"Report—the second floor clear!"
"Keep searching! We must find the Luna!" Herman didn't dare look at my face. He just barked orders at the searching warriors.
"Alpha! Come look at this!"
In the end, it was Charles, the family physician who knew hospitals best, who found the room that had been used as a birthing suite.
My heart pounded wildly. The moment I approached the operating room, I caught the scent of Serenity's blood. Even mixed with the sharp smell of disinfectant, I could identify it clearly. She had been here!
But what I found inside was devastating.
Blood was everywhere.
Not just on the operating table. The floor was covered in massive pools of it. The stark red was so shocking that I immediately shouted, "Charles!"
The doctor quickly examined the room. His expression grew more grave and more fearful by the second.
"Alpha…" His voice trembled. I ordered him to tell me the truth!
"With this much blood loss, the mother's survival would be… unlikely," Charles answered woodenly. "Whoever delivered the baby clearly never intended to keep her alive. There's no emergency equipment for maternal complications. No blood supplies. No medication."
"Shut up!" I'd ordered him to speak, but now I didn't want to hear it.
I was afraid. Afraid to hear that terrible news. I'd rather deceive myself—as long as I didn't hear it, she might still have a chance to survive!
My voice trembled with fear. "Serenity can't be dead!"
I looked down. The trail of blood on the floor led out the door. That meant Serenity had escaped this operating room.
I followed the blood trail with my men. The bloody marks varied in intensity. Sometimes I could even see bloody handprints on the white walls. My eyes burned as I imagined her dragging her bleeding body down this dark, cold hallway—she was so afraid of the dark and of enclosed spaces.
We reached the back door of the building. Beyond it lay dense, layered forest that slowed our tracking. I sent the warriors to fan out while I followed Serenity's lingering scent myself.
The farther I went, the more uneasy I became.
Fenrir began tearing at his own flesh in agony, unwilling to face the nightmare that was becoming clearer by the second.
But in the end, I still had to confront reality?—
"Alpha!" Herman found traces of Serenity up ahead and called me over.
I pressed down on my racing heart and rushed toward him. Then I froze in place.
I saw a steep cliff. Below it, a rushing river.
Under the moonlight, white rapids churned and roared like countless hungry mouths. And her trail ended right here.
"The Luna's blood stops here. She likely fell," Herman hesitated as he reported his findings. "From this height, combined with her condition…"
Was it already too late?
All strength drained from my limbs. Herman's voice faded away. Reality seemed to drift far from me. My mind filled with only one thought: Serenity was down there! She was in that river!
"I'm going down to find her," I said and surged forward.
Herman and the others were horrified. They immediately blocked me. "You can't, Alpha! The current is too strong. You won't find the Luna in conditions like these!"
"Let me go!" I roared, no longer able to recognize who was standing in my way. My eyes had gone red. All I wanted was to break through their barrier.
