RHEA’S POV I turned around fast on my heels, my heart leaping into my throat as my eyes searched every corner of the dark room.
Nothing.
There was no one standing behind me.
There was only the quiet, empty guest room and the soft white snow falling gently outside the open balcony doors.
I stood frozen for a second, my chest heaving as I rubbed my forehead.
I couldn’t deny what had just happened.
I hadn’t imagined it, and it wasn’t just the wind playing tricks on my mind.
I had clearly heard a deep, powerful voice echo from right inside my mind, a voice that felt older than the mountains around this fortress.
“Ha.
Great.
I must really be going insane,” I whispered to myself with a dry, nervous laugh, placing my cold, trembling hands deep into my pants pockets.
I turned around, pulled the heavy balcony doors shut to block out the freezing wind, and walked back out into the quiet stone hallway.
My original plan was to walk straight back to my bed and force myself to sleep, but my feet seemed to have a mind of their own.
I stopped right in front of Kael’s room doors.
As a trained medical professional, I was supposed to check on my patients every three hours to monitor their vitals, check for internal bleeding, and track their fever.
But with all the crazy things that had happened tonight, the dungeon break, the confrontation in the snow and the strange loss of my miraculous powers, if I could call them that now, I had completely forgotten about that.
I scolded myself internally.
How could I forget such a basic step?
Luckily, Garrett had made sure the pack healers took turns sitting inside his room to watch over him, so I knew he wasn’t being left alone for very long.
Still, a quiet worry nagged at my chest.
I pushed the heavy oak door open and entered the room as quietly as I could so I didn’t disturb him.
The young female healer sitting on a chair near the corner looked up.
Recognizing me, she bowed her head respectfully, gathered her bag, and stepped out into the hall to give me space with Kael.
I walked over to the giant, four-poster bed.
The soft mattress dipped under my weight as I sat down on the edge right beside Kael’s tall, quiet body.
I leaned in close, placing my fingers against his neck to check his faint pulse and feeling his forehead for any sign of a rising fever.
“Your pack really needs to advance to modern technology,” I whispered softly into the quiet room, reaching out to brush a lone strand of dark hair away from his closed eyes.
“Using scrolls, wooden tools, and ancient herbal pastes in this day and age is just ridiculous.
A simple heart monitor would save your healers half their stress.” As I spoke, I could still feel that strange, faint burning sensation humming deep beneath my skin, lingering like a low fire in my veins.
I tried to push the feeling away, convincing myself it was just extreme physical stress, fatigue, and the intense heat of the pack house playing tricks on my tired body.
It would pass soon enough.
My eyes slowly traced the sharp, masculine lines of his face, his strong, square jawline, his high cheekbones, and the long dark lashes resting against his pale skin.
“Elias looks so much like you,” I whispered, unable to stop the words from slipping past my lips as I gently ran my fingertips along the side of his cold cheek.
“It’s honestly kind of scary at this point.
He has your exact nose, your sharp jaw, and he even scowls just like you when he doesn’t get his way.” Oddly enough, I felt a deep, unexpected sense of relief sitting right beside his unconscious body.
When Kael was wide awake and standing over me, his intense, stormy gray eyes felt so sharp and overwhelming that it felt like they could see straight through my soul and eat me completely.
He was terrifyingly powerful, an Alpha in every sense and he knew how to use his authority.
It was not directed to the weak but to the people who deserved it.
But right now, lying completely still under the thick wool blankets, he just looked like a man who was deeply exhausted and hurt.
A sudden, hot throb flared unexpectedly between my thighs as my traitorous mind flashed back to five years ago, remembering those very same stormy gray eyes staring down at me in the dark, full of wild passion, raw heat, and desire on that life-changing night we first met.
My cheeks turned red in an instant.
I slapped both my hands flat against my face and scolded myself immediately.
What on earth is wrong with you, Rhea?
How could you possibly have thoughts like that about your own patient while he’s lying half-dead in bed?
I shifted in my spot, taking a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart and cool my flushed skin.
I folded my arms over the edge of his mattress, resting my chin on my hands as I watched the steady, rhythmic rise and fall of his broad chest with a strange sense of peace.
He was alive.
The dark, corrupted bleeding had finally stopped, his pulse was stabilizing, and his skin was slowly gaining back its natural color.
That was more than enough for me tonight.
Even if my strange powers had disappeared into thin air and refused to work, at least I still had my human medical training to keep him safe and away from death.
He was needed here.
Alive and strong.
My eyelids began to feel impossibly heavy and I knew I needed rest.
I had not had rest for hours and there was only so much stress that my body could take.
I leaned my head down on the edge of his soft pillow, resting my cheek just inches away from his broad shoulder.
“It’s only for medical observation,” I murmured to myself, trying to justify me staying in his room instead of going back to my own bed.
“I’ll just close my eyes for two minutes…” I was extremely exhausted with everything that was happening.
I said a silent prayer for Maya and Elias to be alright until I could get back to them.
And then I prayed Kael would wake up soon.
The sooner he did, the sooner I could leave to see my son and be with him again.
My mind drifted off into the dark, and I was out cold within seconds.