Figment of Dreams
The Close (2)

Lux

They came from the woods. Leo and nine other Wolvaby’s. The guards all backed up, and they all surrounded me. I could see every jaw drop. Everyone was in awe of what they were seeing. I petted him close to me. So grateful for this amazing animal. They all started shifting into their monster forms, and I wasn’t even the slightest bit afraid. I glanced at Leo and gave Elia a slightly cruel smile. ‘Leo, go to town.’ As If he understood me, I’m pretty sure he did. They went at it. I ran towards Oak. Ash and Jax were getting rid of their guards. Sebastian was distracting his. Oak hugged me so tightly that I bruised.

‘Get her out of here!’ Dosch yelled while whacking two of them at the same time with a gun in each hand. Oak pushed me into Sebastian’s arms. ‘Go, baby, go! You take care of her!’

Sebastian nodded. I saw Leo tear a head clean off. Elia was running. I was not letting her get away so quickly. I maneuvered my way out of Sebastian’s arms, who was in the process of taking care of a guard blocking our exit.

Ran straight for the bitch. She was not running from this. I was not living the rest of my life afraid of when she would replace me again. She was not leaving here alive.

I saw it happen in slow motion. She reached for her gun, and aimed it at my head. Even though two Wolvaby’s and Ash himself were running at high speed at her back to end her. She didn’t give a fuck. She was taking me with her. That had been her backup plan all along. As I glanced in that barrel of that gun I knew I had no way out of it. She was going to shoot me straight in the head, and that would have been it. I would never know why I was not entirely human, what I was, how I got to be this way, and why she wanted me dead. I would never be able to love any of my guys. I would not have a tomorrow. This was it.

A serenity overcame me, in that split second, since I knew she was not having a tomorrow either. The Wolvaby or the Ash, not sure what was a worse way to go for her. It would be painful. It would be brutal. I would smile down upon it from the afterlife.

He jumped in front of me right when the bullet went off—my precious boy. I screamed. There was so much blood. I didn’t even notice that one of Leo’s pack had ripped Elia’s head straight off. I had eyes for my lifesaver only. He was breathing hard. His eyes slightly panicked. Leo grunted in my lap, and I was trying to stop the bleeding.

‘Don’t go, Leo, hang on. Somebody call Chris!’ I yelled hysterically through my tears. ‘Call Dean!’ Ash was on me in the next second, behind me, holding me close while I kept pressure on my Wolvaby. ‘Sweet cheeks.’ He cried in my hair. Blood was everywhere, he wasn’t even a slight speck not bloodied. Dosch and Oak were next. Trying to help me stop the bleeding of Leo. Sebastian grabbed his head and put his hoodie underneath it. The other Wolvaby’s circled around us, howling eerily, and I saw Jax wearily stare at them when he took place at Leo’s hind legs. But I was not afraid.

It was at that moment I realized something. I had a connection to these animals that I hadn’t recognized before, but I felt them. Like I felt the mating bond in my soul, I felt them throb in my soul too. Tears were clouding my vision because I was losing him. Chris and Dean wouldn’t make it in time. Ash was rubbing my back. Oak glanced up at me. ‘Baby… he’s.’

‘NO!’ I screamed and sobbed and saw the last of his soul leave his eyes. The moment he left, I fell down on his chest and bawled. Racking sobs going through my entire body. The rain was now a thunderstorm with these ice-cold raindrops, but I was not shivering from being cold. I was trembling from the shock of it all, from losing my friend, from losing Leo. My teeth clacked, my voice broken. I could not stop sobbing over his soft chest. ‘Little bird, you are going to freeze.’ Seb put his hoodie over my shaking shoulders, staying at my back and trying to hug some warmth into me.

All the other Wolvaby’s howled towards the sky. Chilling me to the bone. Ash and the others stayed close and caressed my hair, back, and arms, while I wailed. Whispered sweet nothings to me. Even when all others arrived, seeing the spectacle in front of them, all nine Wolvaby’s were now gathered at the edge of the forest. Paying some final respect to their fallen mate as well.

He was starting to bleed less, and grow colder. I was still petting him. Lying on his stomach, going through his long mane. The rain wiped away all of the blood from our bodies, but I was still a complete bloody mess.

’Carina, we need to go. You need to let go, Amore Mio.’

I couldn’t even hear him.

‘Little bird, please. You need to get checked out. Chris is here for you.’

I ignored him too. Not even thinking straight.

‘Lulu, Dean is going to take care of him, okay? He is taking him.’ I glanced up and saw Dean crouch down. Tears streaming down his own cheeks. ‘I’m so sorry, Lux.’ He cried and hugged me. I sobbed into his arms and held onto my Leo with my other arm. They saw this as some sign to pry me off him. Oak was raising me into his arms, and I fought him.

‘No, I need to stay. I can’t go! Please! No!’

Ash grabbed my cheeks. ’There is blood everywhere, sweet cheeks! We are all worried sick. You. Need. To. Get. Checked. Out. Sweet cheeks. Please!’ he scratched at his mark viciously.

I just sobbed into Oak’s shirt all the way back to sick bay. Chris and Ash on my heels. The others were making sure Leo got carried away properly.