Chapter 108

Claire POV

We burst into a small clearing in the trees, moonlight showing a stretch of mud scattered with footprints.

Here. We were here.

This was where it happened.

Whatever “it” was.

Andy’s scream no longer echoing through the woods, but it continued to swirl in my mind.

I knew it was a scream that was going to live in my heart until the day that I died.

That sound…

It hadn’t just been a scream of fear.

It had been a scream of pain.

And I knew, even before we found him lying there in the mud, that it was going to be bad.

But when we nearly stumbled over his poor broken body, my heart simply shattered.

Andy lay bleeding, dying, his blood pooling out onto the ground around him, the rain splattering and splashing it.

And a knife stuck out of his chest.

Staring at it for one long frozen moment, I felt the world retreat. A heavy buzzing filled my mind.

I nearly passed out.

“Dad! Claire!” he cried weakly, seeing us.

“Daddy, it hurts! It hurts so bad.”

He began to cry, sobbing and trembling. The trembling turned to shaking, and my brain snapped back into focus.

Because I realized he was having a seizure.

Oh my god, I thought.

We’re too late.

His brain is shutting down.

We fell to our knees beside our boy. Nathan lifted him onto his lap gently, trying to shield him from the rain that continued to fall.

Then he looked up at me, his face pale as death, raw terror in his eyes.

“Claire, dear god. Look what she’s done to our boy.

“Can you heal him? Can you save our son??”

Fighting nausea, and with tears streaming down my face, I shook my head.

He was clearly already so far gone…

I wasn’t sure what I could do.

If it was even possible for me to do anything at all.

“I don’t know,” I said, my voice a harsh whisper, filled with tears. “He’s so terribly hurt…Let me see,” I added, reaching out my hands.

My hands shook as I held them out, placing them over the wound in his small, fragile chest. The hilt of that awful knife sticking up between my palms.

Endless moments followed as I concentrated, moments filled with Andy’s rough sobs while Nathan tried to console him.

“Ssh, Andy,” he said. “Just hold still. Try not to move. Please, son, save your energy.”

I heard him as if from a distance, focusing all of my energy into the scan I was doing with my healing abilities.

I sunk deeper and deeper inside of Andy’s body, cataloguing every cut and tear, every bruise and rupture.

There were so many things broken and destroyed.

And there was so much pain.

Footsteps pounded into the clearing.

It was Beta Garrett and Beta Evan, who both slid to a halt when they saw the scene in front of them.

“Princess!” Beta Garrett cried out. “Dear god, what has Sabrina done??”

“Alpha Nathan, what…?!” Beta Evan sounded as sick to his stomach as I felt.

“Get help,” Nathan demanded, his voice as cold as I had ever heard it. “Now!”

The command in his tone had both men turning around immediately.

Nathan returned to consoling Andy.

“It’s alright, son. Claire’s going to make it all better. Just wait.

“Just hold on, Andy. Please, hold on.”

He looked over at me, tears in his eyes. “You are going to make it better, right? Please, Claire, tell me you can save our boy.”

Frowning with concentration, feeling a familiar headache already starting to throb at the base of my skull, I nodded slowly. “Yes, I think…

“Yes. I can do this.”

And I prayed it wasn’t just hope that had me saying that.

I prayed I could actually heal all the damage Sabrina had done to our little boy.

“But I’ll need your help to do it,” I told Nathan. “It’s going to take both of us to save him. Can you do that?”

Nathan nodded.

“Good. Lay him back down, and make sure he’s laying flat.”

“I’ll do anything,” he said, gently lowering Andy back down onto the cold wet ground. “Just tell me what to do.”

“Put your hand on the knife,” I said. “And when I tell you to, I want you to pull it out of his chest.

“Slowly, but as steady as you can.”

I looked up at him, waited for his eyes to meet mine. In them, I saw the same terror and glassy shock I could feel fighting for dominance inside of me.

“Can you do that?”

Nathan looked down at the knife sticking out of Andy’s chest. For a moment I thought he might throw up, or pass out.

But then he swallowed and nodded, a look of determination on his face.

He reached out and, after a brief moment of hesitation, wrapped his hand around the handle of the knife. Then he watched me, waiting for the signal.

I placed my hands on either side of the wound once more, reaching out and down with my mind, finding every ragged edge of skin and muscle and bone.

Everything I needed to grab, hold onto and begin to pull back together.

A warm gold glow began to pulse under my hands, growing stronger as I sent more energy and focus to the wound.

“Alright,” I said at last. “Are you ready?”

I waited for Nathan’s nod, then took a deep steadying breath.

“Ok,” I cried. “Now! Do it now!”

Gritting his teeth, Nathan began to pull the blade slowly out of Andy’s chest.

Inch by inch the wickedly sharp metal emerged from Andy’s small body.

I wanted to howl with rage, with fear and absolute insult at the sight of it.

Instead I focused my energies down into my son’s body as Nathan pulled the knife all the way out of his chest.

“Ok, good,” I said, letting out the breath I’d been holding. “That was good.

“Now put your hands over mine. I need your energy.”

He placed his hands over mine, the warmth of them making me realize just how cold my hands were.

My entire body was freezing.

I was shivering from the rain, from fear, and from the effort of healing.

My head was pounding badly. I was afraid it might split in half.

It was taking everything I had just to keep Andy from bleeding to death.

And still, I needed more.

“I - I don’t know what to do,” Nathan said. His hands were shaking too.

“Just think of Andy,” I told him. “Think of how much you love him.

“Give him your energy. Give him your life.”

Nathan nodded, closing his eyes. I could feel the moment his energy connected with my own healing energy.

It sent a surge of power through me, power I immediately directed down into Andy’s struggling little body.

But would it be enough??

I just wasn’t sure.

All I could do was keep trying.

I looked down at Andy, who was slowly losing consciousness, and couldn’t keep back the sob that escaped me.

“It’s alright, darling,” I told him. “Just keep breathing, baby, okay? Just stay with us.”

Focusing, I sent every single part of me into my healing.

“You’re going to be okay, I promise, Andy. Do you hear me?

“Mommy’s here.”