Chapter 83: Bond Call
"Wait, isn’t that..." Leah’s voice cuts through their thoughts, pointing toward the floor near the metal chair.
All eyes drop to the disturbed patch of dirt near the metal chair.
Adrian doesn’t wait, instantly dropping to one knee beside the disturbed patch of earth.
He sniffs it at first, then starts clawing at the spot over and over again.
The others exchange confused looks. Adrian has been acting very weird today.
"What are you doing?" Lena asks.
Adrian doesn’t answer, his nose remains pressed against the ground, inhaling deeply.
When he finally looks up, his wolf’s face looks like it’s folded into an even deeper scowl, if that was even possible. "I was right, they used blockers."
Julian frowns. "What?"
Adrian digs harder, sending dirt flying across the room. "They used very strong scent blockers, that’s why none of us could smell it at first. So we can’t tell exactly what happened."
The others slowly realize why, as within seconds Adrian uncovers something beneath the loose soil.
Blood. And not just a little, a lot.
So much blood that the entire room falls silent, face pale with fear.
Lena instinctively covers her mouth. "Oh Goddess, what exactly did they do to her?!"
Naya slowly shakes her head. "That’s-that’s too much blood."
Leah’s eyes begin filling with tears. "What do we do now... what if she’s-"
The sentence barely leaves her mouth before Adrian’s wolf whirls around.
"Don’t you dare finish that sentence!" He releases his pheromones through the room so fiercely everyone instinctively steps away from him.
"I know she’s alive! Nyra knows I’ll come get her. I know she’s still fighting."
He refuses to believe anything else. He can’t.
The Goddess wouldn’t just tear them apart like this, not after everything they’ve gone through together.
Right?
The massive wolf falls to the ground, face between its paws like it’s in pain. His whole body is trembling in a way they’ve never seen Adrian before.
He shifts back to his human form, completely unbothered about being naked. His whole body is shaking with quiet rage, like his mind is completely refusing to accept any other possibility.
They’ve never seen him break down like this. It’s alarming.
Julian quickly steps forward before Adrian’s wolf completely loses control. "Adrian."
No response.
"Adrian!" He shakes him hard. "Adrian, try reaching for her again!"
And when those wet silver eyes settle on Julian again, the look in them makes Julian’s heart break.
"Do you think I haven’t fucking tried!" Adrian sounds completely defeated. "I’ve not stopped trying to reach her, I haven’t fu-"
Julian isn’t giving up. "Then try again. And again, and again." He shoots the other girls a look, so they wipe their own tears and quickly chime in.
"Yes..." Naya encourages, trying to keep her voice steady. "Nyra is strong. I don’t think she’ll give up so easily. We should keep looking."
Leah also tries. "Adrian, please try to reach for her again. Maybe the bond is open now..."
"Nyra told me something over the phone last night." Lena sighs, stepping forward too. "She said she didn’t expect to feel so happy with you, but she does. She said she is slowly starting to accept that maybe the Goddess knew what she was doing after all."
Adrian’s ears perk up as Lena continues. "I know deep down she knows you’re coming to get her."
This time, the words finally hit him. It really does, like hearing it finally convinces him to try again.
Adrian closes his eyes, feeling his resolve crack. And when he opens them again, they’re red once more.
"Okay, I’ll try again." He meets Lena’s eyes. "I’ll try to reach her again, no matter what it costs."
He places one shaking hand over the mating mark on his neck, whispering almost to himself.
"Please, please answer me." And then he reaches through the bond, trying to call out for her.
This time, there isn’t anything blocking it. But it still feels faint, like the bond is growing weaker with every passing second.
And judging by the amount of blood on the floor, Adrian isn’t even sure she’s conscious anymore.
He tries, keeps trying, but it’s useless. All he feels is the pain from the strain of trying to reach the bond.
A sharp pain blooms in his skull. Adrian’s wolf is already weak and tired from running miles all the way from Moon-Crest Academy, and now this.
Still, he doesn’t stop. Not even when blood starts to trickle down from his nose onto the floor.
