Chapter 18

Harper’s POV

My foot slams into the muzzle of the wolf who has his teeth in my leg while I pummel the wolf tearing at my arm. It does nothing.

They’re going to tear me apart.

Pain blinds me, my vision blurring and turning red from all of the blood. Another wave of fiery pain shoots through my torso, and I scream again.

Then, something slams into the wolf above me. I blink against my blurry vision and the splatters of blood that hits my face as the wolves turn and converge on the new wolf. The scene before me flickers as my vision blurs and clears. It’s like seeing clips of a movie.

One minute the rogues are winning, and the next, the new wolf is on top of one of them. He tears into the rogues, taking them out one by one. They lay scattered across the ground as he roars and finishes off the last one with a swipe of his claws.

I breathe through the pain, trying to sit up as he stalks toward me.

Then I blink and Lucas is standing over me. He must’ve been patrolling the border when he heard me in trouble. Thank the Goddess.

“Thank you,” I cough, wincing at the ache in my ribs. I press a hand to the wound and take deep breaths, calling my healing magic forward. It stutters to life slowly.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Lucas growls harshly. His face is red in anger as he glares down at me, “Why would you come out here, and why would you fake a bond between us?”

Now I’m confused.

“W-What?”

He growls again. “didn’t hire you as my personal physician so you could spell me or forge a fake bond between us!”

“Spell you? What fake bond?” I ask, still confused. “I didn’t do anything to you.”

“I came because I could sense your injuries. Only mates have the power to sense each other like that, and you’re not mine,” he says with a huff of annoyance tinged with fury. “I shouldn’t be able to feel you, but I know that witches are able to forge fake bonds, and since you’re not my mate, that’s the most likely outcome.”

He’s blaming me for something I don’t know how to do. I’ve never been able to forge bonds like my mother supposedly was able to, and now that he’s straying from his mate, he’s blaming me? What a gentleman.

Lucas looks around and groans, “And now I’ve killed the only leads I have to the mole.”

“Then maybe you should’ve let them kill me instead of attacking them,” I scoff in disbelief.

His eyes flash and he snaps, “Maybe I should have.”

Disbelief and shock rock my body, and the moment Lucas realizes what he said, he shoves a hand through his black hair. I can’t believe he just said that to me. Would he have really… No. He saved me, which means he’s just speaking out of anger.

“I didn’t put a—”

Lucas spins on me and glares, “Do not use witchcraft on me, and don’t try to seduce me in such a shitty way.”

He’s insane. Does he not see how injured I am? How in the world does he think that I did this to seduce him.

I thought he and Sierra weren’t a good match, but now I see it. They’re both delusional, seeing things that aren’t there. It’s ridiculous to blame the victim for something they have no control over.

“I didn’t do anything to you,” I tell him again, wavering when the weakness truly starts to sink in. “You’re Sierra’s fiancé, and I’m not shallow enough to try to steal someone else’s mate. Besides, I don’t even like you. I’m not one of those women who can’t walk away from an Alpha. I’m not interested in you!”

“Keep it that way,” Lucas snarls.

“Why would there be a bond between us anyways? I didn’t spell you or curse you…” I try to think of something, and Nora’s words come to mind. “Were you the man who broke into my room that night?”

Anger rises in me. If he was the one who came into my room then getting marked, being stripped of my wolf, and being kicked out, being alone, is all his fault. Everything I’ve suffered for the past year would be his fault.

“No,” Lucas shouts. I try to keep my strength, slowly adding more healing magic so I don’t tire myself out as he continues, “You said you were in room 301. I was never anywhere near that room. So, behave yourself and stop causing trouble in my pack. I am not that patient.”

I scoff. Is he ever patient?

“On the night of the full moon, after I find out who marked me, I’ll be leaving,” I tell him, grunting when the pain in my side worsens as I try to move. I must look ridiculous on the ground.

Lucas merely grunts in response and turns to leave.

Me? I focus on healing myself with the little energy I have left. My torso and ribs are first, and I can feel my magic weaving around the broken ribs. At the same time, I feel how it drains me. Using too much healing energy can make me pass out, so once my ribs are healed, I take a moment to sit up, take deep breaths, and hope that my head stops spinning.

Next, I try to heal my legs. The claw marks drawn from the top of my left knee down to my ankle only heal halfway before I have to stop and use the remainder of my energy on the bite in my leg and the pain in my back.

Unable to continue, I attempt to push to my feet, which only results in my legs giving out. I crumble to the ground again, groaning.

After trying three more times to stand, I make my peace with laying on the ground.

“You look terrible.”

Lucas leans over me, watching me curiously.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I mutter. Blue eyes rake over my body, taking in the half-healed injuries. I probably look like I’ve been run over. As he studies me, I realize that his anger seems to have disappeared.

It nearly gives me whiplash when he crouches down and lifts me off the ground. In a smooth movement, he twists and slides me around to his back.

“A piggyback ri-de?” I ask, my voice cracking as I speak. “What happened to letting me die

He nods and starts walking through the forest, “You’re my doctor. I can’t let you die here.”

Silence hangs in the air, creating an awkward tension around us. It grows so heavy as he tromps through the forest that I have to speak. Plus, I’d like to know why I was lied to.

“I was told to come out here,” I mutter and lean into his broad back. I don’t want to, but my body aches and my energy meter is at zero. “A man told me that Nora and the Gamma were attacked and needed medical attention.”

Lucas stays quiet for a moment before saying, “There’s a mole in the pack, I think. They’ve been telling rogues the patrol schedule.”

I want to argue that this was more than a patrol schedule, but I don’t have it in me. I have a feeling I know who was behind this attack, or at least who was behind sending me into the woods.

It wasn’t a mole, unless that mole is named Sierra.

“You can get down now,” Lucas says, pulling my attention back to the present. We’re at the edge of the forest. I slide off his back, take a moment to steady myself, and look around. There’s no one around, which is good.

Lucas then escorts me to my room without saying anything. I have to break the silence.

“Thank you for saving me, Alpha Lucas,” I say before ducking into my room and closing the door.

Grabbing a new change of clothes, I rush to the bathroom. Still low on energy, it’s possible that I may pass out at any moment, I choose to make my bath quick. I don’t need to die in the tub. I’m too weak to heal myself still, so I gently clean the blood and wounds before getting out of the tub and bandaging them.

It takes a while to fully clean and wrap the injuries, but I finish and head out to get some food. I need energy and the best way to get more is to eat.

I push the door open and stop in my tracks when I find Lucas leaning against the wall, waiting.