3. Thirty- six

~ Harper’s POV ~ 

The last time I had been shot with an arrow laced with wolfsbane, I had collapsed on the spot and went into a coma for a few days, besides the agonizing pain. This time it was different. I have a few theories, maybe the arrow was laced with less wolfsbane than the earlier one or maybe my wolf had somehow developed an immunity to that particular amount of the poison after one attack. The latter was unlikely but in the case of white alphas, anything seemed possible. There wasn't exactly a guide to how white alphas would react to different poisons in the world. 

Or maybe it was my wolf fighting against the poison because he was still hopeful about rescuing Zara, even though a part of us knew that she had to have been far away now. We had been lying helplessly on the ground for nearly twenty minutes and the truck was nowhere in sight. 

I shifted into my human form because of the immense pain in my leg. Shifting would also allow me and my wolf to heal better. I pulled out the arrow from my leg and barely winced.

I stood up naked, no idea how to clothe myself. In and around the pack perimeter, clothes were carefully stashed in a lot of places so that pack wolves could dress themselves. We were quite a distance away from the pack boundaries and I knew that our clothing bounties didn't extend to this point. Nonetheless, being naked in front of the pack warriors wasn't something out of the ordinary. Werewolves in a pack had to sometimes shift back into their human form, so nudity to a point was normal. 

My wolf was still healing from the wolfsbane from the arrow so I did not want to shift right then. I had followed the truck Zara was in for a good distance, which meant that I had drifted away from the main battle arena. I closed my eyes and focused my senses to sense where my pack warriors were and I ran in that direction, hoping the fight to be over already. 

I was pleased and proud to see that my pack warriors had defeated the rogue wolves and were taking all of them prisoners. These rogue wolves would be questioned and tortured for information that could help us get back Zara. 

My stomach plummeted as my thoughts wandered towards her. Guilt and rage were taking over my body. How could I have let her be taken again? This time, right in front of my very own eyes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do and I would be happy to do it for Zara anytime. 

The pack warriors noticed me and bowed to me. One of them handed me a pair of basketball shorts and I thanked him. I put on the shorts and immediately asked for the casualty count of the pack and the rogues. 

"We have no casualties, alpha." Roland puffed up with pride and an amazing feeling of giddiness swelled in my chest, despite the horrible circumstances right now. "Three of our warriors are severely injured though and were soon sent towards pack boundaries." 

I nodded. "What about the rogues?" It seemed so unrealistic that we had no casualties but this is exactly what the pack deserved after being threatened time and time again. I was so glad no one would have to bury their dead now. 

"The dead count of the rogues seems to be at 25 and we are still recovering and counting dead bodies." Roland continued and stopped abruptly when he saw another warrior running towards us. 

"Alpha," he panted before bowing to me. I nodded and waited for him to catch his breath. "Alpha, you need to see this. We captured a rogue we thought you'd be very interested to see." 

"Who is it?" I asked him, curious about this certain rogue the warriors seemed to have captured. I followed him to a spot where five warriors stood encircling a man, who was sitting on his knees, his hands and legs bound as tightly as possible. As I neared the sight, my nostrils flared in white, hot fury as I recalled who this rogue was. 

The rogue my warriors had managed to capture was none other than Aaron. I had deduced as soon as he had escaped from the pack's prison that he wasn't a mere soldier in the ranks of the rogues attacking us. Otherwise, the rogues would not have risked their lives to enter the pack boundaries and rescue him. He had to be someone important and if he was as high in the command chain as I knew he was, he was going to be pummeled to death by my own hands. 

He hadn't escaped the battle without scars or wounds. His shoulder seemed to be disclosed and an ugly purple bruise was forming on his forehead, a clear sign that someone had landed a heavy blow on his head. That someone was going to get a very big raise from me. 

Aaron was slumped on the ground; he was facing difficulties in supporting his body with a dislocated shoulder and his head injury wasn't helping him. Unperturbed by his injuries, I strode towards him. His eyes met mine and he immediately squared his shoulders and put on an emotionless mask. I admired him for it. 

