Nicole's POV
--

I practically jump out of bed, the whole scene flashing through my mind. They circle closer to Dallas, growling. Then, the vision goes dark. Probably because they have started... No. Where is he? Wait, I know. I don't know how, but I know.

Pulling on some shoes, I race out my door, down the stairs, and out the front door, almost forgetting to lock it.

I race through the forest, Amanda giving me some of her speed and urgency to reach them in time. Please... Please don't let Dallas already be.....No. PLEASE NO.

And that's when the growls echo in my ears. They pound in my head, making me go faster to reach my destination. And then I nearly run into a tree. I hear screaming. Much louder than the growls and much more horrifying. It shatters my heart. And that's when I reach the cite.

Wolves are all over the place, and I notice that Ian and Mason are gone. They are just the messengers. They don't do the dirty work.

The wolves are crowded in the center and I'm afraid to look at who I know is there. But an agonized wail and blood curdling scream make me.

In the center of the wolves is Dallas, practically ripped apart. Blood gushes from multiple places on his body and wolves keep going at him; biting here, clawing there. Chunks get torn off of him as he screeches in agony and pain. He's not even trying to get away, just laying there as he screams and wails relentlessly. His eyes are squeezed shut as sobs mixed with yells and shrieks leave his lips. Blood trickles from his mouth and into the blood already pooled around him. How is he not dead?

"Please! Pl-ease stop! STOP! P-PLEASE-E! HELP! H-ELP ME!" He begs and pleads with the sky. "H-Help..." He whispers so quietly that I don't hear him but I see his lips form the words. A wolf bites hard onto his ribs, earning a loud, mournful crack that echoes through the clearing. His mouth opens in a gasp, eyes shooting wide before squeezing shut as the wolf tears its locked jaws away from his body to reveal a bone protruding from his side; his rib. It's broken in half. Blood splatters the ground as another wolf shoves its gaping maw at his rib again. Another crunch and a series of pops like a gunshot determine the wolf's successfulness. He screams again, voice turning hoarse and I notice the deep cuts on his throat. Blood pours from his lips, creating a path of red down his cheek to the ground. He wails heartbrokenly when a beast closes its jaws around his leg and pulls. I can tell it's getting harder for him to breathe. The beast continues to pull at his leg, finally pulling free with a mouthful of flesh and his thigh bone poking through his skin; well, what's left of it. Dallas screams the entire time, his voice blood-curdling. He wails mournfully, the pain rich in his memory.

A monster rips at his hand, leaving it mangled and ugly, a bloody mess. I can see fragments of bones everywhere. Another wolf goes for his neck, scraping its teeth against his skin. He yells in sharp pain, and starts choking, more blood spilling from his lips as the wolf's jaws begin to close.

The wolves keep tearing at him, and I notice there's a knife sticking out of his thigh and a small hole the size of a bullet on his left shoulder, too close to his heart for me to be satisfied.

He opens his eyes, all foggy and clouded and I notice immediately that a wolf slashes its sharp claws along his face and straight through his eyes. His eyes squeeze shut as he screams through his teeth and when they open, I become furious. His eyeballs are scratched open from a long claw mark over them. Blood immediately fills his eyes and I wonder why he hasn't fainted yet. He's lost so much blood. I wonder why he's not DEAD yet. But I am angry. They touched his eyes, probably scarring them. They touched his beautiful eyes.

And that's when I loose my marbles and burst into the clearing, the hair on my arms standing up. I feel Amanda take over, her rage building onto my own. "LEAVE HIM ALONE." She booms and clenches her(which are really mine) fists. Surprisingly, the wolves obey. Well. Sort of. Not without a last kick, bite, and scratch.

Only when the wolves are gone do I realize the seven dead wolves around Dallas. Maybe he did fight back.

He's shivering and shaking, every once in awhile a scream leaving him. But I can tell he's out cold. Finally.

My hands fly to my mouth as soon as I start walking towards him. My vision becomes foggy as tears poor down my cheeks and sobs leave my mouth. He can't be dead can he? No. I need to wake him up now, or he will be dead. I quickly shake his shoulders, screaming at him to wake up. Blood clogs his ears so I know I sound muffled to him. Heck, I don't even know if he has ears anymore.

But he does wake up. His eyes shoot open, and he lets out a sob. He can't see. The blood has spread over his eyes, creating a coating. He stares up at the sky, his body still shivering and as soon as my skin touches his and sparks ignite, he screeches and flinches away. "Please stop... Please stop... Stop... Help.. Help me! It-it-it-it HURTS." He yells, his voice hoarse and dry. He's bleeding from his neck and I have a feeling it's deep enough to touch his vocal cords. I am terrified. I need to call his mom.

