Page 5 of Soul Bound

I look away from her wound for a second to look at her face, her chocolate eyes are locked on me, but they aren’t focused. “Took who?”

“My baby, they… c-cut her out… and t-took her.” Her voice shaky as she speaks. “They heard you coming…” She takes a shallow breath and her eyes flutter closed.

Oh God. They cut her baby from her stomach and left her here to die. My stomach rolls, but I’m filled with a wave of anger I haven’t experienced before. I wish Pru hadn’t ripped out Nicolai’s throat already. It was too easy of a death. The fucker needed to suffer, but he died too quickly instead.Fuck!

“No, stay with me.” I gently shake her shoulder, making her eyes slowly open again. “There you are.” I smile at her, though I’m sure there is fear in my eyes. “You have to stay awake for me, okay?”

Her head nods slightly, if I wasn’t looking at her face, I would have missed the small movement. “I’m so tired.”

“I know you are, but you have to stay awake for me, sweetheart.” The sheet I’ve been using to compress the wound is almost completely soaked now, I scan the room for another one but don’t find anything. I shrug off the plaid flannel I’m wearing over my T-shirt and use that. “Tell me what happened. Where did they take the baby?”

Her dark eyes well with tears. “I don’t know, the pain… was too much. I couldn’t s-stay awake to see what they did with h-her. I heard her c-cry, she sounded so strong.” The tears that had stayed put in her eyes, finally fall, leaving streaks in the blood that had somehow gotten on her face. “I didn’t… even get… to look at her.”

I brush away the tears with my thumb quickly, smudging the blood more. “You’re strong too. I’m sure she’s alright.” Again, I’m lying, I have no idea what they could be doing with the newborn or where they could have taken her. The second Nicolai died, a majority of the staff here surrendered, but there are still a handful of doctors missing. We’ve looked everywhere for them, but it’s like they disappeared into thin air, and it looks like this poor woman’s child is with them.

“Will… you promise… me something?” Her weak voice fills the room.

I don’t hesitate, with my free hand I reach for her limp one. I squeeze it softly so I don’t hurt her anymore. “Anything.”

“Find her. Find my baby.” The woman coughs, her chest heaving for breath as she does. A spray of bright crimson blood escapes her lips, covering her ashen face.

I don’t even know the first place to start looking or how I’ll be able to find the newborn, but I promise anyway. “I will. I’ll find her.”

Her brown gaze scans me so intensely, it’s like she’s looking at my soul. “I believe you.” Her eyes flutter closed again, and I squeeze her hand a little harder to bring her attention back to me, but it doesn’t work.

“Hey! Keep those eyes on me, you’ve got to stay awake,” I say, urgently. Her eyes don’t open, but I see her lips twitch slightly like she’s going to smile.

“It’s okay. She’ll… she’ll be okay. She has…you.” And then her breath shudders past her parted lips and the room falls silent. The only noise in the room is my heartbeat, hers is silent in her chest now.

My wolf snarls, urging me to help her, not understanding there’s nothing we can do for her anymore.

She’s gone.

My chin drops to my chest and I squeeze my eyes shut. When we planned our mission to help Pru, I never expected that this would be the outcome, but then again, I never in my wildest nightmares could have dreamed up a place like this. Nicolai was a twisted fuck, holding women against their will and impregnating them with genetically modified embryos, all in the name of breeding strong hybrid babies that he could use to acquire more power.

I’ll never understand how someone’s mind could be so fucked and the worst part of it, Nicolai isn’t even the mastermind behind all of this. There’s someone else out there pulling the strings, Nicolai was only a small part of this fucked-up story and there are many more facilities out there that are just like this one.

With a calming breath, I gently pull the hospital gown down over her exposed torso and legs, not wanting to leave her here exposed. Just like the other woman being kept alive by machines, there’s nothing I can do for her now. The authorities who are on their way will have to take care of her body. I have no idea where she will end up or where she’ll be buried—hell, I don’t even know what her name was or what species she is.

I look one more time at her pretty face and find some relief in knowing she is no longer in pain or being experimented on. I only hope that she has found some peace, but I don’t think she will be able to rest easy until her child is found.

I shuffle out of the room; my legs feel heavy and my hands—God, my hands arecoveredin blood.

“Ranger?” a voice calls down the hallway, but it sounds like someone is speaking underwater. The voice is muffled. “Ranger?” it repeats, and I’m finally forced to look up.

It’s Pruitt and Ryker.

Their eyes zero in on the blood on my hands and their expressions fill with concern. They speak again, but I’m not really listening. “It’s not mine,” I finally manage. “It’s hers.” I jerk my head in the direction of the double doors I had just left.

They push past me and go into the room. I don’t follow, I know what’s on the other side and I’m not ready to look at her again. After a minute, they both come back out of the room, their faces pale. Pru’s eyes are glassy with fresh tears.

“What happened to her?” Ryker asks, his voice gruff.

I start to reach up and rub my face but stop when I see the blood soaking them. “They just left her here.” I look back at the closed doors, the small windows at the top of the doors only allow me to see the crown of her dark head. “They cut out her baby and they just…lefther here.”

“Oh God.” Pru puts a trembling hand over her mouth. “Where is the baby now?”

“They took it.” I shake my head and finally draw my eyes away from the door. “She said it was a girl,” I add before walking down the quiet hallway, past the empty cells. I don’t look back at them when they call my name. All I can focus on is the way my hands shake and the promise I had just made.

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