On Your Mark

Chapter 30

Seven Days Later

I finally gather enough strength to leave our room, leave our bed, shower, and make my way downstairs. I sit in Sam's chair at the table, holding our son and sipping slowly on the coffee mug in front of me - it's the first thing I've been able to keep down in days. The steam warms my face as I tilt the cup back, but nothing could warm my frozen soul. Samson coos in my lap and I smooth out the light blond curls on his little head. He blinks up at me with his fathers eyes, reaching for my hand.

"How are we feeling this morning, Allie Arla," my father asks softly. I look up at him, meeting his gaze and offering a weak smile that feels out of place on my face. I drop it and shrug. He nods, knowing I can't give him the answer he so desperately wants to hear.

"What is that," Veronica squeaks at the kitchen sink, her glare pointed out the back window. My mother leaps from the table, blotting her puffy eyes with a handkerchief to stand beside Veronica. She releases a bone chilling howl and clutches the sink - her claws scratching against the ceramic.

I push away from the table, walking shakily to the sink to see whatever it is they're witnessing. At the treeline is a crumpled body, laying on the ground. He's too far away to make out who it is, but he's there. He's returned.

My heart stops for a moment and all logic escapes me. Every fiber of my being clings to the hope that it's Samuel, that my mate is not dead and that he's come back to me. I pass Samson to Vee and run into the backyard, sprinting to his side. I kneel in the grass, knowing in my gut that it's not Sam, but I can't help but see parts of him in the face looking back at me.

Covered in blood, nearly ripped to bits, and clinging to life, the man looks up at me.

"Gregory?"

He coughs, spurting blood all over my chest before his eyes close and his head lulls to the side.

"What the fuck?" I breathe shakily, backing away from him. His breath is shallow and I can hear his heartbeat slowing. His eyelids shake a little and more of his blood soaks into the grass - he's dying.

"Danny!" I shout back to the house. He needs help and I can't lift him. My brother runs to my aid, stumbling back a few paces with disappointment when he realizes who it is - he must have thought it was Isaac.

"Goddess," he breathes.

"We need to get him to the pack doctor," I say hurriedly. My brother stares blankly at the dying man at our feet, unmoving. "Now, Danny!"

He nods, snapping back to reality and carefully lifting him to his feet and then cradling him in his arms. I look back to the house, at my mother standing in the doorway clutching her chest and sobbing. My father comforts her, holding her close to his chest and shaking his head. Frederick and Vee stand just behind them, holding both of our babies. I nod to Freddy, mindlinking with him to tell him what's happening, before I usher Daniel and Gregory towards the Doc.

He remains unconscious the whole way there and when we get him laid down inside.

"Blessed Moon Goddess," the Doc mumbles upon seeing the state of him. "We need to help him heal. Magdalene, get the herbs!"

A young woman dressed in white, rushes out of the room, hurrying back in moments later with a container filled with various herbs and medicines. I stand in the far corner of the room, watching them work over him. An hour goes by of mixing and coating and wrapping, before the Doc and his nurse step away from him.

"That should help him heal," the Doc says, wiping his sweaty brow. "We can't do much else but wait, I'm afraid."

"Thank you," I whisper.