Chapter 149: Chapter 149; Poison!
Alina’s POV
"Lucian, are you okay?" I gasped, hooking my arms under his shoulders to hoist him up. He groaned, his massive frame dead weight against me; he could barely keep his footing.
"Alina... are—are you okay?" he wheezed. Even on the brink of collapse, his voice was thick with agonizing concern for me.
"Forget about me," I ordered, shifting his weight. "Let’s get you out of here. Where are the others? Where is the pack?"
"They..." His jaw tightened, but he couldn’t force the words past his bloody lips.
"Never mind. Let’s just get away from here," I said. I draped his heavy arm over my shoulder, digging my bare feet into the dirt to steady us. A low, pathetic groan from the man I had just thrown across the clearing echoed through the trees, halting our movements for a split second. I didn’t look back. I just forced my legs to move, dragging us toward the edge of the woods. Deep down, a cold dread whispered that I wouldn’t get him out of here in time, but I refused to stop.
"Alina, please... leave me and go," Lucian managed, his voice dangerously weak. "I won’t be able to forgive myself if anything happens to you."
"No, Lucian. You said we are in this together, right? I am never leaving you."
I kept pushing forward until a pair of blinding headlights cut through the dark tree line. A car skidded to a halt on the dirt road, the doors flying open. Davon sprinted out, his face pale under the high beams.
"Alina! Lucian! What the hell happened?" horror laced his tone.
"I’ll explain later, just please help me!" I begged.
Davon didn’t waste a second. He took the brunt of Lucian’s weight, carefully easing his battered body into the backseat. I scrambled in right after him, pulling Lucian’s torso onto my lap. "Please, take us home." Davon slammed his door, threw the car into reverse, and tore down the road.
In the backseat, Lucian was visibly shaking. I caressed his face, brushing the blood-matted hair from his forehead, and tightly gripped his hand to keep him grounded. "It’s okay. I’m here. You’re going to be fine," I murmured into his ear, desperate to soothe his racing pulse. Slowly, the trembling began to ease.
When we finally pulled up to the house, Davon carried Lucian inside. The moment we burst through the front doors, my eyes widened. The entire inner circle was gathered in the foyer, pacing like caged animals.
"My fucking God, Alina!" Sammy roared. He lunged forward, throwing his arms around me and pulling me into a suffocating, desperate hug. "Thank goodness you’re safe. I... fuck... I don’t know what I would have done."
I gently broke the hug, my eyes tracking Lucian.
"Lucian," Ragnar growled, rushing to Davon’s side to help support him. "Fuck, he’s in a terrible state."
"I’ll go get the pack doctor," Daniel announced, already sprinting toward the medical wing as they carried Lucian away.
I turned on Sammy, the adrenaline in my veins souring into pure, unbridled rage. "What happened, Sammy? Michael lied to me, didn’t he? You guys didn’t go out for a hunt. So what the hell happened out there? Who was that man trying to kill Lucian, and why was the Alpha left all alone?!"
Sammy let out a heavy, defeated sigh, running a hand over his face. "Lucian was taken from us. We fought back, Alina, but... we couldn’t win. Not with what they used on us."
"What did they do?" I pressed, stepping closer.
"You won’t understand, Alina. It’s a synthetic substance. A toxin. Even the most powerful Alpha is knocked cold the second it makes contact with their system. That’s what they hit us with. I was so sure they were going to slaughter all of us, but for some reason, they were only after Lucian. They dragged him away." Sammy paused, his brow furrowing as he looked at me. "Where did you even find him?"
Panic flared in my chest. Should I tell him that my wolf and my senses literally mapped out his exact location? He would never believe me. I needed a cover story.
"We are bonded, I guess," I said simply, keeping my voice even. "I just followed the pull."
Sammy scanned my face, trying to process it. "Was there anyone out there with you? Anyone guarding him?"
"No," I lied smoothly, thinking of the man currently broken in the woods. "No one. Just us."
Before he could question me further, the front doors burst open again.
"The doctor is here!" Daniel announced loudly, ushering the medical team inside.
"Come with me, doctor," Sammy ordered, his voice tight as he led the medical team down the corridor.
I hurried right behind them, my bare feet clicking against the cold floor. The moment we entered the room, a fresh wave of tears welled in my eyes. Seeing Lucian laid out on the bed, looking so utterly broken, made my chest ache with a physical, crushing weight.
The doctor immediately began snapping on his latex gloves. "Everyone should leave. We need to examine him right now."
"Can I please stay?" I blurted out, my voice cracking. I couldn’t leave him. I couldn’t step behind those doors and not know if he was breathing.
The doctor frowned, turning toward me. "You—"
"She stays," Sammy interrupted, his deep voice leaving absolutely no room for argument. He looked the doctor dead in the eye. "Alina will stay."
The doctor gave a tight, reluctant nod. Sammy cast one last worried look at Lucian before ushering the rest of the pack out, closing the door firmly behind them.
The room grew suffocatingly quiet, save for the rhythmic snip of medical scissors cutting away Lucian’s blood-soaked shirt. I stood in the corner, clutching my robe tightly to my chest, forced to watch. Every sharp gasp, every low grunt of pain that left Lucian’s lips felt like a blade twisting in my own gut. When the doctor pressed against his bruised ribs, a raw, deafening growl ripped from Lucian’s throat.
The sound was so agonizing I had to dig my fingernails deep into my own palms just to keep from crying out.
"Alina..."
Through the haze of his agony, his eyes opened a fraction, blindly searching the room until they locked onto me. He breathed my name like a prayer. I took an instinctive step forward, desperate to throw my arms around him, but I forced my feet to freeze. I couldn’t interfere with the medical team.
The doctor’s expression turned grim as he looked over the vitals monitor, then at the black, unnatural tint bleeding into the veins around Lucian’s wounds. He slowly turned around to face me, his eyes heavy.
"He has been poisoned," the doctor said flatly.
The words echoed in the sterile room, making my ears ring. The air was violently sucked from my lungs, and my eyes widened in sheer, paralyzed shock.
"What?!"
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