Arrow Inferno
Chapter 92: Jeremy Stanton vs. Ryan Hicks ~ Feral attraction in the midst of hatred… Love to the rescue!

***

"Come on, come on, come on..." Stan kept muttering even as everyone's eyes remained on the portal with rapt attention.

One would have thought the roar coming from within the portal would scare the people gathered. Well, they rather looked expectant. They all knew that roar too well. It belonged to none other than their alpha. They had all missed him. And the fact that he was obviously angry wasn't going to change that.

Ryan realized he'd ceased breathing...but he was fine. He just wanted to see that face. That face that he loved so much. That face that brought joy into his heart. That face that made the world a better place for him. He just wanted to see his Jeremy. He didn't have to wait for long. The only hitch was that the Jeremy that came out of the portal, was not who Ryan had been expecting despite the preceding roar. Not only were Jeremy's eyes bloody red...showing that his Ojah power was in control, he looked as if he was ready to murder someone.

Immediately he stepped out, the portal disappeared.

***

Jeremy's rage-filled eyes scanned the faces of the people gathered around the fountain. His eyes searched for just one person. The High Priestess. He knew that he was virtually already dead anyway. But before he breathed his last, he had to take that woman's life. He had to avenge his mate. He knew that he was going to die since his mate was dead. But he also knew that what had kept him holding on all that while, was that thirst for revenge.

Yes, Jeremy had to go through pain by reliving every bad moment in his life. But the excruciating pain that had suddenly slammed into him in the last few minutes was something that he'd never experienced in his entire life. He'd felt himself dying...could feel his heartbeat slowing down. Jeremy knew for a fact that he would be dead already if his Ojah hadn't taken over. But even with that, he still knew he didn't have long to live because even his Ojah couldn't stand the agony. For the very first time since stepping foot in that godforsaken place, he'd prayed to Luna to grant him one last wish. All he wanted was to take the life of the person who'd killed his mate before he died. He'd prayed hard. And Luna had promptly... surprisingly, answered his prayer. When he heard that voice calling to him, he just knew that Luna had listened to him and granted his wish. Now all he had to do was kill that bitch.

When Jeremy's eyes landed on the stunned high priestess, he raised both hands and let fly two huge fireballs towards the woman. He saw the woman's eyes roll back into her head as she began to crumble to the ground. And that was when Jeremy noticed that both fireballs had actually stopped midair. He looked at the immobile balls with shocked eyes, wondering what had just happened.

"What the..." But he trailed off when he heard Ryan calling his name. Ryan?

"Jeremy?" Ryan called out softly, wondering why his mate's very first priority was to deal with the high priestess rather than seek him out. That hurt. He didn't know why Jeremy wanted to take the high priestess out but should that need matter to Jeremy more than seeing him? And to make matters worse, Jeremy looked as if he was actually... trying to place his voice? Had he forgotten about him already? "Look at me, Jeremy." Ryan said softly, watching as Jeremy turned in his direction. And that was when Ryan fully saw Jeremy's reaction. He looked shocked. But why? He watched the change come over his mate. One moment, he looked dead shocked. The next, he was bristling with emotion. "Ryan?" Jeremy whispered in absolute shock. "What is going on? Is this real? You're... I saw it with my own eyes. She killed you." He whispered even as some of the people standing by rushed to the aid of the collapsed high priestess. With a flick of Ryan's fingers, the fireballs burst into beautiful colours, almost like fireworks. Then he walked over to where Jeremy stood, watching him as if he was an alien. Ryan raised both hands up and cupped Jeremy's face. He could see the pain within his heart mirrored inside Jeremy's bloody red Ojah eyes. Just as his own divine powers were giving him strength, Jeremy was taking his strength from his Ojah. Neither one of them had long to live. They had to act fast. "Let me see him, please," Ryan said with controlled desperation.

Jeremy didn't have to ask who Ryan wanted to see.

"You can't." The Ojah whispered with so much anguish. "He's...he's gone."

"No, he's not." Ryan countered even as he felt his eyes well up. He could see from the desolation on the face of the red-eyed Jeremy that it wasn't good. "You're here. So he's not completely gone. Give him to me." His heart sat right in his throat.

"Ryan, he's not in the position to do anything." The Ojah actually whimpered. He was weakening right there before Ryan's eyes. Fear chilled Ryan to the bone at Jeremy's words.

"Just give him to me." Ryan went up on his toes and kissed Jeremy lightly on the lips.

The red-eyed Alpha closed his eyes and began to crumple to the floor in a dead faint. Panic swirled in Ryan's chest, suffocating him as he moved down with Jeremy. Straddling the completely passed out alpha, Ryan sat stock still, unable to move...even just to breathe. Ryan had never felt that level of fear, helplessness, and defeat in his entire life. His stomach churned with nausea. He felt the scratch of panicked tears in his throat and buried his face against Jeremy's neck. Ryan heard wailing and distressed chatter from the people gathered but he didn't look at anyone. And even as his body shook with the intensity of his misery, he began to cry silently.

"Do something Ryan." Ryan heard Paige's voice beside him. She was crying but she also sounded very angry. "You can't just let him go. Do something."

Ryan raised his head and looked at his friend. "What can I do?" He sounded so helpless.

Seeing Jeremy in that state was so shocking and heartbreaking that Ryan felt paralyzed. For the very first time since realizing he had powers, he couldn't use them. He didn't know how to use them. Ryan realized he was flooded with so much fear, it had somehow robbed him of the very energy and knowledge that he usually got filled with whenever he got angry. He just couldn't think. Hell, he couldn't even feel his wolf.

"Anything," Paige growled, reaching out to touch Jeremy's chest. There was no heartbeat. "Oh god, anything...please." She sobbed.

Paige felt responsible. She'd meant well but...it hadn't gone as planned. Paige had never regretted her actions more than she did that very moment. All she'd wanted was for Ryan to dream about Jeremy, to push him to feel some pain. She'd hoped that feeling pain would somehow push Ryan to use his divine powers to probably convince the council members to get Luna to bring Jeremy back. Causing the death of Jeremy and Ryan hadn't been her plan at all. Apart from Deloris, Phillip, and her father, no one knew what she'd done. Not even Ryan. She knew for a fact that she would take her own life if anything happened to Jeremy or Ryan as a result of her actions. Paige wept as if she was dying. Somehow she felt as if she was.

Ryan watched as Paige completely broke down and felt so wretched. He looked up at the faces of the people he saw as his family and saw all eyes on him. Eyes filled with...hope? Gloria knelt on the ground with her face in her palm. She looked as if she was praying but Ryan could see how her body shook with her silent sobs. He had to do something. But what? He closed his eyes and concentrated on his wolf. Somehow he felt he needed him. He needed that fierceness, that zeal, that aggression, that... A loud howl tore out of Ryan's throat. His eyes turned amber, his fingernails elongated into claws and his fangs dropped. Then Ryan did something that surprised even him. He reared back and sunk his teeth deep into the point where Jeremy's shoulder and neck met. Ryan marked Jeremy.

Ryan didn't cloak the marking pain. He didn't know how to. After all, he'd never marked or bitten anyone in his life. But just as the pain from Jeremy's very first bite of Ryan had been so excruciating it had cause Ryan to pass out, the pain from Ryan's bite snapped Jeremy back from the precipice of death. When Ryan heard Jeremy's cry of pain, he retracted his fangs and licked the wound shut. The mark however remained and their bond was instantly fixed.

"Ryan?" Jeremy croaked, staring up at Ryan with watery eyes. "Oh, my god, baby..." And that was when Jeremy began to sob.