And it almost felt like he was drowning, too, and I was his breath of air.
I clung on to his shoulders, desperately kissing him back, entangling my tongue with his, pressing so hard against him, moving my fingers through his soft auburn curls, wishing I could touch him everywhere. That he would touch me too.
At that moment, I couldn’t give a flying fuck if it was mind control or not.
I just knew I wanted him with every fiber of my being.
And for the first time, I couldfeelhim wanting me too.
A slamming noise caused Lucien to break the kiss and release me, stepping away as he turned to look at the entrance door.
The same entrance door Thayer had readjusted before he retreated to his room was now barely holding on to its hinges, thanks to a large, stunning inky-black wolf who was now padding toward Lucien. Light spilled into the room, indicating the arrival of the sun. The wolf shifted, the sound hissing, and faintly, I realized Thayer had exited his bedroom due to the noise again.
The wolf shifted into Blaise, eyes on Lucien. “Anaïs,” the Beta now said, face stricken. “Wildlight.”
Lucien stared at Blaise for a moment as he processed the words.
And the next moment he was a blur of bronze and auburn as he shifted into his wolf form midway through running out the door.
Disoriented from the kiss with Lucien, and trying to process myself what Blaise had just said, I had to lean back against the wall and watch as Thayer strode toward the Beta. “Take me to her,” he said, face dark.
Blaise’s eyes studied Thayer for a short moment before he nodded curtly. “I’ll take you by car,” he said in his heavy accent.
“I’m coming with you,” I hastily said, heart beating loud in my chest now that understanding finally settled inside me.
Minutes later, Blaise was racing through the forest in his Jeep, with Thayer and me in the back seat, until we reached the beautiful plaza that was the pack’s Heart. Then Blaise led us at almost a run inside the Concordian Ward.
The first bed in the row was occupied by a petite human woman with curly dark hair and eyes that had gone completely black, until not even the whites were present. She was growling loud enough to wake the dead, her teeth unnaturally sharp as she tried to bite the people surrounding the bed the rest of her body was shackled to.
Next to her bed, Remi and Enoch were staring at Anais with dark expressions.
Lucien, in his human form and dressed this time, had blood around his mouth.
“You got her in time,” Blaise murmured as he came to stand next to Lucien.
Lucien nodded shortly. “I managed to restrain her before she killed Layla.”
Blaise nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Thayer walked to the other side of Anais’s bed, his face devoid of emotion. He might’ve disliked Anais for whatever reason, but seeing her in this state, her humanity gone from her human body, wasn’t an easy sight for anyone.
My chest ached as I watched her. She was such a composed woman. Seeing her like this was absolutely devastating.
“What should we do now, Alpha?” Remi now asked, his voice soft, as he stared at Anais with unhidden sadness.
Lucien didn’t reply. Instead, he kept on staring at Anais, looking almost haunted.
Remi tugged at Lucien’s hands. “Alpha?”
Lucien whipped his head at Remi and snapped in a menacing growl, “Don’t touch me!”
Immediately, Remi let him go and raised his hands in surrender, eyes wide in shock, his lips clamped shut.
Blaise murmured something in French I didn’t quite hear, and Remi paled as he nodded and walked away toward another occupied bed, hidden by the curtains.
“You have to find a cure.”
I whipped my head toward my brother, whose voice was strained. His face was as white as a sheet, and his eyes were staring at Anais unblinkingly.