Secrets & Lies

Chapter Twenty

(Alexis' POV)

I can feel his fear and his excruciating pain through our quickly growing bond as I thunder through the forest towards where I know he is being held. The second I felt Leo's first ounce of fear, something inside of me snapped and I instantly knew which way to run. Dad and Alpha Kent run a half step behind me, along with our warriors and fellow pack mates.

Possible scenarios run through my mind. Has he beaten Leo? How has he tortured him? Did he shift in front of him?

The strong copper stench of blood in the air and the strangled cries of pain that we are fast approaching, instantly tell me that things are far worse than I calculated.

I burst through bushes into a clearing just as he plunges a knife into my mate's stomach.

I see red as I watch my mate instantly pass out in front of me. His broken body is slumped against a tree. His face is bloodied and bruised, along with the rest of his body. His limbs are bent at wrong angles indicating that the sadistic bastard broke close to every bone in his body.

My poor, innocent mate. How could anyone do such a thing to a soul as pure and as kind as Leo?

I charge towards him, fully intent on my revenge; revenge for the attack on my mate, revenge for the attack on my pack, and revenge for the murder of my mother.

"Alexis, no!" Dad shouts. "Leave him. Your mate needs you!"

I growl in annoyance. "Dad, he tortured my mate!"

"Exactly, Alexis. Leo needs you. Now!" I snarl but know that Dad is right.

I turn towards the pack warriors just as Dad and Alpha Kent charge after the rouge who, upon seeing us, fled from the clearing. Barks and growls fill my ears as they, along with the majority of the pack warriors, thunder after him.

I grab the bag of clothes that was brought for me and I quickly dash behind a tree to change. Just as I'm about to step back into the clearing, a low, threatening growl sounds behind me. I growl back and within seconds there are three wolves on either side of me, ready to fight to protect their future Alpha.

Knowing that they have it handled, I turn around and race towards my mate, my heard pounding in my chest all the while.

I cradle my mate's broken face in my hands and bite back the tears that are threatening to fall, knowing that I need to stay strong for my mate.

I rip the ropes the are holding him to the tree and gently lower him to the ground to asses the damage. Instantly I know that the damage is well beyond my level of basic first aid.

"Doc?"

"Yes, Alexis?" He replies instantly.

"My mate needs help," I tell him while sending him a mental image of Leo's condition.

"Alexis, you need to bring him here immediately. I don't know what I can do for him but know that if he's not here soon enough he will bleed out."

"What about the knife?"

"What about it?"

"He can't be moved with it in him!"

"No, but if it's removed he'll bled out."

I cry out in horror at the seriousness of Leo's condition and I pray that Dad rips that rogue to shred's for ever laying a finger on my mate.

With difficulty, I try to pick Leo up but it proves to be easier said than done. I'm scared to even brush against the knife for fear of doing more damage to him.

"Allow me, Alpha." Jason says, appearing by my side.

"The knife though!" I say.

"I know." He picks Leo up with ease, adjusting him so the knife is facing away from his body and away from risk of it being moved further.

Within ten minutes, the longest ten minutes of my life, we enter the front doors of the pack hospital.

"Doc?" I call once more as we push our way into the clinic.

"First room on the left!" He replies.

I hurry towards the door and hold it open to give Jason room to enter with my mate. He places him gently on the bed and my breath catches in my throat when he turns back towards me. His chest caked in blood. Leo's blood.

"Oh, God." I sob.

"Sssh, he's safe now." Jason says, pulling me into a hug. "He's in good hands."

There's silence in the room for the next half hour as the Doctor works on repairing my mate. He's cleaned the blood from his face, stitched his head, gauzed his arms and legs and is currently preparing to remove the knife from his stomach.

I hear a deep sigh before glancing up at the Doctor.

"What?" I ask my voice laced with fear. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry," he says. "I don't think I can help him anymore."

"But the knife is still in him?"

"I know and right now, that's the only thing keeping him alive."

I bite my lip to stop from crying out again. I shake my head. This can't be happening. This just can't be happening.

At the moment, Dad and Alpha Kent enter the room.

"How is he, Doc?" Alpha asks.

"Not good, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?" Dad presses.

'I mean, the knife inside him is keeping him alive. If I remove the knife, he'll bleed out within seconds. There won't be anything I can do to keep him alive."

Dad sits down beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

"There must be something you can do?" I cry.

"I'm sorry Alexis, but there isn't. If he hadn't suffered so much blood loss already, I'd say there might be a chance of saving him, but, as that is not the case I'm afraid there isn't anything more I can do."

"Richard," Alpha Kent says, calling the Doctor by his first name. "Leo is your future Alpha's mate. Surely there must be some other way of saving his life?"

"Future Alpha's mate? But I thought he was Alexis' mate?"

"He is," I croak out. "I'm future Alpha."

"Oh, Alpha, I'm sorry. I didn't realise."

"It's fine. Can you save him though?"

"Well, because he's an Alpha's mate there might be a way. It's never been done, but theoretically speaking, it should work."

"What is it?" Dad asks.

"Alpha's form stronger bonds with their mates than any other mated pair do. That strength in a mating bond, and the strength of an Alpha, should be strong enough to make a change.

Alpha's can change humans to wolves and Alpha mates can help heal their mates. So, technically speaking, Alpha Alexis, you should be able to change your mate and save his life."

"Change him? I couldn't he'd hate me!"

"Sweetie, it's either him being alive and hating you, or being dead and you hating yourself."

"But it's so dangerous! He might not even survive the change, even if he was perfectly healthy! You said so yourself that he's lost too much blood. What's to say his heart won't fail the second the change is initiated?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Richard says. "But Alpha, I'm afraid that's all we have. Unless you want him to bleed out on this table, which he will, whether or not the knife is removed, I'd suggest you decide. The longer you wait the less chance of survival he has."

"Okay," I say. "Do it."