Maxime P.O.V

The echo resonating from the abrupt halt of the big hand kept puncturing my ears, telling me that the time kept going on without a possibility to stop. The clock was loud in my head, as if it were a hammer ramming inside, slowly carving the fatal reality like a nail. Dread filled me and I felt as if someone purred a pool of cold water on me, drenching my body and my heart at the same time. James wouldn't make it.

The doctor told me that my mate's vital organs were touched and that he would have at most one week to live while being supported by breathing machines. When he told me that, I felt as if all my oxygen was drained suddenly from my lungs and the new made me crumble to the ground. Someone, I couldn't remember who because I was too in shock, helped me get up and I was now sitting on a chair.

I finally accepted my feelings for him, and he was going to die!? How could he? Didn't he know the courage that it took me to let down my guard and open my heart to him? I felt my eyes start to burn and my throat constricts as I came out of my petrified state. Feeling trail going down each side of my face, furrowing their way on my skin and creating small stream, I slowly rose my hands. My fingers gently traced the wet tissue that was beginning to redden, going up to my eyes that were becoming puffy. I felt disconnected to the world, as if the link keeping me on earth was suddenly cut.

I took a shaky breath and stood up, making my way to the library. Even though I never went to school, my old pack had a library and I learned alone to read. It was hard at first but now I can read, not perfectly, but still. Reading always helped me when something bad happened. It was like a new word opened to me and reveal itself before my eyes as the words written by the author impregnated themselves in my mind. I could shake off the chains holding me in this crappy world and enter the fictional world as one of the characters. It was my escape.

A title caught my attention, it was "The World of Dragons". I knew about dragons; they were creatures living far away in the mountains and being reputed for their healing magic. As this thought crossed my mind, I went in the index and looked for the healing section in the book. I became overjoyed as I found it and frantically flipped the page to this section. I just couldn't believe it, there were some hope for my mate to live! My eyes skimmed past the words, looking for the last hope for James. I finally found what I was looking for after ten agonizing minutes that felt like hours. I ran to the doctor, holding the page opened to a section named "Big injuries and dangerous poison".

Don't worry James, I would save you no matter what, even if it cost my life.