T H I R T Y - F I V E

Phoenix

I huff out a breath, wiping the blood out of my eyes, as I took in the bodies surrounding me.

That creature, whatever the fuck it was, killed more than half our guards and injured the rest.

I watched as the injured were getting checked out by the campus healers while the dead were being carried away by the Royal guards that could still walk.

"Bury them in the Guards Crypt" I ordered them "That's the least they deserve for their service today."

"Yes Alpha."

A rattled groan from beside me had my eyes snapping to him, his mangled body looking like it was pushed through a meat grinder before getting run over by an eighteen wheeler.

"You're one lucky bastard" I dropped to my knees to stanch the flow of blood from his abdominal wound "How the fuck you survived this is beyond me."

He laughed, the sound turning into a wheeze as more and more blood poured from his wounds.

"And how the fuck you still look like a male model while being covered from head to toe in blood is mind boggling" he croaked "Fucking Fenrir's."

"Wow, mind boggling" I called for a Healer "That's a big word for a Lobo that failed kindergarten, first, and fourth grade."

"Shut up" He grunted when the Healer took over, starting with the wound that was currently coating my hands in blood "It wasn't my fault and you know it."

I chuckled, glad that he was alive and talking to me, but on the inside I was anxious.

He was losing too much blood, his normally tanned skin looked pale and his skin was cold to the touch.

"How's Nova?" he croaked out "Did that thing..."

"She's fine" I reassured him "One of the Butcher twins got her to us in time."

"And the other?"

I looked over my shoulder at the other twin who was currently growling at the shaky Healer who was trying to mend a particular gruesome wound running across his chest.

"Still alive" I shook my head "There must be something in that Lobo Pack water because you bastards don't die."

When he didn't reply to my snarky comment, my head immediately snapped back to look at him.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was uneven but he was still alive.

"Why isn't he healed yet?" I snapped at the Healer who trembled slightly.

"Alpha, his wounds are deep" The Witch said "And for some reason, all I could do is manage and redirect his blood to vital organs so they don't start to fail him. My magik isn't working on Heir Lobo."

"What?" I barked "Why the fuck not?"

"I...I don't know" he stuttered "I've...I've never experienced something like this before."

I called for more Healers, demanding that they put all their effort into saving Atlas.

"Are the others stable?" I asked one of the Head Healers "Stable enough to at least heal Heir Lobo?"

"Most are Heir Fenrir" She rushed out quickly, wiping her bloody palms on her soiled, blood stained dress "I managed to call in more Healers but, there's a limited amount of us as there is, and our magik can only last for so long."

At least ten Witches surrounded Atlas now, their hands and eyes glowing as they pushed their powers into my friend's frail body.

If only Atlas could see himself now, to know that the very people he disliked were fighting to save his life, he would have a fucking fit.

A fact that I would definitely not let him forget when he was better.

"Do you know what's causing this?" I asked, softening my voice in order to minimize the prying ears surrounding us.

The older Witch shook her head, her frazzled grey hair bouncing slightly in the wind as she glanced at the dead creature a few feet away.

"My guess" she said just as soft as I spoke "It has something to do with that thing."

I glanced at the creature "Do you know what that is?"

Her hesitation had me looking back at her "You know what this is, don't you?"

Her flinch of fear had me automatically gripping her arms "If you know what this is, by Lupine Law and the Émigré Coven emendation that you are mandated to notify..."

"I've lived in the community a long time Alpha" She ripped her arms out of my grip "I know all the laws we witches have to abide to like the back of my hand. My entire Coven and I have to constantly refer back to them in fear that we might break one that has you lot throwing us out."

"I didn't mean it like..."

"Yes you did," She said, waving her hand in the air "But I'm used to it."

"I'm sorry" I apologized, realizing that if I managed to piss off the one witch that the others looked up to, Atlas was as good as dead "I'm worried about my fellow Heir, an Heir and Alpha I've known for a long time and whose Pack doesn't deserve for him to die."

Her eyes widened as she took a small step backwards, her shock very obvious at my words.

I get it.

I really did.

Heirs...let alone Fenrir Heirs... don't apologize to those society deems as 'less desirable' or those who had to power in our society.

And since our Healers were Witches that were outcasted from their own Covens, many wolves saw them as the lowest of the low in our society.

"I don't know what it is" she said softly, drawing my thoughts back to the conversation at hand "But I've heard stories."

"What stories?"

"The Darklanders" she whispered "The Dark Fae savages."

I reared my head back in shock "You believe that, that thing is one of those fabled creatures?"

"I can't be for sure" She eyed me "But from what the stories mention, it fits their descriptions."

"That's just it" I said "They're tales that are passed from one generation to another in order to scare the pups away from causing trouble."

