Mason’s breaths pounded hard in his ears. When he reached Emma, she was drenched in blood. Long deep slashes gushed blood from her chest. He checked her pulse. It was weak but still there. He tore off his shirt to cover her wounds. Then he glanced up where Aria had been fighting Chantal. Chantal’s head flew off her body as Aria tore it off in anger.
The other vampires were also tore to pieces by Trevan and his friends and Nic and Ellie.
Aria rushed to his side, dropping down to the ground beside him.
“Bite her. Get her to change!” She ordered.
“It’s not that simple,” He argued.
Aria’s eyes were blood red. “Either you bite her, or I will. And if I do, she’ll be one of mine.”
Mason’s heart ached, watching his shirt soak in Emma’s blood. “I thought you didn’t bite humans.”
“I’m not going to let her die!” Aria yelled.
A loud, pain-filled scream tore from Emma. She twisted in his arms, her arms flinging and breaking.
“Mason, is she—?” Ellie asked, shifted back into human. She and Nic both wore T-shirts too large for either.
“Come on, brat!” He encouraged her. “Shift, baby.”
Emma screamed again. The sound sent chills down his spine. Being hurt and shifting for the first time had to be one of the most painful experiences. Emma’s eyes fluttered open. There it was. The ring of gold he had hoped to see in her days ago.
“Mason?” She frowned and screamed in pain. “God, it hurts!”
Limbs twisted and broke. Fur sprouted down her body. Then it stopped. Mason cupped her face, caressing her cheeks. “Emma, listen to me. You have to let the wolf take over for a little bit.”
Emma shook her head. “Make it stop!”
Her limbs flailed. She gasped. Her eyes opened and the gold turned brighter. “That’s it, baby. Let the wolf have control.”
Her limbs twisted again. Bones cracked and reorganized. He’d been so used to shifting that he’d never stopped to pay attention to how painful it sounded. The anguish on Emma’s face pushed his own animal to the surface. He had a hell of a time biting back the beast and keeping control of his wolf.
He continued encouraging Emma to allow her animal free when all of a sudden the shift took control of her and she went from his sexy, curvy mate to a beautiful golden and brown wolf laying on her side. Her wounds were still bleeding, but not as much as they had been while she was human.
“Stay this way, Emma. The longer you stay in the wolf, the faster you’ll heal,” he explained.
The cleanup crew arrived a short time later. He waited until an ambulance arrived to get Emma home. The chest wounds had been bad, so it would take a while for her to heal.
Aria tapped his shoulder as he readied to leave with Emma.
“Thank you for your help,” she said.
He nodded. “Caleb took care of the guys they’d hired for the girls. I don’t know if the southern vamps were in on it, but we’ll keep track of them.”
She pursed her lips. “I’ll go deal with them soon. It’s time they realized there will be no union between me and their leader. I also need to know if any of their people had the same deal with Rahound. I’m calling a raid on Embraced. I’ll clean up the clan of rule breakers.”
Mason nodded and glanced around, caught Trevan watching them and turned back to Aria. “If you need anything, just call us. We are happy to offer back up.”
She smirked. “Thanks but my guards can handle it. Now I can’t call you her pet anymore. She’s one of yours.”
He grinned, eyeing the ambulance. “I know. Don’t tell her that though. She’ll say I’m still a mutt.”
Aria laughed and marched off. Ellie and Nic marched to his side. “You ready to go?”
He was beyond ready to go. All he wanted was to take Emma home and wait for her to heal so he could make sure she was fine again. Then he wanted to kiss her from head to toe and hold her for days. Listen to her heart beat. Listen to her breathe. Just know that she was okay.
* * *
“I’m sorry about Maria.”
Emma glanced up from the socks she was folding to smile sadly. Aria had done a raid in Embraced. They’d found Maria being used as a blood slave. She hadn’t been turned, but the experience had been traumatizing for her. Her mother and family had moved away and taken her to get help in another state.
“I’m sorry too,” she mumbled.
“You did your best, Emma.” He said, picking up one of her curls and pushing it over her shoulder.
“I know. I still feel shitty over what happened to her though,” she admitted.
“I know, babe. But at least we found her. And she wasn’t one of them.”