Page 70 of Meeting Her Mate
“Please let me help you,” I said softly and came closer. As feral as he was, I hoped that some part of him would recognize me as his mate. I was counting on it. My heart raced rapidly as I approached him, hoping my trance-like hand gesture would hold long enough.
From the side, I could see Vincent trailing around the clearing and coming up behind Will. As he neared Will from behind, I closed in the distance between me and the feral wolf form my mate had taken, allowing myself to be vulnerable in front of him. If he wanted to hurt me now, he could. I stood in the shadow of death as I closed the distance between us.
“It’s me. Alexis. I am sorry it took me this long to realize the severity of the horrors you were dealing with,” I said, lowering my hands.
Will growled hostilely and bared his teeth once again.
“It’s too much for one person to deal with. All this rage, all this madness. The experiments that they conducted upon you, the chemicals in your system…Will, I finally understand. It was wrong of me to take your behavior personally. I should have realized back then that you were fending off this frenzy. I am sorry.”
The growling subsided. I could see the color coming back to his eyes, and his fur seemed less jagged.
“This is not you, Will. This is the poison that’s running through your body. You can fight it. I know you can. You’re strong. Stronger than all your enemies put together. Stronger than the bars of the prison that held you. You are more powerful than you imagine,” I said. “Please don’t hurt me. You promised you won’t hurt me.”
Will recoiled a little. A small whine escaped his mouth as he closed it.
“I’m going to help you,” I said. Then, looking behind him to see if Vince was in position, I yelled, “Now!”
The feral wolf was back, his eyes redder than ever, his claws out with the intent to kill. He opened his entire maw in my face and bellowed an unearthly howl. Vince leaped in the air with the tranquilizer in his hand and fell on top of Will. It all happened in a split second. Will slashed through the air. I rolled on my back to avoid his attack. Vince emptied the tranquilizer syringe into Will’s neck, causing him to collapse on the floor.
I was breathing heavily when I got back to my feet. Will’s body was rapidly shifting back to his human form.
“That was some quick thinking,” Vince said, panting loudly.
By now, the other members of the pack had found us. Morgan, Simon, Ronald, and the others hurriedly came into the clearing. Upon seeing Will’s unconscious body, Morgan took off his jacket and threw it on top of Will. Simon lifted him in his arms.
“You could have died,” Morgan said, looking at me with worry.
“A death for my mate would be a worthy death,” I said. I did not show it, but I was mortified about his health. What did this mean? Would he turn like this again? How severe was the effect of the experimentation on him? How long had he been holding this back? More importantly, would he be able to completely overcome these symptoms in the future? Questions came to my mind, but they were questions without answers.
We silently headed back to the commune, the men taking turns holding Will while Vince led the way. I was in the back, keeping an eye out for anyone who might wish to harm us. This forest was deep within vampire territory. I hoped there were no more surprises waiting for me for the rest of the night.
“What do you think caused him to lose control?” Morgan asked after a long pause of silence.
“Do you realize, Morgan, what hell Will has been through? Do you really think that he would have come out of it unscathed? Things like this take a toll on a person. Even the bravest of people are affected by the harshest of atrocities. What Will had to bear was no small cruelty. Imprisoned for more than seventy years! Poisoned, injected, experimented upon!” I was barely able to hold myself back. It wasn’t anger that was making me say these things. It was a deep sense of worry that had made me feel this susceptible.
“I’m sorry, Alexis,” Morgan said. “I just meant…”
“I know what you meant,” I said. “I didn’t mean to be rude. Will is an alpha. He is stronger than all of us put together. As the Grimms, it is our responsibility to be there for him, come hell or high water. All of us are only here because he decided to save his family and move them from Germany. If he hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have been born. We owe our existence to him. We owe him our allegiance.”
“Even the best need help sometimes,” Vince said, coming to my side. “And we’re here to help, aren’t we?”
“We are,” the men agreed in unison.
“Then help me take him to the commune healer,” I said.
***
While Dr. Morris took care of Will in the clinic, I sat outside with Vincent. The suspense of not knowing what was happening in the clinic was killing me. I turned to Vince to distract myself.
“So you just happen to be walking around with bandages and tranquilizers?” I asked.
“Uh, in case you didn’t realize, I was in charge of managing an entire party. I had emergency supplies on hand.” Vince said, revealing his belt satchel filled with medical supplies. “It’s kind of the first step in organizing a party.”
“But tranquilizers?” I asked. “Why were they in your satchel?”
“Fine,” Vince sighed. “This happened before you came back to the commune. Before Will even started to take control of his anger and all those negative emotions. One of the first things he said to me was, ‘I don’t know if I will do something out of my control. May I trust you to be my contingency?’ If I think about that, that’s when Will and I became friends. He took the first step to trusting me. He confided in me early on that he was struggling with something terrible. I prayed that I’d never have to use those tranquilizers. But today, just as Will had foreseen, we needed them.”
“None of us truly understand how much he’s been dealing with,” I said, feeling remorseful for giving Will a hard time in the beginning.