Chapter 85

Rowena

My heart hammered against the inside of my ribcage as I was led down the sterile hallway toward Eric’s quarantine cell. The harsh buzz of fluorescent lighting overhead mingled with the dull hum of voices, distant growls, and beeping machines.

It was like something ripped straight out of a dystopian horror film. Each window I passed revealed Wolf’s Fury victims in various states—pacing, snarling, tied to beds.

Was this Eric’s fate? To be locked up like an animal, his mind elsewhere?

I tried to swallow past the lump of dread clogging my throat, but it seemed to swell tighter with every step. God, I hoped he was alright. I couldn’t bear it if, so soon after I learned about my true lineage, so soon after I learned that we could be free to love each other…

If he was no longer in control of his own mind.

The soldier escorting me paused outside of one of the cells, gesturing to the large window. It was darkened, but a set of shades began to move up inside the window as he tapped on a touchscreen.

“He’s in here,” he said. “Ten minutes—that’s all I can allow right now.”

Ten minutes? The words rang hollow in my ears even as I nodded, reaching for the phone hanging on the wall.

Please... please let him still be in there, I thought to myself. I just need to tell him… I need to tell him the truth…

The shade finished opening, and there he was. Eric, sitting cross-legged on a bed against the walk.

I swallowed hard as I reached up to press my palm flat against the barrier separating us. He looked... normal, not at all like the others. Upon closer inspection, I could make out his eyes, gleaming with that calm sense of pride that I knew so well.

I rapped my knuckles against the glass to get his attention, unable to contain the shaky exhale that rushed from my lungs when his head turned in response. Those piercing blue eyes found mine in an instant, and then he was bolting up off of his bed, racing to the window and pressing his palm flat against where mine was.

“Eric,” I breathed out, pressing the phone harder against my ear. He furrowed his brow, and I realized he couldn’t hear me—and then I pointed at the phone from where I could see it on his side of the wall. “Pick it up.”

Understanding dawned in his eyes, and he hastily picked up the phone without removing his hand from the glass.

“Rowena,” he murmured, his voice hoarse. “What the hell are you doing here? It’s not—”

“I had to see you.”

He shook his head wearily. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on breaking me out or something.”

A startled laugh bubbled up from my chest, and I shook my own head.

“Don’t tempt me,” I managed to tease back. “You know how impulsive I can be sometimes.”

Eric chuckled softly at that, the sound rich and genuine as his fingers unconsciously curled to mimic how our hands would naturally lace together if we weren’t so cruelly separated.

“How… How are you feeling?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Normal,” he murmured softly. “I felt fine before, really. Adrian…”

“He egged you on to make you look worse,” I replied, feeling anger twist in my gut just at the mention of him. “But they’ve tested you, haven’t they? They wouldn’t be keeping you here if the virus weren’t positive.”

Eric didn’t answer, but it didn’t matter; that was all the answer I needed.

“So it’s positive. Shit.” I cursed under my breath, clenching my jaw as I looked away. Dammit, I needed to find a cure. That feral state—followed by death—couldn’t be the only option.

“No, Rowena,” he said, almost as though reading my mind. “I’ll be alright, I promise. It’s progressing slowly. Someone will find a cure before then.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but then closed it again when I saw that knowing look in his eyes. He had been there when I drew the blood from that warrior.

“You… You think I could…?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“I can’t think of anyone else who’s more capable than you.”

My shoulders sagged involuntarily even as my heart clenched painfully. Of course he believed in me so blindly. He loved me, the damn bastard. And I did, too.

Swallowing, I licked my lips before uttering, “Eric, I lo—”

The pounding of footsteps against tile made us both start abruptly, our intimate moment shattering in an instant. The identical look of annoyance we shared was painfully brief as I turned to find none other than Adrian himself striding our way, looking far too pleased for my liking.

“Well, well, what a pleasure,” Adrian said, stopping a few paces from me. “Rowena, I didn’t expect you to be here. Or… I guess I sort of did, didn’t I?”

Heat flooded my cheeks at his words. I pulled my shoulders back and shot him a withering glare over my shoulder while still pressing the phone to my ear. “Watch your mouth before I—”

The words died in my throat, an undignified squeak slipping out as Adrian abruptly crowded into my personal space—his chest alarmingly close to mine. That infuriatingly self-satisfied smirk of his widened even further at my evident discomfort.

“Before you what?” He purred, and I swore I felt his fingers brushing along the curve of my hip for a fraction of a second. “Just yesterday, you couldn’t even pull away from me on your own. What makes you think you could stand up to me?”

Before I could answer, a strangled snarl of fury filled the room, and I whipped my head around just in time to watch Eric draw his arm back—every tendon standing out starkly beneath his taut flesh. His entire body was tensed like a loaded spring, his lips peeled back from his clenched teeth in a feral snarl.

Then, before I could fully process what was happening, his arm whipped forward—his large fist colliding with the glass partition.

An earsplitting crack ripped through the air as a spiderweb of fractures exploded outward from the point of impact, rapidly spreading across the entire surface until—without warning—the whole barrier simply imploded in on itself.

In that same moment, Eric was vaulting through the new opening—his eyes blazing with an intensity that made my blood run cold, all higher reasoning clearly overridden by pure animalistic violence.

“Don’t you touch her!” he snarled, headed straight for Adrian.

All at once, time seemed to stop. Eric’s fist, aimed directly for Adrian’s jaw, looked like a loaded gun in my face. His fangs were dropped, foam dripping from one corner of his mouth, and he looked…

Feral.

“Eric, no!” I screamed, my voice shrill as I instinctively threw my arms out—angling my body to shield Adrian from the brunt of Eric’s wrath. “Don’t do this! You’re not a monster—you’re still in there somewhere!”

Denial flashed across his features for the barest fraction of a second. Then, just as quickly, the fury faded from his face. He came to a sudden halt—mere inches away from where I stood rooted in shocked horror.

His nostrils flared as he stared down at me, his ragged breaths sending hot puffs of air washing across my cheekbones. For several long moments he remained utterly motionless as his pupils returned to their normal size.

Then, with a harsh shudder, his eyes slipped shut. He lurched forward, reaching for me.

“Rowena…”

Suddenly his arms were coiled around my waist, crushing me flush against the solid wall of his chest. I didn’t fight him—I simply looped my arms around the broad expanse of his shoulders as he buried his face against the crook of my neck.

“I’m here,” I whispered, even as the sounds of shouts and alarms filled the space around us. “I’m here, Eric… And I’m not your—”

But before I could finish, Eric was being ripped away from me. The last thing I saw before being ushered back through the sliding metal doors was Eric’s face, his blond hair awash in the red and blue lights.