From Frying Pan to Strange Fire

As the phone rang, Grace paced about the living room, waiting for Trevor to pick up the call. She had decided to call him after searching for Joan and the guard without any positive results. If the guard was with Joan, then Trevor would reach the guard on the phone since she doesn’t have his number.

He didn’t pick up the first time, so she called again.

“Miss Grace?” Trevor spoke when the call connected.

“Mr. Baliante, sorry for bothering you so early in the morning. I can’t find Joan. And I can’t find the guard either. I thought he may have escorted her somewhere but I’ve searched everywhere and didn’t find them, and it’s been an hour now.” Grace poured out her reports and worries the moment she heard his voice, without giving him a chance to speak. “I’m not saying she’s missing, but her phone is switched off and I don’t have the guard’s number. Can you call the guard to find out where they are? I’m dying of worry here.” Grace finally stopped talking.

“Your friend is fine, Miss Grace. She was attacked this morning-”

“Attacked? How? Where ? By who?” Grace cut into Trevor’s words, stopping him from finishing his sentence. She had already breathed out in relief when he said Joan was fine, only to hear him say she was attacked.

“Calm down. She’s fine. She’s already on her way to Apex Dominica.” Trevor announced, surprising Grace.

“What?! Apex Dominica?” She exclaimed. Why would Joan go home without her?

***

“Why hasn’t she woken up yet? Are you sure it’s only chloroform?” Roman asked, looking worriedly at Joan, who he just laid on the bed after they arrived at the mansion.

“Yes, boss. I have the cloth here.” Daniel extended the piece of cloth that was used to cover Joan’s face. “We arrived at the scene right on time so I’m sure nothing else was given to her.” He explained as Roman took the cloth from him to examine it.

Standing next to Daniel was Trevor. Behind the three of them was Williams, who stood outside the door. He had a slight furrow on his forehead as he fixed his intense gaze on Joan’s unconscious form.

When Roman turned to him after confirming the cloth was laced with nothing else but chloroform, Williams looked up at him and spoke before any questions could be asked.

“I don’t know why she isn’t waking up, Rome. Something isn’t right with her and I don’t know what it is.”

“Who did this?” Roman asked, the aura around him getting darker.

“I don’t know, Rome. I was with you the whole of yesterday.”

“Why aren’t you finding out already?”

Williams let out a sigh. “Daniel,” he called.

“Yes, Alpha,” Daniel responded, turning to face him.

“Come with me.” Williams ordered, and started walking away that second.

Daniel bowed to Roman, before following Williams. Although Williams was his Alpha, Roman was the King and he had pledged eternal loyalty to him. Should Roman order otherwise, he would have no choice but to obey.

When the duo left the room, Roman turned again to face Joan. He warned her not to escape. Why didn’t she just listen? What made her think she could escape him?

Now he wasn’t just angry because she tried to run away. She had been attacked and was almost killed by people he didn’t know. To make matters worse, she was making him extremely restless by not waking up.

“I think we should give her a little more time, boss. If she still didn’t stir, then I suggest we visit the hospital.” Trevor said, breaking the tense silence that fell in the room.

“Start making arrangements with the hospital.” Roman instructed and Trevor moved out of the room, fishing for his phone in his pocket.

Initially, they had decided not to take her to the hospital because they thought she would eventually wake up after some time. But Roman was becoming desperate.

It would have been easy to know what was going on with her if he hadn’t invaded her mind that first day. Now, as a consequence of what he did that day, he was completely blocked from her mind, unless and until he marked her, which, again, as a consequence of his actions, can only happen on a certain day of the red moon.

Apart from her issues, his ability to communicate with Trevor and Daniel via mind link was affected too. Although he didn’t tell them about it, he knew they would have already noticed, but thought he was intentionally blocking his mind. Lazer, his wolf was not spared. The black beast was no longer as free as it used to be, as it was also imprisoned in its human’s mind. It would take a lot of energy for Lazer to speak to Roman, and the beast wanted to save its energy.

Roman let out a frustrated sigh, moving farther away from the bed. Going to stand at the other end of the room, he leaned his body against the wall. His fists clenched and unclenched when his mind thought again about the strange people that attacked her. Daniel and Josy – the guard – had killed the attackers, but Roman felt like killing them again and again by himself. Only then would this anger inside of him be quenched.

He shut his eyes as he rested the back of his head against the wall. The very next second, his eyes snapped open when his ears caught on to the sound of the soft rustle of the sheets.

His eyes met with Joan’s large, green ones, and relief washed over him. At first, her expression was blank, but he saw it slowly change into confusion.

He rushed toward her but halted halfway there because she suddenly let out a scream while looking at him with a terrified expression.

Confused, he just stared at her, not knowing what to do. He wanted to ask her why she was screaming when she suddenly stopped.

Thinking it was over, he approached her again, but her next words made him frown.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“GET OUT!” She yelled, pointing to the door.