Chapter 48
Chapter 48 Blood
Thea felt sparks where ric squeezed her hand, Kai caressed the other, and Conri rubbed her feet.
“Doctor!” Conri called out.
“She’s awake!”
Dr. Boman came in and shooed the triplets out of the way. He checked her vital signs, shined a light in
her eyes.
“Your oxygen levels are low, but that’s to be expected given how much blood you lost. How are you
feeling? Can you talk?”
“I feel,” Thea said, voice raspy. “Stupid.”
The doctorughed. “Seems like the spell has worn off,” he said. “Don’t feel bad. Everyone was under
a spell. No one noticed you slip out. Everyone is kicking themselves and praying to the moon goddess
that you’ll be okay. I was able to repair the damage, but you need to take it easy for a while. Don’t
scream. Don’t jostle your neck or anything. For the most part, try not to talk. Seems like maybe you
were strangled before he cut your carotid?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought so. You need to let your vocal cords heal. Your voice is going to be hoarse and sore. The cut
is pretty deep, and it’s a dangerous area. You lost a lot of blood—more than half your total volume.
You’re going to be weak and tired until your body reces what we couldn’t. We used everything we
got from the blood bank. They injected you with enough wolfsbane to kill everyone in this room. I need
you to take it easy. Can you dothat?” ?
“Yes,” Thea said. “Doctor, I’m cold.”
“Another side effect of the blood loss.” He retrieved more nkets and put them over her. “Do you feel
up to telling Liam what happened?”
“Yeah.”
The doctor mind linked Liam, who walked in a few secondster. The doctor walked out to give them
privacy.
“Thank the goddess you’re okay,” Liam said. “I’m so sorry we let you out of our sight.”
“Not your fault. I felt drawn to go outside, then to the woods. I didn’t even realize I was alone. Then
suddenly I was on my back, things were hazy, and! couldn’t move.”
“The doctor said you were under a paralyzing or holding spell,” Liam said.
“Yeah. It was a rogue and a witch. First, the rogue choked me to try to get me to shift. I started cking
out. Then he let go. The witch did something to check if I had magic.” She started coughing. Talking
was irritating her throat.
“Babe, why don’t you think it to us, and we’ll talk for you? Conri said.
She nodded, and Conri spoke for her.
“The witch said the only magic in her was her mark,” Conri said. “She said she doesn’t even have a
wolf. They injected the wolfsbane to make sure. It felt like the witch was ripping out her soul when she
did whatever she did. The rogue wanted to kill her since she saw his face, but the witch said they
shouldn’t make an enemy right now. Their glorious master wouldn’t want it. It sounded like they’re
nning something big, and they don’t want anyone finding out about it until they’re strong enough.
They’re probably searching out any magical talent, gifted, whatever they can. Their ents weren’t
from around here. She couldn’t ce them.” “What about the shadow thing you showed us?” ric
said.
“What? Thea thought.
“You showed us something else,” Kai said. “It looked like a shadow, creepy. Its voice was demonic. We
didn’t see anything when we got there, but they were already far away.”
“I don’t remember anything like that,” Thea thought. Conri ryed that to Liam.
“Okay,” Liam said. “T’ll look into it. That’s enough for now. You need to rest.”
“She wants to know if you caught them?” Conri said. “No, Luna,” Liam said. “They had a vehicle waiting
for them. They hid it perfectly just inside the woods, so we couldn’t see it from the road when we drove
past. A driver was in the car. Once they got to it, they sped off. Our wolves are fast, but we can’t outrun
a car.”
“License te?” Conri said for Thea.
“Yes. We got the license te number,” Liam said. “They Tan the number, and the car was reported
stolen a few weeks ago.”
“So no leads?” Conri said for Thea.
“No,” Liam said.
“She said thank you, Liam, and thank the Delta team for her,” Conri said.
“I will,” Liam said.
She could tell he felt like he’d utterly failed. Thea reached out her hand toward Liam. He moved toward
her, and she took his hand in hers.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Conri said for her. “Don’t me yourself. She’s the one who wandered off alone.
She says she should have known better.”
“We’d already been to the site,” Liam said. “It felt safe. We all felt it.”
“Exactly,” Conri said for Thea. “The witch did something to all of us. Now that we know witches can
make us feel like that, we should look into how to counteract it or how to train to recognize it.
Something.”
Liam nodded.
“She says we saved her. She’s here. She’s alive. You did your duty,” Conri said for her. Thea could tell
he still wasn’t convinced. “Hey, at least we learned that she has no magic. She doesn’t even have a
wolf. Maybe the magic is in you guys.”
“I don’t believe that,” Liam said. “I think the witch got it wrong.”
Thea weakly squeezed his hand, and he squeezed it back.
“Time will tell, I guess,” Conri said for her.
Liam nodded and left.
The triplets took their ces around her.
“Your hands are burned,” Thea thought to ric.
“It’s nothing,” he said out loud.
“Was that from the wolfsbane in my blood?” she thought.
“Yeah. It’s just a burn. It didn’t get in my system. I’m fine.”
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“Thank you,” she said in her mind.
He kissed her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared,” ric said.
“I don’t ever want to go through that again,” Conri said.
“I need you safe, Thea,” Kai said.
“I love you guys, and I want to spend my life with you. That means I need to have a life. I’ll do what I
have to to stay alive,” Thea thought.
The triplets sighed in relief.
“How are you, really?” Conri said.
“Cold and tired,” she thought.
She almost fell asleep while she thought it, but she felt pain in her stomach. She had been feeling it
since she woke up, but it was getting worse. She winced. 2
“What? What is it?” Kai said, squeezing her hand.
She pulled her hands from Kai and ric and held her stomach. She tried to push the nkets down,
but she was weak. Kai pulled the nkets down for her. They all stared at the blood pooling between
her legs.
“Doctor!” all three triplets yelled.
Thea barely registered what it could mean before she passed out.