12 Hours.

Areum had been under the hands of the healers for the last 12 hours.

The second she passed out, Jackson shifted into a wolf and carried her on his back while he raced to the district.

He barrelled down the door and continuously barked until he got someone's attention. Once she was transferred to their room, Jaebum came racing in, close behind, rushing out an explanation of what happened to her.

Jackson took that time to race back out to Areum's house to help bring Mark back into the house. He was the most injured out of all the guys. He set him down on a bed, while a few healers hovered over the eldest wolf, Jackson ran back to Areum's room.

He didn't care that he took up a lot of room or that some of the healers were bumping into his body, he stayed stoic, staring down at the frail body of his mate.

He forced himself to stare at the bruises and cuts that he left on her. He didn't care how uncomfortable or unbearable it felt, he forced himself to see the damage he did.

Then his eyes landed on the hickey on the side of her neck.

The amount of rage that filled him was unmatchable.

But the panthers were dead now, he had no one to take the anger out on, except himself.

He watched as the healers hurried while yelling orders at each other as they pulled out syringes and wash cloths.

They said it was a state of emergency.

Every second counted and the amount of poison she was exposed to was fatal, but since she was human, the toxins would take longer to set in place.

If they didn't act fast enough, then they wouldn't be able to save her.

"Why isn't he shifting back?" BamBam asked.

"It's probably his way of hiding." Jaebum muttered as they waited outside the door, watching the chaos. "Do you know how horrible he must be feeling right now? But he's not going to leave her in this condition."

"It's easier for him to stay as a wolf. It'll make him feel more useful, not to mention he'll avoid engaging in any sort of emotional conversation with us." Jinyoung said softly, his voice tired and worried.

Jackson would be the one to carry her on his back if the healers needed to move her from table to the bed or vice versa.

He would whine obnoxiously if someone took her too far from him or stood in front of him, blocking his view of her. Whenever the healers looked away, he'd sneak in a to her wounds or nudge her arm with his nose.

Even in wolf form the boys could see how Jackson was attentive to everything the healers were saying. He stood by loyally, running off to grab anything the healer asked for, doing whatever he could to help.

But it was the moments when he did nothing but stare at her that made the rest of the pack look away. He looked so guilt ridden, so worried and so helpless as he watched her chest rise and fall with struggle.

Jaebum was still struggling every time he saw the marks he left on her arm.

Mark was zoning out at the thought that he let Ara down when he failed to protect her sister.

Youngjae hated himself for having laid unconscious for majority of the fight, being a help to no one.

Yugyeom continued to mull over the fact that his encounter with Taehyun  distracted BamBam from trying to help the others.

Jinyoung looked over the pack and felt like he failed to keep to everyone safe.

BamBam wished he was strong enough to fight off Taehyun.

"Sometimes, you boys need to remember that it's okay not to be okay." The pack jumped at the voice and turned to see Alison standing behind them. "I feel bad. I think your parents and I have drilled into your minds that you all need to be strong. But sometimes, it's okay to be scared and unsure. But blaming yourself isn't going to heal her. And I'm sure she'll just feel burdened when she wakes up and sees how depressed you boys are."

The boys nodded half-heartedly and looked back at Jackson who was being herded into a corner so that the healers had enough space to move around.

Jackson had always been the boy who was laid back. Everything normally went his way, sometimes based on luck. He was always confident, so it made it all the more painful to see him curl against the wall, watching everything happen in front of him.

If it was this bad for them, they couldn't imagine how bad it was for Jackson.

-----

"Here." Jackson looked up at his father before following his arm down to his fingers that was holding out Areum's engagement ring. "I found it in the dirt."

Jackson stared at ring before opening his mouth, attempting to hold the ring between his teeth before his father sighed and pulled his hand back, "I'll just leave it here."  

James leaned back and watched the healers attempt to pump the toxins out of Areum.

"You never told me that you were going to give her your mother's ring."

