9.

~Declan~

All my life I've longed for my mate. The one-woman created to be my everything. Love has never meant a thing to me until the day I set my eyes on Xyana.

I thought my heart would explode. Everything about her is perfect and I decided while she was still recovering that there is nothing I won't do to protect and keep her safe.

My joy was in excess because I'd found my mate. Not until Diony said she was his mate, and Clif said the same. I've never been mad at the Moon goddess like I was that day.

But after taking my time to think about it, I realized I was neither ready nor willing to give her up. My Wolf Lucas was smitten as I was and nothing in this world would have made him agree to rejecting our mate.

Even when he couldn't reach Xyana's Wolf, he didn't give up. We've been waiting for this all our lives, and at that point, I was willing to accept my brothers being with my mate as long as I got to be with her, too.

As long as she doesn't reject me, and she lets me do right by her, she lets me give her all the love I have inside me; I was willing to share.

Sadly, Clifton was messing it all up, not just for me, but for Diony too. Diony wanted this as much as I did. So does Clif anyway. His anger is that he doesn't get to feel Xyana's Wolf at all, while Diony and I get to feel her faintly, even if she's pushing us away every single time.

But at least we could feel her. Diony was working so hard to seal his spot in her life and I realized that if I wanted her to understand how I feel about her, I should borrow a leaf from Diony. So I did.

Now where did that lead to? It led to Clif kidnapping our mate and masking their location until we almost tore down the entire house to get to them.

Standing here, staring at Xyana lying lifeless in Clif's arms, made me feel a type of bloody-cold I never knew existed in me, my entire life.

Diony is the first to react; "you self-absorbed bastard." He calls Clif.

I'm boiling inside. I know everybody can feel it, and it has put them in a hyper-alert mood. Gaston barges in almost immediately.

'How the fuck is he here, and how come he always shows up whenever Xyana is in trouble?' The thought makes me wonder.

Clif is hugging Xyana to his body while we all stand there, my eyes resting on Xyana's wrist as the red mark on it stares back at me.

"Clifton, why would you do this?" Gaston yells at Clif.

We all know what he did. He might want to play it out that he did it for us, but he did it for himself. 'Selfish Bastard'

"Get away from my mate." I finally voice out. I call no one's name, but they all know who I'm talking to and the fucker doesn't move a bone. He's still holding Xyana, firm.

"Why?" Diony asks Clifton.

Clif rubs off the sweat on his forehead. "I had to." He says, "her Wolf blames her for something I'm not sure she did. It doesn't seem like her Wolf is going to come around anytime soon. At least not before the upcoming mating ceremony."

"So you fuckin force the Blood-bite on her? You think we're kids? Once she wakes up, she's going to grow more attached to you, and where does that leave Diony and me?" I ask, already moving towards him with my fists clenched. But Gaston is fast enough to block me off.

"Calm down, Declan," Gaston says, holding my arm but I push his hand away.

"Don't fucking tell me that." I snap. "He doesn't get to do as he wishes because he can. Not when it has to do with my mate."

A Werewolf Blood-bite is a method used by the older generation of Werewolves to reignite their marriage or relationship in situations where either of them is falling out of love.

It's a crude method and can only be done with the full consent of both mates. And it works quite well for it's purpose; reigniting of love and dependency on each other.

It's been ages since Blood-bites were used by mates. In recent times, only about a very minute fragment of wolves can actually give a Blood-bite. My family comes from the bloodline of the oldest and the most powerful werewolves to ever live.

And somehow, we can do a lot of things that wolves of these generations can't do anymore. Still, that doesn't give Clifton the right to alter our mate's future feelings to his favor alone.

Diony is already on the bed now. He takes our mate from Clifton and the selfish Asshole knows better than to argue.

"The Blood-bite might not work on her the way we're assuming," Gaston announces, causing my interest to grow.

'Does he know something we don't?'

"How so?" I ask him.

"Well, for starters, she's not just mated to Clif. She's mated to the three of you. Surely that would prevent the Blood-bite from working the way we think it would."

"Oh great. Now, it's going to mess things up even more."

