Chapter 394
A threat. They thought I was the enemy.
Desperation clawing at my throat, I feinted left and lunged toward the heavy stairwell door. I didn’t make it two steps. A heavy hand clamped around my arm and spun me back. The warrior’s grip was iron, though a flicker of pained regret crossed his face as he restrained me.
“Dallas!” I shrieked, fighting against his hold. I screamed his name into the cold hospital air, praying that somehow, through the chaos and the distance, he could feel that I was here. “Dallas, I’m here!”
“Stop making a scene, Adella.”
The cold, clinical voice cut through my panic like a blade. The private elevator doors slid open and Dr. Liam Barber stepped into the lobby. My college senior. My friend. I sagged against the warrior’s grip, relief flooding through me.
“Liam, please,” I begged, tears mixing with the rainwater on my cheeks. “Tell them who I am. Take me up there.”
But Liam’s usually warm eyes were filled with a freezing, calculating scrutiny. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said, stepping closer. “You’re the reason he’s dying.”
I flinched as if he had struck me. “What?”
“A shattered tibia. Three ribs puncturing his left lung. Massive internal bleeding,” Liam listed with cruel, professional precision. “He was driving drunk and recklessly after seeing something he shouldn’t have. You broke him, Adella.”
“No! It’s a lie, Liam, you have to listen to me—”
“He thinks you’re a curse right now,” Liam cut me off, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. “Duncan and Vance are taking turns guarding his door. If you go up there, Vance will personally throw you out a window. You are toxic to him.”
The sheer weight of the Pack’s hatred crushed the breath from my lungs. They all believed Braydon’s twisted illusion. I wrenched my arm free from the warrior’s loosened grip and stood tall.
“I am not leaving,” I said, my voice eerily calm. “Not until Dallas tells me to my face.”
Liam studied me, his jaw ticking. The absolute certainty in my eyes seemed to give him pause. He glanced at the warriors, then back to me, and quietly slipped a small business card from his coat pocket.
“If you want the truth, meet me at The Nightingale diner across the street. Tonight at ten.” He pressed the card into my palm. “I’m on your side, Adella. But not here.”
I frowned, confusion warring with desperation. “I’m staying right here—”
“In five minutes, these warriors are going to physically drag you out into the street,” Liam warned. “You have no choice.”
Without another word, he turned and stepped back into the elevator. The doors slid shut, leaving me alone with the hostile guards.
I stared at the card in my hand. I was completely isolated, fighting a war against the highest ranks of my own Pack. I couldn’t do this looking like a drowned, heartbroken victim. I needed to be a queen.