CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 28
The road stretched endlessly as we searched for Raven in all the places we could think of, but to no avail. We’ve been driving for what feels like forever through the city, and the pack members have been searching in the woods.

Raven could be anywhere, hurt and alone, or something worse could’ve happened to him. I sighed as I watched my mother tighten her steering wheel hold. Everyone is in high emotions. 

The headlights carve narrow tunnels through the mist, and Elara keeps refreshing the map on her phone even though we both know it’s useless.
“We’ve been searching for hours,” Elara mutters. “Aine, maybe he’s—”

“Don’t.” My voice cuts through the hum of the engine, thin and shaking. “Don’t say it.” I keep staring out the window, searching the darkness for anything. 

Usually, I can feel him. There’s always this thread between us, strong, tugging faintly whenever he’s close. But now, it's quiet when I need to feel it the most. Like it no longer existed, that’s what I feared the most, finding him dead.

“I can’t feel him,” I whisper, my nails digging into my palms. “It’s like he’s gone.”
“He’s not gone,” my mother says, cutting me off. “We will find him, we just have to keep looking.” But I hear the doubt in her voice.

The car turns down a gravel road that leads deeper into the woods. The air outside the window changes—it’s colder and heavier. The pull inside my chest grows stronger, a faint thrumming beneath my ribs, like my heart is trying to follow a sound only it can hear.

“Stop the car,” I say suddenly. My mother glances at me in confusion. “Aine—”

“I can find him.” I’m already unbuckling my seatbelt. Elara leans forward. “How?”

“A spell,” I said, getting out of the car and stepping into the coldness. “It’ll show me where he is.” The night air hits me hard, biting against my skin. 

The forest is dead silent, and for a moment, I wonder if this is the right place to be at this time of the night. I drop to my knees on the damp ground, press my palms, and start whispering in our coven language. 

The words come from somewhere deep, a part of me I was taught as a witch but never practiced. The ground rumbles, responding, it’s slow at first, then pulsing under my fingers. 

Magic rushes through me like wildfire, fierce and raw. It feels like my veins are burning. My vision flickers, everything spins. Then I see Raven lying on the ground in a forest. I gasp as soon as I notice the shirt is soaked in blood. 

A knife gleams silver in his side. His face is pale, and his body is twitching in pain. I gasp, the vision snapping like glass.

Suddenly, a sharp pain attacks my head, and I can feel something running down my nose. I clenched my head trying to stop the pain, but my ears immediately started ringing.

“Aine!” My mother’s hands grab my shoulders. “Aine, stop, what did you do?”

“I found him.” My voice sounds far away. I wipe the blood off my lip and stare at it. “He’s in the woods. I’m not sure where, but he feels close.” Her eyes widen when she sees my bleeding ears.

“Your ears, oh, Goddess—”
“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not fine!” Elara crouches beside me, voice shaking. “I’ve seen you use your powers before; it’s never done that to you!”

My mother’s voice drops low. “It’s Alaric.” I freeze, feeling uncomfortable at the mention of his name. “What?”
“He must’ve done something to you before you left,” she says, eyes sharp and terrified.

“Bound himself to you. Every time you use your magic, he feeds off it.” Her words hit me like a slap, but I shake my head. “I don’t care, not now. I’m the reason Raven went looking for me. I need to fix this.”

I stood up so fast I stumbled a bit, the world spinning. “We don’t have time for this. I know where he is.” They didn’t argue with me, we got back inside the car, and Mom started driving. 

Elara’s hands are trembling in her lap. I stare ahead, heart hammering so hard it hurts. I get the sudden urge to stop after driving for a few minutes. I shout, “Stop here!” I shout, without an intention to do so.

The car jerks to a halt, and I rush out of the car and run deep into the forest, not caring if they are following me. Wet branches smacking my arms, mud sucking at my boots. The air smells like rain and blood. And then I spot Raven sprawled on the ground, half-hidden beneath branches.

I walked closer to him, and his skin looked gray under the moonlight, his shirt torn open where a silver blade juts out from his side. His blood stains the soil dark.

“Raven!” My voice breaks. I fall to my knees beside him. His eyes flutter open. Unfocused. “...Aine?”

“I’m here.” My throat tightens as I touch his face. He’s burning up. “Don’t move, okay? I’m gonna help you.” Elara and my mother catch up, gasping when they see him.

“Oh my God,” Elara whispers.
“Don’t touch the knife,” I tell them quickly. “It’s silver.” My hands hover over the wound. His breathing is shallow, jagged. 

“Hold on, please,” I whisper. And then I stop and regulate my breathing to focus.
I press my hand over the wound. Warm blood seeps through my fingers, and I focus all the pain, all the fear, all the rage, and let the energy flow.

Light flares between my palms, golden and sharp. It burns my skin, but I don’t stop. The knife begins to melt, turning into shimmering dust. Raven gasps in pain, his back arching, but I hold him down gently, whispering, “I’ve got you.”

Then the magic snaps. The knife disappears, and agony rips through me. I cry out, the world spinning, blood flooding my mouth.

“Aine!” Elara grabs me before I collapse completely.

“I’m fine,” I choke out, wiping my lips. “He’s okay now.” Raven’s chest rises and falls, slow and steady. The darkness around his wound begins to fade.

He opens his eyes and stares at me like he doesn’t believe I’m real. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he whispers, voice hoarse. I laughed softly, half crying. “You’re welcome.” He tried to sit up, wincing, but I pushed him gently back down.

“Don’t move. Please.” I gave him a small smile, glad that he was okay and that I saved him. “I thought I lost you for good.” He said with a sad look on his face. I hesitated, stunned by his showing genuine emotions. “I’m sorry I had you worried, but you never get rid of me.”

I’m the one who made him go crazy and look for me, who knows what could’ve happened to him if we hadn’t come in time?

My mother kneeled beside him, her voice trembling but calm. “We need to get him home before sunrise.” I nodded, wiping my tears with my sleeve. My whole body was shaking with tiredness, the air thick with the smell of blood.

As they carefully lifted him, I stood there for a moment, looking at the ground where he was lying. The grass was scorched where the silver had burned him, and my hands were still glowing faintly gold.

But under that glow, my veins pulse with something else. If my mother was right and Alaric really bound himself to me, he felt everything. Every flicker of my power. Every drop of blood.

He won’t stop there; I know he will be coming for more.