Chapter 37: Plan In Motion [10]
The servant quarters was a sea of bodies as servants and warriors crowded the place, thick emotions mixed with the smell of gore permitting the air. Upon seeing the Luna coming, they subconsciously parted, letting her through the crowd until she was face to face with the dismembered bodies of the Intruders, their limbs torn asunder, their faces frozen in a permanent scream.
She scanned the bodies, none belonged to her pack members. Her breath shook with a sigh of relief, but her heart was far from calming down as she looked past the dead bodies, her gaze taking the the faces around her. But Ryder wasn’t present.
"Where is Ryder?" her voice sounded calm but beneath the surface, a hint of panic simmered, threatening to boil over. Her eyes narrowed, gaze piercing as she swept the area once more.
The silence that followed was oppressive, the weight of it settling heavy on her shoulders, until finally, a hesitant voice spoke up, "L-Luna, I think he’s...I think he’s in his quarters."
Reana’s gaze followed the young servant’s finger, her eyes locking onto the door to Ryder’s cabin which stood slightly ajar, as if inviting her in. A shiver ran down her spine as she felt a sudden sense of trepidation, her heart pounding in her chest like a drum.
Without a word, she moved towards the door, her steps quiet and deliberate, her senses on high alert. As she pushed open the door, a faint scent wafted out, a scent that was unmistakably Ryder’s, but tinged with a thick smell of something else...blood.
Reana’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes adjusted to the dim light within, and what she saw made her breath catch in her throat. Ryder lay shirtless on his bed, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, his skin pale and clammy, and his body covered in a patchwork of wounds, each one oozing a steady trickle of crimson.
But what made Reana pale was the deep wound on his stomach, a jagged gash that seemed to slice from his side to his abdomen, its edges ragged and raw. The sight made her stomach twist with a mix of fear and dread.
She closed in and stood by his side, his face pale as he seemed to have passed out. "Why is no healer here?" Reana frowned, her voice low and urgent.