Chapter 53: Two Ghosts From The Past
"There you are," he says, oblivious to the tension emanating from Nyra.
"The old oracle has finally replied. She’ll see us tomorrow morning. But she said something else too."
Nyra looks up. "She said the answer you’re looking for can’t be found unless Adrian comes with you."
---
Nyra and Julian walk slowly down the quiet hospital corridor, neither of them speaking.
The weight of everything that has happened presses heavily on Nyra’s chest. The oracle’s message, Anna’s condition, Adrian... it all blurs together until she barely notices the footsteps approaching.
She looks up, and there they are: Her parents.
Nyra’s stomach sinks before they even say a word.
Her mother’s expression hardens the instant her eyes land on Nyra. Beside her, their father doesn’t even try to hide his disappointment.
"You have some guts being here," Mary spits coldly.
Nyra’s fingers dig into her palm, the familiar wounds from all their years of abuse rising to the surface. They haven’t seen her in almost three months, and the first thing they throw at her is disappointment.
"We just spoke to the Luna," Jack adds. "She told us Anna’s condition is serious. And somehow this is still your fault."
Nyra blinks. "What?"
Mary folds her arms. "Your sister is carrying Adrian’s child, yet you’re still refusing to step aside for her!"
"I didn’t know things would turn out like-"
"You’ve always been selfish!" Mary cuts in sharply. "From the day you were born, you made our lives very difficult."
Jack sighs in disgust. "You’ve always brought shame to this family. And now you can’t even make one sacrifice for your sister. For your own flesh and blood."
Nyra’s throat tightens. She wants to desperately yell at them, ask them if Anna cared about flesh and blood when she posted all those vile things about her.
She wants to tell them they failed her as parents, and they had no right to call her a disappointment.
But the words die in her throat. Years of abuse from them make her seek cover instead of being bold.
Julian beside her frowns at their words. "The person you should be confronting is Anna! Do you even have any idea how much she has hurt Nyra?"
"Because she’s weak!" Her father shakes his head angrily. "She has always been weak. Clinging to a love that was never meant for her--you can’t blame Anna."
"So your love also isn’t meant for her?" Julian looks disappointed. "Is this what you’re trying to say to your own child?"
Nyra lowers her eyes, unable to look at her parents anymore. She thought she had gotten over it, but apparently not.
"That’s enough." The familiar deep voice cuts through the hallway before Mary and Jack can respond to Julian.
Adrian steps between them without hesitation, placing himself squarely in front of Nyra.
His silver eyes are ice-cold. "You will not speak to my mate like that."
Mary stiffens in surprise, clearly not expecting Adrian to defend her. "Future Alpha, this is a family matter--"
"No," Adrian interrupts. "The person you’re insulting is my mate and the future Luna of Moon-Crest."
The temperature in the hallway drops, Adrian’s anger pressing on everyone like a physical weight. "And if either of you ever speaks to her with that kind of disrespect again, you’ll answer to me."
Neither parent says a word.
Adrian’s gaze is very cold and confident, his pheromones sending a stern warning to Nyra’s parents. "You’re both old enough to know better. So respect yourselves before you demand respect from anyone else."
The hallway falls into an uncomfortable silence. Mary and Jack don’t say another word, not like they can.
From the look in Adrian’s eyes, they know he means every threat.
Still, neither of them apologizes. They don’t even bother to look at Nyra again like she’s some inconvenience.
Mary simply lets out a quiet scoff before turning toward Anna’s room. Jack follows behind her, shoulders stiff.
They remain with Anna for about twenty minutes. Through the door, Nyra, Julian, and Adrian can hear Mary whispering encouraging, sweet words to an unconscious Anna.
When they finally emerge, their expressions are tight. A nurse rushes over with a stack of hospital documents for them to sign as Anna’s parents.
After they finish, Mary just walks straight past Nyra as though she doesn’t exist. Jack doesn’t even spare her a glance.
