Page 20 of Wild Alpha (Cold-Blooded Alpha #12)

W e can’t stop the bleeding.

The blood is everywhere.

Dayne carried Fisher inside our cabin, yelling for Luka and medical supplies.

Not five minutes later, Luka rushed into the cabin, carrying bandages and a first-aid kit. He worked fast, stitching and bandaging, but Fisher has only gotten paler.

I’m holding his hand, and it’s so cold.

As soon as Dayne turns to me, I know exactly what he’s about to say. “We’re losing him.”

My fingers tighten around Fisher’s hand, and I shake my head, not wanting to believe him.

“We could get him to a hospital,” I suggest, tears clogging my throat.

Luka’s expression is so sympathetic that it makes my eyes prick with more tears. “The nearest hospital is two hours away.”

Too far away.

I swallow more tears. “So, what are you saying?” I know the answer. I just don’t want to believe this is happening.

Dayne killed Xavier, and the fighting is all over. All of Xavier’s men are dead. No one else is hurt. Just Fisher.

Why does it have to be Fisher?

“I can’t get him stable,” Luka says softly. “That means he won’t make it to the hospital.”

Vaden hasn’t moved from my side.

The rest of the Blackshaws are outside dealing with the bodies. I don’t know how many men Xavier brought with him, and I no longer care.

All I can focus on is Fisher—his pale face, his body covered with a white sheet, and the pile of bloodied bandages on the floor beside the bed.

I’m losing him.

I’ve already lost him.

He waded into a fight he had to know he wouldn’t survive, and now he’s dying.

Vaden squeezes my shoulder as a tear rolls down my nose and hits the white sheet. Fisher’s eyes are closed, and they might never open again.

“I ruined his life by staying here,” I whisper.

“We can save him,” Dayne says.

My eyes land on him.

He’s in gray sweatpants, standing next to the bed with his arms crossed, right where he parked himself when Luka, the shifter with the most medical experience, came running.

“You want to turn him into one of us,” I say, my voice flat. Shocked. Stunned.

How could something so perfect end up like this?

Dayne nods. “He’s a fighter. He’ll pull through.”

If Fisher weren’t a fighter, he’d be dead already.

I shake my head. “ No . I can’t do that to him. I don’t want to ruin his life even more.”

If I’d just moved him away from the creek I was afraid he would drown in, propped him up nearby, and walked away, he would be okay.

I didn’t, and now, even if he survives the transformation, his life will never be the same.

Pressure on my right hand pulls my gaze downward.

Fisher’s eyes flutter open, and they’re pinched tight, his deep brown gaze hazy with pain. He squeezes my hand again, this time more weakly. "You haven't... ruined... my life.” Even speaking is draining him of more strength than he seems to possess.

More tears well up in my eyes, and I brush them away before they can fall.

Luka gets to his feet. “I’ll give you some time.”

My brother also stands.

“You don’t have long,” Dayne says before he follows them out of the cabin.

Fisher might die before we can do anything. He could die anyway. The transformation isn’t a magic pill. There’s no way of knowing who will survive and who won’t. All a person can do is hope they have the strength and the will to make it through.

Dayne pulls the door shut behind him, leaving us alone.

“Come here,” Fisher says quietly.

I lie down beside him on the bed, resting my head next to his chest, my touch light on him, so afraid that anything I do—everywhere I touch—will only hurt him more. And I can’t do that. I’ve hurt him so much already.

“This wasn’t your fault,” he whispers.

“It was. If only I’d—” my voice breaks, and my eyes fill with tears. I struggle to speak around the lump in my throat.

His hand on my hair is as weak as the one he rests on my hip. “What does Dayne want to do?”

I squeeze my eyes shut. “Bite you. Turn you. You’d be like us if you survived, and your life would be over.

Nothing would be the same.” A tear leaks from the corner of my eye.

“You couldn’t hug Jett again. He would smell a predator and snarl at you.

You could never tell your dad what you are.

And you would have a wolf inside of you. ”

He’s silent for a moment. When he speaks, his voice is barely audible. “Would I have you?”

My chest tightens with panic. I’m already losing him.

More tears trickle from my eyes, and I lift my head to look down into his face. “You have always had me, Fisher, and you always will.”

His smile shatters my heart. “You haven’t ruined my life, Averie. You saved it. Do it. Bite me.”

He coughs up blood, and I panic, spinning toward the door. “ Dayne !”

Dayne walks inside, my brother right behind him.

My brother is a wolf.

They heard us talking, and my brother is ready to do what I don’t think I could have.

Bite Fisher.

“You can wait at the house with the others, Averie,” Luka suggests. “It won’t be easy to sit through this.”

I take Fisher’s hand and squeeze it again as his eyes flutter shut, just to let him know I’m still here, and I’m not going anywhere. “I want to stay.”

I need to stay. No matter how tough it gets, I'll sit beside Fisher and try to make his pain my own.

My brother moves forward and bites Fisher’s leg. Blood wells around the bite mark that Luka cleans with a bandage, but leaves uncovered. If this goes well, the wound will heal. If things go badly, he’ll be dead.

Nothing happens for ten seconds.

Then the pain starts.

And the screams.

And Fisher’s heart stops.