Chapter 13
1063 Words
Chapter 13
SERAPHINA
The first thing I noticed when I finally woke up from my sleep was the scent. It wasn't the artificial vanilla scent of Marcus's house or the disgusting Elena's perfume, but this was different and more familiar.
Taking a deep breath, I recognized it. It was sandalwood and old books, leather and the faint trace of my mother's signature jasmine perfume. This scent resembled home. I was home.
My eyelids felt heavy, as it was weighed down by exhaustion and also the lingering effects of whatever they'd injected into my system.
Silver. I remembered the burning sensation as it moved through my veins, and I remembered Elena's vicious satisfaction as she'd watched me writhe in agony. The memory made me want to curl into myself and hide.
But as awareness returned fully, I realized I wasn't alone.
"She's waking up," a familiar voice said softly, and I turned my head to see Lucas sitting in a chair beside what appeared to be a hospital bed. His face was filled with fury but it was not projected at me.
This was the kind of expression he wore when he was planning someone's demise.
"Seraphina?" Another voice, rougher and more deeper than Lucas voice spoke. I opened my eyes fully to see my father, Vincent Blackwood, who was standing at the end of the bed as if he was my bodyguard.
His silver hair was styled well despite the fact that he might have had an uneasy rest the night before and also his blue eyes, just like mine were fixed on me, watching me carefully with an intensity that would have made others uncomfortable or scared.
To my left, I caught sight of my mother, Isabella Blackwood, who was sitting down on the edge of a second chair.
Even at fifty, she was beautiful, her dark hair swept back in an elaborate hair do that revealed the sharp cheekbones that had once made her the most feared assassin in three continents. Now those same cheekbones were clenched tight with worry.
And there, leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed and murder in his green eyes, was Lionel. My elder brother, Lucas's other half, the one person in the world who understood me better than I understood myself. He looked like he wanted to burn down entire cities, which, knowing Lionel, he probably did.
"Mom?" My voice came out as a croak, raw and unfamiliar as I tried to understand what was happening and if this was just an elaborate dream and I would wake up to find myself in bed with my lying scum of a husband. "Dad? What... how are you all here?"
Isabella was beside me in an instant, her cool hands holding my face gently as she searched my face intently looking for injuries that the doctors might have missed.
"We're here because someone decided to drug our daughter and attempt to force a marking," she said, her voice sounding dangerously quiet that sent shivers even down my spine. My mum was well known for getting tough Aloha men to confess just by the way she spoke and not that she got down to actually torturing them.
"We're here because Lucas called us in a panic, saying Kieran was racing to save you from something that should never have been allowed to happen in the first place."
The memories came flooding back then—Marcus's weight pressing down on me, Elena's vicious words, the feeling of helplessness as the silver stole my strength.
"Kieran," I whispered, struggling to sit up despite the protests from my still-aching head. "Where is he? Is he—did he get hurt because of me?"
Lucas leaned forward, his expression softening slightly as he replied to me.
"He's fine, Sera. Physically, anyway. He carried you out of there like you were made of spun glass, and then called in his private medical team that was waiting for us as soon as we landed back in the city and he also stayed with you for the first six hours until the doctors assured him you were stable and you were going to make a full recovery, only that you needed rest."
"Where is he now?" I asked, looking around the room as if I might have missed seeing the most imposing man in North America lurking in a corner.
My parents exchanged a look, which looked like they were having one of those telepathic messages that I couldn't understand. It was Lionel who answered, pushing away from the wall to come stand beside Lucas.
"He's handling some urgent business in Chicago," he said carefully. "Pack politics that couldn't wait, apparently."
I studied my brother's face, seeing the lie there as clearly as if he'd written it across his forehead.
Lionel had always been the diplomat of the family, the one who could smile while sliding a knife between someone's ribs, but he'd never been able to lie to me successfully.
"What aren't you telling me?" I demanded, some of my old fire returning to me as I was prepared to face them and get the truth out of them despite the exhaustion that weighed down my limbs.
My father moved closer to the bed, his expression unreadable as he spoke to me directly.
"What they're trying to avoid saying is that you've been unconscious for three days, Seraphina. Three days during which the supernatural world has been going around with rumors about why the Lycan King suddenly appeared in Millbrook, why he took you from your husband's house, and what it means for various... existing arrangements."
The weight of his words settled over me like a lead blanket. Three days. I'd been gone from the world for three days, and in that time, apparently, my dramatic rescue had become the subject of supernatural gossip.
"What kind of existing arrangements?" I asked, though I was already beginning to fear the answer.
Isabella smoothed my hair back from my forehead with gentle fingers. "Darling, you've been gone for five years. In that time, Kieran has been under enormous pressure from his advisors, his pack, everyone, really, to find a mate and secure the succession. The Lycan throne can't remain empty forever."
My heart began to race, and I could feel my wolf stirring uneasily in the depths of my consciousness. "He found someone else."
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