Chapter 74

Chapter 74

“You dumb fuck,” Logan bit out coldly as he pushed Izzy behind him with his good arm while his other arm hung uselessly by his side, dripping blood onto the kitchen floor to join Kale’s blood.

When Andrew shot Kale, she’d moved to stop him and…

Logan saved her.

He’d shoved her out of the way, taking the bullet meant for her before moving in front of Izzy and protecting her when Andrew pointed the gun on the small Sentinel when she’d made the same mistake of trying to help Kale.

“You should have minded your own fucking business, leech!” Andrew snapped.

“You’re dead,” Logan bit out coldly.

“Move!” Andrew shouted as Ashley knelt by Kale’s side, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. He was…he was…

“I love you,” came the weakly whispered words as Kale’s silver eyes slowly faded away, leaving behind the beautiful emerald eyes that she fell in love with as he raised his hand to cup her face and-

“I said fucking move!” came the scream as she suddenly found herself yanked up by her cuffed hands, unable to look away from Kale.

When her legs threatened to give out, Andrew yanked her back to her feet and pressed the gun against the middle of her back. “Try that again and we’ll find out exactly what happens when you come in contact with silver,” Andrew bit out coldly in her ear as an odd tingling sensation worked its way up her arm.

Telling herself that she was just imagining it, Ashley glanced down at her arm only to feel her stomach drop when she realized that her mating mark was starting to fade away. She remembered watching her stepfather’s mating mark disappear after he’d ripped her mother’s throat out. Within minutes, the mark was gone and her mother was dead.

Now, it was happening to her. She was losing Kale, Ashley thought as the man that was taking everything away from her released his hold around her so that he could grab hold of her arm.

She hated him.

“Give me your keys!” Andrew snapped at Logan while Ashley stood there, watching as Kale struggled to keep his eyes open. He was dying, she realized as everything slowly went numb, leaving her feeling hollow as she stared at Kale, unable to look away from him as she reached up and grabbed hold of the hand wrapped around her arm and squeezed, tearing a bloodcurdling scream from Andrew. She ignored the sounds of bones breaking, the blood pouring from his hand, his screams, and kept squeezing until the gun pressed against her back fell away.

“You fucking bitch!” Andrew screamed, hugging his mangled hand against his chest as Ashley slowly turned around and faced the man that had taken everything from her.

She was going to kill him, Ashley realized in a daze as she found herself looking down at the beautiful engagement ring that meant the world to her. She would never spend the rest of her life with Kale. He would never see their daughter, never hold her, or watch her grow up, and she would never stop loving him.

When she felt the energy begin to build in her spine, Ashley didn’t fight it, she welcomed it, craved it, needed it.

“Oh, fuck!” Andrew said, realizing too late what was happening when her fangs began to expand as she pulled her hands apart with a hard yank, breaking the small chain holding them together, and-

Found herself pushed out of the way as Kale stumbled past her and threw himself at Andrew, taking the smaller man by surprise as the sounds of gunshots echoed throughout the house, startling her as she suddenly found herself on the floor beneath Logan. The sounds of gunshots had barely finished when the screams for mercy had her squeezing her eyes shut and placing her hands over her ears, seconds before Logan covered her hands with his.

She’d never heard anything like it. The screams were…

God, there was no way to describe them. They seemed to go on forever, and then just as suddenly as they’d started, they stopped.

Dropping her hands away, Ashley opened her eyes and found Kale lying on the floor only a few feet away. Screaming his name, she pushed Logan’s arms away and quickly made her way to Kale’s side. Before her knees hit the floor, Ashley was biting into her wrist, her gaze flickering to the man staggering towards the door, a look of pure shock on Andrew’s face as he reached up and placed his hands on his throat only to find it ripped out as his legs gave out, dropping him to his knees.

Swallowing hard, Ashley focused back on Kale, noting that he’d been shot two more times in his stomach as she placed her wrist against Kale’s lips, praying that this worked. This had to work, Ashley told herself as she reached for his shirt only to have Kale shake his head with a mumbled, “Silver,” against her wrist.

Nodding, she kept her focus on Kale’s wounds, watching as the bleeding slowed down to a trickle and…that was it. His wounds didn’t become any smaller, the silver bullets didn’t push their way out of his body, and the mark on their arms was almost completely gone now.

This was supposed to work, Ashley told herself as she pulled her wrist away from Kale’s mouth and tore back into it with her fangs, making sure that more blood poured out faster this time and placed her wrist back against his mouth as she kept telling herself that this was going to work.

It had to work, Ashley told herself even as she started mumbling, “You have to shift,” already knowing that it was too late, but she had to do something. She had to…she had to…

“Shhh, it’s okay,” Kale whispered, opening his eyes as he reached up and wrapped his hand weakly around her arm and pulled it away. “Everything’s going to be okay, mo ghrá.”

“You need to shift, Kale,” Ashley mumbled, her voice breaking around a sob. “Please!”

“I love you, mo ghrá, more than anything,” Kale whispered with a sad smile as he reached up to run his trembling fingertips along her jaw.

“Please just stay with me, Kale. I love you,” Ashley said, crying as she leaned down and pressed her lips against his forehead. “I can’t lose you.”

“Mo ghrá,” Kale whispered reverently as she pulled away and felt her heart break.

“Please…” she managed to get out as she watched his silver eyes slowly fade away and-

“You always were an asshole,” came the announcement as she suddenly found herself picked up and placed on Kale’s lap so that she was straddling his legs. “Drink his blood and don’t stop until you can taste your own blood,” Logan said as Izzy quickly made her way back to their side.

“What?” Ashley mumbled, trying to make sense out of what he was saying as Kale began stubbornly shaking his head.

“No, the silver will hurt her,” Kale mumbled, trying to push her away.

“If you want him to live, then you have to do this,” Logan said firmly as he pulled her hand away from Kale’s.

“No, he’s a shifter. That will kill him!” Izzy said, moving to stop him.

“He’s going to die anyway,” Logan said, locking his silver eyes on her. “Trust me.”

“I…” Ashley opened her mouth as she looked from Izzy, who looked completely lost back to the man that came here to kill Kale and found herself nodding as she leaned in and whispered, “I love you,” before she pushed her fangs into Kale’s neck.

Kale tried to push her away, tried screaming her name only to have Logan press her wrist firmly against his mouth, giving him no other choice but to swallow her blood. For several minutes, she stayed there, squeezing her eyes shut as she drank his blood, ignoring the pain traveling down her throat and into her stomach, the feel of her skin burning where the blood soaked into his clothes finally made its way through hers, the screams in her ear, praying that whatever this was that it worked as agonizing pain tore through her body and just when she didn’t think that she could take it anymore-

“You’ve gotta shift, Ashley!”

-she tasted her blood mixed with Kale’s as she suddenly found herself pulled away from Kale and in Jacob’s arms as white smoke rose up around them.

“Shift!”

“I…I don’t think I can,” Ashley mumbled as she watched the terror in his silver eyes take over before she suddenly found herself pulled under as a black void swallowed her whole.