Chapter Two Hundred and One
THANE.
“Laugh it off, Axel,” I said to him, he bursted into another fit of laughter. He did find this funny, and maybe it was. If he hadn’t stepped in, I might have let her drink me dry, and I wouldn’t even realize the abnormality of that action.
The puncture marks her teeth left had healed, but I could still point out exactly where they had
been.
“I’m worried about her,” I say to Axel.
“Since she left this pack months ago she hadn’t been the same. So Nick hadn’t been the one, right?”
“He denied.”
“And you believe him?” Axel asked.
“I didn’t spot a lie, and he does love Riley; they were about to get married; I can’t understand how he could have done that. I don’t think it was him.”
“So had there been some other person involved?” Axel questioned.
“Not that I know of, but Nick does seem to suspect something; he would be here shortly with a sorceress.”
“A sorceress? What do we need a witch for?”
“You were right when you said Riley hadn’t been the same since she returned from the Raven Clan. Nick knows something, and apparently the sorceress also has a role to play; if she can help Riley, I wouldn’t mind letting her into the pack.”
Axel nodded in agreement. “Dias had been waiting on your return; have you met her yet?”
“Yes, I did. More bad news. Is about the child… or whatever is growing in her womb. Dias said she can’t detect a heartbeat from the child, and yet it is in there, growing rapidly.”
“If there is no heartbeat, then it means the child is dead, right?” Axel questioned.
“That had been exactly my reply, but this thing is taking more nutrients from her than her body is capable of giving.”
“That explains why she looks so frail all of a sudden.”
“Dias believes that her chances of survival are very low.”
Axel paced through my office, something he always does when he’s nervous or unsettled.
“If this thing is not living and it keeps growing and feeding on her, why not get rid of it?” Axel asked.
1/2
That thought had come to my mind. We didn’t know what that was, and it was claiming her very life.
“That’s what I would have done, but again, this thing is growing in her womb; it’s hers, and we can’t do a thing till she agrees.” I said, knowing fully well that this had all been my fault, if anything did happen to her, I would live the rest of my life blaming myself for the stupid decision I made when I let her out of my watch.
Just then there was a knock on the door, and Dais bursted in before I gave my consent.
“She’s gone,” she says.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Axel questioned.
“I went to get some more pain relievers, and I returned to see the bed completely empty; she is not in the pack house either.”
I went straight to the healing room, and just as Dias had said, the bed was empty. Axel disappeared into the bathroom just to make sure she wasn’t in there. We both knew she wasn’t. I walked toward the bed, picking up the bed covers. I inhaled them.
To track her down, I needed her scent and though I was already very familiar with her scent, I needed precision.
Dias was right; she wasn’t in the pack house. Her scent led me to the woods.
What the hell was she doing in the woods?
Axel followed some distance behind me.
The forest grew denser, she had ventured into the deeper parts of the woods, and I wondered what exactly her plan was.
Riley stood still before the little stream. I would have lost her scent if she had gone through that stream; the water helps to create a diversion.
“Riley?” I called out, and she turned to me.
Axel finally caught up.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, and only then did I notice her puffy red eyes. “Have you been crying?” I slowly approached her.
“Don’t come any closer,” she whispered.
