The Hunting
Chapter 18

"We should have found her sooner!" Tobias snapped as he paced up and down through the infirmary.

"Yes we should have, but she'll be find. She fought this long, she can fight a few hours more." Clayton said, his face painted with exhaustion.

"I don't think you realize the severity of the situation Clayton. Her heart has stopped twice, she has so mamy broken bones that the doctors don't even know how she survived this long. Niri is exhausted, if she tries to heal Kia one more time she'll die.... And if she doesn't Kia will die... " Tobias trailed off, staring through the window to where the doctors were operating on his mate.

Now that they had washed the blood from her body, you could clearly see the pain she had endured. She was pale and thin, even more so than she was after Layana died. She had deep cut wounds in her thighs, countless broken bones, everything was swollen and blue. But what angered Tobias the most was the word carved out onto her stomach. Thomas. The sight alone made his blood boil all over again, he almost regretted killing him so quickly.

"We should go deal with the other two." Tobias growled out, turning to leave.

"Maybe later, your mate needs you." Clayton said as he grabbed Tobias' arm.

Tobias released a long sigh, his anger dissipating, nervousness replacing it.

"You think she'll make it?" Tobias asked, his heart feeling heavy.

"Yes, I do." Clayton said, but there was just a hint of doubt in his voice which made Tobias even more nervous.

They waited around, Tobias had lost count of how many times Kia's heart had stopped en re-started. She was fighting, but it was obvious she didn't have much strength left. After a few hours, one of the doctors finally came out to see them.

"We've reset her bones and closed her wounds, we had to give her some antibiotics 'cause she has an infection, she's also running a fever which is burning it out, so we'll need to re-administer the antibiotics hourly. Beta I'm afraid things aren't looking good. She's a fighter, but she's extremely weak." the doctor said, giving them a sympathetic smile.

" She'll be fine." Clayton mumbled. "Can we see her?"

"Sure, she's still asleep but you can go to her." the doctor replied, stepping out of the way.

Clayton and Tobias walked into the room, both stopping almost simultaneously. Kia looked horrible, she had a bunch of tubes going into her at all angles, drips in her arms, machines hooked up to her. Her heart rate was slow and her breathing shallow.

Tobias took one of her hands, shocked at how cold she was.

"I thought you said she had a fever?" he asked.

"She does, but it's like her body refuses to warm up." one of the other doctors said.

Tobias gave the doctor a nod, looking back at Kia. "Can I try to warm her up?" he asked, looking back to the doctor for permission.

"Well we've tried everything, but if you want to try, go ahead." the doctor said.

Tobias smiled and gently got into bed next to Kia. Her skim was so cold he felt a shiver run down his back as he moved closer to her.

"Allright Timber, time to break out that heat of yours." Tobias said in his head, wrapping his arms around his mate.

He sighed in content as he felt the sparks dance along his arms, his heart felt whole again.

"I'll leave you two alone, I'll check back later." Clayton said, squeezing Kia's hand.

"Clayton.." Tobias called as he was walking out of the room. "Give them hell..."

Clayton smiled, remembering all the times he had said that to his girls. He turned to Tobias again. "You bet." he said and then left to go to the holding cells.

When Clayton got there he saw that Henry was already inside, questioning the prisoners.

"I'm going to ask this one more time.." Henry said, slamming his hands into the bars of the cell. "WHY DID YOU TAKE HER?"

Clayton joined him, standing silently behind his Alpha.

Morris chuckled, shaking his head. "I haven't told you the first four times you had asked, why would I tell you now?" he asked.

"Because if you don't, I'll do to you what you did to my little girl." Clayton threatened calmly from behind Henry.

Morris' eyes went wide, a flash of fear ran through his eyes. Clayton knew that Morris knew he wouldn't last half as long as Kia had under the same circumstances, which made Clayton smirk.

"She killed my brother." Morris snapped, glaring at the two of them.

"Michael?" Henry asked.

"Yes..." Morris hissed.

