Page 28 of Silent Noise

In her hands, she held a tiny yoghurt cup with a white plastic spoon. I didn’t miss her eyes darting past me to my Beta and the door behind us, as she calculated her escape. Her nostrils flared, taking in my scent and her gaze returned to mine.

She swallowed. I didn’t expect to find her this lucid, not after what the nurse had told me yesterday. Her posture was rigid, her eyes aware of my every move. I cocked my head, studying her and saw her frown in return.

“What’s your name?” I asked, my words echoing through the quiet room.

Her eyes briefly flicked to my Beta behind me. She had to know I was the Alpha; she could smell it in my blood.

“You were trespassing on my territory.” Not a question.

She opened her mouth to speak, but only a throaty squawk came out and she lowered her face, pressing a hand to her lips and cleared her throat. She peered up at me again, through her lashes before lifting her chin and answering.

“Lily.”

Her voice was rough, the sound of gravel under boots. She moved her hand down to her neck, covering it with her fingers. Sore. Pack patrol told me they found her screaming.

“From which pack are you?”

Her hand tightened around her throat as she spoke, and it looked like it caused her a great deal of pain to do so.

“Hollow Stone.”

I frowned, turning to my Beta. “Get me a map.”

He nodded and his eyes glazed over.

Turning back to face her, I crossed my arms over my chest. “What are you doing here?”

Her blue orbs moved, darting about the room and finally settled on the yoghurt cup in her lap. “I-I don’t,” she struggled, “I don’t know where I am.”

Someone was playing a very dangerous game. This couldn’t possibly be real. I stepped closer, dropping my arms to my sides.

“Then maybe you should start telling me what you do know.”

“I-uh, do you have a phone I can borrow?” She asked, placing the yoghurt on the bedside table. “Please? I need to phone my dad.”

Her dad? What in the world? I thought she looked about my age, why would she still be living with her parents? Glancing at my Beta, he shrugged, but behind him, another wolf entered, extending a map to me.

I took it and laid it out on a nearby counter, being mindful not to turn my back to her. With an index finger, I traced the packs, starting North, at Blade Rock. Skimming the map, my finger moved down, down until…Hollow Stone. “There,” I said, pointing it out to my Beta. His eyes widened. It was no less than five provinces away, approximately 1150 miles.

“What are you doing this far north?” he asked, turning back to her.

“North?” she frowned, “which pack is this?”

I carried the map over to Lily and laid it out on her lap. She baulked at first, but when she saw what I wanted to do, she struggled into an upright position, leaning slightly over the map. I then pressed my finger to an area marked in green, Hollow Stone, her pack, and slowly moved it up to Blade Rock, marked in brown, mine.

Her brows rose and she stared at me, her mouth slightly open, revealing dark blue bruises on the inside of her lower lip. “Blade Rock,” she mouthed, her eyes going wide. She shook her head. “This can’t be right.”

Lily lunged, grabbing the map and tracing her finger back down to Hollow Stone, then up again, stopping at Shadow Creek, a place marked in yellow. Shadow Creek?

Beside me, my Beta gaped, as stunned and confused as I felt. Lily’s heart was beating so fast, so vigorously, it resounded in my ears. Her eyes turned glassy as she lifted her gaze from the map, looking at me.

“M-my name is Lily Scott,” she said, her words fast and voice quivering. “I’m the third heir to Hollow Stone, daughter of Alpha Leonidas and Eleanor Scott. I-I was,” she shook, the map on her lap vibrating in her grip. “I think a spirit abducted me.”

Beside me, my Beta swore filthily and the blood inside of my veins turned to ice. Abducted by a spirit? There was no way one of the Shadow Folk could have been responsible. My eyes roamed over her, calculating. The callouses on her palms, her injuries, her heartbeat. She couldn’t possibly fake a racing heart like that.

A delicate hand flew to her mouth, and she turned away from me, closing her eyes. Beneath the plain grey gown, I could see her shoulders shaking. She was losing it. Lily began outright sobbing and hunched forward, cradling herself in her lap. Abducted. A fat tear fell onto the crinkled map beneath her. I moved slowly, my feet backing me away at its own accord. I found the door. “Get me Hollow Stone’s number, right now,” I whispered to my Beta.

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