6. Broken, Battered, and Torn

“Alpha Osric, it is good to see you,” Gideon sounds glad as he walks closer baring his neck out of respect.

“It’s good to see you well Gideon, you need to keep a better eye on Raven. She’s going to be targeted the second anyone sees her or how powerful she is,” I admit while looking around as I can smell something off in the air.

“Rebecca if I ever see you act like that towards Raven again, I will use my position as Alpha King to take your children from you. They should never be afraid of their parents, especially their mother. I know you’ve had an extremely tough life, but that’s no excuse, you were treated very well in my pack,” I scold Rebecca making her drop to a submissive position as she whimpers unable to fight submitting to her Alpha.

“Osric please, Rebecca was afraid Raven was found by rogues,” Gideon links moving between Rebecca and I making me nod as I understand being afraid for her daughter but scaring her like that is unacceptable.

After talking for a few more moments, I find myself distracted again by a foul odor on the wind when a sudden feeling of fear hits me through the link.

“Raven,” I growl watching Gideon tense when he begins to whimper making me stiffen seeing his eyes glaze over from the link.

“Embry!” I yell through the link feeling for my connection to him able to sense that he is running as his heart races.

“Rogues are hunting her!” Embry growls back making me take off in towards the pull of the bond knowing it will lead me to her.

“Find her! Gideon, Rebecca, go home now!” I yell knowing they aren’t far behind, but I can sense Embry is closest to her as she keeps moving further away making her harder to find.

“Alpha Osric!” Raven screams making me whimper feeling the pain of a rogue ripping into her side as she clings to the link hoping it will save her.

I can’t help panicking finding it hard to locate her as she fights for her survival.

“Where are you?” I question scanning the forest for any sign of her.

I look over and bolt in the direction I hear her howl coming from when it is cut off like she is being attacked.

“Embry!” I scream running as hard as I can feeling her injuries increase while his rage was building like my own.

“Almost there,” he replies then cuts me out completely so he can focus on the task at hand.

“Raven!” I yell seeing Embry jumping onto a brown rogue knocking it off our battered mate.

“Run!” Embry orders through the link making her whimper as her broken form tries to get up then collapses again.

“I can’t,” I hear her whimper into the link as she fights to stay in wolf form.

“Get her out of here!” Embry growls into the link as she shifts back into a small human girl with black eyes and black hair so dark it matches the fur of my wolf form.

I begin to sniff her and assess her injuries the moment I got to her; I can’t help whimpering seeing how badly she is torn apart.

Raven instantly wraps her arms around me with tears streaming down her face as blood covers her body from the bite wounds.

I quickly shift back knowing I can’t move her without carrying her.

I scoop her up and carry her away from our mate and the rogue that nearly killed her.

I hold her tight against me as she struggles to breath so I use my aura to ease her pain and comfort her hoping it would calm her.

“I’m right here Raven, you’re going to be ok,” I reassure her carrying her in the direction of her grandmother’s house.

“I…” Raven whimpers trying to breathe with blood pooling at the edges of her mouth as I do my best to not panic at her condition.

“Raven stay with me!” I nearly panic dropping her into the snow then shift feeling that I am losing her.

She whimpers and trembles as I press my head against hers before licking her wounds healing her as she cries.

Raven flinches and cries out in pain when I lick the giant jagged wound over her ribs that is making it difficult for her to breathe.

“Breathe and relax,” I link while staring into her dark obsidian eyes trying to get her to focus on healing instead of her fear and pain.

“How?” Raven pants still trying to catch her breath as I do my best to comfort her with my aura as my saliva is still healing her wounds.

“I’m an Alpha it’s why my aura eases your pain, just rest let me heal you,” I answer smelling her thigh that is mangled from a singular bite wound.

Being an Alpha I am able to heal my pack members and ease their pain, but it is more effective with Raven because she is my mate.

“Thank you,” she cries watching me as I lick her thigh. “Just rest,” I growl while looking around into the trees hearing footsteps coming closer.

I looked down feeling movement against my fur unable to believe Raven is now sitting up under me hiding between my legs holding onto me.

Hearing the footsteps coming closer I growl louder making sure they understand they’ll die before touching her.

“It’s just me,” Embry links making me relax a little when he comes into view as his silver coat is now covered in blood matching our mate’s fur.

“It’s ok, that’s Beta Embry he would never hurt you, he would die protecting you,” I reassure Raven hearing her growling at him in an attempt to protect me.

I look down becoming dumbfounded seeing her claws out and canines extended ready to fight through her pain and exhaustion.

“How is she still alert?” Embry’s concern is clear in his voice as he watches our mate slowly sink into the snow from exhaustion.

“She’s not,” I nearly panic feeling her slipping further like she is still dying so I lick over her injuries again and again trying to heal her faster deepening our bond.

“Worry about her, I’ll keep watch,” Embry nods before turning to scan our surroundings making sure we stay safe.

“Just sleep, I won’t leave you,” I link to Raven as her eyes begin to close when I lay beside her to keep her warm.

I can’t help the deep sigh that escapes me feeling drained and exhausted from healing her so much.

I feel relief wash over me when I hear her heartbeat gaining strength as her body heals.

“How is she?” Embry questions while walking over and sniffs her before nudging me making me groan.

“She’ll be ok,” I answer while looking up into his deep blue eyes glad he stayed close and got to her in time.

“And you?” Embry sounds concerned when he sits next to me and nudges me again.

“I just need a minute, she needed a lot of help to heal,” I answer while nipping at his muzzle making him huff then nod his head.

“I should have gotten to her sooner, she should have never gotten hurt let alone this badly,” Embry scolds himself making me look up and growl a little frustrated at him blaming himself for a rogue attack.

“You found her and saved her that’s all that matters,” I link back with a stern tone making sure he knows this is no one’s fault and we are lucky that we were nearby.