Page 105 of An Omega for the Lycan Prince

My father appears from the other side, shifting to his human form immediately. “Aurelia!” he yells, hurrying towards her, and picking her up. There are bruises all over her face and upper body, and parts of her clothes ripped from fighting. And one of her arms is hanging at a weird angle. He touches her face, panic clear on his face. “Aurelia, sweetheart, talk to me!”

“Dad…” she mutters hoarsely. “We couldn’t… sorry…”

“You need to conserve your energy, don't talk anymore,” he breathes out. There is slight relief on his face after hearing her speak. His eyes scan the area for the other body. “Noctis!”

Dante shifts next to the boy, his expression one of dread. Nox lies in a pool of blood, face down. “Goddess, no,” Dante mutters, carefully turning him over. There is blood coming from a wound on his stomach and one from his chest. Dante feels his pulse. “He is still breathing. Very shallow, though,” he says quietly.

“Get him and Aurelia to the infirmary! FAST!” my father yells. A bunch of our warriors and Dante set off.

I take a deep breath, air filling my lungs while I try to gather all the scents around me. Nothing. All of the important scents are covered. When they covered the area in wolfsbane, I assume they also added something to diffuse all the scents.

I rake my hand through my hair angrily before turning towards one of our lead warriors. “Try to track the traces. Even if they covered their scents, their footprints have to be somewhere! Take only two other warriors with you – we won’t want to trample over any evidence. We probably already did that while coming here!”

He bows, nodding grimly before taking off with two of my men following me. I have to fight the urge to follow them and hunt down Annalise’s abductors for more than a few seconds. But something inside me holds me back. My instinct tells me to stay instead of running around mindlessly and wasting crucial time. I need to stay here to check the scene and look for clues about my mate and the people behind the attack. Our warriors are fantastic, but I know they won’t be able to hunt down anyone… The men who did this were very well prepared. Their scents are covered perfectly, and they knew exactly how to invade us.

Fenris and I do a thorough sweep of the area. There is no sign of Annalise, but I am sure she was here. Besides, Aurelia and Nox were running to help her. I frown a bit when I notice blood next to a tree. I take a deep breath, finally able to catch her scent from the blood. It’s her. She has been here, right here, next to the tree!

I scan the ground next to the tree, furrowing, when my sharp eyes catch something. There is a syringe lying on the ground.

I growl, something white flashing in front of my eyes. I feel Fenris’ wrath washing over me, making it hard to breathe, see, and hear. All I hear is his growling.

“Liam!” my father is next to me suddenly. “Liam, you need to focus! Don’t let your anger control you.” He squeezes my shoulder. “There is not much blood here. I am certain she wasn’t fatally wounded. They took her. They want something from her. She is still alive! You know she is… you would feel it otherwise. We need to keep a clear mind, or we won’t be able to help her.”

He is right. Annalise needs me in control right now. She’s hurt, but she’s alive. They haven’t done anything to her yet. I will the venom in my mouth down, the blinding fury that filled me when I saw her blood. What’s left is cold wrath, which makes me think clearer and plan my revenge. “Whoever did this will die,” I hiss. “And you can’t stop me then.”

“I won’t,” my father promises. “I will happily lend you a hand then.” He sounds angry all of a sudden. “They hurt my daughter, my protégé, and my daughter-in-law. I want to see them dead too.”

I take a deep breath, convincing Fenris to allow me to handle this.

“Good,” he nods, his voice low and careful. “It’s good. You are in control, Liam.”

“I am,” I take a deep breath. “In control.” I frown. “How could this happen!? They invaded our pack grounds.”

“That’s on me,” my father furrows his brows. “The patrols weren’t tight enough in that area. We, no, I got careless because there haven’t been any attacks on us for many years. Time to change that now.”

Dante joins us again, bringing us fresh clothes. “Our pack doctors and nurses are informed and doing all they can for Aurelia, Nox, and Aryanna. Luna Flora and the other kids are at the infirmary.” He looks at me. “I figured you need me more here. There is no way I will allow you to share my fate.”

His words touch me. He lost so much, yet he is so strong and wants to make sure no one close to him ever suffers the way he did.

“Any news on Aurelia and the others?” my father asks.

I feel a bit guilty for not really thinking about them much before. My focus was on Annalise. It still is, but now I also have a bit of worry left for the others. “Ari and Aurelia are…” Dante pauses. “Okay, for lack of a better word. The wolfsbane in their system prevents them from healing fast. They're in a lot of pain, but both are handling it quite well. You have a brave young daughter, Alpha.”

“And Nox?” I ask.

“His wounds are more fatal. The doctor is performing surgery on him to stop the bleeding. His...” he pauses. “His heart stopped beating while I brought him there. They revived him, but with the wolfsbane… it’s difficult to tell if he will make it. Luna Flora called Claire and Robert.”

“Aunt Claire?” I ask in surprise.

“She said they know a lot about alternative medicine, and they might be able to brew something that will get the wolfsbane out of their bodies faster.”

I’m actually a bit impressed. Dad is, too, by the way he looks at Dante. “Flora’s mind sometimes does the most miraculous things,” he mutters.

“Typical Luna,” I say quietly. Annalise is like that too. Thinking about her makes my heart ache immediately.

“We can’t do anything for them here,” I frown, touching my neck to feel the spot Annalise marked. I feel sudden fear filling me again. I can’t lose her. I can’t be without her. I only just found her. They can’t take her away from me so fast.

No, Liam, stop it, keep control. I take a deep breath.Fenris, help me cool down.