Chapter 141: He is alive
The explosion erupted before anyone had time to react. A deafening boom tore through the rain-soaked street, shaking the surrounding buildings and sending a violent wave of heat across the road.
Flames burst from the wrecked vehicle, swallowing the darkness in a flash of orange and gold. Shattered glass shot through the air, glittering briefly beneath the streetlights before raining down across the wet asphalt. The smell of burning petrol and twisted metal filled Killian’s lungs.
"Run!" he barked, his voice sharp with urgency.
But he couldn’t run. The injured woman was still in his arms. Killian instinctively twisted his body, pulling her tightly against his chest and shielding her head with one arm as the force of the explosion slammed into them. His feet left the ground.
"Killian!" Eloise screamed as Killian’s body was thrown away.
*********
Far away, inside the private wing of Ravencourt Central Hospital, Yuki sat against the raised headboard of her bed. The room was quiet except for the faint hum of the machines around her.
Rain covered the large window beside the bed, droplets racing down the glass in crooked paths and turning the city lights outside into blurred streaks of gold. Yuki held her phone in both hands as she scrolled through notes from her previous classes she had missed while in a coma.
She had requested the materials from the university earlier that day. If her recovery continued at this pace, she would need to catch up on everything she had missed.
She paused at a page of medical notes. The regenerative treatment was working almost unbelievably well. Only hours ago, even sitting upright had required effort. Now, although her body was still weak, the heaviness in her limbs had already begun to fade.
The constant ache in her muscles was becoming less intense, and she could move her fingers and arms far more easily than she had expected. Yuki stared at the notes for another moment. Then thunder rolled across the sky. She slowly lifted her head. Lightning flashed behind the rain-covered glass as a large explosion cut through the night. The bed vibrated a bit from the sound.
A strange sensation twisted deep inside her stomach. Yuki frowned, her brows knotted. "That’s weird," she muttered.
Her wolf remained silent. Yuki could still feel her presence somewhere inside her consciousness; it was faint but unmistakable. She was still there, just quiet. Yuki glanced towards the window again. Another distant rumble followed.
"Someone must have gotten into an accident," she murmured. She rubbed her palm over her stomach, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling. "Well, it has nothing to do with me."
She lowered her gaze and returned to her notes. Her phone suddenly vibrated. Yuki looked down. A message from Aevia appeared on the screen.
Aevia: Congratulations on waking up, dear. Alexander and I arrived in Raven City a few hours ago. I was asleep and only just woke up. The head maid told me you woke up today.
Another message followed.
Aevia: I wanted to rush over, but the rain is terrible tonight. I’ll come first thing in the morning.
A small smile touched Yuki’s lips. For the first time since waking up, warmth spread through her chest. She quickly typed a response.
Yuki: I’ll be expecting you. There seems to have been a bad accident somewhere nearby. Please stay safe.
She sent the message. Her gaze drifted towards the window again. The rain continued pouring. For some reason, that strange feeling hadn’t completely disappeared.
Her frown deepened. There was no pain or bond—nothing she could sense—just a bad gut feeling with an inexplicable sense that something was wrong. She shook her head and returned to her notes. She had no idea how close the accident was to the people whose lives had become tangled with hers.
**********
Back at the accident scene
The blast threw Killian backwards. His body struck the road with brutal force, pain exploding across his back as he rolled several times over the slick asphalt. He refused to release the woman even as the impact knocked the breath from his lungs.
For several seconds, everything became muffled. The rain, the screaming, the distant sirens, even the crackling flames seemed distant. Killian blinked through the haze. Cold rain struck his face. He dragged in a painful breath and immediately looked down.
The woman was still in his arms. He pressed two fingers against her neck, checking for her pulse. It was weak, barely noticeable.
"Stay with me," he muttered, his voice rough. "Don’t you dare die on me," he hissed. A grim thought crossed Killian’s mind. Kieran had caused the accident, even if unintentionally.
If she died, Kieran would have a much bigger problem than a broken car and a few injuries. Killian’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t about to let his brother become responsible for a dead civilian if there was anything he could do about it.
His gaze settled on her, inspecting her injuries. Blood continued to seep from the deep wound on her forehead, mixing with rainwater as it ran down her face. One of her legs was badly crushed beneath the wreckage, and Killian could smell blood even beneath the sharp scent of petrol.
His gaze immediately searched the road for Kieran. He found him several metres away. His brother lay motionless on the wet asphalt, his body surrounded by fragments of glass and metal. The healer and Eloise were beside him.
Killian’s heart lurched. "Kieran," he instinctively called out.
His wolf surged against his consciousness. ’He’s alive.’
Killian could feel it. Weak, but alive. His heartbeat was louder than earlier. He didn’t know what the local healer was doing, but it was working.
He wanted to run to him. Every instinct screamed at him to leave the woman and get to his brother, but the injured female’s heartbeat fluttered beneath his fingers. She was dying. Her condition was worse than Kieran’s.
Killian clenched his jaw. He couldn’t abandon her. He lowered her carefully onto the road, supporting her head with one hand. "You’re going to live," he told her firmly. "Do you understand me?"
She didn’t respond. Killian glanced towards the burning wreckage. Rain poured heavily around him, hissing whenever it struck the flames. Smoke twisted into the dark sky while pieces of shattered metal lay scattered across the road.
Fortunately, most of the people nearby had managed to move away after Killian’s warning. Several had shifted into their wolves and fled the immediate area, carrying injured people who couldn’t shift in time away from the burning vehicles.
Then a child’s cry pierced through the chaos. "Mummy!"
Killian’s head snapped towards the sound. A large wolf emerged through the smoke. A small boy was clutched carefully between its teeth, his soaked shirt held gently between the wolf’s jaws. The wolf reached the edge of the road before lowering him onto his feet. The moment the boy was released, he stumbled forward.
"Mummy!" He tried to run towards his mother in Killian’s arms.