Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 60

Ashley pov

When I finally slow down and reach the bottom of the hill, I feel like it’s been a year in the move or the time just stopped.

It’s one of those two and I don’t like either of the scenarios.

I know the best course of action would be getting up immediately, making sure there’s no danger around me and finding Elias to deal with the situation, but I can’t force myself to get up just yet.

“Come on, you can do it,” I mutter the encouragement even though I know damn well I can’t move a muscle.

That’s the funny thing about high adrenaline situations - you can get extremely energetic, the strength appears out of nowhere and once the high is over, you feel like you’re paralyzed.

So, instead of rushing and running around once again, I just lay there, watching the dark sky and focusing on normalizing my breathing.

My heart beats like a wild horse in my chest, so damn fierce that the sound keeps echoing in my ears, silencing the jungle around me.

“Yeah, no time to laze around, Ash, you need to get your ass back in the game and focus on what has to be done.” I mutter as if I’m scolding myself more than encouraging.

With a heavy grunt, I push myself up into a seating position and instantly hiss in pain as I move my legs. Looking down, all I can do because of the shock is mutter and very bitter, “great.”

It’s not just that my pants are ripped, it’s that there’s a massive gash on my inner thigh that bleeds like a slaughtered pig. The worst place for an injury, I’m getting a damn prize for managing to catch this.

Slowly, with my hands shaking, I pull the fabric of my pants away from the wound and hiss. The gash is deep, and it seems it has caught something. Not in a way that I cut myself on a branch, no.

Thinking back, I realize that the sound of the explosion might have been the attack. My flesh looks like a massive chunk has been ripped out of it, so I decide it has to be it. This is no accident.

Now that I know how I’ve gotten myself in this situation, the next course of action is to stop the bleeding. If I don’t, I risk losing too much blood, hence getting myself in a rather unfavorable position.

Somehow, I manage to drop the bag off my shoulders and get to my feet. Clearly, I can’t run around like nothing’s wrong, but I need to find something to stop the bleeding since I didn’t grab the first aid kit.

Maybe Elias has it, but it’s not like he’s around to hand me one.

By the time I do manage to stand up, my entire pant leg is soaked in blood and I’m starting to get more worried. If there are animals out there, any type of predators, they will get closer to me and possibly attack. Another problem on the long list of problems I’m already dealing with.

Because of this stupid injury, I’m slow and must remain careful because not only am I stupidly weak, but also every step I take makes me bleed even more.

I stagger to a nearby tree and lean against it for some support. My eyes scan the surroundings, looking for anything of use - even big leaves would be nice to use as bandages for now.

The only problem is that where I stand, sure, there are trees, but the ground literally looks dead. There’s nothing green around me, no trees with bigger leaves anywhere close.

As the realization comes, so does an insane dose of panic. What am I supposed to do here now? Bleed to death, perhaps?

“Well, there are worse ways to go,” I mutter and chuckle at the absurdity of my own statement.

Since panicking is the worst thing I can do now, I try to force down that and focus on good thoughts.

Closing my eyes, I take a few deeper breaths in an attempt to remember if we have learned anything about healing in the magic classes, but unfortunately, nothing comes to mind.

Not the biggest fan of that class anymore, nothing useful to learn so far, damn it.

My savior and biggest fear comes in the form of Elias’ voice in the distance. As soon as I hear him call me, my heart rate picks up again.

“Ash! Where are you, damn it! Ash?” With every word he seems to grow a little more frantic, so I give in and decide to spare him the stress.

“I’m over here!” I call back, looking around just in case anyone’s nearby.

Being injured like this already sucks, but what sucks even more is that there might be enemies around who will use the situation to their advantage.

I hear him getting closer and now, Elias sounds a little happier. “Thank Goddess, I was worried something happened to you and you’re unconscious.”

When he gets even closer, I reply. “Something happened, not unconscious just yet. Do you have a first aid kit on you?”

Before he answers, Elias has already located me and stands in front of me. His eyes scan my face, worry etched in his features.

I almost snort out a laugh when Elias frowns once he doesn’t see anything wrong with my face. But then, as his eyes travel down and widen in horror, I kind of realize that I’ve been downplaying this situation a lot.

Elias drops his bag on the ground, opens it and pulls out the sleeping bag we shared the night before. Then, he lays it out of the ground right next to me.

In one swift move, Elias is bending down, sliding his arms behind me and lifting me in his arms. Then, he slowly lays me down on the sleeping bag and tries to pull down my pants.

“Don’t,” I hiss and slap my hand over his, a weak attempt to stop the overgrown fool.

“Drop that damn attitude, Ash. This is no time to be stubborn and difficult with me. You’re bleeding out, there’s no saying how much blood you’ve already lost!” Elias growls. His voice is panicked and I see nothing but genuine worry in his eyes.

It might be the blood loss or something, but I swear it looks like this man actually cared about me. Damn it.

“Just rip the pants a little more, it’ll be fine,” I mutter.

“No!” Elias growls. “I have no idea how much time has passed and how long you’ve been bleeding. Stop being a fucking child, Ash, you might fucking die. Ethan would never forgive me. I would never forgive myself, damn it! I need to examine you, if this trauma is close to the femoral artery, you’re as good as dead in minutes. This is a life or death situation.”

He looks at me, almost pleading, and I just nod my head. There's nothing to lose anyway. Maybe except for my leg and life.

Elias grips the waistband of my pants and tugs them down.

The next moment, life in the jungle around us stills and all I hear if the shocked gasp that leaves Elias.