"How? When did she..." Henry asked, thinking over the information. "Ah, the Hunting, was it?" he asked.

"Yes." Morris mumbled.

A growl left Clayton and before Henry could stop him he was inside the cell, holding Morris to the wall by his neck.

"Your brother killed Layana!" Clayton growled, squeezing down harder, making Morris choke.

"Enough Clayton." Henry said, stepping into the cell with them. Claytom let go, his eyes still pitch black, his body shaking with rage.

"Michael killed Lay?" Henry asked Clayton.

"Yes, Kia told us what happened a few weeks ago. She said a black wolf killed Lay's mate and went after Layana. Kia tried to stop him but Lay was consumed by grief so she intervened, the wolf killed her before Kia killed him." Clayton grit out, clenching his jaw tightly.

Henry nod his head in understanding. "And you..." he said, turning to Morris. "found it fitting to torture a girl for trying to protect her sister?" he asked, his distaste clear in his voice.

"She killed my brother." Morris growled.

"Yes, she did. But only after he attacked and killed her sister. Besides, killing in the Hunting isn't against the law, you had no right to do to her what you did." Henry snapped.

Henry stood there shaking his head at Morris before he turned to Clayton. "Have fun." he said before he walked out of the cell and sat down outside, staring at Darion.

Morris' screams filled the room, echoing off the walls, mixed with the sounds of snapping bones and ripping flesh. After a few minutes, the screaming stopped and Clayton stepped away from Morris' lifeless body, covered in blood.

"Now, Darion. Care to explain yourself?" Henry said, crossing his legs and leaning back into his chair. "We know you had a fondness of knives, your brother was more brutal, he preferred the hammers...." Henry said, that look of distaste back on his face.

"I did what my Alpha asked me to do." Darion snapped. His glare never wavering.

"Is that all it was?" Henry asked.

"Yes." Darion said.

"Ah, well I think you're lying. You see your left hand is twitchy, you seem restless... Either you're scared of what we'll do to you, or you're lying to me." Henry said, eying him closely. "However, the empty look in your eyes tell me that you don't fear death..."

"I'm not afraid!" Darion snapped, balling his hands into fists.

"Then you're lying." Henry growled.

Darion started laughing, his rough voice filling the cells.

"Yes..." he hissed. "I'm lying, I enjoyed every fucking minute of it. I loved hearing her scream, I loved the way she'd try to keep it all in. I loved her fighting spirit..." he said pointing to his half healed face. "I LOVED HURTING HER!" he yelled out.

Darion settled a devious smirk on his face and stared at Clayton and Henry's shocked faces. "Happy now?" he asked, amusement written all over his face.

Clayton gave Henry a look, to which he just nod his head and waved him off. Clayton stormed forward, grabbing the hammer that was resting against the doorframe. He swung it at Darion untill there was barely anything left of him.

Clayton stepped back, breathing hard and shaking.

"Go take a shower, or go for a run. I don't care what you do, but calm your wolf down." Henry said as he got up and walked out of the holding area.

Clayton stood there a few more minutes before he shifted and went sprinting out into the sunlight.

"Her vitals are looking better." the doctor said as she finished her checkup on Kia. "However I'm concerned about her temperature..." she said, eying Tobias. "I think you need to get out of the bed now."

Tobias obeyed, sliding out slowly. His whole body was sweaty, after a few hours Kia's body temperature started picking up slowly, by the time the doctor came back her skin was scorching as the fever shone through.

"I'm going to get some wet cloths, I want you to wipe her face and neck down every few minutes. So we can cool her down a bit." the doctor said.

When she came back she handed Tobias the cloths and a bowl of water to dip it in.

He continued to keep Kia cool for the rest of the night, wishing he could see her beautiful green eyes again, wishing he could hear her laugh again... He would even be okay with having her tackle him to the ground again because she was mad at him. He just wanted her back.

"Come back to us, princess." he whispered as he gently kissed her forehead.

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