Astrid’s POV

I walk through the wood, sniffing the air trying to detect Ivy’s scent. It took me longer than I expected but I finally found it. I track her scent for a while. I finally walked into a clearing, I couldn’t see her but I know she is nearby. “Ivy...I know you're here. When I find you I’m gonna kill you.” I say aloud. I hear a growl and laugh, “you don’t scare me little girl. Come at me!” She walks into the clearing and glares at me, “You took Ash from me! I will kill you.” She quickly lungs at me but I used my powers and slam her into a tree. She falls to the ground but quickly gets up, “oh come on, you can do better than that.” I love that she taunting me, I can’t wait to rip her to shreds.

I shift into my wolf and attack her, I slash her stomach and go for her throat.  I wasn’t careful and she grabs me and shatters a couple bones, I stagger back and shift back to human form. “You bitch!” I snarl. She laughs at me, “You're dead.” she says with a wicked grin. I scoff and lung at her, tackling her to the ground. Her nails lengthen and she starts slashing at me. I feel a sharp pain on my side,  and look down, the damn bitch bit me!! She sees I'm not paying attention and she gets up and runs, “Where do you think you're going?” I growl and chase after her

 I catch up and slam her to the ground with my power and then vanish into a tree. I watch with a smirk as Ivy looks around trying to find me. I silently jump down behind her and sink my fangs into her neck, she screamed and tries to get away. I rip her limbs off one by one enjoying her scream and watching the blood go everywhere. The power I feel is amazing, I can’t get enough.  I stop drinking and I rip her head off and throw it on the ground with a laugh, “bitch thought she had a chance.”

I feel the sun hit my back, morning already huh? “That was so much fun.” I say to myself as I stretch. I start to walk home not bothering to clean off any of the blood on me. 

Ash’s POV

I wake up and notice Astrid isn’t here and I head downstairs. I see Arabella, “Hey, have you seen Astrid?” She shakes her head, “No, but Blayne said he heard the door open and close last night. So he went out earlier to go look for her.”  Blayne walks into the house. “Did you find her?” I ask him. “No...But I did find pieces of Ivy body scattered around a clearing.” 

“Was it Astrid?” Blayne nods, “I could smell some of her blood but she wasn’t there.” I force down a growl, “If she’s hurt we should go out to look some more.” 

Astrid’s POV

 As I walk home I’m instantly overwhelmed with the need for Ash.  Where is this coming from? I shake my head and try to ignore it as I approach the house. I walk into the house and everyone stares at me. “What?” I ask walking past them “Where were you?” Ash asks

“In the woods.” I answer looking at him, I fight the urge to jump his bones right then and there.  “Did you kill Ivy?” I smile, “Yup.” I say with a pop.

“Are you okay? How bad did she hurt you?” he asks looking me over. “Calm down, I’m fine, Just some broken ribs and scratches, I’ll live.”  He touches my side and I flinch… Fuck why does that hurt so bad? “Did she bite you?” he asks, looking into my eyes with a worried expression.

“Know that I think about it , yeah she did.” I answer, causing him to growl “Dammit.” He starts  pacing around the room. “What’s wrong?” Arabella asks him. “Her bite is poisonous.” I look at him confused, “how is that possible?” I ask. “Her mother was a Wyvern and she inherited the poison fangs.” he explains, “Wyvern poison is deadly, we need to find a way to cure you. It’s a slow moving poison but it’s going to be a painful process as it moves through you.” he tells me “How do you cure it?”  He looks away before answering, “I don’t know.” 

 “I’m gonna die aren’t I?” I say aloud as I plop myself in a chair.I feel his eyes on me but I don’t look at him. “Can we bleed the poison out?” Arabella asks. Ash shakes his head, “No, she would die of blood loss.” I head upstairs and cry, all the anger is gone. I’m going to die because I couldn’t control my urges. What the fuck is happening to me?  I start to feel sick so I lay down and close my eyes. 

A few hours pass, Ash’s POV

 “Ash you should go check on her, make sure she is okay.”  I nod and walk upstairs and knock on the door. She doesn’t answer at first, “Astrid? You okay?” I hear her groan and after a minute she responds, “No, I'm gonna die.” 

