Chapter 345
Chapter 345
Third Person’s POV
The world around Parker blurred.
Flashes of fragmented memories tore through his mind–flames, screams, the faint sound of a girl’s trembling voice calling out through the chaos.
“Brother! Brother! Brother p>
The echo clawed at him, each repetition slicing through his chest like a blade. His wolf stirred uneasily beneath his skin, the ache of that word–brother–almost unbearable.
Across from him, Freya swayed on her feet. Her pale face was drained of color, sweat beading along her temples. “I–I’m fine, Parker,” she murmured hoarsely, forcing a faint smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me p>
But the crimson blooming across her left shoulder betrayed her lie. The scent of blood- sharp, metallic, and threaded with wolfsbane–hung heavy in the air.
“Your blood’s not stopping,” Kade snapped, his voice tight with panic. “That bullet was laced. I’m taking you to the hospital now p>
He had already torn off his tie and wrapped it around her wound, but the dark stain only spread faster, soaking through the fabric. The wound hissed faintly; Freya’s wolf couldn’t heal it. The wolfsbane was eating through her veins.
Without another word, Kade scooped her into his arms, holding her as though she might break apart if he let go.
Sirens wailed in the distance–reinforcements. The Ironclad Coalition’s enforcers and police units poured into the square.
And among them came Silas.
He hadn’t expected to see her here–his Freya. His heart stopped when his gaze caught the sight of Kade carrying her limp form. Her head lolled weakly against his chest, her arm hanging lifelessly, fingers grazing the air. Blood dripped steadily from her fingertips, marking
a trail of scarlet across the cracked
pavement.
Her white shirt was soaked through on one side, the fabric clinging to her like silk drowned in
crimson.
For Silas, the sight was unbearable.
That same color–the same suffocating red–had filled his world once before, the night his mother took her own life. That nightmare had burned itself into his memory, and now it returned, vivid and merciless.
Terror flooded his senses. His chest tightened until he could barely breathe. “Freya!” he cried out, stumbling forward, his voice raw and broken. “Freya p>
Kade didn’t slow. “Out of my way!” he barked, shoving past anyone who stood before him.
Freya’s body felt heavier with each step he took. Her pulse was weakening. The world around her began to blur into a haze of shadows and distant noise.
She knew she was losing too much blood. Even her wolf had gone silent within her, strangled by the poison spreading through her body.
Somewhere in that haze, she thought she heard Silas’s voice–shaking, terrified. He sounded desperate, as if the world were ending.
Was he afraid for her?
Freya wanted to open her eyes, to tell him she was still alive, that it was just her shoulder, nothing more. But her eyelids felt impossibly heavy, her body cold.
The metallic tang of wolfsbane burned her tongue. The darkness crept closer.
“Silas, move!” Kade shouted, his voice cracking. He rammed his shoulder into Silas’s chest, knocking him aside before sprinting for the waiting transport.
Silas stumbled, pain flashing across his face. By the time he steadied himself, Kade had already disappeared into the flashing lights, Freya’s blood staining his shirt.
Silas tore after them, heart pounding, his breath ragged in his throat. He couldn’t lose her— not again.
Nearby, officers surrounded the scene. Two of them approached Parker and his sister Jenny.
“Mr. Williams, Miss Williams–are you hurt p>
Jenny was the first to speak, her voice sharp and trembling with outrage. “Of course we’re hurt! Do you have any idea how terrifying this was? You’re supposed to protect people, and look at what happened p>
Parker didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on the blood trail Freya had left behind–each drop
stark against the ground.
Her blood.
If she hadn’t stepped in front of him… if she hadn’t taken that bullet…
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He clenched his fists, the memory searing his mind–the moment she lunged to shield him, the impact, the scent of wolfsbane burning the air.
Why did hearing her call him “brother” hurt so much?
Why did it make something deep inside him ache, as if an invisible thread had been pulled taut between them?
His head began to throb. A sharp, blinding pain split through his skull, spreading until it felt like his entire body was being torn apart from the inside.
He staggered, clutching his temples. “Ah-!” A guttural sound escaped his throat, raw and animalistic.
“Mr. Williams, are you all right?” an officer shouted, reaching for him.
But Parker didn’t hear. The pain was too much–images and voices flooded his mind, fragments of a past he couldn’t grasp. The sound of a girl crying. The scent of pine forests after rain. The sight of blood–so much blood.
She shouldn’t have taken that hit. She shouldn’t have been the one to bleed for him.
His heart twisted painfully. The bullet hadn’t struck him, but his chest felt like it had been pierced all the same.
Why did it hurt this much?
Could it be true? Could she really be-
He didn’t finish the thought. The pain swallowed everything.
Freya was rushed into surgery under the harsh fluorescent lights of The Central Medical
Center.
Outside the operating room, Kade paced back and forth, his hands still stained with her blood. His wolf bristled beneath his skin, restless and furious that it couldn’t protect her better.
Beside him stood Silas, motionless, his jaw tight, eyes dark and unreadable.
Kade stared down at his trembling hands. He had been in the Iron Fang Recon Unit for years- he’d seen comrades wounded, even die, right in front of him. But none of those moments had ever made his hands shake like this.
When Freya had fallen, he’d felt a fear unlike anything before. The thought of losing her had struck deeper than any wound he’d ever taken.
The faint scent of wolfsbane still clung to his palms. He swallowed hard, eyes fixed on the glowing red light above the operating room doors.
Time crawled.
Inside, Freya’s blood mixed with the chemical tang of the antidotes they were trying to pump into her veins. Her wolf fought weakly against the poison, refusing to surrender.