Chapter Thirty-Three
Laila’s POV
The smell hit me before my eyes even opened.
It was a suffocating mix of cheap floor cleaner, harsh rubbing alcohol, and the stale, heavy scent of sickness. The agonizing fire in my hands had settled into a dull, throbbed ache, wrapped tightly in stiff layers of thick cotton gauze.
I blinked against the harsh, flickering fluorescent light humming directly above my head. The world slowly bled into focus—white privacy curtains, a tall metal IV pole dripping clear saline straight into a vein in my arm, and the steady, rhythmic beep... beep... beep... of a heart monitor hooked up to my chest.
The hospital.
Memory crashed over me like a wave of ice water. The ruined bar. The shattered mirror. The terrifying black hounds with glowing eyes tearing through th
