Chapter 46: She’s Gone
Kaya
I slowly peel my heavy eyelids open, only to be met with an overwhelming sense of weight pressing down on my skull. It feels as though my head is filled with molten lead, its invisible mass pushing against my brain with relentless pressure.
I blink several times, trying to gather my bearings. My vision begins to return, though the world around me still feels oddly distorted. The ceiling above is blindingly white, almost sterile in its brightness, and the round lamp hanging from it appears to sway in lazy, dreamlike circles, even though I’m fairly certain it’s not moving at all.
"Awake?" a familiar male voice calls out gently, drawing my attention. I turn my head toward the sound, my movements sluggish and strained. "How are you feeling?"
"Ron...?" I whisper, my voice coming out in a weak rasp, barely above a breath. "Where... where am I?"
"The pack’s hospital," he answers softly, and as soon as he sees me trying to sit up, he rushes to my side. "Easy there—move slowly. You’ve been unconscious for almost two full days."
"Two days?!" I blurt out, my body lurching upright before I can think better of it. Pain flares through my limbs like fire licking along every nerve, and I instantly regret the sudden motion. "I’ve been asleep for two days?!"
"Hey, hey, relax," Ron says quickly, placing a firm but gentle hand on my shoulder. He helps ease me back against the headrest, careful not to jostle me too much. "Yes, this is the second day. Alpha Magnus brought you in after he cut the training session short."
That makes my eyes widen in disbelief—Magnus interrupted training? Because of me?
The shock on my face must be obvious; I can feel my eyebrows shooting skyward, practically disappearing into my hairline. But before I can dwell on that fact, the memories start trickling in, then rushing like a flood.
Flashes of the forest return. The eerie silence. The white, grotesque creature looming over me. Its black, oozing mouth. That unbearable, rotting stench. And Magnus—his enormous wolf form, his fangs sinking into the thing’s flesh as it screamed.
A violent shiver ripples down my spine, and I wrap my arms around myself as if I could shield my body from the memory.