Chapter 37

Chapter 37
AIDEN
“Aiden,” Damien called out as I shut the door of Olivia’s room, and I looked up to see him heading towards me before I frowned at his tense expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Their bodies have been claimed.”
I tilted my head before fully processing what he just said, and my brows shot up.
The witches. The ones who had almost killed Yara in her apartment.
“They belong to the Malcer coven,” he added and a stinging shock raced through me, turning my blood cold.
No… That was the same coven that the Luna from Moon Valley belonged to, and a good number of the witches who belonged to it were incredibly powerful.
My grip on the door knob tightened as how terrified I had been when Moon Valley attacked my pack eight years ago came to mind. I still didn’t know why they attacked us, and the inquiry carried out by the werewolf committee after the attack revealed nothing. They just placed heavy sanctions on Moon Valley and sent the who they deemed were the masterminds to jail, and that was it.
I gritted my teeth. “Did they leave a message?”
“No. The collectors just got the bodies and left, but I was told they looked mad as hell, Aiden.”
Shit.
I needed to let the werewolf committee know about this—I should have let them know the moment I killed those witches, but I didn’t want the pack’s council to find out and I didn’t think the witches would be from the fucking Malcer coven. What exactly did Yara’s parents do to them?
The thought of not being able to protect Yara from them and them killing her suddenly flashed through my mind, and ice flooded my veins. No, no. Fuck no.
A figure stepped into the hallway from the stairs, drawing my attention, and when they faced my direction, I instantly furrowed my brows—one because the person was covered in blood, and two because the person looked like Yara.
Am I… I blinked rapidly like that would get rid of the similarities the person had to my Yara, but it didn’t, and I stepped past Damien.
“Yara?”
She didn’t say anything. She just raised her hand like she wanted to wave, but stopped and tightened it into a fist.
My heart lurched.
I was right in front of her before I even processed moving, and I grabbed her shoulders, lifted my hands to cradle her face. “Hey, hey, what happened? What happened?” My words came out in a rush while my eyes flicked over her face, her hands, the blood that had soaked through her clothes—anything, like I’d be able to read what had happened on her body.
“Someone’s hurt,” she mumbled, but she looked incredibly confused. Like she didn’t know what she was doing here or she didn’t understand what she was saying.
“What—What’s this?” My hands moved again without thinking, checking for injuries that would explain the blood. “What—”
It’s not mine, Aiden,” she said, her voice a bit firmer now, before she glanced at the stairs over her shoulder. “Someone’s dead.”
My body reacted faster than my mind, my hearing sharpening as I tuned into what was happening downstairs, trying to determine if we were under attack. What I caught instead was organized chaos—Gina and others trying to figure out what had happened to someone and how to handle it. Nothing like when Moon Valley attacked the pack.
“Damien,” I called, wanting him to go find out whatever the fuck was going on, just before he jogged past us.
“On it.”
I pulled Yara into the room closest to the stairs. It was empty, just like all but one—Olivia’s room—of the rooms in the hospital. The only patients it ever really had were children whose enhanced healing was still developing, and people who were beyond healing.
I guided Yara into the bathroom and turned on the tap, letting warm water rush into the sink. Then I took her hands in mine and started washing the blood off her skin, watching it swirl down the drain. My jaw stayed tight the whole time, but I kept my movements steady, the fear of her ever ending up beyond my help pressing at the back of my mind.
“I’m alright, Aiden…” Yara muttered, like she could read my mind, and I lifted my gaze to hers.
I didn’t respond—I simply stared at her for a second or two before yanking her closer and pressing my lips to hers while my hand cradled the back of her head. It was only a short kiss but it grounded me, and I rested my forehead against hers, shutting my eyes for a moment and focusing on her warm breath against my mouth.
I’ll lose my mind if anything happens to her.
“I’m alright,” she repeated, and I nodded, pressing another quick kiss to her lips. Then I searched her face one last time, and when she flashed me a small smile, I finally let her go.
After she dried her hands with paper towels, we made our way out of the ward and to the hospital’s first floor with her hand in mine. When I spotted some council members—including Alex and Aaron, Damien’s father—standing next to Damien and Gina, Yara's words about someone being dead came back to mind.
Shit. Who is it? What happened?
I moved to walk over to them, but Yara pulled on my hand, drawing my attention.
“I’ll just wait right here,” she said, gesturing at a nearby tandem chair.
My gaze bounced between the council members and her, and I nodded before giving her another quick kiss. “I’ll be right back,” I said, letting go of her hand before heading towards the council members.
“Two deaths in two days,” Alex said. “Are you absolutely sure it isn’t drug-related?”
“I’m sure,” Gina replied just before I got to them and I tapped Damien’s shoulder.
“What happened?” I asked and he worked his jaw, letting out a harsh breath.
“Lloyd is dead,” he answered and I immediately frowned. That was the last person in possession of cosmic—the one we had the sentinels and enforcers keeping an eye out for.
“What the hell? What happened?”
“His head was split on a rock. Georgia and Yara found him in the woods, it looked like it had only just happened.”
“...Was he attacked by someone?”
The last thing I needed right now was a murder, but it seemed like that was what this was. Him accidentally splitting his head on a rock would surely not lead to his death, except he fell on the rock from somewhere rather high and died instantly. There was nowhere that high nearby.
And Gina had mentioned she was sure it wasn’t drug-related, which ruled out this being a result of a drug-induced frenzy.
Damien shook his head. “It doesn’t look like it. We’ll have to wait for Ventura to get here and determine exactly what happened,” he replied, and I clicked my tongue.
Georgia could do that, but Lloyd was one of the people protected by the Witch’s Oath—a rule created by my mother. According to it, Gina and Georgia were to never use their powers on the pack members who signed up to be covered by it.
And now this.
Damien had said Lloyd’s incident looked like it had only just happened when Georgia and Yara found him, so if Georgia had been allowed to intervene, he might have lived.
“Let me know when he does. I’m taking Yara home,” I told Damien and he nodded, but before I could walk away, Alex stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Just a moment, Aiden,” he said, his brows furrowed, and I motioned for him to go on. “Estelle told me something concerning.”
It was my turn to furrow my brows. “What does it have to do with me?”
“Your mate is latent.”
How did he— What does it even matter? My hands tightened into fists. “So?”
His frown deepened. “This isn’t a joking matter.”
“I wasn’t aware I was telling a joke.”
“You have to think of the pack’s future, Aiden. It won’t be in your best interest to father half-breeds.”
What the—
“What’s the meaning of this, Horton?” Aaron cut in, his voice sharp, while the urge to bash his face in clawed at me.
Then it occurred to me that Yara must have heard that. I jerked my head in her direction to see her expression fall just before she averted her gaze.
Son of a bitch!
I shot him a glare, a low growl rumbling in my chest before I could stop it, and Alex went still at the sound—his shoulders tightening— before I quickly crossed over to Yara. She was already standing by the time I reached her, and I didn’t hesitate to take her hand in mine.
“Let’s get out of here.”