Chapter 14

(Isabella’s POV)

It shouldn’t surprise me that this man’s wolf is beautiful. He’s running at full speed toward me with silver-gray fur flowing in the wind behind him.

Alpha werewolves tend to be bigger and more powerful than other werewolves, but he is the biggest I have ever seen. His four massive paws crush rock beneath them as they move Earth to get to me.

I’m still running toward him. My wolf wants his wolf almost as bad as I want him right now. Just a little bit farther I tell myself.

Almost there…

Suddenly crippling blinding pain shoots through my back. It feels like I’ve been set on fire. The burning sensation sizzles straight through my body.

Fresh blood pours from my stomach.

Santiago is close. He leaps the last twenty-five feet and lands behind me with his massive two front paws dead center on the chest of the werewolf who was closing in on me. As they hit the ground, the breath leaves the werewolf guard’s body, Santiago’s wolf rips his throat out in one swift motion in a spray of blood.

Five more men surround Santiago ordering him to stand down on the orders of Alpha Jesse and Luna Layla.

Santiago growls and leaps again in a horizontal jump kicking one guard with his powerful back legs and another with his front. On his descent he separates the guard from his throat.

The guard’s head falls back, blood shoots out of the wound. He makes a series of gurling sounds as blood pours from his mouth before crumpling to the ground. Santiago spits out what’s left of his throat and shifts back into his human form.

Ten more men move in on Santiago, he delivers a round house kick to the face of one, grabs the guard’s knife out of his hand and stabs him in the chest. Santiago turns to face the others. His knuckles turn white as he clutches the handle of the knife. He growls, nearly foaming at the mouth.

I’ve fallen to the ground on my stomach with my head turned watching him.

I see Santiago’s icy blue eyes as he locks them on mine over his shoulder. His gaze drifts to a silver bladed dagger that lies just a couple feet from me. His eyes trail up my body from my feet and go wide when they reach my mid-section.

He rushes toward the dagger, grabs the tip flicking his wrist, and the dagger flips in the air. Santiago catches it by the handle, turns swiftly and stabs a guard in the chest.

He places a hand on the guard’s back and pulls him close. I can see the guard’s eyes. They are fixed on Santiago’s icy blue glare.

Santiago drags the dagger down the length of his torso, twisting it at the belly button.

Another guy rushes Santiago: he dodges and punches him in the gut. As Santiago stands back up to his full height a guard who almost matches him in size strides toward him seemingly unafraid, Santiago headbutts him, knocking him out cold. The others run off in all directions.

He defeats my attackers so quickly and impressively efficiently, I can’t help by stare at him. When the remaining guards flee for their lives, Santiago doesn’t chase them. Instead, he rushes to my side and picks me up princess style.

I can barely hold my head up. He takes his free hand and gently caresses my face leaning my head to rest on his shoulder.

I attempt to argue. “No, no…I’m…I’m fine, You don’t need to…” My body shakes.

“Shh, Bella…be quiet. Let me get you help.”

“Santiago,” I say…

He looks at me with a softness, I haven’t seen in him before.

“It…hurts.”

“I know,” he says. “Look, I won’t lie to you. You have wounds from a silver blade. We need to get you to a doctor now.”

“He slashed me a couple of times with a bladed weapon during the tussle,” I say. “I think I felt it go in my back at some…”

I start coughing. Clotted blood comes up with drool and phlegm.

“You have claw and bite marks as well as several cuts and a stab wound from the silver blade. This doesn’t make sense, Bella. Werewolf wounds usually heal quickly. We need to get you to a doctor, you need medicine.”

I take in his scent and manage a small smile. My wolf stops clawing for release and my heart stills.

His eyes dart over me in confusion. “Why, what are you smiling at?”

I snuggle into him, his arms are warm and safe. “It’s supposed to be my job to calm your wolf, not the other way around.”

Blackness plays peekaboo with my vision. Santiago’s face…Goddess he’s beautiful…he looks scared.

His mouth is downturned, his brows furrowed, his gaze widens as my eyes start to flutter closed. I notice his jaw clench and hear him shout my name in a shaky voice, “Bella!”

I hear him one more time…his voice cracks, “Isabella!”

Suddenly there is no sound. The world is black.

(Santiago’s POV)

Bella faints in my arms. My biceps flex as muscles in my neck and shoulders tense. Her injuries are dangerous.

She’s in danger. I immediately take her to the hospital. The doctor examines her and tells me that it’s fortunate that her attackers missed vital organs.

I try but fail to suppress a growl.

The doctor jumps, looks up at me quickly then bows his head in submission.

I apologize.

He nods in understanding.

“Please, doctor, continue.”

He places a hand on my shoulder, “Alpha, she’ll be okay. It’ll take some time, but she will heal. You got her here just in time.”

I nod.

Not able to bring myself to leave her, I stay at her bedside and wait for her to wake up. Goddess, she’s beautiful, I could stare at her forever.

The nurses have cleaned her up, but despite the smell of soap and the burning odor of antiseptic in the hospital air, all I smell is her…lilac.

When she was in my arms before she passed out, she smiled. She said I calm her wolf. The upturn of her full lips did something to me.

I find myself wanting her to wake up so I can find ways to make her do it again.

She doesn’t wear makeup, doesn’t need it. Her chocolate brown eyes with eyelashes that nearly reach her eyebrows stand out against a perfect olive complexion.

Even sleeping, her waist length black hair falls just right, framing her face with large spiral curls. Under the ultraviolet light I can see a red tone I hadn’t noticed before. She’s petite, only comes to my chest when she’s standing.

Her body is perfect. Even out of my mind that night we spent together, my eyes didn’t want to blink looking at her. I love the way she fit so perfectly in my hands.

Her skin is soft, like satin.

I joked at her expense that there would be no emotional connection and that I could smell her arousal. She wasn’t the only one to drift off to sleep with desire that night. Goddess help me…apparently not wanting an emotional connection hasn’t kept me from forming one to her.

And man, Jesse’s guards fucked her up, but several of them looked beat to hell already when I got there. That means she fought back…hard.

And damn, on top of that this woman almost outran them. Another hundred feet and she would have been back in my territory.

She’s a true Alpha…equal to Jesse…and equal to me.

Isabella has been unconscious for two days. Goddess, I haven’t prayed in a while, but please…wake her up.

I alternate between sitting by her side, holding her hand and pacing the room. My heart pounds in my chest, triggering its pulse to throb in my throat.

I wring my hands as I pace while my wolf paces laps in my mind. It’s dizzying.

“This is your fault,” he tells me. “You were supposed to protect her,” he growls.

“I’m aware. You’re not helping,” I bark back.

All I can do is harass the doctor. I urge him to put more effort into her treatment.

The doctor has run a battery of tests, is monitoring her, is medicating and hydrating through an IV, and providing round-the-clock care.

He has confirmed that her condition is indeed strange. Our wolves are supposed to heal us, quickly. Normally, silver blades don’t cause severe harm.

The tests will hopefully tell us why her reaction is so severe, so we can learn how to prevent it from happening again. Right now, we just have to wait.

The important thing is that her wounds are healing, and she should wake up soon.

My phone rings. It’s Layla.

“What do you want?” I say.

“I’m Pregnant!”