Painted Scars

DAISY

Sneaking out of the Pack House when it was full of people running around was tough.

Thankfully, I was clever enough to use the exit nobody else would think of—through the Alpha of the Millennium’s assigned room.

Raphael’s suite was on the highest floor. I knew that the moment he returned from Shanghai, and his distinct nose would scent that I had been here.

There would be a price to pay, but since I also stole his daughter’s blood on a regular basis to give it to a vampire in exchange for information, there wasn’t much I was afraid of anymore where he was concerned.

When I got to his and Eve’s rooms, I didn’t linger. I went to the window of their living room, opened it, and looked outside.

There was a tree close enough, so I gave myself a small pep talk, then crouched on the window’s ledge.

I took a deep breath, hoping my werewolf reflexes were good enough, then launched myself at the tree.

My hands closed around the branch. My backpack, with the first-aid kit inside, was steady on my back. I heaved a sigh of relief.

I pulled myself up on the branch, then slid down the trunk to the grassy ground. Then, I sprinted to the parking lot, where I stashed my bike.

I hopped on, started the engine, and rocketed through the parking lot, the city, and eventually the forest.

My heart was beating quickly from the adrenaline at disobeying a direct command from my alpha.

But my healer part, which was much bigger than everything else, was in full agreement with my decision.

I was panting with exhilaration and fear—fear mostly for those still out there, vulnerable and fighting.

It made me wonder why the hell Gabe and Zavier weren’t joining the fight, but since I wasn’t a military mastermind, I couldn’t hope to figure it out.

But I believed that generals should lead the fighters, not stay back and contemplate the outcome.

It took twenty minutes for me to hear the shooting and explosions and growls in the air.

Smoke came from the war zone, and fire blazed in the distance. It looked like hell paid a visit, and I didn’t like it. Not at all.

I stopped my bike, then hopped off and onto the ground. I walked toward the zone, and heard shouting before there was shooting.

My heartbeat escalated and I swallowed hard. I’d never seen death before my eyes, but I had a feeling that would change soon.

I stepped on something different than the ground, but I didn’t process what I was seeing first.

Then I saw that it was Miles, bleeding from a few places.

His eyes looked up at the sky.

My throat choked. “Miles,” I whispered, falling to the ground next to him and fumbling with my first-aid kit.

He didn’t even glance at me, as if he couldn’t hear me. “Chloe’s waiting for me,” he said softly, eyes filling with tears, “she’s waiting for me up there. I want to see her.”

“You’re not joining Chloe just yet,” I said fiercely as I began healing his torso. “You still have a chance at living, and I’m not going to let you waste it.”

He said nothing in return, but I could see it in his eyes.

Ever since his mate, Chloe, had died before he could even mate her—which was the only reason he was alive right now—Miles had sunk into grief and sorrow.

He was Gabriel’s adviser, and Gabe was keeping an eye on him.

But looking now into his electric-blue eyes, I knew that no matter how he chose to live his life, he would never be able to live it to the fullest.

He wanted to die.

But I didn’t want to let him die.

Shoving healing energy through my hands, I growled as I made sure he was good as new again.

It took me about ten minutes before all the gashes were closed, and all he had were bruised knees and elbows.

He looked at me when I finished, his eyes angry. “I hate you.”

“I love you, too,” I said dryly as I rose. “Stay out of the fight, Miles, and call for any backup you can think of. Use the East Coast Pack, if need be.”

“You’re not my alpha. You don’t get to give orders, especially not in the battlefield,” he snarled,

“Shut up,” I growled back, “Gabe’s too stupid to do anything right now, so someone needs to take charge. Do it now.”

It wasn’t fair of me to undermine Gabe, when I was pretty sure he was working on getting backup himself, or even preparing to join the fight.

But Miles seemed so lost and agonized. I knew that he needed to be reminded that he wasn’t his own person.

Gabriel needed him. Even Zavier needed him. I needed him. The pack needed him.

We couldn’t let him give up on life, no matter how hard it was to be torn apart from his mate.

Leaving Miles to it, I searched the scene for more injured soldiers. I could see the enemy moving steady in military formation, all wearing dark cloaks and masks.

They were armed with heavy guns—I recognized an M16, an Uzi, and the most terrifying, a Bazooka.

There were some Hunters scattered, attacking our sentries one-on-one.

We weren’t exactly outnumbered, but we didn’t have the same artillery, that was for sure.

Werewolves mostly relied on their superhuman strength, only rarely bothering with guns.

This time, however, inhuman strength wouldn’t be enough to prevail.

Taking a deep breath, I made sure to move through the shadows, hiding from the enemy as I searched the ground for more fallen soldiers.

Then I saw something that made my heart lurch.

A man, a Hunter, broke formation and raised his gun to point at someone before him. My eyes moved to see who it was, and my stomach dropped.

Shade. The Hunter was aiming at Shade, who was down on the ground.

I didn’t know him too well, although I doubted anyone did.

Daphne had told me that, despite being part of the crew, he wasn’t close to anyone. Not even Rafe, who’d recruited him.

I’d only exchanged a word or two with Shade in the past, so we weren’t close.

Still, something about the fact he was standing, or rather lying, in front of his own death tugged at me.

I don’t want to see Shade die.

An instinct far more primal than anything else set me in motion.

The Hunter was about to pull the trigger on Shade, who was down on the ground, unmoving, breathing heavily, already wounded.

I lunged at him, shifting into my wolf form at the same time.

My limbs lengthened. Fur grew on my skin as my back bowed, fitting my new shape. Then I was clawing at the Hunter with everything in me.

