DYLAN ||

Getting sleep, even alone, has been so much easier since Raiden and I have forgiven each other, well at least working towards that.

After watching a little bit of TV, my eyelids grew heavy. Turning off my movie, I rolled over and tried to find a comfortable position before allowing my eyes to close.

The strongest feeling of nausea and fear rolled through me, causing me to sit upright in bed and searching for the nearest toilet.

Rushing to the bathroom, I heave into the toilet, effortlessly as nothing came out. Wobbling over to the sink, I splashed cold water over my face.

I just couldn't shake this feeling of gut wrenching fear that had taken over my whole being. I was sweating, shaking, my heart was racing, I couldn't catch my breath. It was like my whole body was going through withdrawals, but the cause was unknown.

Maddox was going crazy as well. He was clawing at the veil I put up right before bed. I wanted some peace and quiet without all of his commentary tonight, but I didn't want to fully block him out because we talked about how rude that was. So all I did was put up a veil inbetween our communication instead of completely shoving him into the confines of my mind.

The veil wasn't very useful right now though, seeing how he was desperately trying to rip into the damn thing.

I couldn't handle what my body was going through and the incessant pressure that Maddox was putting on my head, so I dropped the veil and allowed him through.

"DYLAN!"

"Yes Maddox? Why are you hollering?"

"GET TO OUR MATE DYLAN, NOW!"

"What? Why? I'm sure Raiden and On-"

"NOW DYLAN! SOMETHING IS WRONG!"

"Maddox, they're probably sleeping. Now I don't feel good, so please stop yel-"

"DYLAN PLEASE! If you don't go, I'll force control. We both know I will, please! Go find them! I can't feel Onyx, something is wrong!"

Rolling my eyes, I agree to go check on my mate for Maddox sake and mine. I wouldn't get any sleep with him being as crazed as he was right now.

Slowly making my way down to Raiden's room, fighting the serious spouts of nausea, I knock on his door. When he doesn't answer, I knock again. I wanted to give up and go hug the toilet all night, but Maddox running commentary was driving me fucking nuts and I knew he wouldn't stop until he had peace of mind, knowing our mate was ok.

Opening his room door, I turn on the light, his scent was here, but more like on a dormant level. Like it was only here because of his stuff being in here, not because he was in here.

Nothing about that made sense and looking at his alarm clock, it was after 11pm. He should have been in here and sleep by now.

The two weeks I slept outside his door, he was always asleep by 9:30-10pm, always. Like clockwork. So now my alarm bells were ringing..

After checking his bathroom, then his closet, still finding no traces of my mate, I run out of his room and weave through the house, making my way to the front door.

"Dylan!" I turn around to see Roman, Hunter, Gabe and Avery running down the stairs.

"Roman, have you seen Raiden?"

"No, I was coming to ask you the same thing. My Lion said something is wrong. He can't feel Onyx."

"What do you mean? How can your Lion feel his Leopard?" I ask, truly confused.

"Through our familial bond genius." He answers back with a frown.

Familial bond? That's a thing? Why haven't I ever heard of that? Maybe it's a feline thing...

"Dude! Are you just going to stand zoning out or we are going to find my brother?!" I blink a few times before nodding to Roman's question.

Turning back around to head for the front door when the sharpest pain stung my heart. I clutched my chest and cried out in pain just as Roman did the same.

"RAIDEN!" He roared as loud as the pain was intense.

Seeing and hearing his fear for my mate, I now understood what was happening, what the pain was, what my body was reacting to.

"Fuck!" I curse, rushing out the door.

I didn't know where to go, what to do, where to start. My territory is one of the largest in the country, there's so much land to cover.

Lifting my head and sniffing the air, trying all I could to locate his scent, but I couldn't pinpoint it.

Fuck! Where do I go?!

"Give me control Dylan, I can feel for Onyx!"

I nod and allowed Maddox to come forward with me. Staying in my form, I watch through our eyes as he makes his way through the tree line. He's taking things slow enough to actually find our mate, but fast enough to get to him because something was seriously wrong.

Roman, Hunter, Gabe and Avery were right behind us.

Maddox leads us to the eastern part of our territory and the moment we catch a glimpse of Raiden's scent, he howls and starts running as fast as my form would take us.

I see a body laying on the forest floor maybe 20 feet ahead of us and my heart drops.

"RAIDEN!" I force his name out of my mouth as Maddox relinquished his half of control over my form and I fall at my mate's side while my wolf howls in pain over the state of our mate.

I look around to see a dead rogue wolf by a huge hole in the gate we just built today, then I look back at my mate.

His body was still, I didn't notice his chest rising or falling. I put my hands on his and they were ice cold. I tried to grab him and haul him into my arms.

That's when I noticed the blood.

There was so much of it, but where was it coming from?

Pulling his limp body into my chest, I looked down. I felt like my world stopped the moment I seen the gaping wound in his lower back.

Maddox howls of pain for our mate grew to deafening, blood curdling levels.

"Fuck! No, no, no! Baby wake up! Please wake up! Come on, come on! Fuck, Raiden please!" I shake his body against mine, trying so hard to keep his head from flopping constantly against my shoulder.

"Son?" I snap my head in the direction of my dads voice, shocked that he was even here. The confusion grew when I seen him and uncle Jake coming back into our territory from the hole in the gate.

"What the fuck are you two doing?!"

"We went to go scout the area." Dad says, making me shake my head in disbelief.

Did he just not give a fuck that my mate was laying on the ground dying???

How could they just assume that he was dead? I can still feel the warmth of his heart snug against mine, I never felt our tether snap. His beautiful soul is still attached to mine.

How could they not care? Why didn't they call for help? How long have they been here? How long have they known my mate was lying here? Alone and cold and scared??

They chose to prioritize a scouting mission, instead of the life of their Luna? Seriously!

"WHAT ABOUT RAIDEN! Did you just not see him while doing your scouting shit?! How could you just leave him here to suffer?"

"Son, we figured he was already gone. Trust me, I wouldn't have left him if I thought we could save him."

"We felt someone coming into pack territory nephew, so we came to see what was going on. Raiden was already cold to the touch when we got here. There was nothing we could do." uncle Jake explains.

I didn't have any fucking words for them right now. Like what the fuck man. My mate isn't dead, he isn't gone, he's not, he can't be.

I struggled to pick his body up off the ground as all of his weight was on me at this point. I wasn't willing to let him go, I needed to get him up. I needed to be the one to do it.

"Here let us help you." Dad offers, reaching for my Raiden.

"BACK OFF!" I growled menacingly. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HIM! NOBODY TOUCHES HIM!"

"Dylan, let me help. I can carry him." Maddox whines.

I didn't want to let him go, I didn't want to give my wolf even partial control. Raiden needed me, I have to save him.

"We're going to save him and Onyx, let me help Dylan."

Letting out a breath of frustration, I nod to my wolf's suggestion again, giving him partial control as he picked our mate up with ease and started running towards the pack hospital.

"Gabe, Hunter, Avery, follow Maddox, he's going to the hospital." I tell them through the pack link and allow my wolf's calling to ease my frazzled nerves. I've never loved him more than in this moment.

• • •

That was 3 days ago.

I found my mate lying on the ground, bleeding out, minutes from death, 3 days ago.

And nothing has felt the same since.

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