Shadow Bite || WATTYS 2017

Chapter Thirty-Nine

My eyes are blurry and my head feels light, all while the soft ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner plays like a hypnotising rhythm in my ears. I'm grasping onto Mary's light hand, staring out of the window and into the meadowy fields as light streams in through the glass. Pam is seated by that window in a comfortable-looking armchair, concentrating on the sowing kit in her hands. Mary's body is unmoving, her golden hair sprawled around her face on the pillow like a glistening crown. A heavy thud downstairs breaks me from my reverie and I blink, lazily looking around me. I numbly brush a strand of hair away from Mary's face and place it in the delicate mass.

A pained yell suddenly catches my attention and I jump up from the chair by the bed, casting an alarmed look in Pam's direction. She hastily stands up to, and with a worried manner, smooths her dress down. Anger, rage and alarm filters through the bond and I take Asher's feelings like stabs in my lungs.

He's furious.

"Stay here." I order Pam, who nods and approaches Mary's bed, taking a protective stance next to my sleeping little sister. I leave the room, scanning the deserted hallway with precision. Something triggers inside of me and I feel an urge of protectiveness. It may just be Asher's feelings affecting me, but I can't think deeper into it right now.

I follow the pained screams and recognise my mate's raised and commanding voice over the noises. I barge into a room and all eyes land on me. A naked man is lying on a couch, his blood staining the soft material and wounds splitting open on his skin. An elderly woman - aided by a younger girl - brings out metallic tools and is tending to his wounds, completely oblivious to his screams. His eyes are tightly clutched together, his nostrils flaring in agony as his body fights to heal itself. Something is preventing that.

Several pack members are standing along the walls and close to the shaking man. Asher stands next to him in all of his muscular and imposing glory, yelling out orders to them. I step aside as two men brush past me to take out whatever order their Alpha gave them, and they cast curious looks in my direction before they leave the room.

"Get the warriors together and secure the area. Send back anything you can find. Kill anyone with a foreign scent, be it any form; Killian's working with a witch: they can materialise. If you see a child who doesn't belong, kill it. Don't let them trick your mind." His orders come out fluidly and with such force that not a second is wasted before practically everyone is out of the room. He crosses the distance between us when they're all gone - save for the doctors and the screaming man - and engulfs me into a tight hug. I wrap my arms around his waist and he bends his head down, burying his face in my hair. I feel him inhale sharply, and then his muscles relaxes underneath my fingertips.

"God you smell so good..." He whispers, and I grasp him tighter. "I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you buttercup."

-What did happen?" I look up at him, worry creasing my features.

-Your sister's arrival was a distraction; she's most likely been enchanted by the witch." My heart twinges at the news. My baby sister, alone with Killian and who knows who else.

"How did they get to her? What about my parents?

-I've sent people over to your house to continue the search. They communicated back through the pack link and showed me your parents.

-So?

-They've been put under some sort of spell, so that they're just frozen. Frozen in time. Killian most likely didn't want them to be a nuisance when he carried all of this out."

I'm absolutely fuming now, and Asher seems to sense this, because he rubs my back soothingly with his hand.

"So what? Killian just decided to freeze my parents to what - get to me?" He sighs and rests his forehead against mine.