I landed a punch squarely on his face and heard the satisfying crunch of a nose being broken. Blood spurted out of Aaron's nose and a primal satisfaction engulfed me. 

I was breathing hard in rage, taking deep breaths in and enjoying the sight of Aaron unconscious on the forest floor. 

"Alpha, we found this on him when we captured him." Another pack warrior came forward with a bow and a pack of arrows and my eyes automatically flew to his face. 

I could sense the wolfsbane on the arrowheads and vivid images flashed through my mind in a flash. The time I was determined to follow my gut and search for Zara but was struck down by an arrow that had almost killed me. My father, who had lost his wolf after being attacked by the same arrow, had to give up his alpha position because he could no longer lead the wolves and I had to step up with a Luna who wasn't my mate. I was struck down by this very same arrow nearly forty minutes ago, which had stopped me from rescuing my mate. On top of everything, he was also responsible for the battle Aiden was fighting while lying in a hospital bed. 

My wolf rose from deep inside me, wanting desperately to claw out his throat and silence this rogue forever. "Take him with the others. Keep a special eye on him." I said instead and started running towards the pack borders because if I had stayed for one more second, I would have acted upon my deepest urges and murdered him.

I crossed the border in a few minutes and just then I heard my mother's mind link me, Harper, come to the hospital at once.

My feet stumbled at once and I nearly lost my footing which would have made me land face-first on the grassy floor. The moment I had shifted back into my human form I had lost the ability to mind link pack members far away from me. If I had been in my wolf form, I wouldn't have to cross the pack borders to mind link the pack members while I was out of the pack borders. 

Dread settled deep in my gut and an inkling of fear slithered up my spine. What had happened that my mother had mind-linked me to come urgently to the hospital? Horrible scenarios flashed through my mind and I clenched my eyes shut to stop them. On top of not being able to rescue Zara, I wasn't going to lose someone I loved right now. 

I blocked my thoughts and ran mechanically towards the hospital. One step in front of the other. I didn't need to think right now, so I wasn't going to. I reached the hospital building quicker than I had liked to and I stared at the building before making my way inside. 

I spotted my mother straightaway and I instantly relaxed when I saw that she wasn't wound up. She didn't seem tense which meant that for once, something good might have happened. I made my way towards her and she smiled at me when she saw me. She hugged me and planted a kiss on my forehead. 

"What happened, mom? I thought something happened." 

"Something did happen. Aiden is awake." She smiled and my whole body relaxed after hearing that. "He asked to see you. Go to him." 

I nodded numbly, at a loss of words. I turned around and walked towards the elevator. Seeing Aiden lying helpless in a hospital had been gut-wrenching. He wasn't just my beta; he was my best friend. He was like a brother to me. I'm sure I am probably the second person to be happy about him waking up the first being Samantha, his mate of course. 

I briskly walked towards Aiden's room and was glad to find Aiden and Samantha alone in the room. I knew it was futile and selfish to ask Samantha to leave Aiden at the moment. I knew how it felt being scared for your mate.   She was sitting by his bed, their hands grasped in each other. My heart ached at the sight of my two friends like this. It reminded me of my mate who must have been scared out of her mind and I had failed to rescue her. 

Aiden's gaze rested on me a moment later and his face broke into a tired smirk. He was looking healthier. He had good color on his face and I knew he would recover soon because his wolf had already healed. 

I gave him a teasing smile of my own and went towards the other side of the bed. "Alpha." Aiden teased me and I groaned out loud. 

"You can't call me that." I pleaded and Samantha burst out laughing, which made Aiden laugh out loud. Soon, all three of us were laughing like we had no problem in the world. 

Aiden sobered up and turned serious pretty quickly. "What happened while I was gone?" 

My lips flattened into a thin line and I told him everything that had happened while he was out. I also told them about Zara being taken. I hadn't told Samantha about Zara's kidnapping because she was already worried to death about Aiden but now, I told them everything, including the attack on the rogues today. 

"So, what do you plan to do now?" Aiden asked. 

"Something big."