cloud

I race through the hospital when I return to the Howling Night. My eyes examine every room, looking for any sign of Raiden. I can hear some of the workers calling after me, but I pay them no attention. It's only when I see Tatum that my steps slow down. I move toward him and I stare at him with wide eyes.

"What happened?" I ask, my voice sounding cracked and broken. "What happened to him?"

"Cloud, you should—"

"Just tell me what happened to my mate, Tatum!" My voice raises. "Just tell me he's going to be okay."

Tatum frowns. "He was attacked while we were on the mission and received a serious injury to his side."

"But it'll heal quickly since he's a wolf, right?" I ask, but Tatum doesn't agree. "Right?!"

He looks at me, his eyes full of pain. "The wound was infected with wolfsbane, meaning that his supernatural healing can't be used. As of right now, the wolfsbane has spread throughout his body, and the doctors are trying to find ways to remove it before it becomes..." he trails off, not saying the word we both knew would break me. "But, it takes time."

Time we don't have.

I drop into a seat beside Tatum. He stares at me with an expression of pity before standing up.

"I'm going to go talk to the doctors. Stay right here."

I don't bother saying anything. I let my head drop into the palms of my hands and I bite my lip hard to try and stop myself from falling apart.

He told me he would be okay. He told me he'd be back before I knew it. He just asked me to travel with him. He can't leave me now. He can't!

"How's he doing?" A quiet voice comes from inside the room.

"Not good, the doctors say that he was injected with wolfsbane. They're not sure about how to heal him."

"Doesn't he have a mate? Can't the mate bond help him?"

"I don't know," voice two whispers back. "I think they said his mate was human."

The mate bond?

Could the mate bond help him?

Standing up, I search the hospital. Looking everywhere until I find Harmony. It doesn't take long at all for her to spot me and she quickly moves to me.

"Cloud, I'm so sorry! I heard about what—"

"—can the mate bond help him?" I cut her off. I didn't want to hear apologies. I wanted to help save my mate before it was too late.

Harmony's brows furrow. "What?"

"Can the mate bond help him?" I repeat. "I overheard people talking about it, so can it help Raiden?"

Harmony bites her lip. "Possibly," she admits. "But it isn't the mate bond exactly, but the mate mark. Mate marks have been known to heal, but seeing as you can't access your wolf—"

"I want to try," I tell her, determined.

"Cloud—"

Maybe it wouldn't work, but I couldn't just sit around knowing there was a way. My wolf may be faint, but it was still there. I needed to do this— to try and help my mate.

"I want to," I tell her again. "I was able to access my wolf not too long ago."

"I don't think you understand the full severity, Cloud. Even if you manage to bring your wolf forward, you risk getting infected with the wolfsbane when you mark him. It could ultimately kill you and your wolf."

The key word was could. It wasn't a one-hundred percent chance.

"He's my mate, Harmony," I tell her. "What can be done if I don't try this? What can save him in time?"

Harmony goes quiet for a few seconds before she lets out a sigh. "Hold on, go back to Raiden, I'll be there in a second."

Harmony walks away from me and I return to my seat. Tatum and Mars sit there and Tatum's phone is out. When I get closer, I see that Gray is on the phone.

He was the reason I was able to get back so fast. After I found out about Raiden, I just about lost it. Gray had managed to arrange a ride for me to get back to the pack, something I was extremely grateful for.

Mars' eyes are clouded over, likely talking to Harmony. When they return to their normal color, he looks at me with a concerned expression.

"You want to try to mark Raiden?" He asks me. "Knowing the risks?"

I nod.

"Cloud, this could kill you," he tells me seriously, causing Tatum to look over at me.

"We will find another way—" Tatum starts to tell me.

"What would you do?" I look at him. "What would you do if you knew there was a way to help your mate, even if it could harm you in the process? What would you do?"

Tatum doesn't reply and Mars turns to me.

"Cloud—"

"Let him do it," Gray calls out from the phone. "Let him try to save his mate."

"This could kill him!"

"I know that," Gray says. "And so does Cloud. He isn't a child, this is his choice."

Nobody says anything and I'm thankful for Gray's words. Harmony rounds the corner and she looks at me hesitantly.

"Are you sure?" She asks me again and I nod causing her to sigh. "Come on then."

We enter the room. Harmony quickly kicks the two nurses out and I stare down at Raiden's lifeless and pale body. My heart clenches and I move toward him, running my hand through his hair.

I needed to do this.

I take a seat beside Raiden and I grip his hand. My eyes squeeze shut as I try to call my wolf forward. I think about the lab and the seemingly never-ending amount of injections that were forced into my body, I ti l about how I would spend days at a time crying and wanting to escape, I think about the Dark Woods pack and how much I craved for Dad to love me, about the guilt I harvested inside for such a long time due to Mom being cheated on, about the jealousy that would overwhelm and overtake me whenever I saw Dad and Gray together, about the loneliness that I hated and desperately wanted to make go away. I think about Raiden and how he welcomed me into his home with open arms, how he never once stopped trying to get to know me no matter how much of an asshole I was to him and how I pushed him away, about how much the two of us had grown since then, about how our lives were only just starting and there was so much I wanted to do with him still. I think about how he made me feel like I was much more than just some bastard. He never saw me any differently and loved me despite it.

Now was my chance to help him.

I dig deeper down inside, calling my wolf forward.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on!

Then I feel it.

I feel my canines begin to drop. I feel the blockade that had been up for so long begin to crumble down. I feel my senses become overwhelmed by smells, sounds, and more.

I feel my wolf return to me.

I don't know how long it'll last so without a moment to waste, I lean over and let my canines sink into the side of Raiden's neck. I can feel the wolfsbane flooding through and the stinging sensation begins to burn through my body. My eyes begin to grow heavier until darkness takes over my vision.