Upside Down

fourteen

              I woke up with Leyton by my side. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I checked the time and saw that it was twelve in the afternoon. I kissed him to wake him up. His eyes shot open and he smiled cheekily at me.

           "Lets go somewhere special," I said standing up. I went to my dresser and picked out some black jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. I paired it with a black leather jacket and went into the bathroom.

           I started the water, and stepped into it. The hot water poured down my back and relaxed my muscles. I started massaging soap into my hair. I rinsed it and I put in the conditioner. I started singing in the shower and dancing. I washed my body as the conditioner was soaking in. As I rinsed myself completely off I stepped out. I quickly shut the door, as I forgot to and got dried off. I put on the clothes and stepped outside.

          I waited on the bed as Leyton finished his shower. When he walked out, he only had a towel around his waist. I covered my eyes with my hands and pointed to the closet where I saw his alpha drop off his clothes. He went back into the bathroom and changed.

        We walked out of the packhouse and headed toward the forest. The snow crunched under our feet and I shifted into my wolf. Akino took over and as Leyton shifted she jumped straight on him. I attacked him with kisses. We rolled around in the snow until my coat was almost all white. I stood up and shook myself off. I licked his cheek one last time until shifting back. I looked at his red face and hugged him. "You're the best mate I could ever ask for," I said not letting go.

        "Well I'm glad I met you," he said kissing my cold lips. I stepped back and just stared at him. His eyes widened and I looked at him with a confused look. Then I felt something go through my back. I looked down and saw the tip of an arrow come through my stomach. I touched the tip and felt the blood. I looked to Leyton and everything went black. I felt him carry me and run to the hospital. I wondered how many times he's had to do this. I was on my side on the table this time.

         I felt the IV being poked into my wrist and fluids going through the needle. I went numb and my coma state wore off as I completely went unconscious.

         As the medicine wore off I felt that I was on my back and they were talking about me waking up. "Leyton it make take a while. She was shot, her wolf might die." My heart broke at the words. I tried to contact her, Akino are you okay? 'Y-yeah I'm fine. I'm trying to fight off death but yes completely fine.'

        Akino, no I can't stand to know that you're dying for me. Stop. 'Tara you don't get it. Remember what Moon Goddess said. I've met Alpine and I'm happy with my life. Now it's my time to save you' I wanted to cry. I wanted to wake up and pretend nothing happened. I felt Leyton put his hand in mine and I fell back into an unconscious state.

         I tried to open my eyes again, it didn't work. My eyes were burning to see Leyton and that's all I wanted. I felt the wet lips of Leyton's on my cheek. "I'm so sorry princess. Why do bad things always happen to you?" My mouth itched to tell him that I'm okay, but my lips wouldn't move.

POV CHANGE.

       I looked at Tara. Her hair was tied up in a bun and her face was pale and cold. I hoped that she would live. I couldn't imagine going through life without her. My heart broke every time I looked at her almost purple lips. I wanted to see her eyes open and for her to tell me she loved me one last time.

       If I could take her place I would. I heard the door of the room open and Madison and James walked in. Madison started bawling her eyes out, with James trying to comfort her. "How could you let something like that happen to her, Moon Goddess," Madison cried out. She held Tara's left hand and started playing with the stray strands of hair spread out on the pillow. 

        I could feel the tension building in the room. I looked at Madison with sympathy and prepared myself to speak, "she's suspected to live, but at the expense of her wolf." Madison looked up with a sad look, "her wolf must be doing a great deal of work. I hope that if her wolf dies, she's treated with great respect in the moon."

       I looked down and prayed to Moon Goddess that she would wake up in general. My wolf Alpine was crying, it made my heart hurt. I looked at Tara and wondered when the day would come when she would wake up.

POV CHANGE AGAIN

A week in a coma feels like years. Waking up, falling back unconscious. Getting poked at every second. Getting food shoved into you by a tube. Hearing your mate crying for you to wake up.

Then finally, I felt a jolt of energy as my life with Akino flashed before my eyes. I saw her tackle Alpine all over again. My eyes wanted to cry but they wouldn't open. I saw navy blue as I felt my body replenish. My eyes shot open and I saw Leyton. His blue eyes were fixated on my stomach, where I saw a small ghostlike figure of Akino dancing around the wound. I finally let myself cry as I realized my wolf wasn't going to be with me anymore. Leyton's eyes snapped back to me and he held me.

"She's gone Leyton." I smelled sugar roses and heard a faint 'goodbye,' as that scent turned to a musky sweet smell. All the pain in my stomach was gone and I looked at Leyton.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he said breathing in my scent. I sat up and took the IV out of my wrist.

"Thank Moon Goddess," I said and remembered that the reason why the scent changed was because my wolf was taking the place of her. I just thanked the wolf that saved me...