"Liam, let them hurt me instead," Breanne gasped, blood gushing from her chest in rhythmic spurts. Her palm, slick with crimson, trembled as she reached for Liam. "I won't let anyone slander you. Y-you are a dream mate. I w-wish you were—”
Why was everything Breanne Telder did so dramatic?
If I weren’t in an internal state of panic, I would have been moved by this lover's farewell moment.
Liam cradled her collapsed body, roaring, "DOCTORS! NOW!"
I heard the knife clatter to the floor. Liyah stood frozen, staring at her trembling, bloodied hands.
"I didn't—she grabbed it—"
I knew what Liyah was saying was true. I watched the struggle.
This was all part of Breanne’s ploy of separating Liam and me, because she knew I would stand beside Liyah in this matter, only driving us apart further than we already were.
Liam's glare could have shattered glass. His wolf was tearing at the walls; even I could sense his fury. They were borderline feral, but that was only something done with the harm to a mate, not a friend.
"I saw you stab her. This isn't over, Liyah Cruz. We may be on neutral territory, but you have made an enemy of the Sterling Moon pack."
A team of medical staff came rushing in and wheeled Breanne away with Liam holding her hand between his, whispering tender words and begging her not to leave him.
When we were alone, and the silence of what had just happened pressed down on me, I turned and gripped Liyah's arm to steady her.
"Liyah, why did you bring out the damn knife?"
Liyah sank to her knees. "I just wanted to scare them! That b***h threw herself on it! Please, Claire, you had to have seen what she did. I was trying to pull it back. It was like— like she wanted me to stab her." Her voice cracked. "Oh my Goddess, am I going to go to jail?"
"I know. I saw it all. Liyah, this is all my fault. You shouldn’t have been involved. There is no winning with these people.”
Guilt was eating away at me.
It was one thing for me to suffer at the hands of the Sterlings, but now I was realizing it was not just me being affected by their cruelty. Mirage, my pup and now Liyah.
Was Liam so determined to break me into nothing?
The pain in my chest sharpened when the door burst open, and I watched as two officers entered the room.
Their faces were tight and stern, they came into the room with a mission, and before I could respond, they were restraining Liyah, cuffing her hands behind her back like a common criminal and not a member of the Beta family of the Crown of Thornes pack.
"Liyah, you're under arrest for attempted murder."
I lunged forward, catching an officer's pant leg.
"Please—she didn’t attempt anything. Breanne did this to herself. She wants this to happen. Please check the surveillance cameras. It’ll prove that Breanne did this; Liyah was pulling the knife away to avoid it.”
Tears poured down my face—I had never felt so powerless, begging on my knees like this. Liam was stripping me of everything I ever held close to my heart.
"There are no cameras in patient rooms," the one officer said, shaking me off as though I was nothing. "Alpha Sterling's testimony is enough for now."
The other officer collected the pocket knife, placing it in a bag. His eyes shot to me with a coldness I couldn’t understand.
Liyah's screams of innocence echoed down the hallway until the elevator doors swallowed them whole.
I collapsed on the cold hospital floor in defeat, my tears pooling before me. Then I wiped my face.
Crying wouldn't help Liyah. I needed to get her out of this, and there was only one person who could do that.
My body was coursing with agonizing pain, but through gritted teeth, I pushed myself up. If I didn't get Liam to drop the charges, Liyah was doomed. I couldn’t lose anything more; he’d already taken too much from me. I couldn’t let this happen to Liyah, who was only trying to help me find Mirage.
I staggered down the long corridor, dragging myself along the walls as I had next to nothing left and shouldn’t have even been out of bed yet.
Once I reached the ER doors, I wasn’t surprised by what I saw.
The entire Sterlings Alpha family clustered outside the surgery. Liam’s ranked unit also filled the waiting area, all their faces etched with grimness and worry as Liam paced like a wounded animal. Stephanie lunged at me with her claws out; she intended to kill me once and for all.
"You worthless creature! First your horse, now your friend—look what you've done to Breanne!"
Liam blocked his mother, grabbing her wrists right before her claws could come down on me. "Enough, you will not attack a wolfless member of our pack. It is against the law, you know this."
My breath hitched.
This wasn’t about saving me, his mate, it was about protecting the family and pack from scandal.
"Liam, please— don't let them jail Liyah. I'll do anything. I need you to be my mate, for once. Please." My knees hit the tile.
For a moment, I briefly saw something softened in his eyes. That was up until the OR doors burst open.
"Critical blood loss!" a surgeon announced to a nurse waiting for orders. "She's RH-negative and we're out of stock. Find donors—now!"
Liam's eyes widened at hearing this, and his hands, which had begun reaching for me to help me up, suddenly snapped back. His gaze turned arctic at the thought of Breanne not surviving.
My body began to sway, and I could feel everything in me slipping away, causing me to stumble against Liam. His arm caught my waist, but it wasn’t to steady me like I had hoped. It was to present me to the doctor like some kind of miracle offering to save his beloved friend.
"Doctor, take hers.” He pushed me forward a few steps, as though to be visually assessed. “Wolfless born shifters are universal donors for all Wolfen pack members. Her blood will save Breanne."