Pulling out my phone, I quickly dial his mother's number, putting it up to my ear.

As soon as it beeps to signal she answered, I cut her off in the middle of her hello. "Carly. Dallas and I are in the woods. Some wolves attacked him and I don't know if he's going to make it." My lip quivers at the end and I almost break down right there. But I can't. I have to stay strong for Dallas.

"Where?!" She screeches, her voice becoming high pitched. "I'll find you. Stay there!" With that, she hangs up.

I turn my attention back to Dallas, whose head is tilted my direction. Blood is pooling around him faster and thicker. Without thinking, I rip off half of my pajama shirt and try to stop the bleeding in the worst places. "Stop-stop-stop-stop..." He mutters, flinching every time I touch him.

"Dal... It's just me, Nicole. " I soothe, grabbing his hand full of broken and partly missing fingers. He seems to calm slightly at my voice.

"N-Nic?" He gurgles, his head turning in my direction. "H-How much did-d y-ou s-s-see?" He whimpers and hisses.

"Everything, Dal..." I reply quietly, leaning down to kiss his blood-spattered forehead.

"Th-th-they-they-they-they..." He stutters, his face full of horror and pain. Tears start trickling down my cheeks at a steady pace.

"Yes, Dal... I know."

"I-I can't see! I c-can't s-ee you!" He wails and blinks his eyes rapidly, increasing the bleeding.

"Dal! Stop! You need to calm down!" I try to get him to hear me. His breathing is ragged and he lets out strings of sobs. I've never seen him cry before. Tears of pain trickle out of his eyes, coming away red from the blood.

"Please... Pl-Please don't hurt me..." He whispers, his bleeding lips parting to mumble wordless sentences.

"Dallas... Close your eyes. Carly is on her way.. It's okay..." I say quietly. Then, all of a sudden, something catches my eye. On his stomach.

When I peer down at his stomach, I practically scream. His stomach is engraved by many wolf claws tracing over the same pattern. Maybe even from the knife. On his stomach are the words, "You are the message." Mason and Ian were talking about how they needed to send Dallas's father a message of what happens to trespassers. Dallas is the message. This is definitely going to scar, especially if it was done with the knife. THE KNIFE! ITS IN HIS LEG!

I look at his right thigh, covered in blood, with a stone hilt sticking out. My fingers wrap around it, giving it a tug. Dallas reacts instantly by screaming and wailing in pain. I pull as hard as I can, desperate to free him of the burden. I'm not strong enough, but I won't give up. His head tilts back as I yank and tug, pulling as hard as I can. Heaving breaths lurch from his mouth and he yells again when I accidentally slide the knife to the side when pulling on it. He begs me to stop, but I can't.

And then suddenly, Carly is there, helping me yank it out. Crimson blood glitters on the blade as Dallas sweats and pants. Carly's Emerald eyes are glazed with tears, but she quickly goes to his left shoulder with the bullet in it. With a grimace, she grabs the silver knife and goes to work getting it out. His skin seems to sizzle from the blade and he lurches. "Stop-stop-stop-stop-stop...." He murmurs, his eyes rolling back. She digs deep into his shoulder, causing him to gasp and grit his teeth.

"Shhhh... Dallas, honey... It's okay. The bullet's almost out....SHHHHH..." She tries to hush him over his relentless screaming. And then the bullet's out and she places the knife far away in the clearing. "The doctor's almost here, love. Shh...." She whispers to him, stroking his cheek gently with her hand. He seems to calm down a considerable amount and turns his eyes to his mom. He shakes and shivers uncontrollably, but his breathing has slowed to a calm pace.

"I c-can't see, Mum..." He says quietly, his voice wavering and cracking. His mom blinks rapidly to clear her eyes of tears.

"Shhh... I know."

"I-I-I-I can't m-move.."

"Dallas, love..."

"It-it-it...... it HUUURRTTSS." He groans, rolling his head back again from the pain. His voice comes out thick with tears.

"Shhh, Dallas... Shhhh, love... It's okay... It's going to be okay." She moves some of his hair out of his eyes and I feel like I'm intruding all of a sudden.

"M-Mum.... She SAW... Sh-She WATCHED." He says, his voice sounding haunted. "Sh-She saw eve-everything, Mum. Nicole s-saw..." He mutters, his eyes slowly starting to close from exhaustion.