Jackson glanced up at his dad who shook his head, "I'm not mad. I'm actually flattered that you didn't just go out and buy a new one. I'm just…surprised."

Jackson turned his head back to the bed where Areum was kept and watched as they pumped her stomach. She had an IV bag full of blood attached to her arm.

Apparently they were performing a transfusion to replace the poisoned blood with clean blood while another healer was patching up her cuts and wounds.

One of the healers walked over to the two of them while wiping her hands.

"What is it looking like?" James asked.

Her face looked grim, "She's still unstable. We're getting as much of the poison out of her system as possible, but the cuts on her stomach won't stop bleeding and she's losing blood because of it. We can't continue with the transfusion until her cuts stop bleeding."

Jackson's looked at his dad in panic, who nodded briskly, "What can we do?"

"We need Jackson's blood."

The wolf stood up on all fours, alert. James tilted his head, "Why?"

"Jackson's white  blood cells are stronger because he's the prince. If we can give her some blood, then the white cells might speed up her healing process."

Jackson quickly shifted back to a human and stood up, "How much do you need?"

"Now, hold on." James said while holding a hand out, "I highly doubt transfusing wolf blood will be easy. Won't her body reject it?"

The healer nodded, "Her own white cells will try to fight it at first because of the weird make up of Jackson's cells, but there is a high chance that her cells will end up accepting his, especially since they're mates."

"It won't affect anything else, right?" Jackson asked nervously.

The healer chuckled, "She won't turn into a werewolf, if that's what you're asking. She can only be a wolf if she's born as one, so she'll be okay."

"Then let's do it." He said in determination.

The healer looked at his dad for confirmation but the man just crossed his arms, "It's up to him. If he says yes, then it's a yes."

-----

Jackson sat up on the bed that was moved beside Areum's and stared down at her. Her face and lips were the same shade of pale blue, her skin so translucent that he could see the blue veins under.

Her lips were barely open to breath. If it wasn't for the barely noticeable rising and falling of her chest, he would've thought that she was dead.

He reached his hand out, but just as his fingers grazed hers, the healer appeared by his side. "You should lay down. We will be taking a large amount of blood from you. It won't be a lethal amount, but it will most definitely make you feel dizzy and light headed, maybe even cause you to pass out."

Jackson slowly laid on his back and turned his head to look at Areum. It was unnerving to see her just laying there…not moving.

Even in her sleep, she'd shift around, or move her hands all over his body, hugging or slipping her hands under his shirt.

But it was terrifying to see her in a comatose state.

He felt a prick on his arm and looked down to see a needle being inserted into his arm, connected to an empty IV bag.

"Ready?" The healer asked.

Jackson looked back over to Areum and reached over, squeezing her cold, blue fingers.

"Ready."

-----

Areum woke up with a start, 3 hours later when she felt bile crawl up and leaned over the bed before throwing up into a metal bucket.

She didn't realize that two healers were holding the bucket up until she felt cold water tilting down .

"Gargle and spit."

She followed the orders before falling back on the bed. The healers looked in the bucket, sighing in relief at the bright red colour.

"Oh good, it's all out of her system, now."

Areum groaned, feeling unable to move any of her limbs and settled for trying to keep her eyes open.

"Just rest. You won't be leaving this bed for a long time, princess."

Areum moaned in response and closed her eyes as the healers slipped out of the room.

A sudden round of ticklish shivers racked her body, causing her body to jerk. She peeled open her eyes and looked at her stomach, where the feeling was coming from.

Her shirt was pushed up to her bra, revealing five long cuts, stitched together and a circular wound that was stitched up in the same fashion.

But that wasn't what was tickling her.

A long black tail was gently swishing back and forth over her stomach, the tender flesh. It brushed over the wounds with soft touches as if it was trying to ease the discomfort. His tail would softly trace her cuts  before wrapping around her stomach.

She looked over at second bed that was set up beside hers and saw a large black wolf, curled up, asleep, with its tail working over her stomach.

She slowly