CHAPTER 38 — The Aftermath of Poison
862 Words
The world around Kaela blurred in and out, shadows and voices weaving like a nightmare she couldn’t wake from. Her head rested against Vionn’s chest as he carried her through the night, his heartbeat a wild drum beneath her ear — fast, frantic, terrified.
She had never heard Vionn breathe like this.
Never seen him shaken.
He burst through the mansion doors, shouting orders before his feet even touched the marble floor.
“Get the medical wing ready — NOW!” Vionn roared.
House staff scrambled, startled by the blood, the dirt, the rage burning in his ice-blue eyes.
Lucas followed behind, his own clothes torn from the fight, voice sharp as he made calls:
“Seal the gates — Adrian’s still in the woods. Double the security. Nobody in or out!”
Vionn ignored everything but the woman in his arms.
Kaela’s fingers weakly clutched his shirt.
“Vionn…?” her voice cracked, barely audible.
His grip tightened instantly.
“I’m here.”
His voice shook — a deadly tremor held together by will alone.
He kicked open the door to the private medical suite. Dr. Hale rushed over, stunned at the sight.
“Good Lord — what happened to her?”
“She was injected with something.” Vionn’s voice was low, sharp with violence. “Find it. Fix it.”
Dr. Hale hesitated only a second before moving. Needles. Monitors. Bright lights.
They laid Kaela on the hospital bed, Vionn hovering like a predator ready to tear apart anyone who came too close.
Kaela flinched when a cold needle touched her skin.
Vionn’s hand caught hers.
His thumb stroking over her knuckles.
“It’s okay. I’m right here,” he murmured — a soft tone layered over pure rage.
Dr. Hale injected a stabilizer.
“What kind of poison?” Lucas demanded.
“I don’t know yet.” Dr. Hale checked her vitals, brow furrowed. “Her heartbeat is erratic… breathing unstable. Whatever she was given — it’s not normal. It’s engineered.”
Vionn’s jaw flexed.
Cold. Deadly.
“I’ll kill him.”
Lucas nodded once. “I’ll find him first.”
He left with a team of guards, disappearing into the night.
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Kaela’s Weak Voice
Her eyes fluttered open — glassy, unfocused.
“V…Vionn…”
She sounded like she was fading.
Vionn instantly leaned closer. “Don’t close your eyes. Look at me.”
“I’m… so tired,” she whispered.
“No.”
A command — raw and desperate.
Her lashes trembled shut anyway.
Machines beeped faster.
Vionn’s heart stopped.
“Hale!”
“She’s crashing — move!”
The doctor rushed to inject another dose, shouting instructions to the nurses. The room exploded into panicked movement.
Vionn stood frozen for a heartbeat — as if his soul had been torn from him.
Then he snapped.
He grabbed the metal cart beside him and hurled it across the room — crash — instruments shattering across the floor.
Dr. Hale didn’t flinch. He’d seen the Blackwood rage before.
But this wasn’t rage.
This was fear.
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The Fear He Never Shows
Vionn stepped back to Kaela’s side, chest rising and falling like he’d run through fire.
“Kaela… open your eyes,” he whispered.
His fingers brushed against her cheek — soft.
Too soft for a man like him.
“Don’t you dare leave me…”
Dr. Hale injected another stabilizer.
Slowly… slowly… the alarms quieted.
Her breathing steadied.
She lived.
Vionn exhaled — but it wasn’t relief.
It was a promise.
He turned his head toward Dr. Hale — his voice quiet but coated in steel.
“You keep her alive.”
Not a request.
A threat.
He leaned in, lips close to Kaela’s ear.
“I’m going to destroy him,” he swore.
“He thinks he can take what’s mine? He will learn what it means to provoke a Blackwood.”
He brushed his forehead against hers — a touch too intimate, too possessive — but he didn’t care.
“You’re not dying,” he whispered. “I won’t allow it.”
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Lucas Returns Briefly
Lucas burst back inside, panting.
“He’s gone. Completely vanished into the forest. We found tire marks — he had a vehicle nearby.”
Vionn’s teeth ground together. “Then we hunt him. We hunt him until his world burns.”
Lucas nodded — but his eyes flicked to Kaela.
“Brother… she comes first.”
Something dark flickered in Vionn’s gaze.
“She is first. She is everything.”
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Kaela Drifts In and Out
The poison made her world twist, her mind foggy.
But one thing remained clear — Vionn’s voice, low and rough:
“I won’t lose you… not again… never.”
Something in his tone — the word again — echoed inside her.
Adriana.
The dead lover who haunted him.
But for the first time, Kaela understood something important:
Vionn wasn’t afraid of loving her.
He was afraid of losing her.
And that made him dangerous — to everyone… including himself.
Her fingers curled into his shirt weakly.
She whispered through cracked lips:
“Don’t… let go.”
His eyes burned.
“Never.”
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