Page 56 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

She nods. “I tried, and I continued to work on her on the plane on the journey here.”

A heavy tension falls across the room, and I look between them. “What is it?” I ask sharply.

“She didn’t make it,” Sienna says softly.

The words echo in the silence, and I lean back against the sofa armrest. “Shit…”

“You’re not out of the woods either,” Azura says as she walks over to me, crouches beside the sofa and touches my hand. “We were just discussing possible solutions.”

“And I hate when you talk like that; it means I’m not going to fucking like what I hear,” I remark, raising an eyebrow.

Azura smirks as she looks at the rest. “Told you.” She stands up, and Uncle Rayhan sighs.

Dad moves forward. “Leo has a solution that might help get rid of whatever remnant of the drakath that is left in you.”

Seems they’ve been filled in about the drakaths.

“Let’s hear it,” I say, crossing my arms.

“Well, cutting straight to the point, you’ve marked Sienna, and inevitably, at some point when you’re over your fucking stubbornness, you will end up giving in to the bond. We all know that’s going to happen,” Leo says.

I narrow my eyes. “Then you don’t fucking know me,” I say icily, hating how he thinks he fucking knows shit.

Leo cocks a brow. “Really? Want a fucking bet on that?”

“Were you always such a dickhead?” I ask.

“Yup, he was,” Ahren whispers, making his dad frown at him.

“Keep being delusional if you want, but I’ll fucking simplify it for you. When someone is marked, the body doesn’t just respond emotionally – it reacts biologically. A surge of hormones is released, powerful enough to alter heart rates, complete cellular regeneration, and even stimulate neural responses. That’s why marking someone in moments of crisis has saved lives before. It’s not just symbolic; it’s a lot more. You’re sharing strength, sharing power. For a short window, that hormonal spike forces your cells to accelerate, which makes one heal faster, fight harder, overriding normal limits,” Leo explains, his icy eyes fixed on me. “So, if Sienna were to mark you, that surge might be strong enough to burn out whatever trace of the drakath that still lingers in your system.”

I scoff. “And what, you’ve fucking tried this shit?” I ask icily.

“I do a lot of research, so yeah, I’m confident,” he answers, unfazed.

“And Sienna is willing,” Azura adds, her voice playful, but I’m not in the fucking mood.

I’ve already marked her, tied her to myself, but if she completes it, then I don’t think I’d be able to fight it; plus I’d go into fucking haze. Yeah, no fucking way.

“And Aunty Kiara couldn’t heal whatever lingers inside of me?” I ask, looking at Aunty Kiara, who has her arm around Dad’s waist, his head resting on top of hers.

Everyone falls silent, and I feel a wave of unease wash over me. Something is wrong. Grandad looks down, Grandma looks at Aunty Kiara, her eyes full of worry, and suddenly, I dread what I’m about to hear.

“I’ve recently been ill…” Aunty Kiara begins as Dad gives her a gentle squeeze. “And I’ve lost my ability to heal.”

My heart races as those words sink in.

“What? That’s temporary, right?” I ask, not wanting to think of how many people Aunty Kiara has saved in her life.

“It’s permanent; it’s similar to what has been happening over the years in Italy,” she whispers.

“Are you saying it’s happening here?” I ask. I know what she’s talking about. Years ago in Italy, certain werewolves got sick and lost the ability to shift, mind-link and their other werewolf abilities.

“We hope not. So far, it happened after Kiara returned from a trip to France, but we don’t know,” Grandad says gravely.

“Can you shift?” I ask Aunty Kiara, my eyes fixed on her.

A pregnant pause fills the room, and she looks down.