Naya notices it first, panicking. "Adrian, wait... maybe you should rest before you try again-"
But Adrian isn’t listening to reason. Not when every minute lost could mean potentially losing Nyra forever. To him, losing blood is nothing compared to that.
He keeps trying, ignoring the burning sensation coming from the bond. For such new mates, their mating bond has been strained so much it’s starting to become fragile.
Adrian doesn’t stop. Not even when red web-like lines start spreading from the mark on his neck down to his back.
Julian tries to cut in this time. "Adrian, I think you should stop. You’re hurting yourself!"
Adrian can’t listen. "Nyra, please... even just a nudge."
His vision starts to grow blurry, so he stops, looking at them with weary eyes. "The bond is open, but she’s too weak to respond. I don’t know what to- wait!"
How could he have forgotten? The time during pack training, he had taken her pain, and she had also given him strength even when he was unconscious in the infirmary.
He’s been doing it all wrong.
Though they were close then, it is still worth a shot now, he thinks.
So Adrian stops trying to reach out to her. Instead, he sends her his strength. With everything in him, he pushes it to her, even though his strength is already low from the wounds on his body, gotten from the several branches that slammed into him on the way here. From the blood he’s lost.
He still pushes what he has to her, begging her to take it.
His body is growing weaker with every passing second, to the point Julian has to catch him before he falls completely forward.
"Adrian! Stop!"
He barely hears him, his entire focus remaining on the tiny thread connecting him to Nyra.
"...Please just tell me you’re alive. I’m begging you."
Adrian almost loses hope. Almost.
But then, just as he’s about to give up, he feels something tug at their bond, so faint he almost imagines it.
His eyes snap open. She is accepting his strength! Slowly, but at least she’s alive!!
Oh, thank the holy Goddess.
"Nyra..." he calls out quietly to her. "I’m here. I’m always here."
Another tiny nudge, like she hears him. But it’s weak, so weak it makes him scared.
"Just tell me where you are. I’ll come get you."
He has to wait for a few minutes, but finally he gets his answer, and the joy he feels in that moment is unlike anything he’s ever known.
A relieved laugh escapes him as he opens his eyes again. "I found her!! I fucking found her!"
All three girls nearly collapse from happiness. "That means she’s alive?!" one of them asks happily.
"Where did she say she is? Is it far from here?!" another asks.
"There’s no time. Just follow me." Before they can ask any more questions, he shifts fully back into his wolf.
Then sprints.
---
"What are you all waiting for?!" Julian shouts. "Move!"
All three girls rush back into the truck behind Julian, seatbelts buckled as they start speeding through the woods again.
Meanwhile Adrian is already far gone again. They can only see the blur of a black wolf in front of them.
"How is he still running?" Lena blurts, clutching the seat tight. "He just lost so much blood!"
Julian slams the accelerator. "We’re losing him again, and I can’t really pick up on his scent with the scents of all these rogues."
Naya finally breaks her silence. "I’m more bothered that no one is exactly talking about Adrian’s eyes after he killed those Alphas."
Leah adds with curious-glinting eyes. "Seriously. My dad told me only Enigmas have two eye colors. Besides, he’s faster than every Alpha I’ve ever seen!"
Julian grips the steering wheel tighter. "Not now."
"But-"
"I said not now!" He jerks the steering wheel sharply, the truck narrowly missing a massive oak tree.
They almost swerve off the main road, and Julian doesn’t have to remind them again to stay silent. But unfortunately, by the time they straighten out again...
Adrian is gone. Completely out of their sight.
Julian curses, running a hand through his now-messy curls. "Damn it." Then he turns to face the girls, green eyes angry. "I told you girls, not now! Now we’ve lost him!"
"Sorry." All three of them mutter quietly, already wondering how they would track Adrian down.
They almost lose hope, until the screech of an Omega wolf slices through the trees, followed by an eerie growl so loud that the trees shake.
Julian is the first to unhook his seatbelt. "That- that has to be Adrian. Come, let’s go."