 “We are going to do everything we can to help you." I hear her give a dry laugh, “I don’t believe there was a way to help me.  You don’t even know if there is a cure.” I’m starting to get worried she doesn’t sound very good.

I sigh, “I know that but I’m not giving up, I just found you.” I stay quiet for a minute, “Are you going to let me in?”  I swear I can hear her roll her eyes at me, “the door isn’t locked, you could have come in anytime.” I feel like an idiot and go into the room.  I look at her and frown, she is so pale, “Where did she bite you?” 

Astrid’s POV

 “My side.” I say and lift up my shirt to reveal a nasty black and bloody bite mark. I look at it and see my veins around it are turning black. “Well that gives us some time to find how to help you since it is a slow moving poison. Just don’t sleep, it will make the poison travel faster.”

I look up at him alarmed and he sighs, “you fell asleep earlier?”I nod and get up so I can hug him but I’m overwhelmed by a wave of nausea and vomit blood everywhere, suddenly it feels like the world falls out from under me and everything goes black. 

Ash’s POV

I stand in shock for a second at what I just saw but I move and grab her before she hits the ground. I sit down and pull her more into my lap, “Astrid! Wake up.” I shake her trying to get a response.  “Arabella, I need you!” She is instantly in the room with Blayne right behind her.

She gasps at the scene and rushes over to me, “we don’t have a lot of time left. We need to think of something.” I forced out, I hadn’t realized I was crying until now. “Maybe Akira can help, she knows a lot about poison and their cures. I’ll go call her.” Blayne says and runs out of the room. I look back at Astrid and shake her again… Thankfully she wakes this time, she starts shaking and crying, “It hurts so bad, please make it stop! Just let me go back to the darkness.”

Astrid’s POV

“I know it’s hard baby but you have to stay awake.” He start playing with my hair hoping to distract me but it wasn’t working. I feel a sharp pain shoot through my entire body and scream, I quickly move and vomit more blood and I feel his grip tighten on me not letting me go.  

“The poison is  close to her heart.” I hear him say but he sounds so far away? I’m vaguely aware that Blayne and Akira both run into the room. 

 “Explained to me what happened.” Akira tells Ash. He nods, “she was poisoned by a bite from a wyvern.” he tells her, showing her the bite. She notices I was starting to doze off again and slaps me. I groan, “why did you hit me?” 

“Because you can’t sleep! The poison will spread faster.” she says. “I know.” She scoffs at me and looks at Arabella. “I know how to stop the poison but I need something of hers, like medication so her body knows it's trying to help.”  Arabella thinks for a second, “I got it!” She runs over to my desk and grabs my medication and gives it to Akira. “Perfect!”  She goes downstairs and mixes up the cure for the poison and goes back up when she was finished. 

“Astrid, I need you to sit up and drink this.” I try to move but I can’t feel my body anymore. Ash moves and helps me sit up, she puts the bowl up to my mouth. I try to drink it but it just drips out of my mouth. I feel so scared and I start crying, what do I do!   Ash lays me down and takes the bowl, drinking the liquid. He kisses me and forces the liquid into my mouth, I feel the cure go down my throat and spread through my body. 

I instantly feel better and sit up on my own, “How do you feel?” Akira asks. “Better.” I answer  “You should rest, let your body heal completely.” I nod, Ash helps me up and I lay down and fall asleep almost instantly. 

Ash’s POV

“I have to go get something at my old place.” I say and start to leave “Mind if i tag along?” Blayne asks. “Not at all.” We both leave and walk to my house, I can sense someone following us but I ignore it for now.

Astrid’s POV

I wake up an hour later, way sooner than I wanted to but I get up and go downstairs anyway. I only see Arabella, “where did the boys go?”  She jumped and I laughed, I guess she didn’t hear me come down. “Ash forgot something at his old place, so he and Blayne went to go grab it.” she tells me. “Oh, okay.” I said and sat on the couch and turned on the TV, trying to ignore the constant thought of Ash. What the hell is going on with me?

