Chapter 78: Something’s Wrong
The senior club is louder than usual today.
While the juniors join pack training, the seniors have that as a free period--although most of them still use it to play different kinds of sports with each other.
Heavy punches echo through the massive training hall as senior Alphas spar against each other in different rings. The scent of sweat, perfume, and wolf pheromones hangs thick in the air.
Adrian wipes the back of his forearm across his face before slipping beneath John’s punch.
"Too slow," he mutters, smirking smugly.
John growls playfully before throwing another combination. "I’ll get you one day, I swear."
"You’ve been saying that since we were juniors, John." Adrian teases, shoving his arm, while the other guys in their group watch them leisurely.
David leans lazily against the ropes. "Can you two flirt somewhere else? Some of us are trying to train."
"Jealous?" John shoots back.
"Very."
John is busy making faces at them, and Adrian uses the distraction to finally land a clean strike against John’s shoulder.
John frowns as he stumbles back. "Hey, that’s not fair!"
"It is very fair." Adrian chuckles, removing his sparring gloves for a short water break.
John also removes his gloves, coming to stand next to him. "So..." he says between drinks. "How’s life now that your house is finally peaceful?"
Adrian can’t stop the small smile tugging at his lips. "Nice and peaceful."
Peter snorts from where he was eavesdropping. "I never thought I’d hear Adrian Blackwood describe his life as peaceful."
And it’s true. When he was dating Anna, there was always one drama or another with them, even before Nyra came into the picture.
And he’d thought he liked it, but being with Nyra feels so much better.
"Peter, don’t jinx it," David jokes. "If you say it like that, then boom, something crazy is going to happen-"
Before Adrian can respond to their teasing, a blinding pain explodes inside his head.
His vision goes white, his ears ringing. "Fuck..." The bottle slips from his hand, crashing onto the floor.
He doubles over, gripping his temples with both hands. It feels like something is tugging roughly at their mating bond, and it is very painful.
"Adrian!" John rushes toward him. "What happened?"
"Are you hurt?" another teammate asks from the back.
But Adrian can barely hear them. His wolf is going insane, feeling the scraping pain from their bond.
"Nyra..." That’s all he manages to voice through the pain. "Nyra is in trouble."
Before anyone can stop him, he bolts out the door, tearing out of the seniors’ lounge at full speed, ignoring his friends’ shouts behind him.
Only one thing matters now: making sure that Nyra is okay.
---
Minutes later, Adrian skids to a stop outside the academy training grounds.
Students are gathered everywhere, either practicing or hanging around with their groups of friends.
He searches frantically until he sights the faces he’s been looking for:
Julian. Leah. Lena. Naya. There’s no Nyra. His stomach sinks.
And with the expressions on their faces, he knows something is wrong before they even reach him.
Julian notices him first. "Adrian!" he calls, immediately rushing over.
"What happened? Where is she!?" Adrian asks before Jason even reaches him. His eyes are blown wide. "Where’s Nyra? I felt something was wrong, so I came."
Julian looks worried. "You were right, she’s gone."
"What?" Adrian freezes. "What do you mean, gone?"
"She was in the infirmary with Mia--our new friend."
Leah quickly adds, "We only left for one training session, but when Julian came to pick her up, both of them were gone."
"Wait, wait, wait." Adrian feels like he’s going to crumble. "Why was she in the infirmary in the first place?"
"Claire kicked her in the stomach during combat. She couldn’t even stand properly." Adrian’s ears ring at the name. If it’s his own fault those bastards are still walking around free, then he’ll deal with them himself.
"We’ve searched everywhere, but she’s gone."
"And wherever she is, something is very wrong." They all stare at Adrian as he continues. "Nyra tried to reach out to me through the bond. I could feel pain in her head and chest. I don’t--we need to find her right now."
The words send a chill through the entire group, and for a moment no one knows what to do.
Then Julian grabs Adrian’s arm, his eyes wide as an idea hits him. "Try and use the bond, Adrian! Mind-link her."
Leah blinks in surprise. Mind-linking between two wolves is very rare, and mostly happens with mates who have been bonded for years. These two just recently got together.
"They can do that already?"
"I don’t know," Julian answers without taking his eyes off Adrian. "But their bond hasn’t exactly been normal. Maybe it’ll work."
Adrian nods desperately. "It’s worth trying."
He closes his eyes, everything around him fading away as he focuses only on the thread connecting him to Nyra.
Their bond it’s still there. He can feel it’s still open, but it is very weak. He can’t feel her pain anymore, and every time he tries to reach for her, something seems to lock him out.
Adrian doesn’t give up. He keeps pushing harder, calling to her the same way he had managed to reach her in that ring.
But this time, it’s nothing like that. Every time the bond locks him out, there’s a strong pounding in his skull and a burn spreading behind his eyes.
Still, he’s not giving up. If there’s any chance to find her, then...
He tries to reach for the bond again and again until something slams him back once more, and blood begins trickling from his nose.
"Adrian!" Julian catches him as he staggers back, helping him to a chair as he tries to open his eyes.
They are bloodshot and wet, like something was pricking them.
"What happened?" Julian asks urgently, watching Adrian wipe the blood away with the back of his hand, breathing heavily.
"Something is blocking it."
"What?"
"The bond..." He points toward his chest. "...It isn’t closed. I can still feel it open. But something else is interfering."
They all exchange uneasy looks. Bond blocking can only be done by extremely rare magic because it is one of the most treasured gifts from the Goddess and very hard to achieve.
It is mostly done with black magic, even.
Adrian is also thinking the same thing as he wipes more blood trickling from his nose.
"Something happened to Nyra, I’m sure of it. And whatever it is... it’s definitely not good."