Chapter 153

Gavin’s POV

The crowd was silent when Judy fell through the sky and landed on the ground, but chaos broke out as they watched an arrow piercing her back and sticking out through her stomach. Judy’s face had gone pale almost immediately after and she struggled to stay awake.

There was no way she could continue after this. She was out.

Everything happened in a blur after that; one minute Mica was speaking to me, and the next I was on the battleground kneeling over Judy’s still and blood-soaked form.

As the medics arrived, I glared at them, my eyes glowing as my wolf fought to take control. They weren’t fast enough; I had been here for almost 2 minutes, trying to stop the bleeding with my hands and attempting to get her to open her eyes and there wasn’t a single medic nearby.

“What took you so long?” I asked through my teeth. “She needs help!”

One of the medics glanced at the others with a frown before they jumped into action.

I let out a growl, urging them to hurry. I wasn’t sure what was up with my wolf because he had never acted this way before, but he was fighting me for control the longer the medics took.

“It’s a pretty bad injury,” one of the medics said, assessing the damage. “It doesn’t look like it hit any vital organs though. We shouldn’t take it out until we get her to the examination room.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Get the stretcher,” one of them said to another. “This is the worst injury we’ve had today. We need to be careful with her.”

“Holy shit, is she okay?” A girl asked as she rushed towards Judy. She was the same girl that was on the zipline with her.

Tabitha, I believe her name was.

I didn’t reply; my eyes remained fixed on Judy’s pale face. Sweat started to bead at her forehead, and her breathing began to grow more manual. Her eyes were fluttering, and I wondered if she was trying to open them.

She screamed out as they put her on the stretcher, keeping her on her side to not agitate the arrow sticking out of her. A growl escaped my throat without meaning for it to happen, startling the medics.

“We need to get her to the operating room, Alpha,” one of the medics informed me.

I realized my grip was on the stretcher and my eyes were most likely glowing yellow as my wolf surged forward. I had to pull him back and release the stretcher.

What the hell was wrong with me?

“There’s a lot of blood,” one of the medics murmured to the other as they assessed Judy.

They started to carry Judy away from the battleground, my eyes trained on her paling and sweat-coated face. Her eyes opened slightly, and I saw the life draining from them as she stared at me.

I barely heard the announcer calling for a time-out during this whole thing. I didn’t realize Everyone had their eyes on Judy as she was being escorted out.

I was about to follow but a firm grip stopped me.

I turned to see Mica staring at me with a frown.

“What’s gotten into you? Since when do you react that way?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I grabbed his wrist and forcefully pulled it off a low growl escaping my lips, making his eyes widen.

“She’s from my pack; she is my responsibility. I’ll react how I see fit,” I snarled my tone coming out with a deadly bite.

He blinked and then his eyes wandered over to Judy’s distancing body.

“I had no idea she was from Silver Crescent,” he murmured, his eyes finding their way back to me. “That explains a lot. She’s one of yours and you feel protective towards your packmates.”

“I need to leave,” I murmured without responding to his assessment.

I ignored the stares Levi was giving me as I followed the medics out of the arena.

The second I was gone; the announcer started the time again and the battle continued for the next hour.

……

The infirmary was filled with those who had watched their loved ones get hurt.

I didn’t like being grouped together with them; I wanted to be in there with her, but they told me it would only be a distraction if I were to be in the same room.

Of course, I could have used my Lycan powers and forced them to let me into the operating room, but I didn’t because they were right. They needed to focus and not have me breathing down their backs the entire time. My wolf was unstable right now and I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, it was safer if we stayed away until she was done with her surgery.

“Have you heard anything?” Nan asked, rushing into the infirmary, tears clear in her eyes.

I hadn’t seen her at the arena, so I was surprised to see her in the infirmary. A young girl was with her, and I recognized her from around the resort; a few times I spotted her talking to Judy.

“She’s still in the operation,” I murmured.

She sat down beside me and buried her face in her hands, groaning softly.

I hadn’t really spoken to Nan a lot, but I knew she was Judy’s best friend, and I also knew she knew about my relationship with her.

“You’re Gavin Landry,” the girl she was with said, her eyes wide as she stared at me. I didn’t bother responding to her, instead, my eyes scanned her. She had a strange yet familiar aura to her that I couldn’t figure out. “I’m Sammy. A friend of Judy’s. I really hope she pulls through.”