"You should know more than anyone that those stories have some truths weaved into them" she murmured "Too bad Alpha Heir Lobo hasn't found his Mate yet."

My head snapped to hers "What does that have to do with anything?"

She looked at me, most likely started by my desperate tone "What?"

"What does having a Mate have to do with Atlas?"

"Uh...it doesn't happen often but it is said that sometimes Mated pairs can heal each other in a way that Healers can't" she looked at me in confusion "The intrinsic Bond that's forged the moment two Mates meet allow them to comfort, if not heal, each other in moments of pain or anguish."

"How does it work?"

"I don't know" she said "I've personally never seen it been done before."

"Then how do you know it's a real thing?" I growled "And not another Fable?"

"Our books Alpha Heir Fenrir" she narrowed her eyes at me "While I've never seen it been done before, that doesn't mean that someone hasn't. It's documented in our texts dating back a few couple decades."

My heart started pounding as an idea formulated in my head.

It was risky, so fucking risky, considering that I didn't know if what she was talking about was actually true.

I've never heard any situation where Mates were able to heal each other, albeit I've never really looked into the matter before, considering that I always believed that my Mate never existed and I would likely be forced to marry someone out of duty to my Pack.

However if what she was saying was real, if Mates could heal each other better than Healers, than our Little Star would be the solution to our pressing life or death situation.

"Where's Amethyst?" I asked the Healer whose frown of confusion grew tenfold.

"She was in the Med Wing if I recall" the Healer said "Making tonics and special wound dressings for the Guards coming in."

"Summon her here" I ordered "And quickly."

"Alpha Fenrir, we are perfectly capable of caring for-"

"I do not doubt you or your Coven's abilities" I interrupted her "But I do need someone I am familiar with tending to Alpha Heir Lobo's wounds around the clock. Is he safe to travel?"

"Travel?" She clucked her tongue, an incredulous tone mingling with her words "You want to move him?"

"Is he stable enough to move?"

She looked over at him and while there were still Healers working on him, the once sizable group dwindled significantly.

Exhaustion was starting to creep on the Healers and we both knew that within the next hour, all of their magik would be depleted.

"He took a lot of damage" she said "More damage than a normal shifter body should have took. We managed to stop the bleeding and heal some of the more superficial wounds but the larger ones have yet to mend back together."

"Is he safe to move?" I repeated.

"A short distance" she glanced at me "Possibly as far as the medical wing if I use some of my students but no farther than that."

The Penta Building was much closer than the Med wing but I didn't tell her that.

"And Amethyst?"

"I'm here! I'm here!" The familiar stout statured woman appeared beside me, her fair hair glinting in the sun "What is it that I can help with Heir Fenrir?"

"You're dismissed" I told the Healer who immediately took off to join the others working on Atlas "You need to come with me?"

"Where are we going?" Curiosity lit her tone as she followed me a few feet away from the chaos.

"Do you have a Silent Stone on you?"

"Of course I do" she fished in her waist long apron and held up the small pebble proudly in her small hand "I always carry one on me in case little Ian stops by the wing for a chat."

Kassian, or little Ian as she fondly referred too, might have grumbled and blushed at her name for him, even though we all knew that he loved it when his pseudo-mom called him by the childhood nickname she came up with when she raised him.

Once the stone was tucked tightly in the middle of her palm, I dropped a bomb on her.

"I need you to tell me where Kassian's room is."

"You know where his room is" She blinked at me "You live in the same house as he does."

"We both know that that's not the room I'm talking about."

She sucked in a sharp breath "How did you..."

"Kass though he was such a genius to bypass the Penta's rules" I raised an eyebrow "By only telling his Beta about the panic room, which left him the right to tell one more person about the panic room. A person that should have been his third or most trusted guard and not his former Witchy nanny."

She raised her chin in defiance "I'd rather die before I betray that sweet boy's trust."

"And that sweet boy will most likely want to die if he finds out that one of his best friends in the world died and that the woman he view as a mom had a hand in his death."

She reared her head back in shock "What?"

"Atlas is stable for right now" I told her honestly "But that won't last. We need to get him to Kassian's panic room before it's too late."

"You have some of the best healers in the world working on him" she quickly glanced behind us at the even smaller group of Witches helping Atlas "What's so important about Kassian's panic room that could rival the magik of Coven Healers?"

I nearly smiled as the image of our beautiful Little Star running into the Penta meeting like an hurricane popped into my mind.

While she may not have subconsciously known that Atlas was her Mate, or that she cared for him at all, her instincts sure did.

I could see it in the way that her body was slightly angled towards the door, the way she nervously wrung her hands or bounced on her feet.

If no one decided to listen to her plea of help, to help someone she'd grown close to, she would take it upon herself to save him instead.

"Kassian's panic room holds its own kind of magik."

If only I knew just how true that statement was...