Chapter 76

Agnes & Elijah

Agnes

The first thing I noticed was the dull, throbbing ache behind my eyes. It pulsed with every beat of my heart, like a rhythmic reminder of the drugs coursing through my veins.

The second thing I noticed was the nausea. My stomach churned violently as if I was stuck at sea, and as the memory of what had happened began to creep back into my consciousness, panic flared up in my chest.

I bolted upright, only for the world to tilt sharply around me. The room spun, and another wave of nausea surged up so quickly that I barely had time to register what was happening before I knew I needed to move.

Clamping a hand over my mouth, I stumbled out of bed, my legs weak and unsteady beneath me. The bathroom was only a few feet away, but every step felt like a marathon. By the time I reached the toilet, I collapsed to my knees and emptied the contents of my stomach in several violent heaves.

The sound of my retching echoed in the bathroom, and tears streamed down my face as my body betrayed me again and again. I gripped the porcelain edge of the toilet tightly, my knuckles turning white with the effort, as the world continued to tilt and blur around me.

Then I felt it—warm, steady hands brushing my hair back from my face.

“It’s okay,” Elijah’s voice murmured, low and soothing. His touch was gentle as he gathered my hair in one hand, his other resting lightly on my back. “I’m here.”

I wanted to say something—anything—but all that came out was another harsh retch. He stayed beside me, unmoving, as I emptied everything I had left and then some.

When the worst of it had finally passed after what felt like an eternity, I slumped back against the wall, my chest heaving as I gasped for breath. Elijah knelt in front of me and pressed a cool cloth against my sweat-damp forehead.

“You’re alright,” he said softly, the cloth now brushing against my cheek. “It’s over now.”

I wanted to believe him, but the tremors wracking my body said otherwise. “I feel… awful,” I managed to croak. “What happened?”

“You’ve been through a lot. Let me help you back to bed. And then we’ll talk.”

He slipped his arms beneath me effortlessly, lifting me as if I weighed nothing. My head lolled against his shoulder as he carried me back to the bedroom, the scent of him washing over me and soothing the remnants of my nausea.

With almost heartbreaking care, Elijah gently laid me down on the bed and pulled the covers up to my chest. I shivered despite the warmth of the blankets, my body still reeling from whatever had been slipped into my drink last night.

As Elijah turned, stirring something into a cup of steaming tea on the bedside table, I turned my head and watched him. His shoulders were looser now, more relaxed than I had last seen him.

The last time…

I felt my stomach twist. I could recall now the way Elijah had burst into the room, the powerful blow he had landed on that man’s chest. And the red glow to his eyes. Pure, unbridled rage.

“That man…” My throat tightened, the memory of his sneer and the cold marker against my skin flashing behind my eyes.

Elijah’s jaw tightened, but when he turned back to me holding the cup of tea, his eyes were surprisingly soft. “He’s been dealt with,” he said gently, sitting on the edge of the bed and lifting the cup to my lips. “You don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

I blinked up at him, trying to make sense of it all as I sipped the tea. The peppermint flavor instantly soothed my stomach, and the honey he had stirred in eased some of the pounding in my head.

“What… what did he do?” I finally managed.

Elijah hesitated, and the way his fingers tightened around the cup as he carefully set it down on the bedside table wasn’t lost on me. He was barely containing his anger. Just barely.

“He was the son of one of the businessmen I cut ties with,” he finally admitted. “This was his way of retaliating. He wrote… things on your body, took photos, and planned to use them to humiliate us.”

A cold chill swept through me, despite the warmth of the blankets. The thought of that man touching me, marking me like some kind of tool for his twisted revenge, made fresh bile rise up in my throat again.

“But it didn’t work,” Elijah continued. “I destroyed his phone. None of those photos will ever see the light of day, and the bastard was taken into custody for what he did. I made sure of it.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I quickly looked away, not that it would hide them. “You… found me just in time,” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“Of course I did,” he said quietly. “I’ll always protect you, Agnes.”

I swallowed hard, my throat burning from the effort. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, the weight of exhaustion pulling me under. But before I succumbed completely, I murmured, “I called for you… I called for you in my mind, and you came…”

His hand brushed against mine, a fleeting touch of reassurance, as darkness enveloped me once more.

…

Elijah

I stared down at Agnes, her words echoing in my mind on repeat.

“I called for you in my mind, and you came.”

Her breathing had evened out, her body finally succumbing to the rest she so desperately needed. But I couldn’t move. My wolf was too busy stirring restlessly beneath my skin, replaying the events of last night over and over again.

Was it possible? Had she truly reached out to me through some kind of Mindlink?

I hadn’t heard her voice in my mind last night, but the pull I had felt when she was in danger had been undeniable. It was like a fire had been lit in my chest, a beacon guiding me straight to her without hesitation.

Was it a coincidence? Maybe. But it felt like something more, somehow. Although I couldn’t even begin to explain it, nor could I even comprehend it.

I rubbed my hand over my face, my eyes catching Agnes’s sleeping form laying below me. Her features were soft in sleep, her brow no longer furrowed with pain or fear. She looked so vulnerable like this, so fragile, and yet…

She had been used like some kind of vessel for revenge. Her body had been treated like a canvas. Perhaps the man hadn’t taken advantage of her in… that way, but it didn’t matter. He had taken her autonomy, her ability to fight back. And he had taken his anger out on her.

If I hadn’t felt that pull toward her… what else might he have done?

My chest tightened as I thought about the bond we shared—or didn’t share. Agnes didn’t have a wolf. The magic that suppressed her wolf was still as powerful as the day I had met her, and beyond that, we weren’t mates. Olivia was my mate, not Agnes.

But this connection… it couldn’t be ignored.

I closed my eyes, reaching out with my senses. My wolf stirred again, pacing, searching for any sign of Agnes’s wolf. Maybe her wolf was finally emerging, and somehow, perhaps due to our proximity recently, she’d established a Mindlink with me.

But just as I suspected, there was nothing—just the steady rise and fall of her chest, the warmth of her skin beneath the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains.

Whatever connection we had, it wasn’t the same as the mate bond I shared with Olivia. This was… different. Deeper, somehow. But without her wolf, it couldn’t be real. Could it?

Sighing, I pushed the thoughts aside, unwilling to dwell on them any longer. Agnes needed rest, not my endless speculations. So I rose to my feet and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders, tucking it around her carefully. Her face relaxed further, her lips parting slightly as she sank deeper into sleep.

I lingered for a moment longer, my eyes tracing the lines of her face, before finally turning away.

Shutting off the light, I stepped out of the room and left her to rest.