The Hidden Luna

Chapter Sixteen

Quinn’s POV

James returned to Lilith’s room shortly after I drew her blood.

I’d had to come up with an excuse to collect the sample.

I told Lilith I wanted to make sure every trace of the wolfsbane had left her system.

Thankfully, she hadn’t questioned it.

Now I sat alone in my laboratory.

The clinic was silent.

Everyone had gone to bed hours ago, leaving only the soft hum of the lights above me.

I rubbed my tired eyes. I hated working this late. My mate was home with our boys, probably wondering when I was finally coming to bed.

I missed them already.

The blood analyzer let out a soft beep.

“Finally…”

I stood and picked up the report. At first glance, everything looked normal.

Then my eyes landed on one line.

“…What?”

I blinked and read it again. That couldn’t be right I looked from the report to the vial of Lilith’s blood.

“No…” I inserted a new blood sample back into the analyzer. “Run it again.”

Several long minutes passed.

Another beep echoed through the room.

The exact same results.

Impossible.

My pulse quickened.

I hurried to the refrigerator and removed two labeled samples. Human. Werewolf.

I placed all three reports side by side.

Human. Werewolf. Lilith.

My breath caught in my throat. “Her blood doesn’t match either one…” I whispered to myself

Human blood contained one pattern and werewolf blood contained another.

Lilith’s contained neither of those patterns.

Her blood carried genetic markers I’d never seen before.

Not human, not werewolf.

Something else.

A chill crawled down my spine.

My heart began pounding against my ribs.

Whatever Lilith was she was something else.

My hands trembled as I hurried back to the refrigerated cabinet.

“No…” I whispered. “There has to be an explanation.”

I pulled out a few more reference sample we had.

Witch, Vampire, Siren

One by one, I compared them against Lilith’s blood.

Nothing.

Not a single match.

Every species had its own unique genetic markers.

Lilith’s had none of them.

It was as if her blood belonged to a species that didn’t exist.

A knot formed in my stomach.

I slowly leaned against the counter, staring at the report in disbelief.

“What are you?” I whispered.

Without another thought, I reached out through the mind-link.

James. Wake up.

—

James’s POV

James. Wake up.

Quinn’s voice echoed through my mind.

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking away the exhaustion.

At some point during the night, we both laid in the medical bed together and Lilith had curled herself against my side, her arm and legs were wrapped securely around my body.

A smile tugged at my lips.

Carefully, I buried my face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the familiar scent of honeysuckle, vanilla, and jasmine.

It instantly calmed both me and my wolf.

Lilith shifted in her sleep, letting out a soft contented sigh as she unconsciously snuggled closer.

My wolf rumbled happily.

She’s comfortable with us.

She is, I replied.

I stretched my arms up as I opened the mind link to Quinn

What is it, Quinn?

You need to come to my laboratory.

Her voice was unusually serious.

Lilith’s blood… it doesn’t make any sense.

My heart skipped a beat.

I’ll be there in a minute.

Reluctantly, I tried to move Lilith’s arm from around my waist.

The moment I did. Her grip tightened.

I chuckled quietly. “So much for that.”

An idea crossed my mind.

I looked over the side chair next to the bed and grabbed the extra pillow that was laying on the seat and gently slid it in between us to put it into my place.

Slowly, I slipped free from her grip

Almost immediately, Lilith wrapped both arms around the pillow, cuddling it against her chest before letting out another sleepy sigh.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re adorable,” I whispered leaning down kissing the top of her head.

With one last glance at my sleeping mate, I quietly left the room and headed straight for Quinn’s laboratory.

The moment I stepped inside, Quinn looked up from the table.

“What is it?”

She slid several reports toward me. “Lilith…” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Her blood doesn’t match anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look.”

She pointed to the reports spread across the table. “I compared her sample against every reference we have.” She slid each report toward me one by one. “Human, werewolf, witch, vampire, siren. None of them match.”

The last traces of sleep vanished instantly.

I stared down at the reports in disbelief. “What… is she?”

Quinn slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

I looked back up at her.

“Are there any other samples we can compare it to?”

Quinn hesitated. “I have a few… But none of them make any sense.”

I met her eyes.

“Test them I don’t care what they are.”

She nodded once.

“Alright.”

She carefully picked up another vial from the fridge.

“Let’s hope one of them gives us an answer.”