Finding Forgiveness

Leo was soon there too.

“I’ll get the Doctor,” he announced before sprinting off.

“No,” I whispered, my eyes frantically searching Luca’s body for the source of his pain, “Luca.”

I pulled his shirt up to reveal a bullet wound in his stomach. Blood still gushed out and instantly my hands were covered in red.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I can’t feel a thing.”

He then inched his hand to mine, his weak fingers slowly entwining around mine. His grip was loose but he squeezed a little and a slight smile appeared on his paled lips.

“Is Martinez dead?” he asked.

I nodded, “I shot him.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and his body seemed to relax, “The nightmare is finally over.”

I looked down at his wound and struggled to agree.

“Leo will be back with the doctor soon,” I reassured. “You’ll be fine.”

He slowly shook his head.

“No, you are not doing this,” I ordered, “Don’t you dare die on me, Luca Romano. Don’t you dare.”

He managed a sad smile, “Don’t worry, Ells. They’ll be other people to eat popsicles with at midnight and swap socks with. You’ll find other friends.”

“No one compares to you, Luca,” I replied. “I will never find a replacement even half as worthy.”

He gave my hand a little squeeze.

“You’re my best friend,” I said as tears swept down my cheeks, “You have been since the day we met. Please just hold on. A little longer.”

“You don’t need me, Ella Loren,” he said, “You are brave and strong and courageous. You defeated Martinez. And you’ll still have Leo and the kids and-”

“And that means you shouldn’t live!” I exclaimed, “Because you think I don’t need you? You don’t think you have worth in this world?!”

“I’m slipping,” he said, his voice fading with weakness, “There’s nothing to grip.”

I lifted his other hand and held them both tightly.

“Grip to everything you have to live for. Your future mate, your future children, your future life. You’ve been amazing to me and my family for seven years. But you’ve got so much to live for yourself too. Hold on, Luca. I am begging you. There is too much to be lost.”

But he was struggling to keep his eyes open, the colour draining from his skin fast.

I soon felt someone lift me up by my waist and drag me away as three men with, large briefcases and a stretcher swept in. They attached wires to his chest and performed CPR and shoved pipes down his throat but his eyes were now shut and he responded to nothing they said.

“No!” I screeched as Leo held me away. “No!”

“The Doctors will do everything they can,” Leo said as he was loaded onto the stretcher, “We have to let them do their jobs.”

I was sobbing as I watched them lift his limp body up and carry him out of the ditch to a truck a few metres away.

Leo hugged me tight before one of the doctor’s jogged over to us.

“We’re taking him straight to the ICU, Alpha,” he said, “We’ll keep you updated.”

“What are his chances?” Leo asked as I buried my head into his chest.

The Doctor paused, “The wound is deep and he’s been bleeding out for some time. At this point, it could go either way.”

Leo nodded before the Doctor ran off to the truck and they sped away as I just clutched Leo’s shirt in my hands.

I woke in the soft sheets of my bed, slowly opening my eyes to see Max and Milly sat at my feet.

“Hey,” Milly said softly, reaching for my hand.

I furrowed my eyes in confusion and looked down at the pillow as I tried to make sense of everything.

It was a few moments of blissful ignorance before I sat bolt upright.

“Luca,” I said, “Where is he?”

Max smiled and pushed me back down as I tried to stand up, “He’s still in the hospital but he’s alive and relatively stable.”

“Relative?” I asked.

“He’s in a coma. As you know, the wolf healing process doesn’t trigger when unconscious so until he wakes up, we just have to hope that the human part of him is strong enough,” he replied, “But they’ve stitched him up, given him a blood transfusion, kept his heart beating and his lungs breathing. The Doctors didn’t think he’d get this far but now they say so long as he wakes soon, he’ll be fine.”

I nodded, “So all we can do is pray to the Goddesses that he wakes up?”

Milly squeezed my hands, “Yes.”

“How did I get here?” I asked looking all around the room.

The last thing I remember was Leo carrying me through the forest as my head pounded with grief.

“You passed out. The Alpha brought you here and told us to leave you to sleep until you wake up,” Milly explained, “He’s gone out to clear up the territory and help with the search for injured and missing soldiers but the children are all sound asleep in bed.”

I smiled, “You were amazing,” I said to her, “How did you do that?!”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“I don’t know,” she replied, “It just felt right. To use it to protect the kids. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”

“It’s okay,” I said, “What you did was more than I can ever thank you for. And plus, had I got away with you, I wouldn’t have had the chance to finally shoot that motherfucker in the head like I should have months ago.”

Max grinned, “Proud of you, cuz,” he said, wrapping his arm around me, “And you Mils,” he said pulling his sister into the hug, “You two women saved this pack.”

I grinned at Milly, “Does that mean you’re staying?” I asked excitedly.

Max nodded and kissed us both on the head, “I can’t control Milly’s life anymore. She’s not a kid anymore and besides… she’ll smoke my ass easily.”

Milly smiled.

“But I’m still your brother and you said you’d get some rest once Ella was awake,” he said sternly, “Get to bed.”

He then released her from the cuddle before shoving her towards the door as she laughed, “Now.”

After that, Milly headed to bed and Max and I were certainly not about to wake the eight noisy beasts from their sleep so it was just us sitting in the library.