Sirius raced desperately through the trees, his shadow flitting and weaving across the uneven terrain below him, mirroring him on the ground as his wings sliced through the dawn air, each beat an attempt to close the gap between himself and his wife's fading scent.
He was out of breath but he didn't slow down—not even when the scent stopped abruptly at the edge of the highway.
The sun had gradually come up around him and as the first rays broke through the trees and hit him, his feathers began burning. Wincing, he looked around, struggled to decide what to do. His body screamed out for the shade but his worry for Saoirse was hurting more.
How had he been so stupid and brushed her off? Ignored her concerns earlier that she was being followed? He had assumed that it was an animal. Even bears sometimes picked a fight with vampires. How had the man found their home? What does he want with her?
Minutes dragged into an eternity, each second of exposure searing his flesh. He searched until his body betrayed him. With a final, unsteady beat of his wings, he crashed into the shade, collapsing onto the cool forest floor. Steam hissed from his charred skin, and he clawed at the dirt as his vision swam.
I deserve this pain. His mind said, his heart aching. He sweated his wounds closed. It was a horrible process.
I have to save Saoirse. His mind reminded him.
Shame of never being able to protect her clawed at him.
The first time he'd found Saoirse, she was on the brink of death, her pale body broken and bleeding in the snow. He'd tried everything he could to save her—bandaging her wounds, fire, holding her close to keep her warm—but it hadn't been enough. She'd died in his arms.
Through endless misery she suffered because Sirius was too weak to stand up to his father; now she was gone, possibly enduring pain at the hands of someone they didn't even know and he was too weak to fly in the sunlight. He punched the ground beside him.
Who am I kidding? When have I ever been able to save Saoirse? Her life is horrible because of me.
Sirius wanted to say he had saved her from loneliness, but she hadn't been lonely before he met her. She had a family, a pack- and his own father had taken that away. He took her freedom and threatened to take away her kids. 'I can't even give her kids, she feels so lonely and I know it. She's only with me because of our bond. She should be with someone else.'
Sirius knew he didn't want that though. From the moment he laid eyes on her and the moment he shook her hand for the first time, he knew that she was his fate.
(Rabbit breaking the fourth wall here to say I would love to tell you how he knew that, but I've got to stay on topic. Thus….)
He made his way back home, and threw himself onto the couch depressed with worry. He closed his eyes, thinking. 'I need blood. I need a plan.' He had never left the forest in the daytime before. It was his first time.
Exhaustion weighed him down when suddenly Sirius noticed a presence.
He lowered his arm that was draped over his face and opened his eyes.
The man that had taken Saoirse was right there, his face leaned in close. A menacing toothy smile staring back at him.
"Oh is the prince tired from being out in the sun?"
Sirius hadn't drank blood and his body had no energy, so it was easy for the Lycanpire to seize him by the hair and then he punched him through the window. Shards of glass cut into him and before he could land on the ground the man had vanished and reappeared behind him. A punch hit him in the back, knocking him forward onto his knees, glass digging into his palms. A kick landed in his stomach, knocking him to his side.
"You're weak." He heard the words his father always said, now coming from this stranger's lips.
"Get up! I want a real fight. You're a prince aren't you? Why are you so weak?!!!"
Another kick.
"If you can't beat the alpha how are you supposed to be with my sister! You don't deserve my sister!!"
Sirius was panicking as he tried not to lose consciousness, he had lost a lot of blood. He tried crawling back towards the house. Feathers were scattered around him.
Linus noticed it, "You're not even a wolf, you're a bird! What a pathetic excuse for a mate! Who said you could have my sister?"
He started plucking feathers off of Sirius. He grabbed him by the back of his hair again and pulled him to a standing position. Sirius hung defeated.
His vision blurred. 'Blood. I need blood.'His body screamed for blood. Probably his beast was screaming at him. 'Come on. Let me out, I can show him not to mess with me.'
"No. Not now." He gasped for air. Suppressing his urge to protect himself. Ive been through worse. He told himself. Much worse.
"Defeat me if you want my sister!" Linus yelled as if taunting the beast more.
Sirius spat out blood. He was actually worried about hurting Linus now. "No! I can't! He's her brother!" He yelled out loud at himself.
This made Linus smile. "Hahaha. You mean ti tell me you've been holding back huh? Lies."
——-
(Meanwhile…yes that's right. Every time I use parentheses I am interrupting )
Saoirse had tried calling many times but Sirius didn't answer his phone.
Stressed out a bit, she decided to call Madeleine when suddenly she dropped to her knees and a piercing scream tore from her lips. "Sirius!" She shrieked. "I'm burning!"
The nurse ran to her side, "Mrs. are you ok? What is going on?!"
"I'm burning!!!!!!" She gasped for air.
The nurse looked at the window, it shouldn't let her burn; she had covered the damaged wall already with a sheet of cardboard so sunlight shouldn't be getting in this badly. The windows had a UV Ray resistant layer designed by her father. He said it was very effective, so how could she be burning? "I don't understand!"
"My bond!" Saoirse shrieked "I need to find my husband; he's burning!" Tears were streaming down Saoirse's face. She wiped at her arms with her hands in agony and then desperately ran to the sink as if cold water would cool her off and began splashing herself with it.
The woman had no idea what this was about a bond, was it like she could feel her mate's pain? She had never heard of that. She was part of Linus' pack but really she was human. She couldn't imagine he would know everything but he had never told her about this kind of magic.
In a split second though, she determined to do what she could for her patient.
"How do we find him?" She asked, grabbing for a wheelchair and offering it to Saoirse. She cracked open some ice packs, activating the chemicals inside them and hastily gave them to Saoirse. She near passed out as she rushed her to her own car. As she passed another nurse she exclaimed "I'll be back soon! Cover my patients for me my aunt is having an emergency!"
"What?! Hey! Where are you taking that patient?"
"Here!" She threw a stack of papers at the man scattering them everywhere. "She's discharged, we need to go!"
The man gathered them up and looked at them, "aunt?" How was this young woman a 45 year old's aunt? "You didn't clock out!"
But they were already gone.
As the car sped down the road, Saoirse relaxed for a moment, falling asleep exhaustedly and Linda watched with a worried expression as she experienced this sudden moment of calm.
"Are you ok now?" She asked.
Saoirse opened one eye before closing it again and nodded. "I think he found some shade."
"That's good. You go ahead and rest, I just wanted to be sure."
Saoirse nodded again and dozed off.
However, around 20 minutes later, Saoirse suddenly clutched at her head and blood began seeping from her body, wounds without any source began breaking out all over her like a plague. In agony she cried out, "We need to hurry….something isn't right!"
"What's happening?"
"He's dying. I can feel it." Saoirse was so worried right now, not because of the agony or for Sirius' wellbeing. No, she was worried that Sirius was struggling a lot to keep his beast in.
Her own wolf side was extremely excited like she wanted to join the battle with whoever was harming her mate and Saoirse had to hold it back too. There was a hunger for blood that Sirius had never struggled so much against. Was Alastor actually trying to kill him this time? Worry filled Saoirse's mind. If that were the case, was it because she had left? Had he gone to his father for help?
She shuddered to think that perhaps he was being punished for letting her go. She was worried that Linda, the kind nurse who smelled like her relative could be driving herself towards her own death since Alastor would surely be upset to learn there could be survivors from her wolfpack.