Nolan
I stood by the glass of the infirmary, watching the healers work on her. They were moving too fast. That was always a bad sign.
"Pressure!" one of them shouted.
Then I heard the sound from the room. A long, continuous beep.
The healers stopped moving. They looked at each other, then at me.
That's it. My key was gone. The contract, the heir, the Shadow Tomb. Everything would be turning to ash because a nineteen-year-old girl decided the woods were safer than my arms.
"Out." I said, my voice dangerously quiet as I pushed past the healers and into the room.
"Alpha, there's nothing more we—"
"I said OUT!"
I looked at the girl on the bed. Aria. She looked so small. Her skin was the color of paper. The red dress was cut open, showing the ugly wound on her shoulder. It was not moving. Her chest was not moving. The feeling in my gut that connected me to her, it felt empty.
But I refused. I am Nolan Black-Stone. I do not lose.
"Ivan," I commanded. "Get Magda."
Ivan's eyes went wide. He stepped closer to me. "The witch?"
"Yes." I snapped at him. "Get the witch here. Now. Or I will kill everyone in this room."
Ivan didn't argue. He ran out the door.
The healers looked terrified. They backed away into the corners, trying to be invisible. I stayed by Aria's side.
Ten minutes felt like ten years. Finally, the doors opened again.
Ivan walked in. Behind him was an old woman. She was short, wearing rags. Her hair was grey.
She walked straight to the bed. She didn't bow to me. She didn't look scared.
"So," Magda said, mocking. "The big bad Alpha broke his new toy."
"Fix her," I gritted my teeth.
"Dead is dead, little Alpha." She muttered as she put her dirty hand on Aria's chest, right over her heart. She closed her eyes.
The room was silent. Even the machine seemed quiet.
Magda stood there for a long time. Her face changed. Her eyebrows went up. She opened her eyes and looked at me. Her eyes were yellow, like a cat.
"Well." She muttered. A strange smile came onto her face. It was not a nice smile. "This is interesting."
"Don't play games." I wanted. "Tell me, what's wrong?"
Magda laughed. It was a dry, cracking sound. "Her heart has stopped. Her lungs are still." She tapped a long, crooked fingernail against Aria's chest.
"But she is not dead, Nolan. She is... refusing to die."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean she is special," Magda whispered. "The Shadow Tomb chose her. It's not because she is a pretty Blair daughter." She looked at me. "She is not just an omega, Alpha. She is something else."
I felt a chill go down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. I looked at the witch. "I don't give a shit about what she is or what she is not. Just wake her up. Do what you have to do."
Magda shook her head, her yellow eyes glowing. "I cannot do it alone. The Tomb doesn't want my blood. It wants yours. She is bound to you."
She reached into her dirty cloak and pulled out a small bowl made of dark stone. "The healers used machines. I use life. Give me your hand."
I didn't think twice. I reached out. Ivan stepped forward, his face tense. "Alpha, be careful. Witchcraft always has a price."
"I am the Alpha," I said, "I pay the price."
Magda took my hand. She didn't use a knife. She just pressed her sharp, blackened nail into my palm and ripped a line across it. I didn't flinch. My blood, thick and dark, began to drip into the stone bowl.
She started to chant. It was not a language I knew. It was too old, older than the packs, older than the manor. The air in the infirmary began to vibrate. The lights flickered and then died, leaving us in the sickly green glow of the emergency monitors.
Magda took the bowl of my blood and poured it directly onto the wound on Aria's shoulder.
"Blood to blood." Magda hissed. "Soul to soul. Alpha Nolan Black-Stone calls his property back from the dark!"
Suddenly, the room felt like it was under water. I felt a massive weight on my chest. It was the bond. It was pulling on me, dragging me toward her.
I saw Aria's body jerk. Her fingers twitched, scratching at the white sheets.
The long beep of the heart monitor broke.
Beep.
A small, weak sound.
Beep. Beep.
Magda stepped back, wiping her hands on her rags. "She is coming back. But listen to me, Alpha. She has tasted the other side. She has seen the Shadow Tomb from the inside. She will not be the quiet little girl you bought."
I didn't care about that. I watched as Aria's chest rose. Her eyes snapped open. They were not brown. For a second, they were a hollow silver, reflecting the moon outside.
She looked at me as she let out a sound. It was a low, haunting moan that made even Ivan step back.
"She is alive." I whispered.
"She is a miracle." Magda corrected, heading for the door. "Or a curse. We will see soon enough."
I didn't see her leave as I walked to the bed and looked down at Aria. Her eyes were turning back to their normal color.
"Welcome back, little ghost." I whispered, my voice echoed coldly in the room. "You just made yourself much more expensive to lose."
She stared at me for a long time. Then, she looked at the iron door of the infirmary. "Where am I?"
I didn't answer her. "Ivan." I called out, not taking my eyes off her.
"Alpha?"
"Double the guards. If she so much as looks at a door, I want to know about it. And cover this as an accident. No one should know she tried to escape." I declared, watching her chest rise and fall. As Ivan noted and left, I leaned down toward the bed a bit, whispering in her ear. "You wanted a nightmare? I'll give you one you can't wake up from."
I straightened up as the heavy doors of the infirmary burst open.
Aveline was the first one to enter, her face seemed pale, her hair a mess as if she'd run all the way from the gardens. Dmitri was right behind her while my mother trailed slightly behind them, her eyes wide in shock.
"Aria!" Aveline choked out, lunging toward the bed. She stopped short when she saw the blood-stained sheets and the half-healed mess on Aria's shoulder. "Nolan, what happened? We heard the alarms. Someone said they saw you carrying her from the woods."
I stepped back from the bed as I wiped the remaining smear of my blood from my palm onto the medical sheet, acting as if I hadn't just used forbidden witchcraft to pull her back from the veil.
"An accident." I said, keeping my voice cool. "She thought she could take a midnight walk to clear her head. She wandered too close to the eastern tree line and tripped. A rogue got a piece of her before I reached them."
Dmitri's eyes narrowed as he looked from Aria's hollow expression to the dead heart monitor that was now beeping again. He wasn't stupid. He was my beta. My best friend. He knew my territory was too well-patrolled for a "walk" to go that wrong, that fast.
"A rogue?" Dmitri asked. "Within the inner perimeter, Nolan? That's a serious breach."
"It's being handled." I replied, cutting him off with a look that promised violence if he pushed further. "The rogue is dead. The perimeter is being strengthened."
Bellina stepped closer to the foot of the bed, her gaze hovering over Aria's face. "She looks... strange." Bellina whispered. "Her eyes. They look like they've seen a ghost."
"She's in shock." I stated, stepping between Bellina and my bride. I didn't want anyone looking too closely at her.
"We were so worried," Aveline said, her voice trembling as she reached out to touch Aria's hand. "Sky? Can you hear me?"
Aria didn't look at her. She kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"She has been drugged." I lied, though her eyes were wide open.
I looked at Dmitri. "Take the women back to their quarters. The Luna needs absolute silence."
"Nolan, let me stay with her," Aveline pleaded.
"Ave, he is right. We shouldn't be here." My mother said, holding Aveline's hand.
Aveline nodded, "Fine but I will come back."
I gave Dmitri a nod. He quickly guided them toward the exit though his eyes lingered at the door for a second, trailing over the dark stone bowl Magda had left behind. Then he gave me one last look, one that said we would be having a very different conversation.
Once the doors clicked shut, the silence returned.
I looked down at Aria again.
She finally moved her head, her neck clicking as she looked at me. "An accident." She mimicked. "Is that what we're calling it?"