The Alpha's Silent Bride: Seventh Time's The Charm novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28: 028: The Last Vial

~ RONAN ~

A blind rage slams into me. Kael is howling in my head, a sound of pure agony that rattles through every nerve, bone, and cell in my body. It’s as if we’re being ripped apart from the inside out, our very consciousness being devoured by something far stronger than us.

All I can see is blood-soaked darkness. My vision turns hazy, the edges blurring into a mist. The hallway stretches around me, but it’s moving, shifting; the walls are bending in ways that shouldn’t be possible.

Oh hell. The curse.

I can feel it closing in on us, not physically, but like a pressure that’s building in my chest, my skull, behind my eyes. It’s clawing its way toward Kael. He howls again, and the sound echoes through my bones like thunder.

My legs buckle beneath me.

I grip the wall to steady myself but my hand is shaking so badly I can’t hold on. The stone is cool under my palm for exactly one second before the heat returns; the burning sensation that started in my veins is now spreading through my entire body, bas iflike somehad one lit a fire inside my blood.

Nikolai stops in his tracks and turns just in time to see me bracing myself against the wall. His eyes widen, and he’s at my side in an instant, one hand gripping my shoulder.

A warm liquid trickles from my nose.

I lift a trembling hand to wipe it away. The moment my fingers brush my skin, blood smears across my palm in a dark crimson streak.

My stomach plummets. "No... no, no, no," I mutter, staring at my bloodstained hand as if it belongs to someone else. "This isn’t—this can’t be—"

"Ronan." Nikolai’s voice breaks through my spiraling panic. "Look at me."

His eyes widen the moment he sees the blood dripping from my nose. His entire body goes rigid, and for a second he just stares at me like he’s trying to process what he’s seeing. Then his jaw clenches and he grits out:

"Oh fuck no."

My claws are already coming out.

They burst through my fingertips without permission, ripping through skin with a sharp crack. The shift is happening involuntarily. My body is trying to transform completely, and I’m fighting it, trying to hold on to my human form, trying to stay in control, but the curse doesn’t care. It keeps pushing Kael forward, forcing the change whether I want it or not.

My bones feel like they’re splintering apart.

Blood erupts from my mouth in a violent gush, hot as it splatters across my chin, soaks my shirt, and stains the hallway floor. My entire body burns from the inside out, like someone has poured fire into my veins and set it alight. The agony tears through everything in its path—muscle, sinew, bone, even my thoughts.

A strangled gasp leaves me as I drop to one knee.

"I’ve got you," Nikolai says, grabbing my shoulders.

Then he’s lifting me off the ground, moving faster, his Beta strength carrying me down the corridor. My vision swims, but I catch glimpses of the pack house rushing past, walls, doorways, and the alarmed faces of guards who stare as their Alpha is carried like a wounded man.

The world tilts. Everything goes sideways for a moment, and suddenly we’re stopping.

Hands I can’t clearly see grab hold of me, their faces nothing more than blurred shapes. Their voices blend together in urgent whispers, impossible to make out. Then they lay me down on something soft and worn, and I sink into it, struggling to stay conscious as the room spins around me.

Everything is happening in a rush. Someone lifts my head while another forces a small vial to my lips.

"Drink it." I barely hear the words.

The liquid is bitter as it slides down my throat. I try to pull away at first, but they make me swallow every drop.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then the fire raging beneath my skin begins to ease. The pressure in my bones lessens. Kael’s frantic howls grow quieter, retreating to a distant rumble in the back of my mind.

The Seer stands in the center of the room, tall and impossibly thin. Her skin is the color of aged parchment stretched tightly over sharp bones, and her long white hair falls around her shoulders like a shroud. Smoke colored eyes, cold and knowing, settle on me.

She takes one look at me and speaks without preamble. "He shifted again." It’s not a question.

My mother is there. I don’t even realize she’s in the room until she moves, stepping into view. Her face is twisted with a panic I’ve never seen before, her usual composure completely shattered.

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