Gaston shakes. "She'll be fine, Declan. We just need to make her comfortable, keep her warm, and watch over her until she wakes up."

I walk over to my mate, praying to the Moon goddess to keep her hale and hearty. Diony adjusts on the bed, offering me a space to sit.

Clif is looking like the whole world is crashing around him. I'm about to sit down, but I quickly jolt away as an ear-piercing scream erupts from an unconscious-looking Xyana.

With her eyes still shut, she starts to claw onto the bed sheets with Diony holding her tight, trying to calm her down.

"My love, can you hear me?" I ask her, trying to take her face into my hands. But as soon as I touch her, she screams again. "Fuck!"

Her skin is burning up while she breathes heavily. Panic and sorrow squeeze my chest as I look at Clifton; the reason our mate is going through this torment.

"What happening?" Diony asks, "it's not supposed to be like this."

"Pretty..." I try again but only succeed in getting another heart-shattering scream from her.

Rage overtakes me, and my knuckles come in speedy contact with Clifton's jaw in a powerful punch. I didn't register at what point I moved away from the mattress or when and how I walked up to Clif.

But feeling my knuckles make contact with his face soothed me a bit. "Sonofabitch!" I yell at him.

Xyana is still thrashing. Grabbing Clif by the collar of his T-shirt, I push him into the wall. I fight hard to keep my Wolf, Lucas from taking over as I bark at Clif. "Why the fuck are you so selfish?"

"Bones, you have to stop," he says, his hands raised in the form of surrender. "I don't want to fight you." He pushes me back easily, pulling his T-shirt into place.

My chest heaves as I keep myself in check. Gaston's silent command to back down overwhelm me. Clif moves to the bed and I clench my fists as I watch him settle down behind Xyana.

He shuts his eyes for a few seconds. When they come open, I know what to expect. So I don't bother looking. He touches her face, and Xyana whimpers inaudibly and snuggles up to his touch, her eyes still shut.

It's happening; she's following the pull the Blood-bite provides. 'I'll be damned.'

"It's fine, Baby,” he whispers, kissing her cheek. "Everything will be fine."

My chest squeezes as I cover my eyes with my hands, "You are so selfish." I whine painfully.

"Well, forgive me if I'm desperate to feel a stronger connection with my mate," Clif replies, and I rush at him again. This time, it was Diony who stopped me.

"Both of you stop! Xyana is unconscious. Now isn't the time." He warns us but I'm too pissed to take orders from anyone.

"How about you tell that to him? He's the cause of all this shit." I turn to Clifton, "if you think I'm going to let you off the hook easily for this, then you must be joking."

"Think of Xyana, Bones. She won't like any of this. You need to be calm." Gaston says calmly from behind. "You will end up hurting her if you continue to fight."

I clench my teeth as I watch Clif caressing our mate who had just screamed at my own touch a few minutes ago. Jealousy washes over me.

Clif is still concentrating on our mate as he continues to caress her, and I want nothing more than to rip his hands off her body.

"Declan," Gaston calls me in a warning tone, making me step back. Turning to Clif, he clears his throat. "You will stay here and keep an eye on her. Let's see how she reacts when she wakes up. When all of this dies down, say a day or two after, we'll have to start digging for details about her. We need to know where she comes from, at least."

We all nod. "I'll stay with her," Diony says, remaining on the bed.

"I will stay with her." Clifton insists.

"I'm not giving you a choice, Cliff. Stand up." He warns and Clifton grudgingly stands up.

"Great," Gaston breathes out, gesturing us to the door. "Let her get some sleep now. She's calm. If she has any other episode, mind-link Clif."

"Yes, Alpha," Diony responds.

We're almost out of the door when Diony hisses. "Shit! She's not healing. Her Wolf is not helping her heal."

When we turn, he's holding her wrist which is still bright red from Clifton's Blood-bite.

"Bloody hell!" I yell, rushing back in.

Gaston is mind-linking the pack doctor and I'm already carrying Xyana out of the room.

'May the Moon goddess save Clifton Howling from me' because if anything happens to Xyana, I'm going to fight him till I die!