Chapter Six

Tate

My eyes flutter open. It’s dark. Either that or something is wrong with my eyes. I move to try and sit up, when strikes of pain light up every limb—every bone—every muscle.

I spot the dirty, caked wheels attached to something. Oh, a dumpster.

Why am I near a dumpster? My pants are wet and sticking to my legs. The metallic taste of blood is in my mouth. My wolf is whining. Howling. Working in his own way through our bond to help me as much as he can, but it’s useless.

The moments before losing consciousness come flooding back to me. Going to get something to eat. Seeing the headlights. Hearing the horns, the screaming, the gasps.

The ringing in my ears as the front of the car slammed into my body.

I’d run, run for what was left of this sliver of life but had given up in some alley. Before I passed out, I remembered the walls vibrating with bass music playing inside. The smell of sex and lust thick in the air as I took what I thought were my last breaths.

Sucking in another inhale, I realized…this is what it’s like to die.

I let myself give up on life at this point, praying to the Goddess for a life beyond this one—one beyond pain and anguish and heartache. The edges of my vision blurred. Fingers of cloudy ink encircled my gaze, and I forced a smile.

Death would mean peace for me. I’d been running from Ryder but at the same time chasing peace.

Here it came.

The corners of my mouth pulled up in a last smile when four hands grabbed onto my shoulders and legs. I was being dragged somewhere. The warmth my body gathered while lying down vanished, replaced by cold concrete under my back.

The smell of whiskey and lemon washed over my body and senses.

Oh, this must be what the afterlife was like. The Goddess must’ve dragged me into another place to be with her.

I believed that and clung to it until two fingers pressed to my neck. Warm, living fingers.

“He’s alive, but barely. Call an ambulance.” I heard the words, but it was the voice that flared in my veins and brought me back to life.

Damn him. Taking me from my peace.

My wolf howled inside me, wanting the opposite. He wanted the male closer. Wanted to wallow in his scent and let him take care of us.

I’d never liked whiskey or any other alcohol until that moment.

Even though I was now aware that I wasn’t dead, the desire for another life, one after this one, called to me. It took an eternity to get my eyes open again, but once I did, I saw him. His shoulders were broad. A light shone behind him, outlining his large body and highlighting the brown strands of his hair. It was still dark out. I didn’t know how much time had passed since the car hit me.

A new wave of hammering pain nailed me in the torso. The person was trying to help me, but I didn’t want help—I wanted death. His warm hand was still on my shoulder, and I tried to slap it away, believing that this hand, his touch, was tethering me to a life I no longer wanted to live.

It wasn’t a life at all.

The male leaned down. His irises were smoke and ash. “What’s your name?” he asked. His breath poured over my form, making me shudder. Even that small vibration made everything ache ten times worse than before. “Who did this to you?”

I coughed and sputtered, trying to speak. “Please. Just let me die. It’s better this way. Let me fucking die.”

He murmured something I couldn’t hear. There was someone else talking a distance away. I couldn’t make out the words, but the male hovering above me ran his fingers through my hair and asked me to hang on.

Said everything was going to be okay.

I let out a laugh of derision. Now that I was on the verge of death, there was a male, an alpha from what my wolf was relaying to me, and he was telling me the one thing I’d wanted to hear all my life.

Everything was going to be okay.

“What hurts?” the man asked. Those smoky eyes gazing down my body.

“Everything,” I laughed. “Everything.”

“Can you tell me what happened? Did someone beat you?”

I shook my head, in the process realizing my temples were throbbing. Damn, I didn’t even get to eat my mini corn dogs before I died.

What a shame.

“Tell me anything,” he begged. An alpha begging. That was a new one.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, trying to comfort him. No idea why I wanted to comfort this stranger, but the care he’d given me in these few minutes were more than I’d ever received—even from my fathers.

“It does,” he said and turned his head. “Rafe, where in the hell is the ambulance?”

“No,” I grumbled. “No ambulance. Let me go.”

“I’m not letting you go.”

I wanted to reply but heard an ambulance approaching from a distance.

The male took my hand in his and squeezed it. “You’re going to be okay.”

I let my eyes close as the siren neared. The splash of tires in puddles. Doors opening. Men speaking.

That was the moment I let go of it all.

The hope of dying. The hope of peace.

Goddess, if you’re wanting me to live longer, let it be in calm.