CHAPTER 18
Julian felt nauseous. He couldn't sit, he paced incessantly alone in his room. Something was wrong, he could feel tension and unexplainable fear low in his belly.
And he was stuck inside his room. He hadn't really gone anywhere, because he was a shy, anxious wreck, afraid to venture out without Rafael... but this feeling. It felt like he was suffocating here.
He inhaled, clenched his fist, and walked out of his room. Outside, with no particular destination in mind, just the urge to assuage the fear in him, he ventured forward.
His plan? He would ask the first person he met to take him to Rafael.
Maxinne... he wished he knew where she'd be, she was the nicest person he had met so far.
He was walking down the stairs when he heard the commotion. There was a lot of panic at the entrance to the pack house. A smell reached his nose, the scent uniquely Rafael with a heavy metallic tang. Blood.
He felt phantom pain in his chest and immediately he knew. Rafael was wounded, somehow his Alpha was in pain.
He bolted forward instantly, forgetting whatever shyness or nervousness that would have caused him to shrink back from such a crowd at all.
He pushed through everything to see Rafael... a naked, bloodied mess, being carried by somebody Julian did not recognize.
Seeing Rafael... his Alpha... all messed up, hit Julian like a sucker punch to the gut.
His mate was in pain.
"No... Rafael!" Julian called out as he lunged to reach his mate.
He was caught by someone.
"And who are you, little mouse?" came a low voice. It was dark and greasy in a way Julian did not like. He looked up. It was a tall man, as tall as Rafael. His eyes were like pools of darkness, and he had this cold smirk on his face.
Almost reminiscent of Xavier but far darker... much more powerful.
"My mate," Julian replied, because he did not want to entertain this man for long, especially considering his wounded mate. "Rafael... wh-what... s-something is wrong with him."
As he said the words, he did not miss the interested look on the man's face.
"Yes, yes, I did see you with him last night," he said. "So, you are Rafael's mate. Interesting."
The man's eyes perused Julian's body in a way that Julian hated. No one that was not his mate should ever look at him like that.
A sharp anger overtook Julian. Who was this man, and how dare he?
With sudden strength surprising even himself, Julian pushed the man away so hard he stumbled.
Julian caught the look of surprise, then annoyance, on the man's face.
"Do not touch me ever again." Julian spoke the words with as much fire as he could. The man observed Julian, and then a slow, creepy smile widened his lips.
"Little firebird... do you know who I am?"
Julian was so done with this interaction; he just turned away. He needed to find Rafael.
"I am Alpha Siluren, little firebird. And my? what an interesting thing you are."
Julian heard the man at his back, but he didn't care.
"I hope your mate will be able to protect you through what is to come."
The words chilled Julian to the core, but he didn't turn back.
***
Rafael ached so much. It had been a long time since he had felt so much pain. Thankfully, he could feel his heightened healing working. At least Alpha Lydia had gotten to him before the vampire could bite him. She had saved him from a painful and sure death.
Gradually his senses returned to him. He could smell the heavy medicinal stench of the infirmary. He heard a small sniff in the room, something about it strangely familiar...
He struggled to open his eyes. At first everything was blurry, but eventually things started to focus. There were just three people in the room besides him. His mother, Maxinne, and... Julian, his beautiful mate.
As he focused on Julian, took in his pretty mate, who looked so beside himself with worry and anxiousness, Rafael wanted to comfort him. Suddenly, he was sad he hadn't managed to get the antelope for Julian.
He tried to call out Julian's name. What came out was a hoarse, pitiful sound. Julian lunged at him.
"Don't say anything, Rafael." His voice was soft, eyes glassy with tears. "You have to stay put, you're badly wounded."
His mom and Maxinne came closer too. He could see their worry and curiosity as well.
"Julian is right, honey, but..." his mom started. "Tell us what did this to you. Alpha Siluren has been saying lots of weird things since the hunt... and you look like this. What could have put you in such a state?"
Maxinne nodded in agreement with their mother's words.
Rafael thought back to the hunt today. Then an image of Lord Victor arose in his head, that poisonous beauty. Did he have something to do with this attack...?
Why else would a forsaken vampire be in their land, and what would be the consequences of this event?
He looked at his mom, expecting an answer. He forced his throat to make a coherent word.
"A Vampire."