ares.

I limp back a few steps as I watch Ares jump over the wall of earth. He throws himself at her and she rolls to the side, just inches away from having all of Ares’s weight on top of her. She turns to him, and I see my chance. I grit my teeth, push through the pain, and rush to pounce on her. She quickly turns around and just as I’m about to bite her throat she hits me hard in the stomach and I’m thrown back as I hit the ground with a loud thud.

A heart-wrenching howl sounds as Ares’s wolf watches me fall to the ground. The sight of his mate being injured must have given him extra energy because he quickly throws himself at Camille who doesn’t have time to react, and she screams loudly as his teeth penetrate her body. He rips off a large chunk of her abdomen, and she falls to the ground. Ares claws at her torso aggressively before finally chopping off her head with one bite.

I shift to my human form while I’m lying on the ground, with my arms around my stomach. The pain is indescribable, and I pray to the goddess that the fetus has not been harmed by the blow.

Ares also shifts as he runs up to me. He bends down and lifts me up in his arms. I look out at the field; the number of rogues left is minimal, and many have started to retreat into the woods now that Camille is dead.

Ares runs away from the field with me in his arms, and he doesn’t stop until he reaches the hospital section. He kicks open the doors to the front desk and screams for a doctor. I feel the blood from my arm oozing out, and I wonder why the injury isn’t healing as it should.

“Your Highness! This way!” one of the doctors shouts, waving Ares away to one of the rooms farther down the corridor. He lays me down on a cold hospital bed before placing a blanket over my naked body.

“Ares, John is dead,” I whisper, and I feel once again the grief of losing my friend wash over me.

“I know, my love…I know.” He caresses my head while the doctor cleans the wound on my shoulder.

“This wound is stained by wolfsbane, I’m worried about the fact that it won’t stop bleeding,” the doctor murmurs, wincing when Ares growls loudly.

“Fix it!” he roars at her.

“O-of course!” She gets up to fetch more compresses before she presses them against the wound with trembling hands.

“Hey, doc…” I put my hand on my stomach and turn to face her. “The baby, can we check if it’s okay?”

“The baby?” Ares whispers in amazement. “Are you pregnant?”

“I don’t know, I think so. But the hit from Camille… I don’t know if the baby can survive something like that.” I sob.

“Leah,” Ares whispers as he sinks down on a chair by my bed. He takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips before placing gentle kisses on it.

The doctor nods at me before running out of the room. We sit in silence until she returns with an ultrasound machine. She gives Ares a questioning look before she slides the blanket down so that she can access my stomach.

“This might be a little cold,” she says before dolloping something jelly-like onto my stomach. She picks up the scan and places it on top of the gel. She moves it around on my stomach before stopping and looking intently at the screen. I can’t decipher what the screen is showing, her silence is nerve-racking.

“What do you see, doc?” I hear Ares ask, but my increased pulse echoes loudly in my ears and the sounds around me fade away.

“There,” she says, pointing to the screen. “There’s the heartbeat.” She turns the screen toward us so we can see a flashing dot inside what looks like a small bean.

“Leah,” Ares moans, and I meet his loving gaze. I blink away the tears that have gathered in my eyes. He leans forward, and our lips meet in a heartfelt kiss.

“Congratulations, my king and queen,” the doctor says as she wipes down the ultrasound scanner. She smiles at us before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

“John is dead,” I whisper again as Ares climbs onto the bed to hold me.

“I know,” he replies again as his strong arms embrace me. I quickly realize that we are naked and have been for the entire time that the doctor was in the room with us. But I don’t have the energy to care; instead, I lean my head on Ares’s chest and cry. I let the tears flow freely as he caresses my back.

Mateo, Boris, and Zeke inform us that all the rogues have been killed, even those who have retreated have been chased down and executed. They have also taken care of the deceased from our army, and preparations are being made for a funeral. John’s funeral will be held tomorrow night, and he will be honored as a war hero should.

I shiver when they tell me about John’s funeral, and I hide my face in my mate’s chest.

When the doctor checks that my burn is no longer bleeding, she lets us return to the castle. Ares refuses to let me walk, so he carries me all the way to our bedroom. Then he takes one of his shirts and pulls it over my head before helping me into bed and tucking me under the covers. He crawls in next to me with his arms tightly around my body. My eyes sting from all the crying, and the exhaustion finally wins when I fall asleep in my mate’s arms.