Chapter 374: I’m so sorry.
Caelum.
We never found Leilani.
Not even leads.
For the past two days now, ever since we noticed that she was missing, we’ve been roaming around the entire streets of NYC looking for any silver -haired vixen or leads that could help us locate her; But for some reason, we have always been coming up with nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
And do you know what makes looking for her even harder?
The fact that she was practically dead. To the general public.
Everyone who used to know her now thinks that she is long gone, dead from the fire incident that had taken both her life— allegedly— and her house, so it was almost impossible to go around asking for a woman who was believed to be dead without blowing her cover.
I sighed. "What else can we do about this whole thing?" I asked Zevran who appeared to be the most affected amongst all of us, and at the sound of my question, he sighed, lowered his head and whispered;
"We continue to look. That’s all we can do."
His voice was crisp and devoid of any emotion; But as he spoke, I couldn’t help but notice the way his voice trembled not so slightly. His eyes were unusually red and he had a runny noise from the cold he caught two nights ago.
Now, let me do a quick backstory so that you may all know why he’s caught a cold.
And that’s simply because he had been stubborn.
Two nights ago after we learned about Leilani’s disappearance, we’d all taken to the streets to look for her. But after searching for hours without any leads or news— well besides the body that had looked a little too much like her that had been found in a ditch outside town— we had all decided to go home.
Well, that was besides Zevran.
Zevran the mule who refused to go home. He refused to leave the streets despite the extremely heavy downpour, and searched for so long that water began to drip down his entire body, and even his nose.
The next morning, he was found limping towards the house with a severe fever, and usually, for anyone who loved themselves, that would’ve been enough reason for him to take a step back and rest.
But what did he do?
He did exactly what someone who didn’t love themselves enough would do. He took to the streets the day after... and the day after.. which was today.
"You don’t look too good." The words slipped out of my mouth even before I could stop them, and I almost took them back— almost— when he cast me a dark look.
"I know."
"So you should—"
"My health means nothing to me if the woman after my heart— the woman who I know is also after your heart— gets hurt, or worse still, dies." He drawled, and goddess, the certainty in his eyes... the stubbornness in his voice almost made me cave in— almost— that is until I remembered the doctor’s words to me yesterday morning.
He had looked us in the face and said that Zevran was prone to pneumonia. That his body was weak too, and that his healing process has been quite slow for some strange reasons unknown to us.
"She will not die." I said slowly, hating the way my heart skipped several beats as soon as those words slipped out of my mouth.
Deep down, I was scared to death— goddess, I was even beyond scared— for Leilani’s sake, but I was also worried about Z, my brother who would put his life on the literal line just to be sure that she was fine.
Not like I wouldn’t do the same, but right now, it was obvious that his health was failing.
The corners of my eyes stung as I slowly rose to my feet, and looking down at him, I continued; "I know within myself that we would all die— me, you and Kael— way before she dies. So worry not. For now, you need to be treated. Kael and I can continue with the search."
At the mention of that, he whipped his head up to look at me, his nostrils flaring in anger and was that frustration? as he seethed; "I know..."
I dragged in a deep breath when he rose slowly to his feet, until we were literally standing chest to chest, and then he hissed;
"Kael is supposed to be handling the company’s affairs so that you and I can take care of Leilani’s situation."
"And he’s been doing a shitty job out of that. I know he’s worried about you and about Leilani, thus, the reason he hasn’t been doing so well with work."
"So you think I will just sit back and let you both look for her?" He snapped back stubbornly, his eyes so hard, I was sure it could freeze the ocean if he wanted to.
I shook my head. "No. But I know that I can make you sit back and wait while we look for her," I snapped, "no matter what I have to do to make that happen."
The threat in my voice was as clear as day, and Z, the smart one didn’t miss it.
His eyes thinned into fierce slits as he regarded me coldly, and if I were a lesser man, I would’ve trembled under his piercing glare. But I wasn’t, and even the heavens know that while I may respect him, I wasn’t scared of him.
He smirked, more like grimaced and seethed; "Try me."
"No, you try me."
Our eyes locked together in a stare that was both cold and competitive. And thinking that I would easily back down, he stumbled even closer— so close that his chest was now fully pressed against mine, and so close, I could smell the fever oozing off him in waves.
I scrunched up my nose in feigned disgust and hissed; "For someone who’s trying so hard to threaten me, you look and smell like shit. Your entire scent is laced with the pungent smell of sickness, and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that you were on the brink of death."
It was meant to be a joke. Hell, I simply wanted him to laugh and stand down. But the mad man, already enraged from being asked to rest, shoved me hard, so hard that I stumbled but caught myself immediately.
My elbow hit the wall behind me and I hissed under my breath; "What was that for?"
"That is to tell you that I am strong enough to take on anyone, including you. And if that is what I must do to let you know that I am fit enough to do this, then I will—"
"You are not." I snapped, interrupting him coldly, and as soon as I said that, the small smile already making its way to his face slowly disappeared.
He snorted; "I am."
"Please."
Now, I had resorted to pleading, because what else could I do? What could I say to a stubborn mule like him?
He shook his head again and this time, I do not know why, but I felt a burst of annoyance surge within me, and with my chest puffed out in unnecessary manly ego, I hissed; "I’ll stop you."
"There’s nothing you can do, brother."
"There are many things I can do." I snorted, pulling back from him as I was beginning to be uncomfortable with having him pressed against me.
His eyes flashed one more time and I didn’t miss the hint of madness gleaming just behind his swirling eyeballs. "Really?" He fired back, "how do you intend to do that?"
By the goddess, I hated the fact that he was daring me. I hated that majority of the time, he never takes me seriously; but what I hated the most was the mocking look in his eyes.
And the way those said eyes raked from my head to my toes condescendingly.
My anger got the best of me and I— even though I didn’t want to— signaled to the guard behind him. The young lad upon receiving my signal, lowered his head, muttered something along the lines of: "I’m so sorry, Alpha," under his breath before coming to stick a large syringe containing a clear liquid into Zevran’s neck.
Zevran’s eyes widened in shock then annoyance as he stumbled over to grab my arms. He opened his mouth slowly as if even speaking was taking a toll on him and muttered the words; "You will regret this," to me before stumbling backwards.
I saw him try to fight the young man, then he tried to fight me, but the content of the syringe was too strong— so strong that it knocked him out cold in seconds, and I could only watch in pain as he crashed to the floor with a loud thud, the sound of his body hitting the floor echoing around the quiet room before everything else went numb.
I sighed, turned to the guard and whispered; "Take him away. And make sure he gets all the treatment that he needs."