At Ash’s House, Ash’s POV

“So, what did you forget?” Blayne asks. “A necklace that's been passed down through my family. I want to give it to Astrid.” I run inside and grab it, then head back outside, “All set.” We are about to leave when Blayne freezes and turns around, “Come out Alec, I know you’re there.”  I hear him laugh, “should have known you would sense me.” Alec says as he walks towards us, “What do you want?” I ask. “I want Astrid to pay. I know you imprinted when you fed from her. I can smell it on you.” I stiffen, “What?!” Blayne says turning to me. 

“What does it matter?” I growl “Well you see if I hurt you she’ll feel it and come for you, which means I can kill her.” he says a wicked smile appearing on his face. What is he talking about, “How?” He rolls his eyes, “You are connected to her now, If you get hurt she will feel it. That’s how the bond works.” Alec pulls out a gun and shoots me in the stomach, I fall to the ground and groan, “Ash!” Blayne comes over to  me and looks and glares at Alec as he laughs, “Now we wait.” 

Back at the house, Astrid’s POV

I get up to get something and feel a horrible pain in my stomach, “ahhh '' I scream and fall on the ground. Arabella rushes over to me, “Astrid! What happened.” she asks, looking me over. “It felt like I was just shot.” I said taking deep breaths. “But there isn’t any blood.” Arabella looks confused. I snap my head up, “It’s Ash! He’s hurt.” I say, as I start to panic. “What? How do yo….” she stops talking for a second. “Oh shit, if you felt his pain that means he imprinted when he fed from you!” I bolt out the door and run to Ash, I get to his house and see Alec walking towards him. “Get the fuck away from him,” I snarl. 

He laughs, “I guess this means you felt me shoot him.” he says with a smirk on his face. He looks up at me and takes a step back in surprise. I know my eyes are red, I am beyond pissed and I’m hungry.  I run and i’m behind him in an instant, he whipped around to hit me but wasn't fast enough.

 I sink my fangs into his neck and start to feed. He tries to shove me off but I’m stronger, his legs give out and he falls to his knees. I stop feeding, and walk away and try to control myself but it felt so good. I’m instantly bombarded with thoughts about Ash, I close my eyes and shake my head but they don’t stop. I grab him again and rip into him, drinking deeply. I lose myself as the thoughts instantly stop, I hear Blayne yelling at me to stop but I don’t. “Astrid...Stop.” I hear Ash whisper. I snap back to reality and drop Alec, his body fell to the ground lifeless. 

I fall to my knees and grab my head, “make it stop!” I scream as the thoughts crowd my head again, I can’t stop thinking about Ash. I need it to stop… I need more blood! Blayne walks towards me, “Astrid.” I stand up and back away from him, “S-stay away… I-i’m not in control.” I force out. I start shaking, I'm using all my power to not attack him. I look at Ash as he stands up, I’m glad he was okay. He starts to walk towards me but I run, I knew if he had got any closer I would’ve killed him.

Ash, Ash,Ash is the only thing going through my head. Why won’t he get out of my head? I can’t take it!! I heard something near me and silently stalked it. It was a deer, I lunged and attack it, sinking my fangs into it. A momentary relief of my constant urge for Ash but it soon faded as I drank all it’s blood. “I need more!” I growl and stalk off to find something else. 

Ash’s POC

Blayne comes over to me “You okay?” he asks “Yeah the wound has already healed.” I look at where Astrid had been and then back at Blayne “What is happening to Astrid?” I ask. “You imprinted with her, but she hasn’t imprinted with you. It’s making her forget about everything but you, she was using her blood lust to cover the constant thought of you. She already struggles with her thirst, this will make her go on a killing spree. You have to complete the bond.” he said with a serious expression.

“I should go find her then.” Blayne laughs, ”A wise choice.” Before I leave Blayne explains the proper way to complete the imprint. I follow her scent and eventually come upon a trail of dead animals. I follow them until I find her, she’s feeding from another deer. “Astrid!” She snaps her head up and looks at me with a snarl but then she recognizes me, “Kill me! Just make it stop! Please make it stop!” she collapses on the ground sobbing.