Chapter Two

(Kanyon's POV)

I walked over to one of the cars parked nearby as I shifted back to my human form. This was the second time this week those rogues attacked my pack. And this time, the damage wasn't all bad.

"Alpha Kanyon, here's the report of the bodies we were able to gather." My Beta, Eric walked up to me. I took the paper from his hand. Only three of our pack members suffered casualties. A number of rogues were killed. "It's strange. Rogues are solitary," I mumbled, a deep frown on my face.

"We've lined up the bodies."

"Let's take a look." I moved first.

We got to the tree line. Eric passed me a rubber glove. I wore it and approached the first body. From what I could see, he was young male. Around his late teens. I moved his head to the other side. A strange marking on his neck caught my attention.

"The women and children have been moved to the—" Nikolia, my Gamma reported as he approached.

"Get over here."

He walked over and crouched down. I showed him the marking. "It's a silver burn," he frowned.

"Check the other bodies." I stood up, taking off the glove. I walked to where Eric stood. "Do you think they are being controlled?" He asked. I stayed silent, staring out into the forest.

"They all have the same mark," Niko reported. His gaze swept over the bodies, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"What's next Alpha?"

The branches rustled in the forest. Our heads snapped towards the direction. Niko instinctively stood in front of me. I furrowed my brows, a strange smell of lillies filled the air. My wolf immediately became restless.

A figure emerged. My eyes were instantly drawn to the arrow head protruding from her stomach. "Help me," she pleaded. "Alpha, orders?" Niko raised his brow.

Something inside me screamed to protect her.

I moved, almost running to catch her before she fell. But I was too slow.

I knelt down beside her, raising her now actively bleeding head.

"Alpha?" Eric walked over. "Get the car. Quick. And Doctor Tim," I ordered, picking her up. Eric nodded, doing as told.

Nikolia walked over with a cloth. I took it, pressing it against her head. From her look, she'd already lost enough blood.

Eric arrived and I immediately got into the backseat.

"Where's doctor Tim?"

"He's busy attending to the other wolves who got injured—"

"Hospital."

Eric nodded, heading towards the hospital.

"Why is she still bleeding? She should be healing by now." Jace, my wolf paced around in my head.

I grabbed another cloth, replacing the soaked one. The door opened and Eric helped me take her out of the car. A nurse rushed towards us with a stretcher. I placed her on it.

"We'll take it from here, Alpha," she reassured, already pushing her inside.

"Do you want to stay—" Eric started but I was already heading into the hospital.

It wasn’t too busy but the few around were shocked to see me. I sat in the waiting room.

"Do you think someone hurt her?"

"I don't know Jace. Let's focus on making sure she's alive."

Eric stood beside me. "Your hands..."

I looked down and drew in a breath before going to the bathroom to wash her blood off. By the time I came back, doctor Tim was already waiting for me.

"I'm going to be blunt. She barely survived."

I blinked slowly, the words registering.

"The arrow is out. Fortunately, it didn't severely damage any of her internal organs. We've taken care of that but..."

"Her head?"

"We're preparing to take her into surgery. She also needs a blood transfusion."

"What's her blood group?"

"You can’t donate to her. You're B positive. She's O negative."

Eric interrupted. "I'll donate. I'm O negative too."

"Let's get you ready." Doctor Tim and Eric disappeared into one of the rooms. I sat back down on the chair. For some reason I couldn't stay still. And Jace didn't help either. He kept on hitting me with questions I wished I had answers to.

"Kanyon, where are you?" Athena's voice rang in my head.

"Hospital."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

She was silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"We were able to capture one of the rogues. Permission to bring him in for interrogation?"

I sat up. "Take him to the cell. I'll be there after the surgery."

"Surgery? Kanyon, are you okay? Is Niko okay?"

"Later Athena." I disconnected the mind link.

I spotted Eric walking out of a room. He had one hand on his arm. "Doctor Tim has already started the surgery. He said I should tell you it might take a while."

I nodded. "Athena was able to capture a rogue. Told her to take him to the cell. You can go investigate."

"I'll get Niko to bring you some food."

"No need."

Eric sighed before turning to go. I stopped him. "Thank you. For the blood," I let out a small smile. "I hope she's going to be okay," his gaze swept over the closed doors around.

"Yeah."

He turned and left.

The next few hours dragged. People were brought in, some discharged. Niko stopped by to see how I was doing. He also left to rest. I told him to. Soon it was just me and the nurses in the waiting room.

The operating room doors finally opened.

Doctor Tim walked out, he approached me. "She's stable for now."

I immediately released a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "Any other thing?"

Doctor Tim paused, taking off his mask. "There was a lot of silver in her blood..."

"Someone tried to kill her." Jace growled.

"We don't know how true that is."

"She wasn't healing because of that. And she lost a lot of blood. Her recovery will take time," Tim explained. "She also shows signs of being malnourished," he added.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath. This is worse than I thought.

"Physically, she'll recover. What worries me is the injury to her head. Head trauma can affect memory, speech concentration...we won't know until she regains consciousness." He concluded.

"Oh goddess."

"It's only a possibility. We're still uncertain. In the meantime, let's get her report." He led me to the front desk. A nurse handed him a blank patient's card.

That's when I realised I didn't even know her name. Or which pack she's from.

"I thought she was someone close to you. You've been so worried about her." Tim pointed out.

I looked at him. "Yeah... she is. She's meant to be."

The nurse and Tim exchanged a look before he handed the card back to her. "The goddess works in mysterious ways. Do you want to see her now?"

"Yes."

Tim nodded, leading me to her room. Room 47. I could still smell lilies through the antiseptic and smell of blood in the hospital. I pushed the door open and walked in. Her head was wrapped in bandages, she was receiving blood through an IV. Her chest barely rose and fell but I could tell she was still alive through the breaths in her oxygen mask and the beeping of some machines.

Her face was bruised, skin pale.

"We have to find who did this to her," Jace seethed.

"At least she's safe. For now."

I turned around to leave.

"Don't worry, we'll monitor her closely," doctor Tim reassured. I nodded, walking out.