The Beta and his Mate

Blaine’s POV

‘Nooo!’ I screamed through the mate link as I heard the gun go off. It was like that was the trigger that gave me another burst of energy. I could feeling the adrenaline surging through my veins as my heart pumped blood around my body at an abnormally high rate.

I turned on my capture with a new sense of purpose, aiming to free myself from the hand holding onto the scruff of my neck. It was a difficult task, the man holding me back was a wolf himself and knew exactly where to stand so that my teeth and claws couldn’t make contact with his human skin. He also knew that by twisting the fur that he had in his hand he could force my head to turn in another direction because of the pain it caused me.

I fought through it though, determined to get to my mate. After a few kicks and swipes of my paws, most of them unsuccessful, I finally managed to make contact with his left ankle. He screamed in agony as the bone snapped in two at the blow and I sighed in relief when he released his hold on me, my eyes watering from the pain of my fur being pulled out.

I shook it off though and turned to where I knew Benjamin would be, my mind focused solely on seeking revenge for him taking my Xavier away from me.

What I saw though made me pause in confusion. Xavier was lying on the floor, coughing and cringing in pain as his right hand held onto his shoulder, the gun lying at his feet. The thing that made me pause though was the fact that he was alive.

He was alive!

My mind was so focused on the fact that Xavier hadn’t been killed, having been shot in the shoulder and not the chest like Benjamin had originally intended to, I didn’t realise what was going on just to the right of me.

Jax had managed to shake his attackers long enough to tackle Benjamin to the ground, resulting in him losing his balance and missing his target. I sighed in relief as I silently thanked him, before running over to Xavier to see the extent of his injury.

Xavier was groaning and hissing in pain by the time I got to him, his body convulsing as a small amount of foamy pink blood trickled out of his mouth and down the side of his cheek. I frowned in confusion as I watched his body sake, his wolf trying to come through, to try and heal him, but unable to due to the bullet still lodged in his skin.

Being shot in the shoulder was bad for us don’t get me wrong, there are many arteries and nerves that could get nicked or severed from the bullet entering our body, but it shouldn’t cause this type of reaction. He should be bleeding yes but not foaming at the mouth and convulsing uncontrollably.

I tried to talk to him through the bond, asking him what was wrong so that I could somehow help him, but he didn’t respond, in too much pain to even try and reply.

I whined as I stared on helplessly, feeling useless as to what I could do for him. I took a step forward and placed my nose near his wound and inhaled deeply, trying to figure out why his skin was starting to bubble and blister. I coughed and flinched backwards as the scent hit the back of my nostrils, the intensity causing me to retch as I felt a burning sensation travel through my head.

Wolfsbane.

This was bad, wolfsbane was poisonous to us. It acted a little bit like acid, burning away at our flesh and killing tissue as it travels through out blood stream. We needed to get him out of here and wash the wound out somehow, if the wolfsbane stayed in there for a long period of time it could do irreversible amounts of damage and sometimes death.

I shifted out of my wolf and scoured the floor for scraps of clothing, hoping to find something to mop up as much of the poisonous liquid as I could, and sighed as I found the top I had been given by one of the guards. I also found a flannel shirt lying not to far away, completely in tack. My guess was that it was wrapped around one of the audiences waist and had come loose during the panic.

I slipped the flannel shirt on before collecting the scraps of my old top and ran over so that I could press them down on Xavier’s wound. The wolfsbane soaked through the fabric and onto my skin but I ignored the pain as I focused on my task at hand.

I cried as I watched him scream in agony every time the fabric made contact with his skin, but I just grit my teeth and carried on with what I was doing.

“It’s going to be fine Xavier” I muttered as my tears fell from my chin and landed on his chest. “It’s all going to be just fine” I repeated, “just hang in there and once we get you out of here we can make it all better” I sobbed as I continued my task.

Xavier’s eyes locked onto mine for a split second as I stared down at him, but I could tell he wasn’t really seeing me. His eyes were unfocused and glazed over as he seemed to look through me rather than at me. His skin tone was a horrible white grey colour and his veins protruded from his skin in a dark grey, almost black colour, making it painfully obvious that he was in serious trouble from wolfsbane poisoning.

I cried as I watched his eyes close for a second and quickly shook him awake, not allowing him to slip into unconsciousness.

“Xavier you stay with me” I demanded as I threw the fabric coated in wolfsbane as far from us as I could, having soaked up all that I could from his skin.

