A sudden tension gripped Dodge’s entire body as the alpha fought the wolf for control. Dodge had never really felt an alpha take their prerogative with a pack member, but he knew it happened. Evershaw had been trying with Silas since the other wolf got stuck. But the reality of what it felt like to have another person seize control of his mind and heart was terrifying.
The wolf fought, just as terrified, but in the end, Evershaw’s will overrode them both.
A grinding howl escaped as the alpha forced the shift. Dodge felt his body reshaping itself, completely beyond his control and with none of his usual finesse. The howl turned into a snarl and cry and then a great deal of cursing.
Dodge lay on the ground, panting, and gripped the earth so he could feel something solid. The rest of the pack stood back, though Todd got close enough to remove the chains when it was clear that Dodge was human once more.
Evershaw straightened from his crouch and ran a hand through his hair, the lines deepening around his eyes. “Find him some clothes. Findmesome clothes, for fuck’s sake. Todd, stay here and deal with the bodies and clean-up. Are the trucks ready?”
The second-in-command muttered something into his radio, already giving orders, and gestured for someone to throw sweats and t-shirts at both of them. “They just got to the hospital. Get moving.”
Dodge pushed to his hands and knees, every inch of him aching, and tried to stand. The alpha hauled him up and half-carried him toward the waiting SUV. Dodge’s thoughts still searched for Persephone, still needed to re-establish that connection he’d felt.
It wasn’t until they were speeding toward the city and away from that damn sanctuary that Evershaw spoke again. His voice turned gravelly with what Dodge knew was concern and even a hint of fear, though Dodge couldn’t sort out what he had to fear. “She’s really hurt, man. On the edge of death, from what the medics said. They’re doing their best to save her now, but if it’s close… If it’s close, do you want to turn her?”
Dodge stilled, staring at the darkness that surrounded them even with the glow of the city in the distance. He’d never thought of turning Persephone to a shifter. Just the idea that Evershaw and the others were considering an emergency blood transfusion in the hopes that their more powerful shifter healing would keep her alive meant they didn’t think she’d live as a human. His throat closed and the wolf howled with a grief that Dodge couldn’t yet comprehend.
She was the other half of his soul. How could he live without her?
But she was human. She wanted to remain human, wanted to walk away from anything to do with the supernatural. Would she hate him if he turned her without her permission, even to save her life, and forced her to become what she ran from?
He gripped the door and shook his head, dazed. “We didn’t talk about it. She won’t – I don’t think she’d want…”
“She’d want tolive, you dick,” Evershaw said, his tone carrying a sharp edge. “As a wolf or a human… doesn’t matter.”
But in his heart Dodge knew it mattered. It mattered toher, so it mattered to him. Dodge struggled to find words. “She would hate me.”
“You’d let your mate die?” The alpha growled and gripped the steering wheel until the leather started to tear. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
All he could think of was his parents and that his mother never had the opportunity to save his father. She said she’d have done it, no matter the consequences, because she needed him that much. That he needed her, too, even if they hadn’t called being mates the same thing. Dodge couldn’t breathe as his eyes burned with emotion and nausea surged in his guts.
He’d already lost his family and everyone he loved. He’d lived alone for so long it numbed him to even the possibility of loving and trusting another person, even within the pack, and then Persephone… Then Persephone knocked down his walls and dragged him back into the light.
He couldn’t go back to the dark. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t survive it again.
But could he send Persephone into her own darkness, knowing she would hate what he made her?
A keening noise escaped and drew a sharp look from Evershaw. The alpha muttered, “Think about it, you crazy bastard, and have an answer by the time we get there. They’ll have to do the transfusion immediately to have the best chance of her pulling through.”
Dodge nodded, already feeling the numbness settle around his heart. Persephone would hate him for changing her, for taking her normal life away forever.
“No onewould expect you to live without your mate,” Evershaw said. “The very fact that you’re hesitating makes me wonder about your fucking mental capacity, because this should be an easy choice. This istheeasiest choice. She’s dying. You can save her.Save her.”
Dodge choked on the words. “She wants normal.”
“Then she’ll find a new normal.” Evershaw growled to himself and stepped on the gas more. The radio crackled and they started to pick up the conversation between the guards who’d arrived at the hospital with Persephone and Deirdre.
Dodge stared out the windshield as the city streets opened up in front of them. The seconds ticked away. Could he risk losing her by making the choice for her and turning her? She might walk away from him forever, but at least she’d be alive to make the choice. Or would he lose his mate just days after he found her?
Chapter 40
Dodge
They’d taken Persephone to the hidden shifter hospital, since her injuries would have been impossible to explain at the human emergency room without getting the cops involved. Dodge had been there a few times after breaking up a few brawls, though he followed his senses rather than his memory as he searched for where they’d taken his mate.
Dodge hardly noticed the grim shifters – wolves and lions, even one of the bears who’d trained as a medic – and Smith as they lined the hall to where he heard calm doctor voices and machines blaring warning tones.
He couldn’t breathe. He wanted to run away, to hide from the awful sounds that dragged him back to the night his father died, the night Dodge’s whole world changed and fell apart. Seeing his mother lose her mate… His vision blurred as he remembered the way his mother screamed, the raw grief excruciating, when his father’s heart stopped.
