Chapter 386

Nathan

I was still trapped in the void, surrounded by nothing but an endless black abyss and the sound of the monitors hooked up to my sleeping body. Somehow, I had managed to work my way through dozens of other memories, but none of them seemed to work.

“I can’t go on for much longer,” I said to Steel, who was still by my side, a silent observer to these visions. “I can’t, Steel. It’s too much. I can feel myself getting weaker.”

Steel said nothing. We both looked over at my hospital bed, which was now surrounded by three nurses. I could hear their worried voices, could see the concerned looks in their eyes.

“I hope our Alpha wakes up,” one of the nurses said as she checked my blood pressure. “His blood pressure is dropping. I’m getting worried.”

Another nurse shook her head. “There’s not much more that we can do. He’s simply… fading.”

“Come on, guys!” Angela, looking more exhausted yet more determined than ever, said. “We can’t give up on him! Let’s ask the doctor to run another test. Just one more.”

But the other nurses shook their heads, almost in unison. “It’s no use, Angela,” the nurse with the blood pressure cuff said. “They’ve run all the tests they can. No one can find anything. It’s as if he’s just giving up.”

With that, the other nurses walked out, leaving Angela alone. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she gripped my hand so hard I could see her knuckles turning white.

“Don’t give up, Nathan,” she whispered. “Olivia needs you… she… she…”

Her voice trailed off, and I could see confusion flicker across her face as she no doubt tried to think where Olivia had gone. But I knew where Olivia was; she was in a basement somewhere with my demented sister standing over her. Hell, I didn’t even know if she was alive anymore, and I was trapped here, unable to help at all.

“Steel, I feel so lost,” I finally said, watching as Angela’s form disappeared. “I can’t get out. I can’t keep trying. And I can’t even tell anyone where Olivia is.”

Steel sighed. “Just one more, Nathan,” he said. “You heard Angela. You can’t give up.”

With a sigh of my own, I nodded. And this time, I shut my eyes, willing the memory that I needed to finally show itself…

A crash of thunder woke me up.

I sat up abruptly in bed, my chest heaving. My window was still open, and water was pouring in from the sudden storm. I cursed and jumped up, padding across the room to shut it.

“Dammit,” I murmured, running my hand through my sleep-tousled hair. “Dad’ll kill me if he finds out.”

With a sigh, I decided to make my way out to the linen closet for a towel to clean up the mess. I quietly slipped out of the room and tiptoed down the hall.

But that was when I heard them: voices. Two, to be exact. My father and someone else, and they didn’t sound as if they were just having a casual get-together.

“He needs to go,” my father said, sounding as stern as ever. “And if you don’t do it, then I will.”

Furrowing my brow, I tiptoed to the top of the stairs and peered down, my heart pounding in my chest. I saw my father standing in the foyer, talking to a man I didn’t recognize. Both of them were drenched from the rain outside, their voices low and conspiratorial.

My father’s voice was cold and calculated as he spoke, his words sending shivers down my spine. “Kamran needs to be dealt with,” he said. “Before he tells the whole pack what happened.”

The man, his face obscured by shadows, hesitated before voicing his concerns. “But Colin,” he protested, “Kamran has been loyal to the pack for decades. His wife died because of the soot from the mines, just like so many others. And what about little Olivia? They’ll have nowhere to go.”

Colin’s expression hardened, and a darkness seemed to settle over him. In that moment, I saw a side of my father that I never should have witnessed.

Without warning, he lunged at the other man, a knife glinting in his hand. There was a brief, violent struggle, and then a sickening thud as the man’s lifeless body hit the floor.

I pressed a hand to my mouth to stifle a gasp, my eyes wide with horror. I watched as my father wiped the blade clean, his actions chilling and remorseless.

“Another loose end,” he said with a sigh, shaking his head. “You should have known better, Andrew. I warned you, didn’t I?”

Suddenly, my father’s head whipped around as though he had sensed that he was being watched. I quickly slipped behind the wall and into the shadows before he could see me.

There was a deafening silence before I finally heard the sound of his footsteps receding and the front door opening and closing.

I remained hidden behind the wall for what felt like an eternity, my breath shallow and rapid. I had just witnessed a murder, committed by my own father. The shock and fear were overwhelming, but I couldn’t move a muscle for fear of being caught and meeting the same fate as the man who now lay lifelessly on the floor.

But then, despite the terror that had gripped me, my thoughts turned to Olivia.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in danger, that something terrible was about to happen to her. Determination overcame my fear, and I knew I had to find her, to make sure she was safe.

Feeling as though I might vomit, I slipped past the lifeless body on the floor, taking care not to step in the growing pool of blood, and ventured outside into the pouring rain. I ran through the dark forest, my heart pounding in my chest, until I reached Olivia’s house in town.

I banged on the door, but there was no answer, and so without hesitation I burst inside.

“Olivia?” I called out. “Kamran?”

But there was no answer. The house was empty and dark, devoid of any sign of life. I made my way into Olivia’s room, the place where we had spent countless nights listening to music and talking about our dreams, and her bed was empty.

Her posters still lined the walls, pages torn out of books and piles of clothes on the floor. Her dresser drawers were open, but that was the only sign. It was as if she had only taken what she needed and made a run for it. Everything else was untouched.

I hoped beyond hope that she escaped whatever fate was waiting for her, but I couldn’t be sure. I had to check the only other place where she might have been taken to meet her fate.

The Council building.

It took me all of thirty seconds to sprint to the Council building. I had grown much faster recently, a sign that my wolf was on the verge of showing itself.

And then, just as I was running up to the side of the Council building, I saw her.

Olivia, my childhood friend, the girl I had grown up with. She was being carried away by her father, her face streaked with tears, her eyes filled with fear.

“Nathan!” she called out when she saw me, her hand reaching for me.

“Oli—”

I tried to call out to her, to reach her, but I couldn’t move. It was as if an invisible force held me back, rendering me powerless to intervene. I watched helplessly as Olivia was taken away, our Mindlink severed so that I couldn’t even call out to her in my mind.

She was no longer a part of our pack. Little did I know that I wouldn’t see her again for a decade.

The last thing I saw in that memory was my father’s hand on my shoulder, his voice cold and unfeeling.

“Olivia and her father are traitors, my boy,” he said, his cool blue eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Tell me you’ll never forget that.”

I swallowed, and at that moment, it was as if the part of me that had seen the horrors tonight, the part of me that had stepped over the dead body laying in our foyer, receded into a hidden part of my mind.

“I won’t forget, father,” I murmured, my body steeling itself. “I promise.”