Chapter 113

Harley’s POV

I pumped my legs faster as I ran through the forest grounds. My bear desperately wanted to surge forward and run in my place, but I kept him back. I knew he too wanted… no… he needed to blow off steam. But as of right now, I didn’t trust what he would do if he were to be set free and have full control. For right now, I had to keep him reined in until I knew it was safe to release him into this world again.

I wasn’t sure how long I had been running; my legs were burning, and my abs were aching, but I kept pushing myself. I had to keep pushing myself until I felt close to the brink of passing out. My legs were on fire as I took a deep breath of the cool air that swirled around me. Sweat dripped down the nape of my neck and across my chest, running down my torso and through the waistline of my pants.

The Blood Moon pack infirmary came into view, which meant I was almost back at my starting point. I could see Zach leaning against the building, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, the dark smoke swirling up from the butt and into the air around him. He wasn’t looking at me, rather he was staring up at the night sky, one foot sprawled out in front of him and the other resting on the wall behind him.

He took the cigarette between his fingers, puffed on it, and pulled it from his mouth. He blew more smoke into the air before he put the cig back into his mouth.

I slowed my pacing.

We were both wound up since Anila left and even more so since Zach could feel her being intimate with that Dragon King… and then to my horror, she marked him and vice versa. How could she allow herself to be marked by that man after just one day?

How could she mark him in return?

Zach said it didn’t bother him, but I hadn’t seen him smoking in a long time. I emerged from the woodlands and approached him. I ran my fingers through my sweat-soaked hair.

“You know smoking is bad for you, right?” I asked, already knowing that he knew.

Zach glanced at me, his expression never changed.

“Could think of other worse things,” he muttered, puffing on the cigarette some more before he dropped the shortened butt onto the ground and stepped on it, squishing it into the dirt. “Have a nice run?”

“It was needed,” I replied. “Hell of a lot healthier than smoking.”

Zach rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.

“My brother’s condition is worsening and Anila’s off playing house with another man,” he muttered. “I think my smoking is justified.”

“And you don’t think I’m affected too?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “This is killing me as much as it’s killing you. But hurting ourselves isn’t the answer. Anila wouldn’t want—”

“Anila doesn’t give a shit about what we want,” Zach said through his teeth.

Something inside of me snapped at that moment and the next thing I knew, I was shoving Zach against the wall. My large hand wrapped around his throat and his body was lifted off the ground as I roared in his face.

“Don’t you dare speak about her like that,” I growled, my bear surging forward and giving my voice some extra volume and force. “You have no idea what you are talking about!”

“Seriously?” A voice said from behind me, making me freeze. “This is what you jerks are doing right now? Fighting?”

I released Zach who fell to the ground, coughing and rubbing his aching throat. I turned, surprised to see Damien watching us from a short distance, his arms folded across his chest and his glasses resting low on his nose as he studied us.

“Anila would be disappointed in you both,” he muttered, shaking his head.

I was so shocked to see Damien standing before us that I didn’t even register what he said.

“What are you doing in wolf territory?” I asked, not caring that he just insulted us by using Anila’s name.

“I came to check on you,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “Probably a mistake, but I felt like it was necessary.”

“Why?” I asked, not sure what was happening, but the look on Damien's face was speaking volumes. “You fell in love with her.”

It wasn’t a question, more like an answer to my own question.

“I shared a dream with her,” he murmured. “And something might have snapped into place inside of me. I’m not really sure how I’m feeling, but I know I can’t ignore it anymore. She loves all of you, which means I should probably make some kind of effort to be around a bit more.”

“What about your precious Sarah?” Zach asked, his voice raspy after I nearly choked him to death.

Damien rolled his eyes.

“Not even you are that dense, Zach,” Damien said, shaking his head.

I turned to look at Zach who was slowly recovering.

“Sarah was cheating on him,” I replied. “So, they broke up.”

“At least one of you has enough sense to pay attention to the shit going on,” Damien murmured.

