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CHAPTER 33
LILY
Raiden slowly let go of me and stepped back, running a hand through his hair. He looked so tired all of a sudden, worried, like he had in the car. I kept my eyes focused on him, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Obviously it had something to do with this Tanya woman.
“Ray? Are you alright?”
He turned his back to me, paced a few steps and ran a hand through his hair again. This was strange. He was strange. I’d never seen him act quite like this before. It made me uneasy, a weariness growing in my gut.
I took a step towards him, “Ray?”
He stopped, spun around and studied me, his eyes darkening with an emotion I couldn’t pinpoint. He was starting to scare me. Behind him, a gauzy brown curtain swayed on a breeze from the window. Everything in the room was earthy colours. Greys, browns and greens. It was beautiful, but it was…
My eyes snapped back to him. “Where’s your room?” I would have thought I’d be staying with him, in his room. It was tradition, after all. Unless - as soon as the doubts came, Raiden stepped closer, taking my hands into his, those stormy greys burning into my blues.
“Lily, there is something you should know.”
Oh no, no, no, no. I was going to faint. I was going to…
“When you disappeared,” he began, but I was shaking my head already, unable to even look at him. I didn’t want to hear it, couldn’t. My poor heart, it would never be able to recover if…
“Lily, please,” he said, leading me towards the bed and pulling me down to sit beside him. His heart was racing, his breathing haggard and shallow. Not good, not good. “You were away for such a long time, everyone thought-”
“What? That I was dead?” I snapped, ripping my hands out of his. I knew I was being unreasonable, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was angry. At myself, at him, at circumstances, at everything and everyone.
Something flashed in Raiden’s features as he stared back at me. Was it hurt? Surprise? He opened his mouth to speak, but the moment he did, his eyes glazed over. He shook his head and blinked a few times trying to get rid of the person in his mind, but then he stilled, his brows lifting to his forehead. A moment later, his eyes returned to normal, and he shot up, looking down at me with a slightly paler face.
“We have an issue in the infirmary,” he said, already taking steps towards the door. “Please, don’t go anywhere. We need to finish this conversation.”
I didn’t want to. I wanted to run away and move into a hole somewhere, crawl in there nice and deep and die.
“Please,” he said, pausing in the doorway, “promise me you’ll stay?”
My heart screamed no, but my traitorous mouth said yes, and he left, practically sprinting down the stairs.
RAIDEN
I’d met Gunnar half-way to the infirmary, but he didn’t share much more on the situation. All I knew was that apparently, a mother had brought her son in, claiming he’d been abducted. She’d told Gunnar he’d been abused for three days, before reappearing in their front yard with no memory of what had happened to him during that time.
It was too bizarre and too much of a coincidence. Why now? Why here? And why did it sound so similar to what Lily had experienced? My mind was working overtime, switching between the entity, Lily and Tanya.
I’d have to break the news to her. It couldn’t wait any longer. I’d seen the look on her face when she realised I’d taken her to a guest room instead of my bedroom. It was heartbreaking to watch. She was my mate, after all, the other half of me. She deserved better. So much better.
“We might have to separate them,” Gunnar said, ripping me from my thoughts. “She’s hysterical, frightening the poor kid more than helping him at this stage.”
I grunted my reply. The details were vague, but if the mother’s allegations were true, I’d have to get this matter sorted as soon as possible. I couldn’t risk it getting out of hand or frightening any other pack members. Especially not Lily. Not while she was still so fragile and haunted by her own trauma.
“P-please, Alpha, my little boy needs help,” the woman practically threw herself at me the moment I stepped into the room. She was clinging desperately onto the little boy, digging her fingers into his shoulders while he stood in front of her crying silently.
I could see what Gunnar was getting at. Hysterical was an understatement for what she was. Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair a mess and her clothing mismatched. She was talking nonstop through her tears, most of it incomprehensible.
The boy, however, looked physically fine other than the crying, which could easily be blamed on his mother’s distress. There were no marks, bruises, cuts or even dirt on him. Turning to Gunnar with a puzzled expression, he shrugged, making his way over to the mother.
“Please, Gillian,” he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, “tell the Alpha what you just told me.”
Gillian shifted her weight from one leg to the other, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. “A-Alpha, I think my boy is ill.”
“Why would you think that?” I asked, pulling up a chair for her to sit in. She sat without even saying thank you.
