He didn’t finish Culin though, he only held him there, waiting. It was understood that when he acknowledged that the fight was over, he would shift back and admit defeat. It took longer than it should have, but Ze was patient, and eventually, Culin shifted back, his magic replacing his clothes, now torn and bloody from the battle.
“You win, for now, but I’ll get you one day.”
Culin, even in defeat couldn’t let go of his arrogance.
Ze let go of Culin’s throat and shifted back himself. His clothes were just as torn and bloody as Culin’s but he had never looked as good to me as he did now. Ze stalked over to me, I opened my arms to finally feel him against me again, but he stopped right before he got to me with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, and blood poured out of his mouth, down his beard, soaking his already bloody top. He looked lost, but found my gaze and stumbled into my arms. His legs gave out, and his full weight brought me down to the floor with his body landing on top and to the side of me. I sat up with Ze’s head in my lap, and that was when I noticed all the blood pouring across the tiles from his back. I quickly took off my top and wadded it up, jamming it over the wound in his back to stop the flow of blood and give him a chance to heal. After seeing to his wound, I looked up and around to see what could have happened and saw Culin standing there with a makeshift knife covered in Ze’s blood in his upraised hand.
“I’m the king of this fucking jungle now, bastards! I told you all I’d kill him, and I’ve finally done it. No fucking cat will ever get the best of me!”
Culin was bragging, basking in his victory while my Ze was leaking his life all over me and this filthy floor. I was immediately seething with a rage I had never felt before in my life. My mate had been attacked, and I would do whatever I had to do to protect him, to avenge him. I needed to finish this for him, for all of us so I could get him the help he desperately needed.
I sent my energy out towards Culin and met that block I’d felt before. Culin must have felt it. He turned toward me and laughed, taunting me.
“Your mate is dead, cubbie, and you’ll be alone the rest of your miserable life. He won’t heal because this is an enchanted blade. It’ll keep bleeding, and he can never heal it with his magic or yours.”
I looked down at my lap and realized he was right. The wound wasn’t healing, and the blood was still seeping onto the floor.
“How does it feel to know you can’t touch the one man you want to hurt the most?”
His crazy laughter scraped up my spine, but now his words were killing something in my soul. I would never let this evil piece of shit win. He would never take my mate from me as long as I had the strength to fight.
I pulled every emotion I held at that moment to the surface and mixed it all with my magic. I used my fear, determination, sorrow, and anger to create a maelstrom of energy that whipped around and around Culin like a tornado. If I couldn’t touch him with my energy, then I’d surround him with it and steal the very air he needed to breathe. I’d suffocate him where he stood and revel in his struggle.
His hair whipped around his head, and his arms and hands came up to cover his face. In the process, he dropped the enchanted shank he’d used to hurt my Ze.
I urged the cyclone to pick up that weapon and attack its maker. If Ze couldn’t heal from it, then Culin couldn’t either.
As the energy whirled and the shank whipped around, it sliced Culin in tiny cuts all over his body, faster than even a shifter’s eye could see and much faster than he could heal. I raised my hands from where they had been cradling Ze’s head and jabbed my hands toward Culin as though I was holding the knife and causing the wounds with my own hands.
I basked in Culin’s screams, his pleas for mercy. Finally, I bathed in his whimpers when he lost so much blood from the thousands of cuts on his body that he couldn’t stand up anymore. I didn’t end the assault until his heartbeat was no longer, and I knew that the animal who had hurt my mate was dead and gone.
Only then did I pull my energy back to me and focus back on Ze. My Ze who was fading so fast. He looked funny for a second until I realized I was seeing him through the tears filling my eyes and running down my face. As I tipped my head down, several of my tears fell onto his face, clearing spots in the blood around his mouth and eyes.
“Ze, stay with me, baby, we’ll get you to Sallyann, and she’ll fix you up. You’ll be okay.”
Ze opened his eyes for a second, looking deep into mine. He raised his hand just a fraction, and I grabbed onto it, pulling it to my mouth and kissing his fingers just the way he liked to do with mine.
“Go, with them, baby. You’ll be safe with them.”
Geordie, Luke, Kane, and Jarvis had come up to surround us at some point, and I noticed a few wolves had slunk down to pull Culin’s body away. I couldn’t think about any of that right now. My mate needed me.
“I’m not going anywhere, Ze. I’m staying right here with you, and when Sallyann fixes you up, I’ll be there when you wake up.”
Ze moved his head to the side, then back, in a weak but insistent show of denial.
“You have to go. Nothing to be done for me, now, baby. Please be safe.”
Ze closed his eyes, and his breathing began to slow alarmingly. I looked at the men surrounding us and saw only sadness. I refused to accept it. I couldn’t believe he was saying this. He was giving up? He was the strongest shifter I had ever met. There was no way he could be giving up now. Not when we had so much to live for. We had found our mates, wasn’t that enough to fight for?
“Ze, you’re my mate, and I’m yours. There’s no way you can give up on me now. Stay with me. Please stay with me!” I was sobbing now, and I could feel hands rubbing my back, trying to calm me down, but I didn't want to be calm, I needed to convince Ze to fight.
“Ze, please, baby, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, and I know you love me, too. Please don’t leave me all alone!”
Ze’s eyelids were so heavy when he managed to open them again. I used my energy to feel him, and he was full of sorrow, regret, and resignation. I needed to make him fight, not accept defeat.
“Ze, please, please, you have to fight for us, for me. I love you, and I want us to have our chance to live a life together.”
