Page 113 of Pack: Posy 3

"I might die of laughter if you keep being so funny." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I wasn't being funny." He frowned and seemed offended that I thought he was.

"All right, Landry," I said. "Here I go. Hold still for a minute, please. I'll just try the slow version."

Swallowing hard, I pretended to ram the heel of my hand first into his nose, then the Adam's apple prominent in his throat. I knew I'd have to put a lot more force and intent to harm behind a real strike against an attacker, but I had a good idea of what I was doing now.

Wanting to get this done, I drew my arm back for the third time and struck forward, the fat pad of my hand lightly bumping Landry's chest, and he dropped to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Whoa! What happened?" Adam shouted.

"What the hell?" Nick barked at the same time.

As Thoreau backed away with scared eyes, the other four gammas dropped to their knees next to Landry, who had one hand gripping his chest where I touched it while his other dug into the mat, his wolf's claws extending and tearing up the thick foam.

"I didn't—" Tears clogged my throat and stung my eyes. "I didn't mean to! I don't know what I did! I'm sorry!"

"Shh. We'll figure it out." Emerson wrapped an arm around me and tucked me against his side.

"Lan? Can you hear me?" Adam shouted over the screams. "What hurts?"

"Oak, can you heal him?" Reuben spoke directly to Landry's wolf. "Can you tell what's wrong?"

Nick was cursing up a storm as Rio tried to pull Landry's hand away from his chest, but it wasn't budging. Gasping, I clung to Emerson's shirt and tried to bury myself in his side.

"What did I do? I did the exact same thing Reau did. Why did it hurt him?" I sobbed.

"Luna bunny, you didn't do anything. I was watching. This isn't anything you did," he tried to comfort me.

By then, Wyatt and Angelo had sprinted over. Angelo grabbed Thoreau, who was crying silently with his hands over his mouth, and Wyatt helped Rio pry Landry's hand away. When they did and I got a good look at his chest, I felt my stomach churn and bile filled my mouth.

Right where my hand had made contact with his chest was a round reddish-purple bruise that grew bigger and darker as we watched.

"Gelo, get the witches here!" Wyatt roared, and I sensed him linking his brothers.

"Oh my Goddess!" Rio gasped and fell back on his butt, and my eyes darted to Landry's chest again.

Thick veins the color of eggplant had popped out of the center of the bruise and were slowly spreading outward. The bruise grew darker and pushed oily ink into the veins, each of which pulsed and twisted like snakes.

Angelo nestled Thoreau under Emerson's other arm and the two of us clung to the giant beta and sobbed.

"I'm going to pour healing into him," Angelo said, crouching next to Wyatt. "See if it combats this."

"Should I, too? I ain'tneverseen shit like this!"

"None of us have, alpha," Angelo muttered. "For now, keep your healing in reserve in case I run dry and he needs it."

"By the moon, whatisthis?" Adam clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face. "We can't even help him fight it because we don't know what it is!"

"Ariel's almost here." Angelo laid his hands on Landry's shoulders and gold glittered around his fingers. "She and Tristan were bringing Spring. They're two minutes out."

Two minutes! Two minutes was a lifetime. Two minutes might be two minutes too late.

Please, Goddess, I prayed.Help him!

And all the while, Landry screamed and screamed and screamed.

27: Heart of Darkness

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