"I know, Dallas, love, I know."

--

Minutes later, the doctor arrives. She's a tall dark-haired lady with the prettiest brown eyes I've ever seen. Her name is Kathryn Monte.

"Doctor Monte... Is he going to be okay...?" Carly asks her, her hand covering her mouth while she leans her weight on one leg with her hip cocks out.

Doctor Monte examines Dallas with extreme care. She didn't want to move him to the hospital because of all the blood and she was afraid they would injure him more.

"I'm going to have to take him to the hospital, but first I need to fix the minor cuts and scrapes. He has broken ribs, a broken nose, a broken ankle, a fractured wrist, many broken fingers, some of his ears are torn off, he's going to have multiple scars on his stomach and chest, a broken thigh bone, and I can name many more things. "

"What about his eyes?" I ask quietly, staring at the body of Dallas. I'm in shock. I don't even know how to deal with this. I'm so devastated and paralyzed, I don't know what to do. I know he's blind. I know he's going to be blind. His beautiful eyes are going to be scarred and he will never see again. Whenever I look at his eyes again, they will be foggy and haunted. I'll never see their familiar beautiful liveliness again.

"They will be fine. His vision won't go back to perfection, but he will be able to see. However, his voice will be permanently damaged. Some words will be hard for him to pronounce, but it'll get better with time. " I sigh in relief and slowly walk over to him.

He already looks so much better. Color has returned to his skin, and the minor cuts have stopped bleeding. His breathing sounds horrific. I should have came sooner. I should have came SOONER. Then he wouldn't be half-dead.

He mutters in his sleep, things like "I'm sorry...", "Please...", and "Help me!"

"We need to wake him. It's the only way to get him in the car." Doctor Monte says, her hands on her hips. "Are you his..." Her eyes glance at Carly and then back to me. "..friend? You saw what happened?" I nod twice.

"I don't think we should wake him. He freaks out whenever he's awake."

"Then maybe you and his mom should come with, to keep him calm." She smiles suggestively.

"Okay..." I say hesitantly. "How are we going to wake him?"

The doctor smiles at me, something glinting in her eyes. She's not saying everything. "Just try. You'll be able to wake him." The way she says it makes me think only I will be able to wake him. So I do.

As soon as his eyes shoot open, his breathing picks up slightly. "Nic?? M-Mum?" He calls out, his voice sounding gravelly.

I gently slide my hand into his and earn a flinch from him.

"Doctor Monte's here, Dal. She says you'll be able to see again. If you let us take you to the hospital." I say quietly. I feel as if I'm talking to a five-year-old.

"Okay." He mumbles softly, his eyelids drifting half-shut. They look lifeless and dull; pale. His breathing comes out ragged and he cries out softly when all three of us-Doctor Monte, Carly, and I - lift him. The doctor grabs his feet, his mom grabs his middle, and I grab his head.

We carefully walk to the black suburban and slide him onto the black leather seats. His mother and the doctor sit up front, talking amongst themselves. I sit in back, Dallas's head in my lap, his eyes open but sightless. He constantly murmurs inaudible things and flinches at things that aren't there, probably being haunted by what happened.

I struggle to keep my tears from falling on his face and settle with rubbing my thumb on his cheek. One of my hands rest on his bloody chest as if to reassure myself that his heart is still beating.

"Nic?" He suddenly asks, gazing up at me as if he could see me. "Are you okay?"

Here's broken Dallas asking ME if I'M okay. "No. That was horrifying. I couldn't do anything to help.. I was useless." He grunts.

"I'm sorry..." He mutters, his eyes half-closing. I tilt my head. He looks desperate and disgusted with himself.

"Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for, Dal."

"I'm sorry that you had to s-see that. I knew that it would happen, but I still went. I knew they were there, b-but I was stupid enough to d-double-check. You shouldn't have had to see that." He closes his eyes, swallowing as if he's struggling to talk.

"Shhh.... Dal. You don't need to apologize. It's not your fault. That's the second time they've done that. " I wipe at my eyes with a hand.

"No. It is my fault. Had I not gone out..." He grunts and closes his eyes.

"Dallas..." I shake my head. He can't possibly believe it's his fault that he was torn apart..

After a moment of silence, he asks,"D-Did it really look that bad...?" His voice wavers and his lip quivers.

"I was terrified, Dal... If you died..." I trail off, shaking my head and running my thumb over his cheek again. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you...I can't loose you."

I bend down to kiss his cheek. And I don't know how he does it, but he senses me and turns his head at the last second, making my lips connect with his.