Apparently, my question took him by surprise because his mouth opens wide enough to fit a birds nest. "W-what?" he says unsure.
I pinch the bridge of my nose "I don't like to repeat myself" really, why do I have to explain this so often?
"…So, you noticed I was lying" he says amused, and I nod. He was smiling but the smile disappears from his face real fast and leaves only sadness "I want to live, I want to live so much, there are still so many things to do" he says in defeat, small tears running down his face "But what can I do? This was done with silver and wolfsbane. I'm not going to heal".
I ponder on it for a few seconds, first, he just gave me important information, silver and wolfsbane do work on them, and is fairly easy to get both, second… I want to save him. I look around us and meet gazes with all the ghosts looking at him worriedly.
I talk to them "It will hurt" them and me. All of them look determined, good. They will need that determination since this is not easy.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he says while smiling, I guess he was supposed to smile to make me feel better but with all the blood in his mouth, it looks pitiful. I notice his eyelids dropping and I know I can't waste any more time.
"It's going to be ok" I hush "I will save you". I take my shirt off staying only in my sports bra, it's chilly but I'll survive, I roll it until I form a rope of sorts and tied it around my mouth, the knot at the back of my head. This will be enough to make sure I don't bite my tongue.
I take a deep breath; I hate to admit it but… I'm scared. I shake my head. I have to be strong. I can do it… with their help, I can do it. I lay him under the shade of a tree and place my hands on his chest and stomach. "Hey… what are you-" he starts asking but I shush him.
-I'm ready- I tell them in my mind and they all get closer. The air around us gets cold enough to show our breaths and my body starts to shiver.
His pain slowly starts to move from him to me. My body slowly got painful. Everything hurting.
"Ugh" I groan in pain. -This hurts, this hurts, this hurts- Tears start running down my face and I feel as if my insides are twisting upside down, I feel the skin ripping and blood coming out. I start coughing blood.
"Hey…" He says stunned.
-This hurts! IT HURTS! STOP!- my thoughts are a mess. I know I'm doing this because I want to, but it hurts so much. It hurts… I can't think of anything else.
"ugh" I keep groaning in pain. I scream but the shirt I rolled muffles my screams. I cry harder, feeling hot tears running down.
"Hey! What's going on!? What is happening to you!?" I hear him shout but I don't care, he tries to move but I make the ghosts tangible, he freezes when he sees the shadowy figures appearing out of nowhere to keep him in place.
Is it done? Please tell me it's over, please, please, please, please. The pain is so much I'm starting to feel lightheaded. I finally feel grounded enough to look at him and I see the injuries slowly closing. -Just a little longer- I think desperate. I can do it. I can keep it together.
My nose starts to bleed, and I feel the skin in my stomach ripping and the blood oozing out of the injury. The same injury he had. Then the injury in my body recovers a little, I'm still injured but at least it's not big enough to kill me unless it's from blood loss.
I focus on him again, his injuries are almost gone, just a little longer. I feel my consciousness leaving me and drowsiness slipping through my body, but I fight it. I have to finish this, or he will die at the hands of the warriors of Nick's and Joseph's packs.
"Hey!" the ghosts don't try to hold him and that's my cue to stop, I know he's healed now. I stager and I start falling from my sitting position.
Ah shit, I'm going to hit the back of my head, hopefully, it will not be a bad hit. Before my body touches the ground, he catches me and pulls me closer to his body.
"You're cold… what the hell? What happened? What is going on?" He's desperately trying to process what just happened. He hugs me closer to raise my body temperature, he's just as warm as Nick. I guess that's a werewolf perk.
The ghosts are looking at us and their shadowy figures change until they look the same as when they were alive.
"What the…" he says not believing what he's seeing "Guys?" apparently, he knew all of them, that's nice. I'm happy I was not wrong about him being a nice guy. "How? You're dead" he says breathlessly.
"I'm sorry" I whisper lowly. They used all the energy they had to help me with the recoil of this ability. I hate to force ghosts to pass like this "I'm sorry you have to go like this" I continue while blood comes out of my mouth.
The oldest-looking ghost walks toward us and holds my hands looks at me dearly and shakes her head. "Thank you" They all bow to us and smile while slowly fading away until they're gone.
I want to reply before they're gone but I can't, everything hurts so much. I feel my eyelids dropping "Hey! Hey! Hey!" with each 'hey' I feel a slap on my cheeks.
"Don't fall asleep! Keep your eyes open! Talk to me! C'mon! you're strong, you can get through this! Don't die!" he says desperately.
"I'm not dying" I say calmly. It hurts and I am bleeding a lot, but I'm not a good person to die for others and leave my dad alone. I know this will not kill me, but it will be dangerous if I fall asleep, I could end up killing someone.
"Your eyelids are droopy" he says while snickering trying to keep the mood light. "I know, let's talk! Ummm I'm ummmm… I'm Ethan and… ummm… and…" he says trying to sound goofy, but the goofiness slowly turns into seriousness "and… I'm confused, I want to know what the fuck just happened but more importantly… Thank you. Thank you for saving me, thanks to you I can go back to my mate and son" he smiles tenderly and kisses my forehead, not a romantic kiss but more like a fatherly one.
I smile, I'm glad I saved him. I'm glad… really glad.
"Hey! Eyes open!" he says while snapping his fingers in front of my face, and I immediately open my eyes as wide as I can, that was dangerous. I almost fall asleep.
"Tell me about you! Talk, I promise I'll listen!" he hurries me. He should leave, I should've been home 30 minutes ago, at this point I'm sure Nick is looking for me. He really has to go but I can't bring myself to tell him, I'm so cold I'm just glad I had someone to keep me warm.
I look at him and for the first time since Sean and mom died, I cry for real, I allow myself to crumble down. I shout without care and punch his chest, I hug him and bury my head in the crook of his neck, crying and crying while he pats my head and tells me nice things in my ear.
"I hate this! This is too much!" I punch him while shouting "Why!? Haven't I tried hard enough!? Haven't I earned peace and quiet!?".
Everything just hit me at once, leaving my old house and friend behind, the situation with Nick, everyone in that house completely ignoring my wishes, being alone without Blacky my most precious friend, the worry about my dad, the ghosts everything just crash down on me. I kept punching and shouting while crying.
I cried while telling him everything, my secret, why I knew about rogues, my plan, my insecurities, everything. The first living person to hear everything about me after Sean.
Ethan keeps patting my back soothingly "there, there. You've been such a strong girl. Let it all out". I couldn't even care about the blood oozing out of my wounds and mouth. I couldn't care less about the pain in my body, I just cared about the pain in my heart.
I'm about to say something else but a deep loud howl stops me, the howl is close but not quite yet here. It seems the howl is coming from my house direction. "You have to go" I inform with my monotonic voice, now calm.
"I'm not leaving you alone like this! You could die!" he shouts, and I shake my head.
"Nick is coming" I say calmly. "I'll live, this is the most painful experience I've ever had but not the first painful experience. Death always avoids me for some reason".
I hear growls and I know they're close. He looks at me and then at the origin of the sound. I hear him gulp. He puts me on the ground and says "If you ever need help, call me. I'll help you with anything you want" he says while looking me straight in the eye.
I smile faintly "don't say 'anything'. I take promises in a really literal way" I warn, and he smiles widely.
"Anything" he says again with a toothy smile. I hear bones cracking and I see his body slowly changing until a dark grey wolf is in front of me.