Chapter 14: Her Lifeless Body In My Arms
Dominic's POV:
"Fuck!" I slammed my bedroom door so hard the walls shook. My blood was still boiling from that ridiculous encounter with Ember.
'She looked so innocent when she asked for help. Then she said those words, making herself look desperate,' Umbra, my wolf, agreed with a low growl in my mind.
"I hate when people throw themselves at others," I muttered, pacing across my room like a caged animal. The audacity of that girl—first acting terrified of shadows, then proposing to remove her bra? What kind of sick game was she playing?
'Do you think she was pretending to be scared?' Umbra seemed uncertain if she had been acting, but I was convinced.
"She must have learned it from her mother. They probably planned this whole thing together. Remember how she accused Ethan of harassing her? If I stayed in her room or helped her with anything, she'd accuse me of the same shit."
I stripped off my shirt and collapsed onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. The training session with Ember earlier today had been frustrating enough. The girl had no discipline, no spine. And now this pathetic attempt at seduction? It was disgusting and inappropriate.
"I don't care anymore. She's probably lying in bed thinking about seducing someone else," I added before turning off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
Sleep came quickly, my body accustomed to shutting down efficiently after years of disciplined training. My wolf quieted, and I drifted into a dreamless state.
The early Seattle dawn was just beginning to break when I stepped into the backyard for my morning workout. Dressed in my black athletic wear, I headed toward the training grounds, the dewy grass soaking the edges of my running shoes.
The private gardens were peaceful at this hour—no students, no brothers, no distractions. Just the way I liked it. The perfect start to my day.
I had barely started my warm-up stretches when a piercing scream shattered the morning quiet. My head snapped toward the mansion, instantly recognizing Ember's voice.
"What the hell?" This was unprecedented—Ember's cry vibrated through my body as if she'd seen death itself.
My eyes locked onto her window just as she appeared, screaming frantically and looking away from something I couldn't see. Her face was contorted in pure terror.
"EMBER!" I called out, but she didn't seem to hear me through her panic.
When she finally looked down, I noticed something disturbing. The blue-violet color in her eyes was gone. The whites seemed to have swallowed her beautiful irises, leaving only a thin line visible. Something was very wrong.
Before I could process what I was seeing, Ember crashed through the window. Glass shattered outward as her body plummeted toward the ground in a shower of silver shards.
I sprinted toward her, but I was too late. She hit the ground with a sickening thud, gasping for breath but unable to move.
"Shit!" I gasped, seeing her struggle to breathe while lying motionless. Her silver-blonde hair was starting to darken with blood flowing from her head.
I dropped to my knees beside her. "Ember! Can you hear me?" My voice cracked with urgency.
Her eyes stared straight through me before slowly closing, her lashes fluttering against her pale cheeks.
"Oh fuck!" I cursed inwardly, hastily gathering her limp body in my arms. Her warmth was already fading, her skin turning colder by the second.
I rushed back to the mansion, taking the stairs two at a time. Alexander appeared in the hallway, clearly drawn by the screams.
"What happened to her?" he asked, maintaining his typical calm demeanor as he followed me to Ember's room.
I placed her carefully on the bed, stepping back with my hands behind my head as anxiety coursed through me. Alexander climbed onto the bed to examine her condition while I paced nervously, unable to stay still.
"She—she's not responding to my calls," I said, my voice uncharacteristically shaky.
"Dominic! You need to calm down," Alexander urged, his tone firm but steady.
"She fell from the window," I whispered, closing my eyes as my arms hung limply at my sides. The guilt was overwhelming, crushing me from within.
"How did she fall from the window?" Alexander asked, turning her to the side to check her wounds.
"She was afraid to sleep alone. She kept begging me to stay in her room last night. I thought she was coming onto me, and then this happened. Fuck! This is all my fault."
Alexander's expression softened slightly. "Hey! This isn't your fault, okay? Even I would have thought she was making it up. I'm sure she'll heal on her own."
He left briefly to retrieve a first aid kit from his room while I stood vigil by Ember's bed. When he returned, we began discussing her treatment.
"I don't know. She takes medication that suppresses her wolf. How can she heal on her own?" I reminded him, staring at her pale face.
"Shit! She's lost a lot of blood," Alexander acknowledged, examining the wound more carefully.
"I remember her mother telling me she has to take her medication before 10 AM because the effects wear off around 8 AM. It's almost 7 now. I'm sure the medication is wearing off.
She'll start healing, but it will be slower. Just make sure she doesn't take that medication until she's healed."
I frowned, unconvinced. "She passed out last time she went a few hours without her medication," I reminded Alexander, recalling how I'd found her collapsed in the hallway.
"She's already unconscious. We need to make sure she heals before her mother calls and discovers her. She'll disparage us to Father."
I nodded reluctantly, agreeing with Alexander's plan even as my concern for Ember herself—rather than just our reputation—began to grow. The sight of her broken body haunted me in a way I hadn't expected.
'All anyone cares about is their reputation. That poor girl is nearly dying in bed, but no one cares,' Umbra growled disapprovingly in my mind.
His concern for her caught me off guard. When had he started caring about her?