The other Hunters were in the middle of a fight with the other soldiers, shooting and cursing and throwing punches.

So nobody paid attention to me as I ripped into the Hunter writhing underneath me.

I closed my wolf teeth around the Hunter’s throat, tearing a vein close anytime soon.

Then I leaped off him, made myself shift into human again, nudity be damned, and went to Shade.

I didn’t even think as I grabbed my backpack from the ground nearby, where it had fallen when I shifted. I rummaged inside, searching for bandages.

Only two were left, I’d used most of them on Miles.

“Fuck,” I snarled as I crawled over to Shade, whose eyes were closed and whose clothes were torn.

His shirt was in tatters, and his jeans had new holes in them. I forced myself not to think of his muscles that were on display, but I found it hard.

Any woman would tell you Shade that was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

And they weren’t wrong.

With his longer-than-average light brown hair and his hypnotizing green eyes, he was one of the hottest men to ever roam the Earth.

He had a strong, square jaw, with high, aristocratic cheekbones. His figure was tall and lean, and roped with tight, strong muscles.

He had smooth golden skin, indicating that he was probably of some Mediterranean descent.

His chiseled chest was open for display. Even here, in the middle of a battlefield, he was something to cherish.

Shade, according to what little I knew of him, never walked around shirtless.

My eyes locked on to the fact that he was bleeding from a gunshot in the middle of his abdomen. I cursed and threw the bandages aside.

“Shade,” I said softly as I straddled him, putting my hands on both sides of the injury. “I’m going to take the bullet out, and you’re going to let me.”

At my voice, he stirred. His eyes were still closed. “Luxford?” he said roughly.

I smiled in relief. He was still conscious enough to hear me and talk back.

“The other Luxford,” I informed him. Daphne and I had similar voices.

“Now do as I say. When I finish counting to three, I want you to stop breathing. I need to make sure the bullet didn’t punctuate a lung. Okay?”

He nodded briefly, and I counted to three. I felt him tense as I squeezed the outlines of his injury.

I could see him gritting his teeth as blood oozed out of the bullet wound. I winced. It must’ve hurt like a bitch.

It wasn’t working. The bullet was too deep.

“Exhale,” I ordered, and he did so. “The bullet is too deep for that to work. I don’t think it touched a lung, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

I looked at him. “I’m going to heal your internal injuries now, or at least close them so you can function. Then I’ll bring you back to the Pack House and operate to get the bullet out. Capiche?”

Shade didn’t answer, just gave a slight nod. I was worried but forced myself to focus on the task at hand.

This was going to require more healing energy than before. I needed a life-saving amount of energy.

But since I’d been healing for a few hours already, I had a feeling even my unusual amount of magical power would eventually run out.

But I didn’t have time to worry about that.

Putting my hands on the bullet wound, I closed my eyes and drew magic from inside of me, from the core that was my healing magic.

The core, theoretically, sat in the pit of my stomach. Whenever I drew power from it consciously, to heal greater wounds, my stomach squeezed in discomfort.

It didn’t matter, though. Shade was in serious trouble.

Drawing from that core, I felt the magic zinging through my blood, electric as it slid down my arms and into my palms.

Then I let it out, and the magic did its thing, fixing the internal bleeding, seeking every injury, whether superficial or not.

It healed the bruises and some of the smaller broken bones in Shade’s body.

It was an extensive outlet of magic that would leave me spent, but if I could heal Shade, the Gamma of the Millennium, he would be able to put an end to the fight.

He was strong enough to hold them back until help came, if not beat them all.

And if Zack was out here somewhere, still on his feet, they both could pummel them like bulldozers. Or so I hoped.

The healing magic kept on coming. There had been so much damage done to Shade, and my healing told me it wasn’t just from this fight.

When he was completely fixed, my magic found its way around his body to his back, on which he was no longer lying.

There were scars there, scars I could feel with my magic but had never seen before.

My magic sought to heal those scars…

“Do not heal them, Luxford.”

His voice was low and growly, threatening me, warning me.

Then I felt his hands on the skin of my back, and I realized I was still straddling him.

He struggled to sit up, completely healed despite the bullet still tucked inside of him.

“Let the magic go, Luxford,” he said, his voice dropping even further, into dangerous territory.

I shivered, refusing to open my eyes, refusing to stop the magic from coming.

“You’re exhausted as it is. Healing them would knock you out. Cut the connection to your magic core, and open your eyes,” Shade said.

His voice was authoritative, and that was what I needed to hear.

Sighing, I drew my magic back, shoving it back inside the core, then felt myself slumping against his naked chest.

I was still naked myself, and I would’ve been embarrassed by our compromising position had I not been completely spent.

He froze, then said harshly, “Open your eyes, Luxford. Don’t pass out. I need you standing so I can return you back to the Pack House.”

I’d never heard him talk so much before. Shade was a man of few words.

“You’re talking,” I found myself mumbling, almost unintelligibly.

Exhaustion had turned me mad. “You’re talking way too much…”

“Luxford—” he began.

I cut him off. “Don’t call me Luxford like I’m some weird stranger,” I slurred.

Using all my strength, I pushed against his chest so I could straighten myself.

I opened my eyes. “I have a name, you know. It’s Daisy—”

I stopped at once.

My eyes widened as they locked onto Shade’s.

He seemed shocked. The moment my eyes caught sight of those hypnotizing irises of his, something snapped inside me.

Something crucial.

As the war raged around us, Shade and I looked into each other’s eyes.

I was still completely naked, straddling him. He was completely motionless.

We felt the knowledge hit us both almost at the same time.

Mate…

He’s my mate…

Mine…

Oh no.