Chapter 7

Kelp pov All I can do is scream NOOO! As I hear Mark telling the Alpha, he doesn't want to do this. She is a scared child. Another pleads for mercy, and we watch as he tears her open anywhere, he can get. Then he shreds her throat, and I can't move. I can't do a thing to help my little Luna. She lay there not moving and barely breathing. You can hear gurgles coming from her torn throat and blood pumping out everywhere. I am her Gamma. I can feel everything she feels, and she is starting to go numb. She doesn't have much time. We need to be able to get to her and start working on her wounds. Our little Katia isn't afraid of dying. She welcomes it, so she won't have to feel the pain anymore. She just lies there. Please, Goddess, don't take her. Let her be able to live, find a mate who will love her, and give her everything she deserves. What did she ever do to deserve this? Finally, the alpha shifts back to his human. He stands over her, his chest, and other wounds bleeding. He is panting from the exertion of the fight with her. He is shocked by how feral Katia's wolf was. He looks to Mark and me, "If she survives, then she will be locked in the dungeons. She is no longer worthy of becoming my Luna. As punishment for attacking her Alpha and surviving, she will be brought here every three days and whipped with my special whip." Thomas begins to walk away but then turns back, "Give her a daily shot of wolfsbane to keep her from ever shifting again. Cuff her in silver when she is brought out for punishment." After what seems like an eternity, he walks away. Mark and I ran to her, falling on our knees. Mark checks for a pulse while I gather her shredded throat and put pressure on trying to keep any more blood from spilling out. The pack doctor drops his bag next to us and is yelling for me to help get the gauze wrapped around her throat. His nurse is tying off little tunicates everywhere she can to stop the blood loss. Mark was just shouting at the unconscious Katia over and over again. "Come on, little ghost fight, don't give up. Xey and Fishy are here. Just keep fighting." What good am I? I couldn’t do anything for her. All I could do for two years was stand by and watch. Put her back together each time Alpha tortured her. What did he expect? No sane person could expect a child to understand his twisted ways. "Kelp, can you feel her? Doc says he barely has a pulse."Mark asked me. I can still feel Katia's faint breath in my mind, and I replied, "She is still with us, Mark. Barely." The next second, we heard the sweet voice of our little Luna. "Fishy! Hey! It's not your fault. Please don't blame yourselves. You guys have made the last two years of my life bearable. I couldn't ask for a better beta or gamma."Katia weakly comforted us, then she vomited another mouthful of blood. I yelled at the doctor in a hurry."Doc, come on, she is fading. Do something!" "I need to get her to the operating room, but she is still bleeding too much. I must stop some of these bleeds now. The nurse and I are working as fast as we can. Try to keep her talking."The doctor ran over and made a diagnosis. I noticed my body was shaking, I had no strength left, I saw Katia looking weak, my whole body was drained of energy, and I immediately looked at Mark."Mark, you try. I need to catch my breath. Her emotions are overwhelming right now." "Hey loopy Luna," Mark calls her because he always gets a response from her. She hates it. When she first arrived, the rest of the pack called her until they figured out, she was putting on an act. Finally, Katia opened her mouth again."Beta, if I had the energy, I would hide your shorts for the next time you shifted." She was referring to one of her favorite pranks to play on us. Mark responded with a smile. I saw Katia start to joke, and I believe she can get through this difficult time. I remembered Alpha Thomas scratching Aza. I looked at Katia and said:"Katia, just stay here with us, and you can hide our shorts anytime you want." "Hey, sweet girl, how's our Aza? I can't feel much from her. Did she go back to sleep?" Katia nodded and then spoke heavily."I think she's gone already, Kelp. She was so young, and she just wasn't ready yet. Did you see her? She was beautiful and fierce. Aza is calling me. The darkness is getting harder to resist." What?! Has Aza fallen into a coma again? No! I looked at Mark, hoping he could find a way to bring Aza back."Mark, she's leaving us. Katia says Aza has already gone and is calling Katia to her." "No, no, no! This is not how it ends. " Tears are running down both our faces. Doc and Nurse are crying out right as they continue to piece veins and arteries together. Mark kept shouting at Katia."Katia, call your wolf back to you. We can put her back to sleep to heal and get strong." Katia's voice sounded weak again."Shhhh, it's alright, guys. She and I are ready. I heard what he said about the dungeons and other punishments. I can't put her through that." "Oh, little ghost, we will figure something out." I looked at Katia pleadingly. I couldn't imagine her not being present in our lives as our Alpha Luna.This is what we secretly call her because we had our own ceremony sharing blood to make it easier for her to link us. It's not as draining for her to use whatever it is she used. Once we did this, she was Alpha and Luna to us. "No, I think this life is over for me. Please don't let him decide what happens to my body. He will give me a traitor's burial. Don't take me back to my pack either. I don't belong there."Katia spoke sadly. Her voice is so weak. Mark is bawling now. The doc is mumbling something to the Goddess. I am just holding onto her hand as hard as I can. If I don't let go, then she can't leave us, right? Apparently, that's not how it works. Her sweet voice is barely a whisper, "Find a beautiful green place far from here and bury me. Then you two get as far away as you can. Find another pack. Packs are always looking for good betas and gammas." "Selene goodness, please! We will not leave you. We will watch over your resting place until the day we die. We will tell anyone that asks about our sweet, beautiful, tiny Alpha Luna how strong and brave she was. We are your beta and gamma." With that said, she took her last breath. Mark and I stared at one another, tears running down our faces. We were in utter shock. She was gone. I couldn't feel her anymore, nothing. Suddenly, the doctor yelled, "get her to the hospital now." Mark scooped her up and took off.