Chapter 45
(Isabella’s POV)
I’ve gotten back to my morning routine as of late. I throw on my pink and gray racerback sports bra and wind shorts, then lace up sneakers and pull my knee-high socks up as far as they can reach. I’m ready for my morning run.
I stretch in the courtyard with the moon low on the horizon, still outshining the sun, then take off.
“Tomorrow, I want you to shift,” my wolf tells me. “I need to feel the wind in my fur.”
“Deal,” I say.
A cool breeze blows strands of my high ponytail behind me as I build speed. The fresh air hits the back of my neck just right.
As I breach the forest, the scent of pine and sticky tree sap floods my nostrils. A whirring sound grazes my ear. At first I thought it was a bird that flew by my head fast.
The next thing I know, throbbing, shooting pain stabs through my shoulder. A second blast comes from behind the trees and hits me in the gut.
I fall forward into a pile of crunchy twigs and fallen leaves.
My head turns, and my eyes widen at the gushing crimson tide exiting my shoulder. The metallic scent burns my nostrils as waves of nausea run through me.
My hands instinctively cover my stomach. Heat sears straight through me. I pull my hands back. My skin is sticky. Blood drips from my fingers.
“Isabella!” Santiago screams as he drops to my side. “Baby, you’ve been shot!”
“Santiago,” I whisper. “It burns like silver.”
His brows furrow as he examines the wound on my shoulder and looks around for where it might have come from. “It’s going to be okay, Bella. I got you. You will be alright, I promise.”
He looks down at my stomach and sees the blood. I feel him pull my hands back. He winces.
“Lay still,” he tells me. “I need to run the perimeter to check if the shooter is still here.”
He returns very quickly. “It's clear. I want to get you out of here.”
“I feel like I might pass out,” I tell him.
“No, not an option,” he says. “You've got to stay with me. First, we need to stop the bleeding.”
He pulls his shirt over his head and tears it so that he can tie it around both of my wounds. “I can get you to the pack hospital faster if I shift. Can you hold on to me while I run?” he asks.
Santiago’s eyes are wide. His voice is steady, but he can’t mask the vibrato that shakes in his words. “You need to stay with me, okay?”
He shifts into his enormous plush ebony wolf.
“Hold on, baby. I’ll get you to the hospital before you know it,” he says.
“That’s the second time he’s called you baby,” my wolf says weakly.
“He’s not thinking, it's just panic.”
“If you were Beta Levi, he’d be just as panicky and heroic, but I doubt he’d call him baby,” she says.
“We are about to meet the moon goddess, yet you are concentrating on Santiago calling us baby.” I laugh at her silliness.
We arrive at the hospital. The doctors take me off Santiago and lay me down on a stretcher. They rush me into the operating room.
Suddenly, the warmth of his body heat and plush fur is gone, and the ice-cold temperature in the OR hits my skin, causing goose flesh to form on my arms and legs. The comforting aroma of sandalwood is replaced in my nostrils by the burning scent of hospital-grade cleaning solutions.
I scream out Santiago’s name.
Within a heartbeat, he’s at my side again. His sandalwood scent calms me…I feel my heart slow down.
The doctor objects. “Alpha Santiago. You need to wait outside. We will take good care of her, I promise.
I grab Santiago’s arm. “No, please…please stay with me,” I plead.
“Let me scrub in and be here for her,” he says.
The doctor doesn’t object any further.
“Bella, I’m here. I won’t leave you, I promise.”
My eyes feel heavy. Everything fades to black.
My hand tingles with warmth and what feels like low-voltage electricity. As I wake up, I realize that Santiago is holding my hand. He stayed. He kept his promise
My heart warms, and I think I may have actually skipped a beat.
I squeeze his hand gently and wake him up.
“Bella. How are you feeling?” he asks.
“My shoulder burns. I guess that’s normal after being shot?”
“Bella, it was an assassination attempt. The bullet was silver.”
My eyes widen. “It must have been Jesse.”
Santiago nods. “I agree.”
“You saved me.”
His eyebrows furrow. “Of course I did.”
“You were so brave and…and fast,” I say.
He smiles. Lines form just beneath his cheeks.
Without thinking, I lunge forward, pulling his hand toward me and kiss his lips.
He closes his eyes and kisses me back, rather than pulling away.
The doctor keeps me for observation for a week. I’m surprised that Santiago stays the whole time.
“I need to stay close and protect you,” he tells me.
The doctor discharges me, and I get dressed to leave. We hear a knock on the door.
Santiago growls and lunges for the door. He pins Jesse to the wall.
“I heard about what happened,” Jesse chokes out. “I figured you’d suspect me, but I swear I had nothing to do with it.”
Santiago loosens his grip and backs toward me, staying directly between Jesse and me. “What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here. Jesse.”
“I just want to see Isabella for myself, make sure you are healing up okay, and let you both know that I had nothing to do with this assassination attempt.”
“This one,” Santiago says.
“I’m fine, Jesse. But, who other than you would want me dead?”
“I can’t say,” Jesse replies. He turns to Santiago, “But, if I were you…I wouldn’t let her out of my sight.” He looks down at the floor, then turns to go. “You might not be so lucky next time.”
The next day, we get up and visit our private investigator.
He greets us both as we enter his office. “Alphas. It’s so nice to see you both.” He kisses me on the cheek. “Alpha Isabella, I’d like to see you outside of your life being threatened though.”
I chuckle, “Yes, well…me too.”
“Sit, please,” he tells us, gesturing toward two empty armchairs across the table from his. He takes his seat.
His forehead scrunches with furrowed eyebrows. “Jesse was not responsible for the attack on your life, Isabella. I believe it was Elder Elias. His interest in you has something to do with your pack’s Healing Gem. What do you know about it?”
“I know nothing about a Healing Gem,” I say earnestly.
My eyes go wide. I turn to Santiago. “Wait, Jesse, he brought that up to. My parents never mentioned such a thing to me.”
“Think hard, Alpha Isabella,” the investigator says. What did Jesse tell you about it?”
“That it can heal all sorts of things, even werewolf-specific diseases, and that my family was at some point in possession of it.”
Santiago squeezes my hand. “That’s why Elias wants it so badly. With age he’s not the most powerful werewolf anymore. There have been whispers that he is being edged out of the council. If this gem can heal and restore, he may want to use it to revitalize his power.”
My eyes widen immensely. “That’s why Jesse wants it too. He needs an heir to be respected as the leader of his pack. He probably thinks this Healing Gem will cure his infertility.
“Isabella, you must be very careful. We can’t prove anything yet, but if these two are working together, you are in more danger than we realized.
