Page 26 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

“There is absolutely no way Cat , Gayle or Mr . and Mrs . Truelock are involved in this,” I announced.

No one paid me any mind as Set informed Aleksei , “ I clocked him when he came in. At first, he had eyes only for Laura .”

“Same,” the female said. “ She’s pretty, but it wasn’t that. He was locked on.”

I turned on her. “ Of course he was,” I snapped furiously. “ But there’s nothing left for him to take from me. He’s already killed my beast.”

At my announcement, the air in the room turned completely static.

This highly uncomfortable feeling didn’t alter one bit when Aleksei asked sinisterly, “ I beg your pardon?”

I whirled on him again. “ He was one of the ones who attacked me in that alley three months ago. Obviously , the police didn’t find him. And now I think…” I shook my head. “ I don’t know what to think. Because from the instant I saw him, he was looking at you.”

Aleksei stared at me.

I stared at him.

He stared at me.

Before I started screaming, because we were doing this again, he said with clearly forced calm, “ Your beast isn’t dead, Laura .”

My stomach twisted, the pain so excruciating, the bitter dripping off my words was barbed.

“Then you didn’t read your briefings on me very closely, your highness.”

“Your beast isn’t dead,” he repeated.

I opened my mouth.

“I feel her right now.”

I closed my mouth, and a bolt of fire shafted through my internal organs.

“She’s been very quiet,” he said, his voice exceptionally low, like he was talking to a being clinging to the edge of a tall building, hoping to convince them not to jump.

“ She was highly communicative the night we met, but since then, nothing. I’ve thought it curious.

But my creature communicated to me she’s small, vulnerable, and he suspects she’s been taught to hide, and seek your shelter, my guess was, because what your parents thought of you… and her.”

I felt my eyes begin to sting, because he was touching too many raw chords with his words, but I slanted my chin to the side in an effort to control my emotion and kept my gaze steady on his.

“She’s not quiet, Aleksei . She’s there, because I refused to allow them to cut her out. But she’s still gone.”

I was feeling something come off him. Something dangerous and scary.

But his voice remained calm and painfully reassuring when he asked, “ Someone wanted to cut her out?”

“At the hospital, after the attack.”

“The attack three months ago,” he said.

“Yes. It had to have been in my brief. I made a statement to the detective inspector. He’s even commed me since.

Not often, but he’s been in touch to share where he is with the investigation.

Which isn’t far, something that became very obvious tonight.

Cat and Gayle were there when I reported it.

They were also there when the doctor and his nurse tried to encourage me to surgically let her go.

My gals got pissed, particularly Cat , because they were badgering me about it, I didn’t want it, they wouldn’t let it go, and eventually Cat lost her shit, demanding they leave the room and eventually chasing them out.

Then she called Mr . Truelock , and he had me transferred home and had a home healthcare nurse look after me the next couple of days. ”

“This detective inspector’s name?” Aleksei asked.

“Farlay.”

“District?”

“Seven.”

“The hospital?”

“Mercy Royal .”

“The doctor and nurse?”

I’d started shivering.

Something was wrong here.

Really wrong.

“The doctor’s name was Buildlore ,” I told him shakily. “ Shifter . The nurse, she was human. I think her first name was Carmen . Last was… Fitzgerald ?” I asked like he could confirm.

His gaze shafted over my shoulder, and he growled, “ Get on this. And send a team to Laura’s warehouse. Someone’s filtering benzos into her water supply.”

“On it,” Set grunted, and he and the female turned back to the elevator.

The doors closed on them and slowly, carefully, like my body would shatter if I moved too fast, I turned to my mate.

“What’s going on?” I asked, my words trembling as much as my body was.

“Come here, bissi ,” he urged tenderly.

“No, tell me what’s going on,” I demanded lamely, because, yes, my voice was now even shakier.

“Do you know what benzos are?”

I shook my head but said, “ Sedatives .”

“There are two types. Benzodypenes are sedatives. Colloquially , they’re referred to as dypes. There are also Benzobytines . Those are referred to as benzos.”

“I’m not understanding why you’re sharing this information with me.”

“I’m sharing it with you because Benzodypenes are used widely, as prescribed by a physician, as sedatives, and in lower doses, to combat anxiety.

Benzobytines are also sedatives, but they have different results.

They’re used strictly and solely for two purposes.

In fact, there’s a law that if they’re used outside of these purposes, it’s a felony, with a mandatory prison sentence starting at two years. ”

“O-okay,” I stammered, rolled my shoulders to pull myself together, and asked, “ What are the two purposes?”

“In healthcare for the mentally deranged, they’re used on shifters to make certain they cannot shift. And in the prison system, so inmate shifters will be arrested in the same.”

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Was he saying…?

I wrapped my arms around my stomach tightly and protectively, doing this instead of putting a hand hopefully to my chest.

“All inmates get it,” Aleksei continued.

“ It has no effect on demons, fae and humans. It’s filtered into the water, so they receive it even through their skin in the shower pods, which means everything they consume constantly delivers a low-level dose that keeps their beasts alive inside them, but unconscious and thus not a threat. ”

“Oh my gods,” I breathed.

He came to me then, but I didn’t move, even when he got in my space, cupped my jaw in both hands, and dipped his face to mine.

“Your beast is not dead, darling. She’s in there. Except for the night we met, which undoubtedly sparked her waking because, for the first time, you were in the presence of your mate, and so was she, she’s been asleep for three months.”

My legs gave way.

Aleksei caught me.

Swinging me up in his arms, he walked me down into his living room, sat on something, set me in his lap and held me close.

I felt none of this.

Because I’d rounded his shoulders with my arms, held on for everything I was…

And sobbed .

“Who would…who-who w-would do that to me?” I moaned.

“I don’t know, bissi ,” he whispered, and the sinister was back. “ But I’m sure as fuck going to find out.”