Chapter 127: Dead And Gone? Whoops, I’m Wrong

"Let me in, Nova," Astra ordered in a tone that was one part healer, two parts drill sergeant, and zero parts negotiable.

Nova let go of Sebastian’s chest, moving out of the way, and attempted to stand. But she fell to her knees, panting, the moment she tried.

Something had taken energy from her that she didn’t feel until right now. Whether it was from the white wolves or the act of stopping a Gamma from turning to ash or both, Nova wasn’t sure.

She kept her chin up, like she had meant to do that. The last thing she wanted was anyone fussing over her. She was fine. She was just going to kneel next to Astra for a moment.

Alpha Thunderfang crossed the courtyard and knelt on the other side of Sebastian, across from them, looking down at his Gamma the way a commanding officer looks at a soldier he put in the field.

Sebastian’s face was grey, his lips were pressed into a line so thin they’d disappeared, and his eyes had the look of a man doing math on how much time he had left and not liking the answer.

His hand shot up and grabbed Alpha Thunderfang’s wrist. The grip was weak. Sebastian knew it. Alpha Thunderfang knew it.

"Sierra," he rasped. "Will you take care of her, Landon? Please. Promise me."

Alpha Thunderfang’s jaw worked once. "Yes. You have my word. But you’re walking off this courtyard, Sebastian. That’s an order."

"With respect, Alpha." Sebastian’s mouth twitched. "I don’t think my body is taking orders right now."

Alpha Thunderfang looked up at Astra, who was cutting Sebastian’s shirt.

"How bad?" he asked.

"I don’t see any wounds, Alpha," she replied, brows knit.

Sebastian lifted his head and glanced down at his chest, confused by this.

"Literally. There are zero wounds," Astra repeated, running the scanner again. "But I see a lot of blood. Where does it hurt?"

"I actually feel fine. I thought it was my body going numb before I passed," he said with a voice that sounded completely normal.

Alpha Thunderfang stared at his Gamma. The same Gamma who, less than a minute ago, had grabbed his wrist with trembling fingers and begged him to look after Sierra like it was his final act on this earth.

"In my defense, I was stabbed," Sebastian said, raising both of his hands in surrender, still on the ground.

Alpha Thunderfang exhaled through his nose. He was going to kill him. Slowly. After Astra cleared him.

"Stop moving," Astra ordered. "You lost blood either way and are going to be examined."

Sebastian opened his mouth to argue. The look Astra gave him made him shut it. Some battles weren’t worth fighting, and arguing with a healer holding a scanner was one of them.

Then she glanced up at Nova, visibly confused. "Nova, you are full-on glowing."

Nova glanced down at her hands that had Sebastian’s blood on them and were, in fact, glowing.

"I am," she confirmed.

Astra stared at her. "Why are you out of bed?"

Of all the questions available tonight, including ’why is the courtyard full of ash’ and ’how did Sebastian heal,’ Astra chose ’why are you out of bed.’ Sure.

"I am on my way to see Derek," she replied.

Astra and Alpha Thunderfang looked at one another, another mindlink conversation happening that Nova wasn’t privy to. She was over that shit. Not in the mood. Nope.

"Please excuse me." Nova rose with shaking legs that no one commented on because they were busy mindlinking, thankfully. Her legs headed for the door with the structural integrity of overcooked pasta, only staying upright because she needed to get the fuck out before someone tried to put her back in a bed.

Before she got there, the door opened and Sierra was running through. She grabbed Nova’s hand, not caring about the blood.

"Sebastian—"

"He’s alright. Astra is looking at him," Nova reassured her. She tipped her chin in his direction. "They are back there."

She delivered the update with the calm of a woman who had already used all of her emotions outside and had none left for the hallway.

Sierra gave her hand a squeeze and ran towards her mate. She didn’t ask about the glowing. Didn’t ask why Nova looked like she’d been through a warzone. She had one priority and he was lying in the courtyard. Everything else was irrelevant. Nova understood.

She caught the door before it closed.

"Nova. Wait," Alpha Thunderfang called after her.

She pretended she didn’t hear him and kept walking. She wasn’t trying to be a bitch but she needed a minute. Shoulder on fire. Legs on strike. Hands covered in someone else’s blood. Her body was filing complaints faster than she could process them.

Step one: wash. Step two: change. Step three: mate. Everything between now and step three was an obstacle, and she was going through all of them.

Alpha Thunderfang had bigger problems than a slave who wanted to rinse off. She ranked herself somewhere below courtyard cleanup and checking in with Celeste on his priority list. That worked for her.

She appreciated him not handing her over. She was also very sorry for the Thunderfang losses. It was all disturbing and she needed a moment because she had never seen death up close like that.

Ash. They turned to ash. People were there and then they weren’t and the only evidence they had ever existed was dust on cobblestones. That wasn’t death. That was erasure.

She climbed the stairs, processing that. Derek’s chambers happened to be on the same floor as Alpha Thunderfang’s.

Convenient. Because it meant walking past ten guards while covered in blood and glowing, which was exactly the kind of entrance she was hoping to avoid.

Ten guards were still stationed there as she passed. She continued walking without sparing them a glance.

She made it into Derek’s quarters without one of them stopping her.

CLICK.

Door locked. Done.

Then she took in the scene and what she saw made her gasp. Her glow stopped at the same moment.

The room had been redecorated by a wrecking ball. Glass everywhere. Side table smashed. Ottoman flipped.

Someone had come in here and done this and she was going to get to the bottom of it after she rinsed off. She made her way to the bathing chamber. Opened the door. It looked perfectly normal, completely untouched.

???

ONE SHOWER LATER

Getting to the closet was an obstacle course that she managed to do. She’d barely gotten her clothes on and was mid-shoulder rewrap when Alpha Thunderfang’s muffled voice hit from the corridor on the other side of the door. Furious. She had heard this man speak more in the last twenty-four hours than she had in the days she knew him combined.

She froze and listened but he stopped talking.

Silence.

Thirty seconds went by.

He had moved on.

She resumed wrapping her shoulder, which she was realizing, was not as easy as it looked.

Then the door handle rattled.

She stopped and stared at it, like maybe it had jostled due to the wind or something.

Alas, it was not the wind. The handle rattled again, harder. Before she could ask who was there—

BANG.

Someone kicked the door in. Wood blasted. Lock demolished. Because apparently that was possible on Derek’s door unlike the doors in the east wing of this Keep.

Alpha Thunderfang stood on the other side, chest heaving.