Chapter 59 Do You Miss Her This Much?
ELIJAH
We were already deep in the forest when I felt a sharp pang in my chest that made me stumble mid-stride, nearly crashing into the wolf running beside me.
There was something wrong. I suddenly stopped running and Hazel walked up to me, her wolf form magnificent in the moonlight that filtered through the canopy of trees above us.
“What’s going on? You’re holding up the pack.”
I looked behind me and saw that everyone had stopped, confused by the sudden halt. The entire pack was waiting, their wolves alert and watching me with curious eyes. Some were panting from the exertion of the run, others were sniffing the air trying to detect what had made me stop.
“Something is wrong. I don’t know, I just feel like something is very wrong.”
She laughed, her wolf’s eyes gleaming with amusement in the darkness.
“Do you miss her that much?”
“Who?” I asked and then it clicked what she was implying. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
She looked at me with that knowing expression she always had when she thought she’d figured something out about me.
“I mean I do miss her but don’t be ridiculous. That’s not what this is about. What I’m saying is that there’s something wrong back home. I don’t know what it is but I can feel it in my bones, in my gut.”
The feeling was getting stronger with each passing second, like a rope pulling at my chest, demanding I return home immediately. Ezra was restless inside me, pacing and growling with agitation. He never acted like this unless something was genuinely wrong.
She turned around and mind-linked everyone in the pack.
“Is everyone here accounted for? Check on your partner right now.”
We made sure that everyone had a partner to make accountability easier on days like this. It was a safety measure we’d implemented years ago after losing a young wolf who’d gotten separated.
There was a moment of silence as everyone checked in through the mind-link, the mental voices overlapping as they confirmed.
“Yes, everyone is here. All accounted for.”
Hazel turned back to me, her stance relaxing slightly.
“You see, everything is fine. You didn’t have anything to worry about. Everyone’s safe.”
She was saying that but I knew what I was feeling. This wasn’t just paranoia or missing Adriana, though God knows I did miss her.
“I know you’re saying this but that’s not what I’m feeling. I just can’t help it. I need to go back.”
“That’s okay. Let’s just hurry up and go back home then. We’ll be home in minutes anyway if we pick up the pace.”
We continued deeper into the forest but I still wasn’t feeling better. If anything, the feeling was getting worse, more urgent, more demanding.
“Hazel, I don’t know. I still don’t have a good feeling about this at all. I have to go back home right now. Can you handle the rest of the run without me?”
We still didn’t stop running as I spoke. I didn’t want everybody to end this early because of me, because of some feeling I couldn’t even properly explain.
“What’s going on, Elijah? You’ve never reacted like this before. Are you sure you’re fine? You’re not getting sick or something?”
I would say yes but that would only be a lie until I found out what was causing this horrible feeling in my chest.
“It’s okay. Just take care of things here. I’ll check back home and be back shortly. It’s probably nothing.”
“I’ll go with you. Let Aiden handle the run. You shouldn’t go alone.”
We quickly mind-linked Aiden and told him about the situation and he agreed to take over leadership of the run. He was reliable and had led runs before. He knew how to handle the pack.
We started heading back toward the pack, breaking away from the main group. I would really hate it if this was just my wolf being dramatic about seeing Adriana, making me look like a fool in front of everyone.
I mean, I wouldn’t hate seeing her, that would actually be the highlight of my night, but then I would feel very stupid for cutting the run short over nothing.
“If this is about Adriana, I swear I would have your head,” Hazel said as we ran back through the forest.
I laughed despite the anxiety churning in my gut.
“I’m sure it’s not. This feels different.”
There was no way I could tell her I felt the same way too, that part of me hoped it was just about missing Adriana.
I ran as quickly as I could, my paws pounding against the forest floor, and before long we got closer to the pack territory. The familiar scents should have been comforting but instead they made my anxiety spike even higher.
“Do you smell that?”
She sniffed the air deeply, her body going rigid.
“Yes.”
We picked up our pace and ran toward the house, pushing ourselves faster. How the hell did they get in? Weren’t the guards supposed to be more vigilant now that no one was in the pack? Why the hell did they let these people enter our territory?
I quickly shifted back to my human form and ran to the tree where I always dropped my clothes. I didn’t keep my clothes with the others because I valued my privacy. Something had happened years ago with a she-wolf getting the wrong idea and I didn’t want it to happen again.
My hands were shaking as I pulled on my pants and shirt. The scent of strange wolves was stronger now.
After I changed, Hazel came out from behind the trees too, already dressed in her spare clothes, and we ran toward the house together.
They saw us before we saw them and that’s why they were able to run. I caught glimpses of figures darting into the tree line, disappearing into the shadows.
The first thing I heard was Adriana’s scream and I didn’t know if I should run to her or chase after those bastards who’d invaded my territory.
“Go! I’ll chase them!”
Hazel ran after them and I ran to Adriana who was on the floor. As I got closer, that was when I realized why she was on the floor, why she was screaming.
The metallic smell of blood hit me first.
And when I got closer, my heart all but jumped out of my body. Leo was in her arms, bleeding. There was so much blood pooled around them.
“Elijah, help!” I had never been frozen before in my life.
I just stood there looking at them not knowing what exactly to do. I knew something terrible had happened but I didn’t know how to react. My brain couldn’t process what I was seeing.
“Elijah!”
Her second scream was what finally put me into action and I quickly scooped him up into my arms and ran toward the pack doctor’s house.
What happened to him while I was gone? What happened while I was running through the forest?
My brain still hadn’t fully comprehended what had happened and that was why I was still this calm. Once it sank in, once I allowed myself to feel the full weight of it, I knew I would lose complete control.
Luckily, the pack doctor was still around. He was always around for the pack run in case someone got hurt during the shift or the run itself.
“My son, fix him. Please fix him. I don’t know what happened.”
He wasn’t waking up and his eyes weren’t open. His little chest was barely moving. I didn’t know what to do.
Please, let my son be okay. Please.