Rejected and Claimed by her Alpha Triplets-Chapter 288 - the bond

288

~Rowan’s POV

Hald shook his head firmly. "No, my lord. You won’t last an hour if you don’t get treated. You’ve all lost too much blood."

Kael tried to protest, but his voice broke into a groan. He was bleeding heavily from his arm. Damon looked at me; his eyes were glassy, his face pale.

He sighed. "Fine," he muttered. "Handle the rest, Hald. Ensure Fridolf is caught alive and locate their hideout. Belinda should be around, too. Fish her out and bring her here alive."

Hald nodded. "Yes, Alpha."

I could barely keep my legs steady. The pain in my side was sharp now, every breath scraping against the wound Fridolf gave me.

As Hald barked orders to the remaining men, I looked at my brothers. Damon’s face was set and tired. Kael’s eyes were still burning with anger, but his body trembled.

"Everyone, help yourselves! Don’t wait for orders, get the wounded inside now!" Hald ordered the guards.

His voice broke the silence. The few men still standing began helping each other, dragging the injured away from the field. Damon looked around, his eyes burning with anger.

"Get the maids out of here!" he barked. "They need to help the injured up."

Hald nodded quickly and hurried off.

Just then, everything felt distant, as if I were hearing the world through water. My own heartbeat echoed somewhere far away, slow and heavy, dragging me back and forth between pain and darkness.

I could hear Kael’s voice first. It sounded tight, broken. "Rowan," he muttered, and his voice trembled as I dropped beside him.

I tried to open my eyes, but everything blurred. My side burned, wet and sticky. When I looked down, all I saw was blood, too much of it.

Then I heard Damon. His tone cut through the fog, sharp and commanding. "Don’t you close your eyes. You hear me? Stay awake."

I wanted to tell him I was fine, that I’d been through worse. But my lips barely moved. I tried to smile, gods, I really tried, but pain tore through me, stealing the air from my lungs.

Damon’s face hovered above mine, pale, covered in sweat and blood. He looked furious and scared. I’d never seen him look like that before.

"Help me lift him," he said to Kael, and then their hands were under me, one on each side. The movement sent fire through my ribs, and I gritted my teeth, groaning.

Every step they took made the pain worse. I could feel the warm blood sliding down my skin, hear it drip onto the stone. Somewhere behind us, Hald’s voice broke through the noise.

"The healer’s already on his way," he said. "We need to get him inside."

Kael cursed under his breath beside me. "He’s burning up," he said, brushing my forehead with his trembling hand.

"Just keep moving," Damon replied, his voice low but steady.

When we reached the corridor, I felt my knees give way. Damon grunted, catching my weight, and Kael tightened his grip, refusing to let go. I wanted to tell them to leave me, to save their strength, but my throat burned when I tried to speak.

They laid me on something soft. My bed. The pressure eased, but the pain pulsed harder now that I wasn’t moving.

I could hear Damon’s breathing, ragged and shallow. Kael too. They sounded as tired as I felt.

Then the door slammed open.

"Your Majesty!" The healer voice said, bowing to us all.

"Save the greetings and check on Rowan!," Damon ordered.

He moved fast, pressing something cold and wet against my side. I hissed, arching in pain.

"Hold him," he said politely.

Kael’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. Damon held my arm still. I could feel them trembling too, both of them bleeding, both refusing to move away.

The healer’s hands were steady, though. He cleaned the wound, sprinkled something that burned like fire, and then wrapped it tight..

When he finally pulled back, he turned to them. "You two need treatment, too."

Kael laughed weakly, shaking his head. "We’ll live."

His eyes flashed. "You won’t if you keep bleeding like that. Sit down."

I would’ve laughed if I could. The look on Kael’s face, half annoyance, half surrender, was almost funny. Damon didn’t argue. They both sat.

While he cleaned their cuts, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

The healer’s hands finally stilled. I watched him wrap the last strip of cloth around Kael’s arm before he sighed and gathered his things. None of us spoke.

The room smelled of herbs and iron. My body was weak, my side ached where Fridolf’s sword had cut deep, but I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t even close my eyes.

When the healer finally stood, he looked at us each in turn. "You should rest," he said softly, but his eyes lingered on me for a second longer than the others.

"Thank you," Damon said quietly. His voice was tired, not cold. Just... empty.

He bowed slightly and left.

Then came silence.

None of us moved for a while. Kael sat on a chair beside me, his eyes unfocused. Damon was staring at the wall, his jaw tight, fingers tapping restlessly on his knee. I could hear their breathing, uneven, heavy, full of things none of us were saying.

My voice came out rough. "We did what we had to."

Kael gave a bitter laugh that didn’t sound like him. "Yeah. We killed half the night and still almost lost everything."

Damon didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the fire.

I wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault, that Fridolf’s betrayal wasn’t something any of us could have seen coming. But before I could speak, Damon said it, quietly, almost too softly to hear.

"I miss Lisa," he murmured.

The words froze the air in my lungs.

Kael’s head snapped up. My heart stuttered. We didn’t say her name anymore because the pain was too sharp, too real.

But now it was there again, her name, like a ghost pulling at the broken bond that once tied us all together.

And then the pain came.

It started as a dull throb in my chest, then flared into something fierce, like claws tearing me from the inside. Kael groaned beside me, clutching his chest.

"Damon..." he hissed through gritted teeth, "don’t...don’t do this..."

"I can’t help it," Damon said, his voice breaking. "I feel her tonight. I swear I do. It’s like she’s here, watching us. Like she’s waiting for us to bring her home."

The bond, what was left of it, snapped again, hard. I gasped and doubled over, pressing a shaking hand against my ribs. My heart felt like it was splitting apart.

"Damon, stop!" I shouted, my voice cracking from pain.