I was so focused on the task at hand that I hadn’t realised one of the rogues had escaped Jax and was running in my direction. It wasn’t until I heard a furious growl from off in the distance that I turned around with just enough time to duck as a rogue wolf sailed over our bodies, landing just in front of us with a sneer on his lips.

I tensed as I stared at the wolf in front of me, daring him to attack. I didn’t have to find out if he would though, because before I knew it another wolf flew over me and landed in between us and the rogue, growling at the rogue in a defensive manner.

My brother was here.

I looked over to where I knew Jax was still fighting and noticed that my dad had joined him, tackling Benjamin as he tried to go for Jax’s neck. There were only two rogues left now, not including Benjamin, and sighed as I realised we now had help.

I shifted my focus back to Xavier and stared as I watched the poison travel through his skin. We needed to get him out of here and seeing as I was the only one free I knew it would have to me.

I wiped my hands on the fabric of my borrowed top, trying to wipe off the wolfsbane that I knew was on there, blistering my palms, and hooked my arms under Xaviers. I knew I wouldn’t be strong enough to pick him up so I just tried to drag him across the floor and towards the exit, leaving a trail of blood behind us.

At the start Xavier had screamed in agony, the action of me moving him causing him to much pain to remain quiet, but that only lasted a few minutes before he passed out in my arms. I could tell he was still alive, I could still hear his heartbeat, but it was slow and out of rhythm.

I collapsed on the floor as the weight of Xavier grew to much for me but quickly shook off my tiredness and picked him up again. “There is no way... that I am letting you... die on my Xavier... do you hear me?” I panted as I tugged him with all my might. “I will... get us out of here... just you watch” I sobbed as I looked down at his passed out body. After everything we’ve been through I wasn’t going to let some crazy Alpha with a grudge on my family kill him.

I looked back up at the fighting wolves and stalled as I watched Benjamin pin my father to the ground, him having shifted into his wolf during the scuffle. My mind was torn, on the one hand I knew I needed to get Xavier out of here, but on the other I wanted to help my dad.

It was like I was back in the cage again, not knowing who to defend for fear that it would cause the other more injury. Thankfully though the choice was made for me though. As if my dad knew that I was looking at him he glanced up at me and motioned with his head for me to leave him.

I cried but nodded my head, the only thing making me listen to him was the fact that he had Jax and my brother by his side to help him. I continued to try and drag Xavier out, but by now my body was exhausted. It had gone through more shifts in such a short period of time than I’ve ever gone through in my life, plus fighting with the rogue and then the hike here in the first place, my body had given in.

I cried as I looked down at my unconscious mate, not yet able to admit that I had failed him. I needed to get him out of here, even if it killed me. I shoved my hands underneath his arms and pulled with all my might to try and get him out of here and after just a few short tugs we were out of the main arena.

I lay on the ground, panting, but stood up in a defencive stance when I heard footsteps running towards us at an alarming rate. I tensed, ready for whoever came round the corner, and sighed when I saw Jax. He was in his human form and I blushed slightly when I realised he wasn’t wearing any clothes, but quickly pushed that aside as I realised my dad and brother weren’t following him.

“Where’s the others?” I panted as I watch him crouch down and take Xavier’s wrist in his, checking to see how irregular his heartbeat was.

“They told me to run on ahead” he explained as he started to inspect Xavier’s bullet wound.

“What do you mean run on ahead?” I asked. “You left them?”

“I had no choice but to Blaine, we needed to get Xavier out of there and your father knew that you wouldn’t just leave your mate here if we didn’t so he told me to make sure you leave this place no matter what. If that means picking you up and dragging you out too I will” he stated.

I stared at him for a second as he carefully picked Xavier up off the ground, making sure his wound didn’t touch Jax’s skin anywhere. “But Jax they’re my family” I muttered as I started walking back in the direction I had just come from.

“Blaine stop... look at yourself” he exclaimed “you can barely stand upright, let alone get in between four fighting wolves and hope to help in some way. If you go there you’ll be putting your life and the lives of your family in danger” he explained as he took my wrist in his to stop me going any further. “Just do as your father says and get out of here” he stated as he started to drag me out of the tunnel and towards the main exit.

I started to struggle for a second, not bearing the idea of leaving two of my family members behind, but before long my body could no longer handle the stress it was under and my vision started to go dark.

The last thing I heard was the sound of a wolf crying in pain as it echoed off the cave walls.

Oooooh!