Chapter 175
RYKER’S POV
Shock rooted me to the spot as I stared dazed at the man beneath me. He looked like the man I’d always known. My throat constricted as I suddenly couldn’t find the voice to speak. Too stunned to move, a sudden movement from him caused my grip on his collar to loosen.
“Wait!” I managed to speak, but it was too late. He had sprinted towards the portal. There was another figure already waiting at the other end. Their features shielded, yet they felt eerily familiar.
The portal vanished, leaving me lying on the ground, stunned with a wildly beating heart.
Lyra
She was the only one who was able to snap me out of my daze. I had to get back to her quickly. I rushed back, shifting into my wolf form and moving with lightning speed. As I approached the cliff, I couldn’t see her. I screeched to a halt, panic setting in before seeing her. She was resting by a low rock, her head hung low, sending panic to my chest.
“Gods, Lyra,” I growled, rushing towards her, nuzzling her face till she stirred. She looked tired and very weak.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up.
“Ryker,” Her voice sounded weak. “Take me back. I’m unable to heal here.”
Immediately, I shifted to my human form and crouched by her injured leg, attempting to lift her. She winced, biting her lower lip from the sudden movement. And the ground behind her had turned black with blood.
It was supposed to be a scratch, then what… My blood froze. There was a splinter of wood behind her lower back.
My eyes narrowed dangerously and met hers.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice sounded hoarse.
“Did you catch him?” She interrupted me.
“He escaped,” I swallowed, meeting her gaze.
She closed her eyes briefly. “Hurry, take me to the cave where you kept your game. Someone would be waiting for us there.”
There was no time to waste. She was losing grip with reality, and there was so much blood, I was scared. For a strong Alpha like myself, for the first time in my life, I was truly scared. Scared that I was going to lose her. Not when I knew that there was still hope for us.
“Please stay with me, Lyra,” I begged as her eyes kept fluttering shut.
We were soon at the cave.
“Lyra, baby, we’re here,” I sounded panicked and might have pushed her too hard. She frowned slightly and urged me to move forward. Then she raised her hand over what seemed to be an invisible barrier I had not noticed, and a portal opened.
“Guards! Anybody!” I shouted. My voice sounded raw from fear of losing her. Immediately, Dimitri barged in. His gaze swept over us and widened in shock at her state. He was flanked by his beta Varkas and a few other guards.
“We were attacked!” I spoke without waiting for answers, rushing with her in my arms as we were guided through a row of corridors before entering a huge elevator that took us to the top floor, which happened to be a state-of-the-art ward. There were doctors and nurses already waiting. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator, they rushed towards us with a stretcher and commenced treatment.
“We will have to operate,” A young man who was already working with three other nurses flipped Lyra sideways, ripping through her clothes with a pair of scissors, spoke hurriedly while another injected her with what appeared to be a sedative.
My world stilled as I watched the scene unfold. She looked so pale and drained. I couldn’t help but feel shaken. This was all my fault. If only I had paid attention to her and stayed without running after the man in the shadows. We would have gotten here faster, and she would have gotten treatment earlier. She wouldn’t have lost so much blood.
“We’re commencing surgery now. Please, we need the floor,” One of the nurses approached. Her gaze swept over our faces. I tore my gaze from Lyra briefly and landed on her. The chill from my gaze was enough to make her cower in fear. She felt the shift in my aura and doubled back. Her face went pale in fear.
Suddenly, I felt an arm press down on my shoulder, and looked up to find Dimitri.
“Let’s wait outside. There’s nothing we can do here.” He looked stoic and poised, but his eyes told me he was equally worried.
“I’m not leaving. Someone was after her. She got hurt because of me. I failed to protect her properly. She landed wrong from the fall, and I had no idea she…” My voice cracked while his hands clamped my shoulder firmer. I was an Alpha, and weakness was not something in our DNA.
“Varkas,” Dimitri called out, and he stepped in, bowing slightly.
“Look into what happened,” He turned to look at Varkas briefly before turning his attention back to Lyra. The doctors were already pulling out the stick from her back.
“Gods,” My voice sounded hoarse as I stared at the sharp wood ominously. “I don’t get it. How was she unable to heal? She’s very strong and could have shifted enough to forcefully pull out the stick,”
“Once a Stormborne enters the Xemir, we lose our powers. We become human. The Xemir is meant to be a haven for our royal blood, and in return, it takes the one thing within us that could destroy it. That’s the only way it’s been preserved for centuries. I just never expected anybody else in the forest. It was just you…” His eyes snapped to the table where Lyra lay as the machines started beeping sporadically.
“What’s going on?” I growled, pushing forward towards where she lay.
“We—we don’t know,” One of the doctors replied fearfully.
“We’ve sealed up the wound. Luckily, it missed her vital organs. She’s meant to recover quietly.”
“Something is wrong,” My gaze snapped to Dimitri and back to Lyra. Immediately, I grabbed her hand and whispered her name, but she seemed to be undergoing some spasm that made her oblivious to her surroundings.
“EVERYBODY OUT!!!!”
The roar from Dimitri made the fine air on my arm stand, and I turned to him, faintly registering as everyone scampered out with their heads bowed.
As soon as the room emptied, he turned to me. But what stopped me wasn’t his aura, but the panic in his eyes.
“What is going on?” My voice sounded panicked, foreign to my ears.
“I think she’s ascending,”