Soul Bound [Book Three, Lady and the Wolf]

Chapter Four: Nothing Left to Give

Her frantic eyes looked around the room as she tried to find a familiar face. People – humans – rushed around her, trying to stop her from pulling out the tubes connected to her arm. Aira had been in this situation many times, but she had always had the worried face of her mother to greet her, or her father calming her, but now... they weren't there.

"Where am I?" she barked, swatting at a female who tried to hold her down.

It was this very second that she realized she didn't have her right arm, although it still felt like it was there. She screamed as she tried to shove the woman away, not even caring when the woman hit the wall with a loud thud. She moved quickly from the bed, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she fell to her knees, lacking any strength to keep herself standing.

"Where are they!?" she cried, "Mom!"

She looked around, trying desperately to spot Emma. The humans backed away carefully, only breathing a sigh of relief when a large man came barrelling through the door. From what Aira could see, he was a Lycan. His golden eyes immediately sought her out and she instinctively backed herself into a corner of the room, kicking at him.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked. Her foot managed to land a shot against his face, but Aira knew it would have been more akin to a bug landing on his cheek.

"Aira, look at me," he demanded, grabbing both sides of her face so she could stop shaking her head. "It's okay! You're okay!"

"I-I want-want my mo-mom," she stuttered, her eyes still looking in every direction.

His face showed instant regret and anguish as he shook his head. "We can talk, but I need you to get back in the bed, okay? You need your rest-"

The way he said that - the way he looked at her - and Aira knew instantly what he meant.

She let out a scream as she tried desperately to kick him away, shaking her head as she realised her mother was dead.

---

"Anything?"

She looked at her uncle, her eyes wide as she played with her dark hair nervously. Three years she had waited for something, anything, and this year would be no different.

He shook his head, his golden eyes showing sympathy for the anxious girl. "I'm sorry, Aira."

She let out a deep, shaky sigh. She had been searching for Jarret, Nikolai, Olya and Ivan for years. Their bodies had never turned up, and that left hope that they were possibly still alive.

"They can't be dead," she whispered as she tried to hold back her tears. She had cried for far too long and needed to save her grief for when, or if, they were ever found – dead or alive.

"It's possible Markus came back and took them as well, but I doubt it. We took care of all the bodies," he answered, though that didn't make her feel any better.

"Everyone but Kasimir and Lillya," she corrected. With Kasimir and Lillya turned to stone, it was almost impossible to move their bodies. They still lay there, waiting to be put to rest.

Aither put a hand out to touch her shoulder, but Aira shook her head, stepping away.

"We'll find them one day, Aira, I promise you that."

"You can't track down Aemilius?"

The elder shifter had disappeared after the attack, and Aira hadn't heard what happened to him. A lot of shifters had gone into hiding when they found that Markus was giving them an ultimatum – fight for him or die fighting him. Aira clenched her fist as she thought about how many died a senseless death after she was rescued.