The Elemental Mate

Xander POV

“I don’t want to die.”

I clutched onto her tighter, “You aren’t going to die, I won’t allow you to do that,” I tell her, but her eyes start to drift from focus. I break eye contact to look at Levi, “There has to be something you can do.”

He just shakes his head as he moves Asher to apply more pressure into holding her leg together as he calls for one of the warriors from the other car to bring his bag, “This is bad, Alpha.”

Someone hands him the bag. Immediately setting it down, he rifles through it, taking out gauze and clamps, quickly applying them to her wounds. Her blood was everywhere.

“Levi, I can’t lose her,” I plead with him, all my pain and fearfully on display at the idea of losing my mate. I have only heard her voice once and I can’t imagine a world where I will never hear it again. She can’t die.

“Xander,” he gives me a broken expression, one that I have seen on him before, right before he gives a family bad news, “Her wounds are severely extensive. From what I can tell, she has massive external as well as internal bleeding. Multiple broken bones. Her leg is barely holding together as it is, and her head wound won’t stop bleeding.”

“There has to be something you can do!” I growl out as I clutch her tighter when I hear her whimper.

“Her scents of a witch, Xander. If she were a wolf or any creature at that who had even a little bit of healing, we might have a shot at getting her to the pack hospital. Even if she was awake enough to perform any spell, I don’t think she would be strong enough,” he says quickly, trying to pack the wound on her side with gauze, “At this point, if we move her, she will die before we can make it back.”

“We need a miracle,” Asher whispered as his eyes fell to the ground.

I look down at my beautiful mate again. I take in her beautiful scent in again as I try to commit the perfection to memory. I feel my eyes start to fill with tears as the realization of what will come next hits me full force. I feel my wolf breaking into pieces as he feels our lifeline leaving us.

I feel the pulsation of her heart slow even more as I moved her further into my arms. If I was going to lose her, I want the last few moments to be together.

I press my lips to her forehead, quietly praying to the moon goddess to give me a miracle, “Don’t take my mate away from me.”

“Mate,” I hear Levi mumble, “That’s the answer.”

“What?” I look at him.

“The miracle,” he says.

I just stare at him confused, “Levi, I don’t understand. Can you save my mate?”

“No,” he states before closer to us as he digs into his bag once more, “I can’t save her. Medically, there is nothing I can do. She isn’t a wolf, so she can’t heal. But, what if she could, because she is mated to a wolf.”

“What do you mean?” I ask him, my heart clinging to his words that there might be a way to save my mate, “She’s a witch. I can’t just change her into a wolf.”

“The mate bond,” he states as he moves his hands to the wound on her neck, “When a wolf marks their mate and the bond is formed, some of the wolf traits are passed to the mate. Usually, it’s a little bit of speed or strength, but because she isn’t a wolf and she doesn’t heal as quickly, she would get a little bit of that trait as well.”

“You’re saying the mate bond will heal her?” Asher asked.

“It won’t give her the same healing capabilities as us, but it might just give her enough,” he says as his eyes connect with mine, “Just enough to get her back to the packhouse.”

“If I mark her, she will live?” I ask, all of my hope falling on the answer.

“It’s the only shot we have.”

I nod my head as I pull my mate up a little.

I run through what my life could be.

The see my beautiful mate in my arms, smiling and happy. I picture a life we could have together. Then I see what will happen if she never accepts me for what I am about to do. Then I see what life would be like if I lose her now. A girl who I don’t know, dying in my arms, and all I see is a life in darkness. One that I never want to see.

I can hear her heart slowing, the beat so faint, ready to disappear. I lean forward, placing a light kiss on her cheek before whispering into her ear, “Forgive me.”

My teeth hover over her neck for a second before I bite down, marking her as mine.

Forever.