Chapter Fifteen

Blood

Syaoran shivered as he recognised the five pairs of yellow eyes glaring at him.

"You... I remember you."

Rage ran under his veins and he spun around, creating a spiral of lightning. He hurled it at the wolves, hitting one of them. The other four dodged his attack and lunged at him.

His fury was transferred to his sword, which began to glow brightly.

Syaoran gritted his teeth and swung his sword, creating a swirl of fire around him. This was his chance to avenge his father's death.

A few minutes later, quite a distance away, Sakura moaned as she felt Syaoran's pain.

She howled and, along with Eriol and Tomoyo, ran towards the place where she felt his scent the strongest. They were hurting him badly and she could hear his screams inside her heart.

When she reached him, what she saw paralysed her. Syaoran was lying on the ground. Around him were three dead wolves, which appeared to have been struck by lightning and flames, but another one of them was tearing at his leg as he screamed and tried to reach for his sword, which was on the ground a few feet away, being dragged by another wolf away from his grasp.

Sakura snarled, furious. Without thinking, she lunged at that wolf.

The other black wolf dropped the sword and rushed away from there at full speed, chased by Tomoyo.

Sakura felt the taste of the wolf's blood in her jaws, but she didn't stop biting his throat until she felt his heart stop beating. Then, she heard Eriol's voice in her mind.

Sakura, we have to get Syaoran out of here! He's bleeding to death.

She approached him and saw that Syaoran was lying semi-conscious in a pool of his own blood. The she-wolf Tomoyo had already returned.

He's escaped - she murmured, her voice filled with rage.

Put him on top of me - Sakura asked her friends telepathically.

She lay down on the ground and the other two wolves placed Syaoran on her back, nudging him gently with their snouts.

The three began to walk, being very careful not to let Syaoran fall to the ground and moving away from the forest, towards the city.

"Is he going to die?"

"I can't let that happen, Sakura. We can't lose both of you."

Syaoran opened his eyes slowly and gasped. He was lying on a table, surrounded by four people watching him with frightened eyes.

"What..." he started, but Sakura covered his mouth with one hand.

"Don't talk, you're too weak."

He took a better look at his body, lowering his gaze. It was covered in deep wounds and teeth marks.

"You shouldn't have tried to finish off those wolves all by yourself."

Sakura tightened the tourniquet she was putting on his leg and Syaoran groaned in pain.

"It's no use, daughter. The wound is too big and he's lost a lot of blood. He's going to die any minute if you don't do it."

She turned to Fujitaka with furious eyes.

"I can't do that to him!"

"Do what?" Syaoran asked in a whisper.

The four of them turned to stare at him.

"There's only one way to save you, Syaoran," Fujitaka replied with a serious face.

He was about to respond, but everything around him went black and he collapsed back onto the table, panting.

"You must do it now, Sakura!" Tomoyo shouted, trying to hold back tears.

Sakura groaned as she felt Syaoran's pain and dropped to her knees on the floor, shaking her head.

"Do it! You have to do it!" Eriol demanded, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her to get her to react.

She looked him in the eye and nodded, sighing.

"I hope he'll forgive me someday," she murmured, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm sure he will. You're going to save his life," Fujitaka added, standing behind her.

Sakura closed her eyes and let her wolf side invade her. Instantly, her bones began to creak and her skin was covered with a mahogany fur that everyone knew.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes and walked towards Syaoran. Being a wolf, she could smell his wounds and blood much better, and her instincts warned her that this human was about to die.

She growled and approached one of his arms, sinking her teeth deep into his flesh. She heard a scream from Syaoran, but she didn't stop. She let her venom flow into his bloodstream for a full minute and only then did she pull away, transforming back into a human.

Tomoyo tossed her some clothes and she got dressed, taking a few steps towards Syaoran with a worried face. He was sweating and convulsing violently as Eriol and Fujitaka held him so he wouldn't fall to the floor.

Sonomi entered the room and Tomoyo rushed over to her, hugging her.

"Mum! How are you feeling?"

The woman had quite a few wounds all over her body, but they were already healing.

"Perfectly. What about Syaoran?" she asked, looking down at the boy who was lying on the table with his eyes closed.

He was still shaking uncontrollably.

"I'm so sorry. Forgive me," Sakura whispered in his ear, stroking his hair lovingly.

An agonized cry from Syaoran chilled everyone's blood.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I think you made it in time, it's only a matter of a couple of hours," Sonomi murmured, wrapping her arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.

Syaoran wouldn't open his eyes and was still writhing in pain as the others tried to hold him down.

"Look, it's working," Tomoyo said next to her.

She turned her gaze to Syaoran's body again and could see that the wounds were slowly beginning to close. The change was beginning.

A few hours later, when Syaoran stopped moving, Eriol helped Sakura carry him to her cave home. After lying him on the bed, she sighed.

He was quite pale and breathing very fast, but at least he was no longer writhing in pain.

"He'll survive," Eriol assured her, staring at the wound in his leg, now almost closed.

"When he wakes up, he'll hate me," she replied, feeling her voice crack.

Eriol hugged her, sighing.

"I doubt it. He'll understand that you had no choice."

Tomoyo entered the house and, seeing them, joined the embrace.

"It's going to be okay, Sakura," she said, holding back tears.

Sakura turned away from them and shook herself, trying to shake the sadness out of her body.

"How did it end? I haven't even asked my father after what happened with Syaoran," she whispered, turning to look at Tomoyo.

"We lost five of our people, but Syaoran killed seven with his magic and we killed thirteen others," Tomoyo replied in a sad voice.

"I don't understand why they insist on attacking us," Eriol commented, shaking his head.

Sakura frowned.

"I do. They want to destroy the Alphas and Betas of this pack, so they can control it and become more powerful... and when they found out that Syaoran exists, they saw a unique opportunity."

"Well, they almost did," Tomoyo replied, shuddering at the thought of what could have happened.

The three were silent, thinking about how close Syaoran and Sakura had come to dying that night, just after they had promised to be together forever.

"How is your mother doing?"

Tomoyo smiled at the sound of her cousin's voice.

"She's fine. In a couple of days her wounds will be fully healed. She wants me to let her know as soon as Syaoran wakes up, to thank him for what he did for her."

Sakura smiled as well. At least her aunt was okay.

"Who knew a wizard would save her life after everything that happened to her sister and her husband," Eriol murmured.

The two girls nodded and Sakura sighed.

"When he gets up, let us know. We'll help you with everything," Tomoyo added, wrapping her arms around her.

Sakura hugged her back and stood under the doorframe, watching her two friends walk away in the first rays of dawn.

She closed the door and turned around, walking back into her room. Syaoran was still lying motionless on the bed. Sakura sat beside him, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath and the way he squeezed his eyes shut every few seconds.

"I hope you're not having nightmares," she whispered, brushing a few strands of hair away from his sweaty forehead.

He was hot and still breathing too fast. Sakura sighed and lay down next to him, running one of her hands over his chest so she could hug him.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here, Syaoran. I'm by your side."

She closed her eyes and felt some tears rolling down her cheeks. She was terrified, fearing his reaction when he woke up and saw what he had become.

Sakura spun the ring on her finger, hoping Syaoran wouldn't regret giving it to her when he opened his eyes again.