Aidan.

Adrien’s body felt heavier than it should have as we carried him through the corridors.

Davian held one side while I supported the other, Damien walking ahead of us to push open the doors that stood in our way. Blood had soaked through Adrien’s shirt, dark and thick, staining our hands as it dripped slowly onto the stone floor beneath our hurried steps.

He hadn’t moved.

Not once.

His head hung slightly to the side, his breathing shallow and uneven.

"Careful," Davian muttered through clenched teeth as we entered Adrien’s room.

We laid him down carefully on the bed, but the moment his body touched the mattress, the reality of his condition struck harder than before.

His skin had gone pale.

Too pale.

And the blood loss was worse than I had first realized.

"Where is the healer?" Damien barked, already pacing near the door.

As if summoned by his voice, the pack healer rushed into the room moments later. The older man carried a leather satchel, his expression immediately turning serious the moment his eyes landed on Adrien.

"Move aside," he said quickly.

We stepped back, though none of us left the room.

There was no way we were leaving Adrien alone like this.

The healer placed his satchel on the bedside table and immediately began examining the wound. His hands moved quickly, pressing around the arrow injury before carefully snapping the shaft shorter so he could inspect it properly.

Adrien didn’t stir.

Didn’t even flinch.

The sight made something twist painfully in my chest.

Davian stood beside me with his arms crossed tightly, his jaw rigid with barely contained anger. Damien leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed on the healer’s movements.

"Come on..." Davian muttered under his breath.

The healer’s brows slowly furrowed as he studied the wound more closely. He sniffed faintly near the arrowhead before carefully removing a small cloth from his satchel and dabbing around the injury.

Then his expression darkened. "This is not good."

The words instantly snapped all of our attention toward him.

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

The question came out sharper than I intended, the tension in my chest pushing the words forward before I could soften them.

The healer had been standing beside the bed, his hands still faintly stained from the blood he had tried to stop earlier. At my question, he straightened slightly, lifting his gaze from Adrien’s still form to look at the three of us standing around the room.

His eyes moved from one face to another.

Mine.

Davian’s.

Damien’s.

"Adrien has lost a significant amount of blood," he began carefully.

His voice was calm, almost clinical, but it did nothing to ease the growing pressure building inside the room.

My fists clenched slowly at my sides.

The muscles in my arms tightened without my permission as I forced myself to remain still.

"We know that," Damien said impatiently.

His voice cut through the room with barely restrained frustration. He took a step closer to the healer, his expression darkening as his patience began to wear thin.

"Can you save him or not?"

The bluntness of the question left no room for hesitation.

For a moment, the healer didn’t answer.

He hesitated.

Just long enough for the silence to become uncomfortable.

My stomach tightened.

"There is more to it than the wound," the healer finally said.

The words were quiet.

But they carried a weight that made the air in the room feel colder.

A cold feeling settled deep in my stomach.

"What are you saying?" Davian asked.

Unlike Damien, his voice was controlled.

But there was tension in it.

Sharp and alert.

The healer exhaled quietly, as if preparing himself before saying the next words.

"The arrow was poisoned."

The room went completely silent.

The statement seemed to absorb every sound around us.

For a moment, none of us spoke.

Poison.

The word echoed slowly through my mind, heavy and unmistakable.

My jaw tightened gradually as the meaning of it settled in.

"He’s unconscious because of it," the healer continued.

His eyes flickered briefly toward the bed.

"The poison has already entered his bloodstream."

Davian moved instantly.

He stepped forward without hesitation, his posture rigid with urgency.

"Then remove it."

The command left no room for debate.

But the healer’s expression didn’t change.

"It isn’t that simple," he replied grimly.

He glanced back toward Adrien, who lay motionless against the bloodstained sheets. His chest rose and fell faintly, each breath shallow and fragile beneath the bandages wrapped around his torso.

"His wolf is currently fighting against the poison," the healer explained quietly. "That is the only reason he is still alive."

Damien ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

The movement was sharp and restless, his agitation growing by the second.

"Then help him!" he snapped.

The sharpness in his voice broke through the quiet tension hanging over the room.

"Do something!"

The healer nodded slowly.

"I will do everything I can."

"That’s not enough," I said sharply.

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

The healer looked up at me immediately.

"You will save him," I added coldly.

There was no uncertainty in my voice.

No hesitation.

Davian stepped closer as well, his presence beside me adding silent weight to the demand.

"Whatever herbs you need... whatever it takes," he said firmly.

His eyes remained fixed on the healer.

"Just keep him alive."

The healer didn’t argue.

Instead, he quickly began preparing the necessary herbs and treatments from his satchel, his hands moving with renewed urgency.

For a moment, the only sound in the room was the quiet clinking of glass bottles and the soft rustling of cloth.

My gaze drifted back to Adrien.

His face looked almost peaceful in his unconscious state.

But the sight of the dark stain spreading across the bandages told another story.

He had taken that arrow for Maria.

The thought made my jaw tighten again.

I turned toward Damien.

"Any lead on the assassin?" I asked.

Damien’s expression immediately hardened.

"We searched the entire arena grounds," he replied.

"And?"

"Nothing."

The word dropped heavily into the room.

"He vanished before anyone could catch him," Damien continued.

Davian cursed under his breath.

Coward.

My gaze darkened as I stared at the floor for a moment.

Then the anger finally found its target.

"It’s all Maria’s fault," I muttered.

Davian looked at me but didn’t argue.

"If she hadn’t rushed into the garden like an idiot," I continued coldly, "Adrien wouldn’t be lying here right now."

My fists clenched slowly.

The image of her running toward Noah replayed in my mind again.

Careless.

Reckless.

Blind to everything around her.

And now Adrien was paying the price.

My eyes shifted back toward the bed where my brother lay fighting for his life.

"If he dies..." I murmured quietly.

The thought hung unfinished in the air.