Chapter 24 - Kit

Kaiden roared, screamed , out with everything he had. It was the worst thing I'd ever seen, the pain and agitation racking his body in horrible shakes. I was frozen there, unable to help. My entire body begged me to do something, but what could I do in the face of this?

At once, the booming growl flooding from Kaiden's chest turned to a whimper of pain, and he collapsed to the floor. I rushed to his side instinctively, sobs shaking me as I looked over the blood seeping from his cuts, from his mouth.

"No, no, no. Don't leave me." I gripped his fur, making my knuckles go white as I begged. "Dammit, don't you leave me, Kaiden!"

His glowing yellow eyes struggled to find me as he turned his face toward my voice. The bright flare they'd given off had backed down, some of his natural black swelling up from behind the wolven gold.

"Is that you? Can you hear me?"

Kaiden grumbled something between a growl and a whine. It was clear he was in terrible pain, and I released his fur to smooth my hand down his side. The black hairs were surprisingly soft, where they weren't stained with blood.

"Come on, you asshole. Don't give up now. It's me. It's Kit. Don't you want to torment me some more?"

His eyes held mine even as the whimpers grew stronger. I reached under his head with one hand. It looked like he was too weak to snap at me for now, and I took advantage, laying Kaiden's head in my lap.

When he was there, Kaiden released something akin to a purr, and I smiled.

"Yeah, that's better than the floor, isn't it."

Even as relief seemed to take him, that agitation that made his muscles tense was still holding on. The weight of his skull in my lap was heavy, and the ache from sitting with my legs folded under me was starting to hurt my knees.

They were nothing compared to my chest, though, and with the adrenaline backing down, my vision started to go hazy again.

"You need to snap out of it, Kaiden. I can't get us out of here. Eli…" I swallowed around the growing lump in my throat, the burn in my chest, the exhaustion. "He got me pretty good. I don't know much about medical shit…but I think I need help."

Kaiden sniffed at me, his head moving in my lap like he was trying to get up but couldn't. That whine bled from him again as his nose lightly touched my chest, and his wolven eyes flared wide.

"Glad to see you agree with me," I hissed as another wave of pain rocked me. "You really should try that more often, you know. You should've talked to me, too. About us. What if we can't now? Bet you'll feel pretty bad you kept putting it off."

Pawing gently at my hand, Kaiden pulled himself up into a sit with some help from me. He was so tall as a wolf, staring down into my eyes even as he sat level with me.

He rubbed at his nose with his front paw, scratching at his face like he was terribly itchy. His breath huffed out of his nose, and Kaiden shook his head like he was trying to shake off the drug's effects.

Kaiden was fighting it. He was fighting so hard.

"That's right, you dumb wolf. Get it out of you. I need you back here." My breath hitched as the sob tore from me, and I leaned onto my hands, too weak to hold myself up. "Please, Kaiden. Please . Come back to me. For good. I…"

God, it felt so stupid to be talking to his wolf like this, but I couldn't bring myself to care. This was it, right? All or nothing.

"I need you, Kaiden. I can't do this without you. Life…it'll never be the same. I want this. You are different, and I want to be with this man. I…I think we make something great."

My hand went to my stomach. I still didn't know what that dream meant or if I was out of my damned mind, but the stakes were high. What if it was real? I had to just go for it.

"We could have a family, Kaiden. We could give him parents who love him. I heard what you said that day—when you finally let me have you. I heard what you called me… mate . So wake up and get back to me!"

Another cracking roar soared out of him, and then Kaiden was clawing at his legs and face, tearing away chunks of fur. Blood bloomed from the slashes, and Kaiden's entire body shook and convulsed like he was being electrocuted.

"Kaiden!"

The gruesome sight just got worse, his skin tearing away, and he kept clawing at himself. He would tear himself to ribbons at this rate, and I tried to get closer to him.

He growled, his eyes shooting to mine and glowing hard.

I sobbed, the world going blurry, and then I noticed Kaiden's eyes change. The yellow flickered in and out, revealing his usual black irises. Through the gore, I looked closer; the fur bits dangling off him and shedding to the ground showed lighter human skin beneath.

He was trying to shift back. Oh God. Please don't let it kill him .

That fucking drug was a horrible curse, and every bit of it needed to be found and destroyed. Fucking Eli and his bid for power was damn close to taking the only thing in the world that really mattered to me—an attack from him delivered postmortem.

The sound of bones and tendons snapping demanded my attention, and I watched in horror as Kaiden's body struggled to get back into its human shape. It wasn't supposed to look like this. I'd seen wolves shift in and out of their animal form, and after the first few times, it was seamless.

This was not that.

If I knew more about wolven biology—or hell, was it magic?—I might have understood what was happening. But all that I could tell was that Kaiden looked like he was fighting for control against his wolf. He slammed himself against the ground as he forced the shift back to human form, and all I could do was watch.

Time hung frozen then, each molecule of my being on edge as Kaiden fought so damn hard.

And then it stopped. Behind the blood and mess, I could see him. Kaiden was in human form again. But he wasn't moving.

"Kaiden!"

I rushed over to him as fast as my weakened body could take me. Pulling Kaiden's head into my lap again, I looked down at his face. He was beyond dirty, his black hair matted to his forehead, thanks to the blood and remnants of flesh and spilled drug covering his skin. Cuts and slashes littered his body, and his breathing was shallow.

"Wake up, Kaiden. Please." My voice was so soft, barely a whisper. "Come on, baby. Wake up."

My tears slid down my face, landing on Kaiden's cheek. I couldn't lose him. Not after he'd finally come back to me. But the seconds just dragged on, the sounds of fighting filtering in from outside the room now that there was nothing else to focus on.

God, on top of everything else, we needed to get out of here. It wasn't safe.

I swiped Kaiden's bangs out of his eyes and leaned forward, resting my forehead on his. My chest throbbed, and holding up my head was getting harder and harder.

"Kaiden. Please, open your eyes."

I touched my lips to his, the featherlight touch the softest kiss I'd ever given.

A tiny squeak of a groan sounded right where my lips touched Kaiden. My eyes shot open, and I looked down at him, my heartbeat screaming in my ears.

"Kit?"

Everything surged, and I pulled him into my arms. Kaiden hissed, but I wasn't letting go. Not ever.

"You're okay," I sobbed, the joy threading through me alongside the horrid ache. "You're okay."

His arms wrapped around me, and he squeezed. "I am, thanks to you."

I leaned back to look Kaiden in the eyes. They were just like I remembered, shiny and dark, and my body hummed with relief. But then the edges of the world closed in on me and everything looked like a TV with static.

"Kaiden, I—"

But the words died in my throat as the dizzying swirl took over. I was useless to stop it, and no matter what I wanted or how hard I fought against it, I went limp in Kaiden's arms, the darkness closing in.

"Kit! Kit!"

Kaiden calling my name was the last thing I heard before I passed out.