“It’s bad enough that I have to share my mate with you, my brother, and now the Dragon King… but now you expect me to share her with a goddamn wizard?” Zach asked, huffing. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a pack of cigarettes.

Just before he was about to pull one out, I grabbed them from his grasp and threw them on the ground. I stepped on them before he had the chance to protest.

“What the fuck?!” Zach growled; his eyes glowing yellow as his wolf fought to take control.

“I’m not going to let you break her heart by killing yourself,” I said through my teeth without even looking at him.

“Do you have a computer here?” Damien asked, interrupting our fight. “I want to send Anila some schoolwork. Though, I don’t know if she’s receiving them, I still feel I should send her what I can. I just found out that the challenges have been pushed up and I’m worried she will fall behind.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, needing a break from Zach.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Come on.”

We walked into the infirmary and continued through the building until we reached a small office. Xaden liked to use this office to get some work done in private, without his father breathing down his back. So, I knew there wouldn’t be anyone there.

Damien made himself comfortable in the office without me saying anything. I watched him as he pulled out some paperwork from his backpack and placed it on the printer to scan.

“Thank you for doing this,” I muttered after the silence stretched for too long.

“I’m not doing this for you.”

I nodded, already assuming that.

“Yeah, I know. But I’m sure Anila will appreciate it,” I replied. “Especially if the challenges are sooner than expected.”

“Look, we don’t have to exchange casualties just because we have this one thing in common. I’m not even sure where this leaves me in all this mess,” Damien told me, without even glancing in my direction.

“Whether you like it or not, you’re her mate too, Damien,” I told him. “She cares about you like she cares about the rest of us. What matters to us right now is her happiness. As long as she’s happy, I think we could all be happy. At least we have to try and get along for her sake.”

“Is that what you called what happened between you and Zach?” Damien asked, lifting his gaze to meet mine. “Getting along?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but just as I did, I heard my name from behind me.

“Harley!”

I turned to see the doctor rushing towards me, his eyes filled with worry, and he was breathless. It was obvious he’d been running around and looking for someone for quite a while.

“What’s going on?” I asked, turning my full attention to the doctor who stopped short of me.

“It’s Xaden,” The doctor said as he caught his breath. “I just stabilized him, but his condition is getting much worse. I tried to mindlink Zach, but he’s blocking the pack connection, and his father is still out with the remaining warriors. You’re the only one I could find.”

My heart cracked from his words. Not only because I was losing my best friend, but because Anila was losing one of her mates. I knew this was going to destroy her… it was going to destroy all of us. I admit, I didn’t like the idea of sharing my mate with others, but this is our reality.

Could we manage if one of us were to die?

Would Anila ever truly recover? Or would a piece of her be missing forever?

“We need that Dragon Scale. We have everything else for the potion except for that,” the doctor continued.

“How long does he have?” I asked, hating how strained my voice sounded.

“If I were to take a guess, I would say sundown tonight,” the doctor said, glancing at his watch. It was mid morning now, which meant, we didn’t have long.

“There’s got to be something we can do.”

“I’ve done everything I could,” the doctor said grimly. “But without the completed potion…”

“We need to get a hold of Anila and tell her to hurry up,” Damien said, drawing the doctor's attention to him. The doctor narrowed his eyes when he saw Damien and shock registered on his face.

“A… are you a wizard?” The doctor asked. “In a werewolf territory? Do you have a death wish?”

Damien didn’t bother to reply, he just looked at me.

“I don’t know if she’s receiving my emails,” he told me. “But I think I know how we can get a hold of her.”

“How?” I asked without wasting any time. “Do we wait until she falls asleep? How will we know when she’s sleeping?”

“We can’t know for sure if she’s awake or not. There’s no sense of time in Dragon Valley, so she might not know what time it is currently. I need to run to my dorm and get a spell book first because I can’t remember the spell off the top of my head. But what we also need to do is find Zach. I think he might be the only one who can reach her while she’s awake.”