Page 28 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
No answer.
I dropped the can and ran toward the back room, instincts rising like a blade unsheathed. The moment I pushed open the door, the air hit me, a clash of scents I didn't recognize, like smoke and mint. My wolf lunged to the surface.
The moment I pushed open the door, something slammed into me, an invisible force, dense and wrong, as if the room had just been breached by something vile. My wolf surged forward, muscles coiled, teeth on edge.
Someone had been here.
No…not just someone. It felt like something dark had seeped into the space, and its presence still clung to the air; thick and malevolent, like a shadow that refused to fade. My pulse pounded as I felt the energy sharp and out of place, a lingering echo of something violent and unholy. I didn't have time to question it because there on the floor, my baby girl lay still.
"Liora!"
I dropped to my knees. Her small frame trembled, convulsing lightly, blood trickling from her nose. Her skin was pale, lips tinged blue. Her breath came in ragged gasps. I pulled her into my lap, brushing damp hair from her forehead. Her silver roots were glowing faintly, pulsing with light.
"Liora, baby, I'm here. Stay with me."
Her eyelids fluttered. She groaned, barely conscious.
"Help!" I screamed, voice cracking. "Nia!"
I heard hurried footsteps, the soft clink of instruments being dropped, and then Nia burst through the doorway, her hands still stained from tending to the other wolf.
"What happened?" she demanded, already kneeling beside me.
"I…I don't know. She collapsed. She was fine, and then," my voice cracked again. "She's bleeding."
Nia's expression turned grave. She closed her eyes briefly, as though sensing the presence in the room.
Her gaze snapped to mine. "We need to move her. Now."
Together, we carried Liora to the clinic bed. Nia moved quickly, placing runes under her feet, checking her pulse and breath.
"Her vitals are failing," Nia murmured. "And something's wrong with her aura. It's darkened. Fading."
"What does that mean?" My voice was shrill, too loud. "Is it poison? A curse?"
Nia looked up at me, eyes grim. "A soul-binding curse."
My mouth went dry, unable to comprehend what Nia was saying. I shook my head, "No. Why would someone do such a thing? She's just a child!"
"It's dark, yes. It's done to unravel the body slowly from within." Nia hovered her hand over Liora's chest. "She's been targeted, Ruby."
My whole body trembled. "Targeted?" My voice rose, high and desperate. Who would do such a thing to a child? The weight of Nia's words crashed into me. "
"She's a threat," Nia said gently, almost apologetically, "to someone. This was premeditated, Ruby."
The room tilted. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself. The scent again, cedar wood and storm, faint but unmistakable, curled around the edges of my senses. There was something else, too. Mint. Smoke. Drew's…that one, I would never forget.
"I smelled something—someone," I whispered. "Whoever did this came from the woods. They were inside." My wolf snarled in my mind, pacing and bristling. "I know that scent. I know it, Nia."
She looked at me carefully. "Whose scent?"
I shook my head. "It can't be. He's dead. He died in a fire, in a car wreck, years ago." I backed away, gripping my arms. "Liora's father had that scent, but he is dead."
Nia didn't push for details, but her silence was heavy, thick with unspoken questions I wasn't ready to answer.
I stared at Liora's small, still form, her pale skin and silver lashes trembling faintly against her cheeks. Her hand lay limp in mine, warm and feverish. My fingers curled around hers like a lifeline, as if I could will some strength back into her fragile body with sheer desperation.
I couldn't breathe.
