"Not the infirmary," Fin said the second they stepped through the portal. "I want privacy. My chambers."
Aeron's eyes met Fin's. He didn't ask questions. Just nodded.
Fin carried her through the halls without pause, mindlinking Elias on the way. Her head lolled against his shoulder, limp. She was still breathing—barely—but he couldn't bring himself to loosen his grip for even a second.
Aeron stepped ahead of him when they reached his door, lifting his hand and murmuring a protective enchantment. The rune pulsed over the frame like a glowing seal.
"She'll be safe here," he said.
"I don't want her anywhere near Meredith," Fin said, flatly. "And I don't want her waking up alone in Jax's chambers without him. She's been back in her old room since he left."
It sounded like logic.
But it wasn't.
It was instinct.
He wanted her with him.
She needed safety. And Fin needed to be close enough to make sure she stayed breathing.
Fin laid her down on his bed, brushing her hair gently from her face. Elias entered behind him, satchel in hand, already preparing for what needed to happen.
"Alpha," Elias said, glancing at Fin. "You've had serious blood loss. Jax isn't here."
"I'm fine," Fin said, already unzipping the back of his training suit. "Give her my blood."
Cael entered and stared at the sight.
Cael: Jax... can you hear us? We need you right now, buddy. Your mate is not in good shape.
Nothing. No response.
"I'll tell you if I feel lightheaded," Fin muttered. "Take mine."
As he shrugged the top half of the suit down, exposing his bare chest, Cael whistled low under his breath.
"Holy shit."
Fin glanced at the mirror.
Blood was caked across his skin.
Slashes still lingered—angry and deep—but less than they'd been before.
His body was trying to heal. But not fast enough.
"Still standing." He said.
Elias sighed, grabbing a sterile kit. "This goes against my better judgment... but I guess we don't have a choice, do we?"
He drew the blood quickly, connecting the vial to a transfusion line. Then he looked at Nova. "Someone help me get this off her. At least her upper half."
"I've got it," Fin said, kneeling beside her.
He unzipped the back of her training suit slowly, careful not to jostle her too much. She had a black sports bra underneath—simple, clean—but even unconscious, she looked stunning. Bruises littered her skin. Blood—hers and Fin's—smeared across her arms and shoulders.
Cael handed him a damp cloth.
Fin took it without a word and started wiping her down gently, revealing skin under the blood.
Skin that had been tainted, touched, by that cloaked thing. Fin's jaw clenched, rage simmering just beneath the surface.
Elias sterilized her arm and inserted the transfusion line, watching her closely for signs of rejection.
Aeron knelt by her hand, where she'd been cut.
"Is this where he drank from her skin?" he asked, eyes narrowing at the jagged gash.
"I think so," he said, voice rough. "It smells like it."
Aeron's hands began to glow with his magic. "There's darkness. He tagged her… like he marked her with it."
He whispered something in an ancient tongue, his fingers hovering above the wound. Suddenly, black smoke began pouring out like smoke—no odor, but a chill went down Fin's spine. The same smoke from earlier surrounding the cloaked figure. Fin's wolf growled in his head at the sight of it.
Nova stirred once, a small twitch. Elias adjusted the needle carefully.
Aeron didn't flinch as the smoke twisted upward in thin tendrils. He kept chanting. And then, it fizzled out entirely.
"It's gone," he said. Then, scanning her body, his hands paused over her shoulder. "There's a second cut. He took blood from here, too."
"Did he drink from it?" Fin asked with his jaw tight.
Aeron's magic glowed again—no smoke this time. "No. Just took it."
He exhaled, tension in his chest easing by a thread.
But the worst part hadn't left him. The image of her being touched. Bound. Struggling to breathe.
The moment her scream pierced through the haze. That scream that temporarily brought him back from death wanting to protect her but unable to.
Her blood brought him back. And now she was the one bleeding out.
The transfusion continued.
She hadn't stirred again.