Rossie who was just about to leave heard the gunshot and stopped knowing where it was coming from. Everything became so silent that she thought everything around her had faded leaving just her and the building that was the pack house.

Subconsciously, she took steps towards it and was pulled back by Lazarus who was not far behind her. Though she had asked to go alone, he still followed, wanting to make sure Dana and Kora were alright and wouldn’t do anything to harm themselves.

She turned to look at him with tears welling in her eyes. They fell and she didn’t even seem to realize it and he pulled her into a hug. The pack link did not break and Tavrn didn’t seem to be in any life-threatening pain either. He could feel it and so could she.

"You will be alright, Rossie," he said and caressed her back to ease her cries but she held together and cried even harder.

"Why isn’t he out yet?" she asked, looking over his shoulder at the entrance to the pack house. It seems she had forgotten that her bond with him was still intact. "It couldn’t be that they are both...." she trailed off, unable to complete her words. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"He is fine, he is still alive," Lazarus assured her. He felt her nod her head and sniffed a couple of times before pulling away from his embrace. He stared at her, watching her as she tried to wipe away the tears that had soaked her cheeks.

"I am sorry," she apologized, seemingly regaining her composure, though barely, but it was still better.

"Don’t be." Lazarus could understand her emotions. Both father and mate were in there and none of them had come out, so it was only natural for her to panic and want to rush in there herself.

Rossie felt her heart skip a beat all of a sudden and turned to look at where she felt the reason behind it was. There she saw her may coming out. He was hurt but not as badly as she had thought he would be. Without wasting another second, she ran to him l, running as every warrior who wanted her from going closer to the pack house but stopped when they saw the beta walking out of the door.

She ran into his embrace barely knocking him off his feet as he caught her body that came flying at him.

****

Earlier, inside the pack house,

The moment the gun was raised to his stomach, Raven had instinctively moved his free hand to hold it before it was fired. The bullet pierced through the palm of his hand and got stuck inside sending an excruciating pain through him.

What made it worse was that it was a silver bullet. He had to stifle a cry that nearly erupted from knowing that Risue would but be far away and she would be more than panicked if she were to hear him cry out after the gun was fired.

Out of anger and pain, his claws came out and dug into David’s neck and he pulled out with his throat torn apart. He watched the blood come out pooling in the floor of his room until it almost touched his feet. He took a step back and David fell on his knees while still leaning against the wall and then slowly fell on one side.

Raven continued to stare into David’s eyes as if he did not want to miss the slightest bit of change in them until they went blank. It was after that his mind registered the pain in his palm and he hissed, taking backward steps until he hit the bed and crouched down beside it. He muttered a few curses as he thought if he was going to remove the bullet from his palm that was starting to turn black.

The silver was corroding his hand and he needed to get it before it went too far and reached his heart and he lost consciousness. He could already feel his head starting to feel dizzy. He tried to stand and walk down to the kitchen where he could look for something sharp to use but his knees caved in and he fell right beside the door. He could not go any further.

Having no other option left, he did the only thing that came to his mind now. His claws emerged from his right hand and he used it to dig into his palm as he fought the stinging pain and the burn from the silver trying to find the bullet. He pierced himself a few times while doing that until he found the bullet and pulled it out. He threw it far away from him as if it were a bomb that would explode at any second.

He then sat leaning against the door frame until the dizziness ceased but the pain did not stop from the palm of his hand which made him wonder if something else was added to the silver, it shouldn’t have had such a quick effect on him. Its effects were almost instantaneous.

He stood up and looked back inside and found David as still as the corpse that he was now. He walked over slowly dragging his feet that were still heavy and knelt beside him. "You were lucky I had no other option but to give you a quick death," he said, staring daggers at him.

He stared at the open neck, he didn’t feel anything towards him. He was not angry nor was he happy. He didn’t feel satisfied either after killing him and he also did not feel like it was not enough. He felt nothing at all.

He stood up and walked out of the room with more steady steps this time but he still needed the help of the railing as he walked down the stairs. He stopped in the kitchen and washed his hands before heading outside to meet up with the others. The pain in his palm was almost gone, he was not going to use that as an excuse to stay behind for longer than necessary.

The moment he stepped out, he was greeted by the sight of a crying Rossie whom Lazarus was trying hard to calm down. Had it been someone else and not Lazarus, he would have felt threatened but he did not, he rather stood and watched while listening to their conversation.

"He is fine, he is still alive," Lazaruse said and he saw her nod before breaking the hug and filed her tears with the back of her palm.

"I am sorry," Rossie apologized which made him frown but seeing how Lazarus smiled at her and his response,

"Don’t be," he did not think too much about it. Then her eyes wandered around and spotted him and before he knew it, she was running towards him. and then jumped on him hugging him like an octopus.

"I am glad you are alright, bae," Rissie whispered and he held her firmly lifting her off the ground while pressing a kiss in his mark on her neck. She still had her arm around his neck but it did not prove inconvenient to him.

"I am glad too," he said walking to where Lazarus stood but was stopped by Ezra.

"You had us worried there, buddy," Ezra said, tapping harshly on his shoulder, making him glare at him.