27. VANYA

I smiled and took the bowl Ezra handed to me. Placing it down on the tray resting across my lap, I looked up and watched as Devrim entered the room with a tall glass of water. Obsidian was right behind him.

“You need to eat all that soup and drink as much water as you can,” he said before stepping away.

“Take this first,” Obsidian ordered. “It’ll help you keep everything down.”

I stared down at the white pill he had in the palm of his hand.

“Drink it yourself or I’ll force it down your throat,” he warned softly.

That was the last thing I wanted, so I quickly swallowed the small pill with a big sip of water.

Obsidian stared at me for a few more seconds before he turned away and walked over to the chair next to the bed.

My eyes darted between the three of them. Devrim sat next to me, Ezra by my feet at the edge of the bed, and Obsidian in the chair. We all had a bowl of soup and a plate filled with a few slices of bread, except for Obsidian.

I frowned at him, which made his eyes narrow. Instead of asking questions like I wanted to, I focused on my food. Not that it stopped my mind from racing.

An image of the panther I had seen flashed through my mind.

Had that been him? What happened to his tattoos when he shifted? Why was he so muscular in human form, but so thin and malnourished-looking in animal form?

“Eat, Vanya.”

The soup was delicious. I managed to eat it all without bringing it all up again.

“We need to talk,” Devrim said softly after he had finished eating.

My heartbeat increased as fear filled me. Had they found out about what my father wanted me to do? 

I wrapped my arms around my waist and lowered my eyes.

 “Can you tell us what happened when those men kidnapped you?” Devrim asked.

I blew out a relieved breath and explained exactly what had happened.

“I can make a sketch of them if you can give me a description,” Ezra told me.

“They blindfolded me before I could get a look at their faces.”

 I didn’t miss the glance Obsidian and Ezra shared. What are they hiding? 

Devrim sat up and glanced between the two of them. He muttered a curse under his breath after a few minutes of staring at Ezra.

“What?” I questioned in confusion. “We will have to do something about this silent communication-thing you have going on.”

Ezra cracked a smile, but it quickly faded. “There was a reason I was covered in blood earlier.”

I was too scared to ask, but I had to. “Why?”

“There was a report about some human who had ventured into a bear’s cave. Unfortunately, the bear got to him before we could.” His eyes shot over to Obsidian. “We found a bag with some syringes, a dart gun, and darts.”

“So it’s possible that he was one of the men who had kidnapped you,” Devrim muttered.

“They were father and son,” I told them. “When you were chasing us, it sounded like they were starting to panic. We stopped, and he told his son to go to the safe house. After he pulled me out of the car, he told him to take the car and lead you on a wild goose chase.”

My eyes locked with Ezra’s, making me aware of the guilt that had flooded his eyes.

“Ezra—”

“It’s my fault,” he interrupted. “I fell for his trap. If I hadn’t lost sight of the car, then you wouldn’t be in this condition.”

“It’s not your fault, Ezra.” I gave him a small smile. “It could’ve happened to either one of you. Look at the bright side, you got to me before he could kill me.”

“Did I?” he whispered under his breath, but we all heard it.

The look on his face tore at my heart.

I picked up the tray and leaned over to place it on the bedside table. Moving towards him wasn’t an option, so I gestured for him to come to me. After a moment’s hesitation, Ezra crawled over to me. I slipped a little lower, spread my legs, and opened my arms.

He laid down on his stomach between my legs with his head resting on my stomach and his arms wrapped around my lower back. It was uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to complain.

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of his head before I straightened and relaxed back against the pillows.

Ezra sighed as I ran my fingers through his hair. I smiled when he started purring.

“He ran deeper into the woods,” Obsidian rasped, breaking the silence. “Why?”

“Because of the safe house,” I said, looking up at him. “The man told his son to get to the safe house.”

“Then why not head back into town to get lost in the crowd?”

“We’d be able to track them,” Devrim spoke up.

“No.” Obsidian sat up and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “They masked their scents. It would’ve been impossible to track them.”

“How do they mask their scent?”

My eyes darted between the two of them. I realized just how little I knew about them.  

“You humans mask your natural scents by using artificial ones. Perfume, as you call it,” Obsidian continued.

“When it’s sprayed too strongly, it burns our noses and messes with our sense of smell,” Ezra muttered against my stomach. “Your father wears a lot of it.”

I laughed. “He does, doesn’t he?”

I sighed as my laughter died down and the atmosphere between us turned sombre.

It all hit me at once. I’ve stared death in the eyes twice now; the first time I was closer to death than the second, but still, I could’ve died. I bit my lip as tears burned my eyes.

“W-what did he inject me with?” I questioned.

“Vanya—”

“A tranquilizer,” Obsidian interjected. “Something they used in the facility to knock us out whenever they needed to move us.”

My eyes shot up to his. “I could’ve died, right?”

He hesitated and then gave me a nod. “It was a milder doze, but it’s never been used on humans before. We don’t know how this is affecting your body internally.”

“So there’s still a possibility that I’m dying, even though you saved me?”

A few minutes of silence passed before he answered

“Yes.”