“I should have been there,” Nan whispered, lifting her gaze. “If Sammy hadn’t told me what had happened… I wouldn’t have known. I’m such a terrible best friend.”

“Why weren’t you there?” I found myself asking, needing a distraction. I didn’t want her to think she was at fault because I knew Judy wouldn’t want that, but I needed to think about something else other than the fact that she was lying on an operating table right now.

“I was dealing with something,” Nan sighed, leaning back in her seat. She ran her hands up her arm, like she was trying to warm herself and that was when I saw the handprint marks on her forearm.

Without thinking, I grabbed her wrist, careful not to hurt her.

She startled and turned her widening eyes in my direction.

“Are those bruises?” I asked in a low tone.

She pulled her arms away and covered them with her sleeves.

“It’s nothing. It was an accident,” she told me a little too quickly.

“An accident?” I asked. “That’s not an accident. Who did that to you?”

“It’s nobody,” she told me, more adamantly this time. “Like I said… it was an accident. He was angry and I went to walk away, and he grabbed my arm to stop me. I bruise easily.”

“Who?” I asked again, my tone was more forceful this time, I was seconds away from using my Lycan powers on her and forcing the information out of her.

“Look I know you are smitten with Judy or whatever, but that doesn’t give you a right to pry into my personal life. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not your concern, Alpha.”

Sammy sucked in a sharp breath at her words, and I let out a low growl. She clamped her lips shut and glanced at the ground, desperate to keep herself from looking at me.

I was clear Nan had no intention of telling me who had hurt her, and I knew the second Judy saw those bruises she was going to want to find out who it was and get to the bottom of it herself.

It might even put her in further danger.

“If I find out who it was—” I started to say through my teeth, the thought of Judy putting herself in a dangerous situation festered in my mind, making my thoughts jumble and my wolf agitated.

Nan interrupted my words by standing up abruptly.

“If you’ll excuse me, Alpha Landry.”

Without another word, she stepped away from me and hurried toward the other end of the waiting room. I stared after her with my lips pressed... I thought about Irene and how I would react if something like that happened to her. She was my daughter, and I would slaughter anyone who brought harm to her… same with Matthew.

Same with Judy…

Sammy sat in Nan’s former seat.

“Probably that guy she’s been talking to,” Sammy said with a shrug. “I heard them arguing before we came here, and it sounded really bad.”

I glared at her.

“What guy?”

“I don’t know his name,” she said, nibbling her lower lip.

I glanced back at Nan and saw that she had taken a seat somewhere else, her hands buried under her lap and her eyes fixed on the ground as she fought the urge to cry.

“So, Judy is part of your pack, Alpha?” Sammy asked curiously. “Has she always been?”

The door opened and someone walked into the waiting room. It drew my attention to the person, ignoring Sammy completely.

I didn’t recognize the small group that entered. It was guy and two girls, both looked worried but the guy only looked annoyed as he looked around the waiting room, his eyes landing on Nan.

The second the girls saw Nan; they rushed to her. I watched as her face grew paler as they got closer to her. Her eyes refused to look at the guy.

I narrowed my eyes; he looked guilty as fuck.

Was this the guy who did this to her?

I channeled my Lycan hearing so I could hear what they were saying.

“Can we talk?” He asked her.

She finally glanced his way, swallowing.

“I’m here for my best friend. Haven’t you said enough?” She asked.

“Please,” he pleaded softly. “Give me a chance to explain myself.”

“Nan, he’s a good guy,” one of the girls said. “He didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Yeah, he’s my cousin is so sensitive,” the other girl said. “Give him a chance.”

Nan glanced between them all before her eyes landed on me... I was busted. She knew I could hear them, and she knew that I now knew the truth.

She sighed and then stood to her feet, quickly averting her eyes from mine.

“Okay,” she said softly. “Let’s talk.”

She disappeared out the door with him and the girls sat down in the seats that Nan was nearby.

I thought about following them, but then the door of the operating room swung open and one of the doctors walked out.

“Alpha Landry,” he said, stepping towards me. I stood to attention immediately. “Miss Montague is out of surgery, and it went well. We think she will be cleared for next week's challenges. Now that she’s patched up, her wolf will heal her in no time. No serious injuries were detected.”

Relief.

All I felt at that moment… was relief.