Chapter 2

Aurelia's POV

He didn't respond, stretching out his right arm towards me instead, just before falling to his knees. I caught him before the rest of his body could make impact with the ground and laid him softly on the lush green grass.

“What happened to my parents?" I asked, yet again.

He struggled to get his words out, and I placed his head on my lap to give him the support that he needed.

“The...They..” He stuttered, and I leaned in to grasp the words he was saying.

“Huh? They what?”

“They tried to s-save me.”

“They tried to save you? From who?”

He pointed at his injury, and for whatever reason, it didn't make sense. My entire family had died trying to save this stranger from what or whoever had given him those injuries. The entire Beta pack was gone.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I gripped his shirt, my hold tighter than the first.

“I…don’t…know.” he muttered. He looked like he was on the verge of breaking down himself, and it made me feel even worse. No amount of tears could bring them back.

I stared at his stitched up wound, his cloak now only covering a portion of his face and leaving his chest bare. If I left him untreated, he was going to die. But what did it matter? I didn’t know who he was, or where he’d come from. He had just randomly walked into my life and now my parents were gone.

Perhaps if I had just let things slide, perhaps if I had just turned a blind eye to a dying stranger, if I could have just undone this one singular act, my parents would still be alive, and we’d still be together.

I wouldn’t have had to lie next to their cold, lifeless body, or stare at faces that would never light up again when they saw me. I would have a pack, and a home I could call my own. All of that is gone now, because of him. Because I had to play the good girl role. Everything happened because of me.

I turned back towards him, and sighed. Even though he’d had no idea that he was being tracked when he came to us, even though he supposedly had no idea his presence could have wreaked so much havoc on the lives of his helpers, the pain I felt in my chest was not something I could easily brush away. Regardless of the limit of his knowledge, my parents were gone now, and I was never going to see or hear from them anymore.

But, despite knowing all of this, I still walked over to where I’d dropped the basket just some minutes ago to bring the Algreiz I’d gotten from the forest.

Funny how your life can change in the twinkle of an eye.

For some reason, letting him die felt worse than the thought of the fact that I’d made a terrible mistake yesterday. If I was to let him die, then what had my family died for?

I crushed the Algreiz over his wounds and watched the plant juice seep into his body. They weren’t fresh anymore, so it would take a while for the healing property to kick in and for the bleeding to stop.

He winced in pain as I let him rest on the side of a tree.

I stared at his wound, and I immediately knew he wasn’t going to make it. He’d be long gone before the healing property of the Algreiz started kicking in, and I was knowledgeable like my father. He was a Beta after all.

I had no idea where to place pressure to stop the bleeding, and from the looks of it, neither did the stranger. I sighed in defeat, tears trickling down my face.

He was going to die too, and I was going to suffer the loss of my loved ones. I almost found myself wishing he had died sooner, before my family had decided to risk their lives to save him.

I stared at the stranger and suddenly, I felt a somewhat unnatural sense of calm course through my being.

No, I couldn’t let him die. There had to be something I could do to make sure he stayed alive. He had to, or my parents’ death would have been pointless. They couldn’t have died pointless deaths, no. He had to live, for the sake of the people who had put their lives on the line to make sure he did.

He looked tired, like he was finally succumbing to the hands of death, and I couldn’t let that happen.

“What should I do?” I asked. He looked confused as he stared at me, his palms over his bleeding wound.

“You need to stay alive.” I said, meaning it more as a curse than a blessing.

“I want you to stay alive. What do I have to do to make sure that you stay alive??”

He paused for a moment, taking in my words before muttering a response.

“Let me drink your blood.”

A cold gust of wind tossed my hair and the hems of my dress as I stared at him, with widened eyes. I was more stunned at his words, than how intoxicating his voice sounded.

He was leaned against the tree, breathing haggardly.

I’d heard about the myth of drawing blood from a person pure of heart in order to stay alive, but the blood would amount to nothing if it wasn’t given willingly. Was I a person of pure heart?

I recalled the sacrifice my family had made to keep him safe, the sacrifice that had cost them their lives and I realized it didn’t matter whether I was or not. If this was the only way to make sure their sacrifice had not been in vain, then I would play my part.

I stretched out my hands, beckoning on him to lean into me and he obliged. His body made contact with mine and he groaned in pain.

I felt the blood leave his body and stain my turquoise dress, and a small bitterness creeped into my heart. But there was no backing down now, not after everything that had happened. I wrapped my fingers around his head and guided his lips to my neck.

His warm breath made my skin tingle, his teeth lightly grazed against my skin and his tongue caressed my vital spot. Electricity coursed through my being with the motion of his tongue, but I didn’t have the time to react to him before his fangs pierced my skin.

My nails dug into the cloak he wore that partially covered his face, gripping his back as his fangs pierced even deeper. He groaned and leaned in closer, his arms wrapping me in a warm, tight embrace. I gasped for air as I felt myself weaken in his arms. Pain and pleasure coursed through me as I felt my life force drain into his lips.

My vision blurred and my hands fell to my sides as I collapsed on top of him, unable to move. I could barely make a sound as his fangs left my neck, and he ran his tongue over his bite mark.

He laid me quietly on the grass, his hands tracing the lines of my face. He was muttering words I couldn’t make out, and I could feel a coldness around my neck as my eyes struggled to stay open.

It felt like the ice cold hands of death had caressed my skin and I realized this was the end of the road for me.

Smiling, I stared up at the sky.

My vision turned hazy, and I could barely make out his figure. Just as I was about to drift into oblivion, I felt him clasp something around my neck.

It felt cold, yet soothing. My eyelids fluttered shut, and everything turned dark.