Chapter 62

Third Person POV

Asher wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. He’d lost all feeling in his body, his muscles no longer listening to his commands.

A tingling had started up in his paws, which soon became scarily stiff. There was a weight across his whole chest, making breathing increasingly difficult.

In and out of a haze for hours, Asher wasn’t sure what was real anymore. Had he already died and this was just his purgatory?

At some point, he felt a liquid at his lips, but his eyes couldn’t focus enough to see anything past that. He could hardly lift his eyelids with how scratchy they were.

Then he felt warm hands on him, and he knew it was Sienna. There was no doubting her touch, not ever.

He fades out again before he can think much else, returning to consciousness only a few times over the course of hours, though Sienna’s warmth at his side never once left.

After a few hazy in and outs, he began to notice his paws could twitch again.

We’re alive, his wolf whispered, having been utterly silent since the arrow poisoned him. Too weak to speak.

If Asher hadn’t been in his wolf form, he likely wouldn’t have survived so much poison in his system. The wolf was worlds stronger than a human, able to withstand a lot more devastation before falling. S

Sienna was stroking his side, his fur matted to his skin from the sweat. He probably stank, but she was still there.

Change back, his wolf instructed, still regaining its strength, too.

Asher let himself transform back to his human form, now that he could control his muscles again. He was covered in a sheen of sweat, his skin still a somewhat sickly pale, smattered with bruises.

“Asher,” Sienna gasped, sitting up straight, her eyes wide. “You’re okay.”

Before he could open his mouth to respond, she’d embraced him, burying her face into his neck, despite how much he was sweating.

“Were you worried?” he smiled against her hair, wondering why it smelled so strongly of blood.

“You looked dead,” she murmured against him, not breaking the hug.

“I smell so much blood. Are you — ” Asher’s words cut off when his eyes landed on Sienna’s left upper leg, which was matted with blood underneath her ripped pants.

“It’s nothing,” she said, trying so hard to brush it off.

“That is not nothing,” Asher growled, sitting up, ignoring the pain that streaked through his entire body from the movement.

“It’s just a little nick, I can — ”

Asher pulled the pants fabric back, his eyes widening at the cut. It was deep, gouged into her skin, and bright red and purple, the edges around it swollen in a nasty way.

“Sienna…” Asher gasped, swallowing the rest of his sentence in shock.

“I’m fine,” she squeaked, but he could see through her words to the pain in her eyes.

She’d sat with him all night, ignoring the sting of her own wounds, just to make sure he was okay.

And yet she has no feelings for me, he thought bitterly. Sure.

He inspected her face, noticing it was faintly green, which was never a good sign.

“I think it’s time for you to get an antidote now,” he murmured, wincing as he found his balance, leaning against a nearby tree to steady himself.

“Fine,” she whispered back, too weak to fight. She had to be dizzy, didn’t she? How much blood had she lost?

Asher took a shaky step, immediately stumbling, his feet still feeling the faint prickles of numbness wearing off.

Once he found his footing, they took to the path back into Nightwind, a million questions lingering in the air.

“Sienna…” Asher started, his words trailing off as he contemplated them. “I think we really need to look into increasing security.”

“I know,” was all she said back, her eyes trained forward.

“Imagine if those watchtowers were constantly manned with trained soldiers,” Asher said, his voice tired.

“I have,” Sienna responded, sparing him a quick glance. “But that costs — and we can’t keep taking Lucius’ soldiers.”

“I have an idea.” Asher fixed his eyes on her, watching her reaction. “And I want you to trust me on it, okay?”

Her eyes cut to his, the sky behind her lighting up with the rosy fingers of dawn. “Why does that sound so…suspicious?”

Asher couldn’t help but chuckle. “You have enough to worry about. Let me handle this one, okay?”

“I’m not sure where you’re going to find an adequate amount of soldiers to protect two packs without depleting all our savings, but okay.” She shrugged, turning her attention forward again.

“You saved me, and I’m forever in your debt,” Asher thanked her softly, meaning every single word.

“There’s so much we need to handle in the aftermath of this.” The dread and exhaustion in her voice was unmissable. “There are surely casualties.”

“How did that happen?” Asher motioned to the cut in her leg, wincing as she limped along the path like he did.

“I took out three rogues and saved a mother from losing her child.”

“Of course you did,” Asher chuckled, pride seeping into his words.

“I have a medicine to help stop infection,” she said a little defensively, and Asher just nodded at her, peering ahead as they entered the main square.

“The sirens probably helped a lot of people take cover,” he murmured, strength slowly building back into his body, his brain clearing.

Sienna nodded, her eyes sad as they stepped up to the Alpha house.

“I’m going to go check on Nightfall. Or…” he trailed off, glancing to her wound. “Do you want me to stay?”

Her eyes screamed for him to stay, but her words were the polar opposite.

“Go check on them. I’ll clean myself up.”

If their relationship had been stronger, better, she’d have asked him to stay. After all, she’d stayed with him all night, sleeping on his matted fur.

Asher only nodded at her, slipping to his room to clean up. It worked out that she didn’t ask him to stay, because he could put his plan into action when it came to the packs security.

Once Asher freshened up and came back out to the dining room, Sienna was nowhere to be found.

He headed over to Nightfall, finding it mostly quiet, and thankfully with no blood spilt. There were a few dead rogue bodies in the main circle which people had already piled up in one spot.

Very few people around seemed to want to speak to him, so he asked what he could, finding out that there wasn’t a single casualty.

His shoulders sagged with relief. No one captured and no one who lost their life — at least something was going right.

Asher left once he’d received enough confirmation that no one was in danger — confirmation that came mostly in the form of grunts and nods from those he asked.

Now, he could focus on his brilliant idea when it came to pack security. It would be an offer that Sienna couldn’t resist, and she wouldn’t question his connections, especially if Lucius was involved.

He wondered how his friend was, how he was recovering, and decided it might be time to pay him a visit soon.