Chapter 69 CHAPTER 69
Chapter 69 CHAPTER 69
Alex’s POV
I stood in the doorway of the bathroom, watching Ayla intently. The air thick with steam that no longer rose from the water.
Ayla lay in the tub, knees drawn up, arms wrapped tight around them. Her skin had gone from flushed to a pale, almost translucent white in the span of an hour.
The cold showers we had tried earlier left no trace of relief; beads of water still clung to her shoulders and the curve of her collarbone, but the heat radiating from her body had already shifted.
One moment her skin burned under my palm, the next it turned icy enough that my own fingers tensed against the sudden chill.
It’s been a week and we still don’t know whats slowly killing and how we should stop it.
I have even stopped going to work because she couldn’t be left alone, she has been losing power and herself every day that passes.
She hasn’t eaten a single ounce of food for the past week, everything that she swallows come right up. It’s like her body is declining everything her mind already knows.
Watching her like this and being helpless breaks my heart everyday.
The scent of wet porcelain and residual soap hung heavy. Her breathing came in short, uneven pulls.
I watched the rise and fall of her ribs beneath the thin flowing of water still coating her.
Every few seconds a tremor ran through her shoulders, small but causing her body to shake vigorously.
I was about to turn and go back to the room to get clothes for her to change when a high, broken cry that scraped against the tiled walls escaped her pale lips.
Her hands flew to her face, palms pressing hard over her eyes. Water splashed over the rim of the tub as her body jerked forward.
“My eyes, Alex. They are burning.” The words tumbled out between gasping breaths.
I crossed the room in two strides, the floor cold under my bare feet. Kneeling beside the tub, I reached for her wrists, careful not to grip too tightly. Her pulse hammered against my thumbs, rapid and uneven.
“I’m here,” I said, voice low and steady. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I’ve got you.”
Her head shook once, hair plastered against her cheeks and neck.
The silver I had noticed earlier across her irises seemed denser now, but she kept her eyes squeezed shut. I had thought I was seeing things due to the lack of sleep.
Water dripped from her elbows onto the bathmat with soft, repetitive taps. I reached for a towel, the thick cotton rough against my hands, and began drying her shoulders and arms in long, firm strokes.
Her skin felt wrong under the fabric, too cold in places, still fever-hot in others. The contrast made the muscles in my forearms tighten.
I lifted her from the water. Her weight settled against my chest, lighter than it should have been, and a faint metallic tang rose from her skin, sharp enough to taste at the back of my throat.
She kept murmuring the same phrases while I carried her through the doorway and into the bedroom.
The sheets were already turned down. I set her on the edge of the mattress and reached for the soft cotton gown folded on the chair.
Her fingers clutched at my shirt the entire time, knuckles white, while she repeated that she could not see, that something sat inside her eyes. “Alex, i’m gonna die. Is this how I am suppose to die?”
“No, baby. Nothing will happen to you, I will protect you please trust me.” I said trying to comfort her with words that I myself didn’t believe.
Once the gown was settled over her shoulders I guided her back against the pillows.
The lamp on the nightstand cast a warm circle of light across the bed. I brushed a strand of damp hair from her forehead. Her skin had gone fully cold now, the earlier heat completely vanished.
“Open your eyes,” I said. “Let me look.” For a moment she hesitated, then her lids lifted slowly.
The words I meant to speak locked hard in my throat. Where her warm brown irises had been, a solid, reflective silver stared back at me flat and luminous. No pupil. No familiar warmth, just that unbroken sheen.
Her breath hitched. “What is it?”
I could not form an answer. The silence stretched, I didn’t have the right words to tell what I was staring at.
Her hand shot out, fist closing in the front of my shirt with sudden strength. The fabric pulled tight across my chest. When she spoke again her voice had dropped, edged and sharp.
“I asked you a question.”
Her lips parted further. White, pointed teeth longer than they should have been. The canines precise and gleaming caught the light. The silver of her eyes seemed to brighten for a fraction of a second.
“Oh my god, Ayla.” I whispered more to myself but I knew she heard. I am watching my mate transform into something she doesn’t even know.
I kept my own breathing even, though the air in the room suddenly felt thinner.
The metallic scent that clung to her skin had grown stronger. Only the quiet pull of her breath and the faint creak of the mattress under her shifting weight filled the space between us.
“Your eyes,” I said at last, the words rough. “They’ve turned silver,” And you have fangs, I wanted to add but how could I when she is already panicking like this.
Her grip on my shirt did not loosen. The silver gaze held mine without blinking.
A single drop of water still traced a slow path from her temple down to her jaw, catching the light like a shooting star dying out before it disappeared into the collar of the gown.
I remained kneeling beside the bed, one hand resting on the edge of the mattress, the other covering the fist that still twisted the fabric. “I’m gonna die.”
The cold of her skin I felt through into my palm. Her next breath came slower, but the silver of her eyes did not change, and the sharp points of her teeth remained visible against her lower lip.
“You’re not gonna die, baby.” I said hugging her.
“I’m gonna get you dressed then we can go find help.” I said before I stood up and made my way to the walk-in closet to get her clothes.
I walked out of the closet and instantly regretted living her alone when I didn’t find her anywhere in the room.
“Ayla.” I called out rushed out to the living room. “We are this side, Alex.” I rushed to the unfamiliar voice.
“Whats wrong with, Ayla? She looks unwell and is not responding, her eyes look weird.” My oblivious human sister Angel said while Ayla standing in front of her with her fangs bared out.
I should’ve mentioned to her that Angel is my adopted human sister, in case of what is happening right now. My sister being her meal or juice. The smell of a human must have drawn her all the way here.
“I need you to turn around, open the door and exit through, don’t look back and don’t even breath loudly.” I said slowly approaching Ayla who was still in her gown staring at Angel even though she couldn’t see her.