His, Eternally [18+]

Chapter Sixty-Five: Salem

Indie's Point of View:

"I think you're getting too cold Indie, we should get out." Thaddeus suggested. I shook my head, wrapping my arms and legs around him tighter. "I'm okay, I promise." Much to my distaste, Thaddeus started carrying me out of the water with him. "Thaddeus, I'm really okay! You're keeping me war-" My words were cut off by a loud gunshot, making him stop in his tracks. My heart lurched in my chest. Was that gunshot directed at us, or was I just paranoid? As I began to speak again, Thaddeus clamped a hand over my mouth, holding me closer to him. He made us discreet behind a large oak tree, and kept his hand over my mouth. I could hear the sound of his heart beating against his chest, only making me more anxious.

Another gunshot echoed, this time closer to us. It was so loud, my ears began to ring. I looked at Thaddeus frantically, searching his eyes for some sort of communication as to what was happening. He wasn't looking at me, instead his eyes were frantically darting across the lake and into the woods, where the gunshots were coming from.

I felt like I was going to throw up from anxiety as the gunshots splattered off of the water, the noise so loud and overbearing I couldn't think straight. I pressed my face into Thaddeus' chest as he began to run, the cool wind gusting past us as he moved branches and jumped over logs. I tried to sing songs in my head to distract myself from the utter catastrophe that was taking place. Tears began to well in my eyes when I saw a small patch of ground explode from beneath us, right next to Thaddeus' foot. Thaddeus growled lowly, but kept running.

All of a sudden, I felt a hot, sharp pain enter my back. I screamed out in agony, trying to tell Thaddeus to stop running but he kept going. I felt warm blood trickle down my back, and stars blur my vision. After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the pack house. Thaddeus wasted no time before kicking the door in, and yelling for help. Pack doctors rushed out of their rooms, all still in pajamas as the rest of the pack came out of the rooms to see what was going on. Thaddeus wrapped his arms around me further, shielding my scantily clad body as he clutched my wound with his hands.

"I need the bullet removed, now, please." I whimpered, feeling my body become more weak with every passing second. I couldn't hear the voices around me, due to the fact that I was in immense shock as to what had just happened.

I felt myself being laid on a stretcher, and the bright lights of the pack hospital room made my head hurt impossibly more. I groaned as I felt a doctor hurriedly clean the wound, before injecting the area with lidocaine. I felt Thaddeus wrap a warm blanket around my lower half, before he grasped my hand tightly. I could feel myself to lose consciousness, but I refused to fall asleep — not knowing if I would ever wake up. I knew I had lost a significant amount of blood, because everything around me was blurry and and turning black. My vision was tunneling at an alarming rate.

"She'll need something to bite on to." I heard a muffled voice say. Thaddeus balled up his shirt, putting the sleeve into my mouth as I groaned.

"Baby, I'm right here." He said, stroking my hair. His voice was panicked and alarmed, but with the little strength I had left, I stroked his hand with my thumb. "This is going to hurt, my Luna, but we can't wait any longer for the numbing to go into full affect." I weakly nodded, anticipating the pain.

I felt the probes go deep into my skin, making my scream out in pain. I gasped for air, clutching Thaddeus' hand so tightly I could've broken it. I heard the door open, and saw Thaddeus' beta walk in. "What happened? What is going on?" He roared. Thaddeus growled at him, making the bed I was on shake vigorously. "Get out, now!" He yelled out, quite possibly making the doctors shudder in fear. I felt the probes exit my skin, and the feeling of a needle sliding in and out of the wound. The bullet was out, making me sigh in relief ever so slightly.

"You're so tough, Indie." I heard Thaddeus' muffled voice say, making me smile lightly. I heard more doctors come into the room, but I was starting to get sleepy. My eyes felt heavy and I was using all of the energy I had left to stay awake, but with each passing second the thought of sleeping sounded more and more appealing. I felt the doctors douse my cut and bruised knees with rubbing alcohol, making me wince. I turned to Thaddeus for comfort, instantly feeling better when I saw that he was still above me and stroking my hair.

"Come on baby, we're almost done." He murmured into my ear. I nodded, only for that to be the final straw before I fell asleep.

Thaddeus' Point of View:

"I know Alpha, we are doing everything we can to figure out who did this. We've had hundreds of different pack members spread across Colorado already interrogated, yet no one has a clue as to what has happened. Does Indie have any long term enemies who would've been capable of something like this?" My Beta questioned, his eyes filled with concern. My chest felt as if it were on fire from burning with rage, and everything in the room was tinted red from the anger I felt.

"Humans." I heard Indie's voice echo through the room quietly. The room of my pack members fell silent, as she lifted up her shirt — exposing her back. There were upside down crosses branded into her skin, making me growl. They were in a miscellaneous across her shoulder blades, around the sutured bullet wound. Mila touched my shoulder, trying to get me to calm down as Wren inspected them.

"Someone knows about our kind." Wren whispered. The air was thick with tension, confusion swirling in all of our minds. I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated and angry.

"They want to kill us, like how they killed us in Salem in the late 1600s."