Without another word, the two of them leave the private wing, the elevator doors sliding shut behind them.
Nyra watches them go, and for one pathetic second, she hopes her mother might turn around. Just once. Just to ask if she is alright.
But nothing.
The elevator doors open and close without even one glance back.
It really shouldn’t hurt anymore after all these years. It really shouldn’t. But it still does.
She lowers her head, sighing under her breath.
Across the hallway, Adrian studies her quietly, disappointment and hurt still lingering across his face--not because of her, but because she’d been willing to give him up so easily.
He is frowning. "You are really still going to leave me to help them? After the way they just treated you?"
Nyra’s chest aches. "I’m not leaving you when we aren’t even together like that."
Julian looks between them uncomfortably. Since the Moon Dance, when he realized Adrian didn’t judge him for being into men, he’d started to accept him a little bit more.
Adrian’s expression turns darker. "You have my mark on you, Nyra! Do you understand what that means? We are like that!"
She closes her eyes briefly before taking a slow breath. She knows Adrian isn’t wrong--she has heard it several times during class--a mating mark cannot be formed if both the giver and the receiver are willing.
The mark wouldn’t have formed if she hadn’t wanted it.
She opens her eyes, exhaling loudly. "We need to talk again." This time, she looks between Adrian and Julian. "Both of you."
Julian immediately straightens, happy that Nyra changed the topic. "What is it?"
Nyra glances around the hallway before lowering her voice. "About what happened in the arena."
Adrian’s expression instantly changes as Nyra turns to him. "How did you help me fight that day?"
Adrian’s eyes lock onto hers with an intensity that makes her shiver. "I honestly don’t know. I just know that when I walked in and saw Thomas attacking you..." he continues, "...I remember feeling angry. Really angry."
His brows knit together.
"So much anger that I couldn’t breathe. I even wanted to run into the ring for you." He looks down at his hands as if reminiscing.
"I just kept thinking you couldn’t lose, and I pushed every bit of that feeling toward you. I didn’t even think it’d work..."
He meets her eyes again, making goosebumps crawl across her skin. "And It did."
Nyra can’t seem to force her gaze away either. "Did you also feel me? In the infirmary, I tried to give you my strength too."
Adrian’s ears turn red. Wait... is he blushing?
Nyra doesn’t comment on it, but seeing Adrian trying to hide his ears is really cute.
"I... yeah..." he clears his throat. "I felt it too. I accepted it, and I heard you talk to me for a bit too."
Julian beside them kisses his teeth loudly, rolling his eyes at the both of them.
"Anyways, ever since Nyra told me about it, we’ve been researching in the academy library. But we couldn’t find a single documented case of an Alpha sharing his Omega’s injuries or emotions. Especially not before a mating bond."
"So what are you trying to say?" Adrian questions.
"That nothing about this is normal." Julian reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, turning the screen so Adrian can read the message exchange.
"The old oracle replied this morning. She said whatever happened between you and Nyra isn’t natural. And that if we want answers, the two of you have to go meet her."
Adrian reads the message quietly, then frowns.
"Isn’t this the same oracle that tried to break our bond? Why should I trust her when we could just ask our own oracle instead?"
Nyra immediately shakes her head. "No! Besides, she only tried to break the bond because I wanted her to."
Their eyes meet again. "And besides, she’s connected to Moon-Crest. If something is really happening, she might tell your parents."
She takes a deep breath. "And I don’t want anyone else knowing what happened until we understand it ourselves."
Adrian stares at her for several long seconds. Then, because he can’t afford to stay upset with her for too long, he sighs.
"...Fine." He hands Julian’s phone back "Once Anna stabilizes, we’ll go together. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Julian and Nyra echo.
Almost as soon as the words leave their mouths, hurried footsteps echo through the corridor.
Luna Selene appears around the corner, relief flooding her face when she finds them.
"There you are. I was looking for you three."
All three turn toward her as she exhales softly. "Anna’s awake."