Page 73 of Silent Noise

CHAPTER 50

RAIDEN

The door gave way and utter dread slammed into my bones, my veins, into my very being. Beside me, Gunnar had stopped breathing too, his breath caught in his throat, eyes wide, almost bulging out of his skull.

I clamped a hand over my heart, gritting through the pain, calling on my wolf to ease some of it. Lily’s unconscious body was suspended in the air, hanging unnaturally above the bed. Her hips and legs dangled, unmoving and pale. Her arms were also limp and lifeless, swaying slightly, with her head fallen back, neck exposed.

Ice in my veins. Ice in my heart. Ice on my tongue.

Her hair created a curtain of blonde, reaching down to the bed in endless waves of gold. I couldn’t see her face, her eyes, her mouth. My heart ached, the ice-grip shattering it into a million pieces. She looked dead. My love, my heart, my mate.

As if on cue, another wave of pain doubled me over, throwing me to the ground in agony, forcing me to my knees, panting. I blinked the involuntary tears away, not tears of sadness, but pain. Excruciating pain. Lily. If I could still feel her pain, it meant that she was still connected to me. Still alive.

Strong gusts of air ripped at everything in the room. Gunnar didn’t move, simply staring at Lily in disbelief, his mouth hanging open.

A strange black mist was hanging all around her, seeping through her clothes and filtering through her hair. It seemed unaffected by the gusts of air. As though the mist was disconnected from everything else, it had a life of its own. It moved slowly, pulsing with life. Alive, it began entering her nose, mouth, ears, everywhere it could find entry.

Frantically, and with burning desperation, I tried to get up, tried to get Gunnar’s attention. Life was being sucked from my mate and I had to do something. I crawled, barely reaching Gunnar’s pant leg, “g-g-grab her,” I hissed out through my pain, “hurry.”

He snapped back to reality in an instant, grasped my arm and pulled me up. The sound coming out of me was feral as I roared in anguish. The pain sliced through me like a white-hot blade.

“Shift,” Gunnar bellowed, “shift now!”

I obeyed, without hesitation, and my wolf lunged, pushing claws, fangs and fur into place. With a loud snarl, I finally managed to take a deep breath, the pain fading within seconds. I jumped, launching my large beast into the air with its claws and fangs drawn, lips pulled back and ears flattened against his head.

In the chaos, I heard Gunnar barking through the mind-link, not at me, but calling for backup. Clawing and snapping my jaws repeatedly at the mist, it began to lose form, disperse and weaken. Hot air slammed into my face and chest, shoving me back, across the room. But Lily fell, its grip on her loosening as she crashed down onto the bed.

In an instant, I shifted back into my human body, scrambling towards her on clumsy legs. I slid to a halt beside her, dropping to my knees as Gunnar flew past, charging his large frame at the mist. It was still above me, but she needed me, and I knew Gunnar would be looking out for us. Pulling Lily to the edge of the bed, away from the fight, I cradled her in my arms. Life, I searched. Signs of life. Please, please, I begged Celene, butnothing happened. She wasn’t moving, didn’t seem to be breathing either.

Gunnar snarled and barked in the background, trying to distract or chase away the entity behind me. From time to time I felt hot air grazing my skin, before he would lunge again, numerous orders being roared into the pack’s link as he did.

I couldn’t care. The love of my life, the woman of my dreams was limp in my arms, and I didn’t know what to do to save her. If I was in fact too late. As hurried footsteps sounded behind me and guards came charging in, I pulled her into my chest, picked her up and carried her out of the room, into the hall where it was quieter. Carefully, laying her flat on the floor, I pressed my ear to her abdomen, listening. Please. Please. Come on Celene, show me this kindness, I beg of you.

Tears falling, soaking the fabric of her nightgown. I stared at her nose, her mouth, her chest. Time slowed and everything around us blurred out of existence. “Breathe,” I said, “damnit breathe.”

Some of the wolves came charging back out of the room, white and fleeing down the hall, trying to get away. I couldn’t give a shit.

I shook her, gripping her by the shoulders, “Lily?” I either asked or demanded, I wasn’t sure. “Lily-Flower?”

I tried again, this time mind-linking the words. Her chest jerked. Had I blinked, I might have missed it. I studied her face intently, finally making out tiny movements underneath her eyelids. Her body remained limp. I ran my fingers along the side of her face, mind-linking again.

My Love?

Lily’s eyes fluttered. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t breathe. And then, golden orbs locked onto me, her eyes practically glowing in the dim lighting. I exhaled a heavy sigh. Lily’s wolf was staring back at me. A pained sob broke from my lips as I pulled her into me, burying my face in her hair, inhaling her scent, “thank you, thank you, Wolf,” I kept saying. “Y-you saved her.”

We shared a precious moment in the hall, folded around each other as more and more guards scrambled around us. I knew things couldn’t go on like this. I knew I had to put an end to it one way or another.

Gunnar, I linked.

Ray?

Take Lily to the medical wing and stay with her.

Gunnar came flying out into the hall, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead. Reluctantly, I pulled away from my mate, nodding to Gunnar to take her. He crouched, picking her up and with a stiff, understanding nod, and left, pressing my most prized possession tightly to his chest. There was no one else on this earth I trusted more with such a precious cargo.

Alright, everybody out, I linked through the pack link, stepping back into the room, trembling from head to toe. Blinding rage pulsed through me, the sound of my own voice unfamiliar and feral.

The remaining wolves scrambled past me and out of the door within seconds. I kicked the door shut behind them as the last one left and focused all of my attention on the column of darkened mist gathering unnaturally in the middle of the room. It was still here, and I needed to know why. Whatever the hell this thing was, it wanted something, and I was done playing games.

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