Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Chapter 48 Blood
Thea felt sparks where Alaric squeezed her hand, Kai caressed the other, and Conri rubbed her feet.
“Doctor!” Conri called out.
“She’s awake!”
Dr. Boman came in and shooed the triplets out of the way. He checked her vital signs, shined a light in her eyes.
“Your oxygen levels are low, but that’s to be expected given how much blood you lost. How are you feeling? Can you talk?”
“I feel,” Thea said, voice raspy. “Stupid.”
The doctor laughed. “Seems like the spell has worn off,” he said. “Don’t feel bad. Everyone was under a spell. No one noticed you slip out. Everyone is kicking themselves and praying to the moon goddess that you’ll be okay. I was able to repair the damage, but you need to take it easy for a while. Don’t scream. Don’t jostle your neck or anything. For the most part, try not to talk. Seems like maybe you were strangled before he cut your carotid?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought so. You need to let your vocal cords heal. Your voice is going to be hoarse and sore. The cut is pretty deep, and it’s a dangerous area. You lost a lot of blood—more than half your total volume. You’re going to be weak and tired until your body replaces what we couldn’t. We used everything we got from the blood bank. They injected you with enough wolfsbane to kill everyone in this room. I need you to take it easy. Can you dothat?” ?
“Yes,” Thea said. “Doctor, I’m cold.”
“Another side effect of the blood loss.” He retrieved more blankets and put them over her. “Do you feel up to telling Liam what happened?”
“Yeah.”
The doctor mind linked Liam, who walked in a few seconds later. The doctor walked out to give them privacy.
“Thank the goddess you’re okay,” Liam said. “I’m so sorry we let you out of our sight.”
“Not your fault. I felt drawn to go outside, then to the woods. I didn’t even realize I was alone. Then suddenly I was on my back, things were hazy, and! couldn’t move.” “The doctor said you were under a paralyzing or holding spell,” Liam said.
“Yeah. It was a rogue and a witch. First, the rogue choked me to try to get me to shift. I started blacking out. Then he let go. The witch did something to check if I had magic.” She started coughing. Talking was irritating her throat.
“Babe, why don’t you think it to us, and we’ll talk for you? Conri said.
She nodded, and Conri spoke for her.
“The witch said the only magic in her was her mark,” Conri said. “She said she doesn’t even have a wolf. They injected the wolfsbane to make sure. It felt like the witch was ripping out her soul when she did whatever she did. The rogue wanted to kill her since she saw his face, but the witch said they shouldn’t make an enemy right now. Their glorious master wouldn’t want it. It sounded like they’re planning something big, and they don’t want anyone finding out about it until they’re strong enough. They’re probably searching out any magical talent, gifted, whatever they can. Their accents weren’t
from around here. She couldn’t place them.” “What about the shadow thing you showed us?” Alaric said.
“What? Thea thought.
“You showed us something else,” Kai said. “It looked like a shadow, creepy. Its voice was demonic. We didn’t see anything when we got there, but they were already far away.”
“I don’t remember anything like that,” Thea thought. Conri relayed that to Liam.
“Okay,” Liam said. “T’ll look into it. That’s enough for now. You need to rest.”
“She wants to know if you caught them?” Conri said. “No, Luna,” Liam said. “They had a vehicle waiting for them. They hid it perfectly just inside the woods, so we couldn’t see it from the road when we drove past. A driver was in the car. Once they got to it, they sped off. Our wolves are fast, but we can’t outrun a car.” This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
“License plate?” Conri said for Thea.
“Yes. We got the license plate number,” Liam said. “They Tan the number, and the car was reported stolen a few weeks ago.”
“So no leads?” Conri said for Thea.
“No,” Liam said.
“She said thank you, Liam, and thank the Delta team for her,” Conri said.
“I will,” Liam said.
She could tell he felt like he’d utterly failed. Thea reached out her hand toward Liam. He moved toward her, and she took his hand in hers.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Conri said for her. “Don’t blame yourself. She’s the one who wandered off alone. She says she should have known better.”
“We’d already been to the site,” Liam said. “It felt safe. We all felt it.”
“Exactly,” Conri said for Thea. “The witch did something to all of us. Now that we know witches can make us feel like that, we should look into how to counteract it or how to train to recognize it. Something.”
Liam nodded.
“She says we saved her. She’s here. She’s alive. You did your duty,” Conri said for her. Thea could tell he still wasn’t convinced. “Hey, at least we learned that she has no magic. She doesn’t even have a wolf. Maybe the magic is in you guys.”
“I don’t believe that,” Liam said. “I think the witch got it wrong.”
Thea weakly squeezed his hand, and he squeezed it back.
“Time will tell, I guess,” Conri said for her.
Liam nodded and left.
The triplets took their places around her.
“Your hands are burned,” Thea thought to Alaric.
“It’s nothing,” he said out loud.
“Was that from the wolfsbane in my blood?” she thought.
“Yeah. It’s just a burn. It didn’t get in my system. I’m fine.”
“Thank you,” she said in her mind.
He kissed her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared,” Alaric said.
“I don’t ever want to go through that again,” Conri said.
“I need you safe, Thea,” Kai said.
“I love you guys, and I want to spend my life with you. That means I need to have a life. I’ll do what I have to to stay alive,” Thea thought.
The triplets sighed in relief.
“How are you, really?” Conri said.
“Cold and tired,” she thought.
She almost fell asleep while she thought it, but she felt pain in her stomach. She had been feeling it since she woke up, but it was getting worse. She winced. 2
“What? What is it?” Kai said, squeezing her hand.
She pulled her hands from Kai and Alaric and held her stomach. She tried to push the blankets down, but she was weak. Kai pulled the blankets down for her. They all stared at the blood pooling between her legs.
“Doctor!” all three triplets yelled.
Thea barely registered what it could mean before she passed out.