“What’s going on in there?” I ask Annie.
“It’s a difficult gift,” she tells me. “And like he said, he doesn’t have a lot of practice. Gifts like this usually need to be nourished while growing up. But-“ she smiles. “Don’t worry, he is his father’s son. These siblings are awfully persistent and never give up.”
“I noticed that,” I say, my heart instantly jumps when I think about it. “Felix is like that, too.”
“Your whole face lights up when you talk about him,” Annie says.
“You are aware that Liam looks at you like you are the personification of a miracle?”
She grins. “Yes, I guess, in a way we are all like that with our mates.”
We turn our gaze back towards Marina and Marius. His expression is now thoughtful and worried. There is also a hint of shock on his face. Then he carefully puts Marina’s hand back on the blanket, gets up and approaches Celine and Faye. For a little while, they continue to sit together until Faye’s eyes look like they‘re getting drowsy. Celine puts her into her bed and covers her with a blanket.
Once done, she and Marius exit the room silently. Marius looks tired but smiles when Celine reaches out to hold his hand.
“Not good, huh?” I ask quietly.
“She truly is far away,” he admits. “Like Dad and Liam said, there is no wolf. I can barely reach anything of her, but I saw a glimpse of…” He pauses. “I am not sure, Gwen. I wish I could say more. But there were glimpses of hands that tugged at her, and I think she was in a cold room. I will need to piece this together with Liam and Dad,” he admits. “A lot of the stuff I see could be metaphorical, and I might be wrong, but…”
His voice trails off.
“But?” Celine nudges him gently.
“I think she died,” he says. “I mean not right now, but before.”
Annie, Celine and I just stare at him in shock. “What?” Annie asks. “You mean…”
“No way!” The blood in my veins runs cold. “Is this… is this why her wolf is gone?”
“But sometimes shifters can go into cardiac arrest, and they return with their wolves,” Celine says. “Granted, it doesn’thappen a lot, because the reason why we don’t die is our wolf spirits. Does that make sense?”
“It does,” Annie says. “However…” she pauses. “What Marius saw-“
“What IbelieveI saw,” he adds. “I don’t know for certain, Annie, I might be wrong.”
“Liam is right with what he told you,” she says, surprisingly bluntly. “You need more confidence in your skills. I fully believe you when you say this is what you saw.”
To my surprise, Marius looks a little flustered at her words. “Maybe,” he admits.
“It makes sense,” Annie adds. “It… it makes almost too much sense. Goddess, yes. Celine is right, usually our wolf spirits heal us when something drastic happens, they prevent our hearts from stopping completely, and yes, we can be revived again. It usually doesn’t do much harm, because it also means reviving our wolf spirits. But what if they used wolfsbane on her and silver? What if her wolf was weakened already, and what if she died more than once?”
“By the goddess,” Marius whispers.
I can only stare at her in shock. “No way. But… no… this is just…” I pause, not sure what to say, because the horrifying realization settles that Annie might be right. Chances are high that this is at least close to what happened.
“Gwen.” Annie pulls me into a hug. “Please go to the others. Be with Felix, okay?”
“What are you planning on doing? I can help.”
She brushes my hair, taking my face between her hands. “Remember what we talked about? This is me stepping up now. We will keep you updated the moment we know more.”
I take a shaky breath. “Okay.”
Annie lets go of me. “Alright, you all go to be with the others. I will fetch Liam and Elden, and talk to them about it,” Annie says.
“I can come, too,” Marius offers.
“Yes, we’ll probably need you. Is it okay? You barely had any rest.”
