Chapter 4
1591 Words
Chelsea’s POV
My eyes shot open suddenly.
For a moment, I didn’t move. I just sat there, trying to understand what had woken me.
I was sweating as though I had been running in my dream.
I took a deep breath.
You’re okay. You’re fine.
I repeated.
The lights were still dim. The machines beside the bed hummed quietly.
Then my eyes drifted to the bed.
My stomach dropped.
It was empty.
I blinked once. Then again.
The white sheets were slightly wrinkled like someone had just gotten up, but the stranger was gone.
I stood up so fast that the chair behind me scraped loudly against the floor.
“No…” I whispered.
My eyes scanned the room quickly as if he might suddenly appear somewhere.
The bathroom door was open.
The small cabinet was closed.
There were no traces of him anywhere.
“He… he can’t just disappear,” I said under my breath.
He had a concussion. He had barely been breathing properly when we brought him here.
How could he leave already?
My heart began to race.
I hurried out of the room and stepped into the hallway.
The clinic was quieter now than it had been earlier. A few nurses moved around the desks while some patients sat in chairs waiting.
Ruby stood behind the counter writing something on a clipboard.
“Ruby!” I called.
She looked up immediately.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“The man,” I said quickly. “The one we brought in. He’s gone.”
Her eyebrows pulled together.
“Gone?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice rising. “The bed is empty.”
Ruby set the clipboard down and walked around the counter.
“That’s strange,” she said. “He shouldn’t even be standing yet.”
She walked past me toward the room.
I followed closely behind her.
When we entered, she looked at the empty bed for a few seconds, clearly confused.
“Did someone discharge him?” I asked.
Ruby shook her head slowly.
“No,” she said. “There’s no paperwork for that.”
She walked closer to the bed and checked the bandage wrappers on the tray.
“He didn’t even remove the bandage properly,” she murmured.
“So he just… walked out?” I asked.
Ruby sighed.
“It looks like it.”
My chest tightened.
“But why?” I asked.
She turned to me.
“Did he say anything before you fell asleep?”
I shook my head.
“No. He never woke up.”
Ruby looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Well,” she said gently, “some people react strangely after head injuries. Maybe he was confused.”
“But he was hurt,” I said. “He shouldn’t even be walking.”
She gave a small shrug.
“He’s a grown man. If he wanted to leave, we can’t stop him.”
Her calm tone made it sound simple.
But it didn’t feel simple to me.
Not at all.
Ruby gave my shoulder a small pat.
“You did your part,” she said. “You brought him here. That’s what matters.”
What the hell?
I forced a small nod.
I wasn’t a medical professional, but I knew that wasn’t how this was supposed to be handled.
She left the room a moment later, giving me space.
I pinched my temple as I paced around.
I need to think!
Why did he leave?
Was there an emergency?
I paused at that thought. He was the emergency, so that shouldn’t be a reason to leave.
I stayed there for a few seconds longer.
The empty bed stared back at me.
It felt strange.
Almost like something important had slipped through my fingers.
My eyes lowered slowly to my wrist.
The Polaris mark sat quietly against my skin.
I ran my finger around it slowly.
Could that stranger really be my mate?
The thought made my chest tighten.
If he was…
Then why did he leave without saying anything?
Why didn’t he wait for me?
Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe the mark glowing earlier had been a coincidence. Maybe my mind had just been overwhelmed after everything that happened today.
I exhaled slowly.
“Yes,” I murmured to myself.
“That must be it.”
There was no way someone like him could be my mate.
The Moon Goddess wouldn’t be that cruel.
I turned and walked toward the door.
The hallway lights flickered slightly as I stepped out.
My head still felt heavy from exhaustion, but I ignored it.
I needed to leave.
I had already taken up too much space here.
As I reached the entrance of the clinic, my fingers brushed my wrist again.
The Polaris mark tingled suddenly.
I froze.
The warmth spread slowly through my arm.
My breath caught.
“No…” I whispered.
Not again.
The world around me blurred.
The clinic disappeared.
And then… the vision came.
I was standing somewhere dark. I looked around, there was no being or anything of life.
My heart pounded loudly in my chest.
Then someone appeared in front of me.
It was a man.
My pulse spiked instantly.
My eyes slowly lifted.
It wasn’t just anyone. I recognized him. He was the same man I was looking for, the stranger from the forest.
“I was looking…for…” he stepped into a light that appeared from nowhere. “…you.”
My eyes widened. He looked so different.
Blood streaked across his face, running down from his hairline. His breathing was heavy, almost ragged. His eyes were dark and cold.
My chest tightened.
“Wait,” I said softly. “W-what happened to you?”
But my voice sounded weak.
As he stepped closer, I took a step back .
My heart began to race faster.
“What a-are you doing?” I said.
But he didn’t respond.
He raised his hand.
A sword glinted under the dim light.
My breath stopped.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
His eyes stayed locked on mine without any emotion in them.
Then he lifted the sword higher.
“No,” I said, stepping back.
But my feet wouldn’t move fast enough.
He stepped forward.
And drove the sword straight into my chest.
Pain exploded through my body.
My mouth opened but no sound came out.
Blood filled my throat.
I looked down slowly.
The blade had pierced straight through my heart.
My knees gave out beneath me.
Then… the vision shattered.
I gasped loudly and stumbled backward.
The clinic walls rushed back into place around me.
My hand flew to my chest.
My heart pounded violently beneath my palm.
“No…” I whispered.
My breathing was uneven now.
My hands trembled.
The image of the sword piercing my chest replayed in my mind again and again.
The stranger’s face… his cold eyes… the blood.
I looked down at my wrist.
The Polaris mark glowed faintly again before slowly fading.
My stomach twisted.
“That… that was him,” I said quietly.
My mate.
The man I had saved.
The one I had brought here with my own hands.
In my vision… he killed me.
I backed away from the clinic door slowly.
Fear crawled up my spine.
“What kind of fate is this?” I whispered.
The Moon Goddess had finally shown me my mate.
I had always begged Her to give me visions that could help someone. But every one of it has been about agony.
First, Alpha Zade, now this.
I lowered my head as my eyes stung.
I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to even stay alive.
Was this the future… or a warning?
My breathing refused to steady.
I pressed my palm harder against my chest as if I could still feel the phantom pain from the sword.
It had felt so real.
The cold metal sliding through my body… the warmth of blood spilling down my skin… the look in his eyes when he did it.
He didn’t hesitate, not even for a second.
My mate had looked at me like I meant nothing.
A shiver crawled down my spine.
“Why would he do that?” I whispered hoarsely.
My voice sounded broken.
The Moon Goddess was supposed to guide mates together, not show them visions of killing each other.
Unless…
My stomach twisted painfully.
“No,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “No, that can’t be it.
That couldn’t be my future, especially not from him.
It didn’t sound…possible. But what I had seen in the vision was forcing me to believe it against my will.
Why would the man I saved his life someday raise a sword against me?
My legs trembled as I tried to stand properly.
The fluorescent lights above flickered softly.
My fingers curled into fists.
“Maybe the vision was wrong,” I whispered desperately.
It had to be.
But deep down, a terrible thought clawed at the back of my mind.
What if this time…my vision wasn’t meant to save anyone… but myself?
What if it was only showing me how I would die?
“Are you alright, darling?” A familiar voice jolted me out of my reverie.
I looked back.
It was Ruby.
Tears ran down my eyes uncontrollably and I dropped to my knees before I knew it.
- Writer
