"Was she okay?" I swallowed hard, "When you saw her, I mean," that was the most important part right now.
His face fell along with his arm that was still on my shoulder. "Yes," he had a guarded look on his face, I was neither satisfied nor convinced with his answer.
"Start from the beginning," I asked him firmly.
We both sat cross-legged on my bed, the way we used to do when we pulled all-nighters as children.
"I was in my wolf form, running at a speed I had never reached before, even the wind that ran next to me felt like it was gushing in slow-motion." His eyes were reliving the events of his story.
"Her first few attempts failed because my wolf kept shunning her out," he looked at me, waiting for my interruption.
I understood what he was trying to do.
He wasn't going to share more than what I asked him to. He was doing things at my own pace. I had so many questions to ask about him and his wolf, but instead, I gestured for him to continue.
"When she finally convinced my wolf to let her in — only after mentioning that you were suffering — she gave me mental images showing me the road you took and how to get there. I would've reached you eventually without her help, but she made the task that much easier."
He paused, reflecting. Doubt passed through his eyes as he looked at me.
"Tell me everything, Li," I demanded.
"I felt her panicking right before she broke the connection." He said. "I tried to get her back, but it was a one-way thing. I couldn't establish a connection with her no matter how much I tried."
I felt a tug inside my brain as if something demanded to be released from there. I squeezed my temple with both my hands.
"It won't be long now." I thought I heard my brother murmuring but the pain in my brain was too much to ask him to repeat what he had just said. "Breath through it, little bro." I felt his hands over mine, applying more pressure over my forehead, my own hands were shaking at this point, and I was gritting my teeth hard, his hands were calm, and I was glad I had him next to me right now.
He was always there for me.
"You're not breathing." He accused me, so I started taking deep breaths. It was hard at first, but the oxygen helped quite a bit with the pain. A few moments later, the pain became bearable again. I opened my eyes which were squeezed shut to let him know that. He removed his hands from over mine, and I followed suit, dropping my arms down from over my forehead.
I sighed in relief.
Details will have to wait for now... Was what I thought to myself, my teeth hurt from all the gritting. But this much pain was nothing in comparison to what that vampire had put me through.
"Did you see HIM?" I felt a murderous intention soaring in my insides, it was aimed at the one who was behind all this.
Li's jaw tightened, and he nodded once. His eyes mirrored my dangerous emotions.
"The pompous ass ordered me to take care of you the second I arrived on the scene." His face flushed red with anger. "He had control over your body even when you were unconscious."
I felt my heart beating inside my ears, my hands were cold up to my elbows. "I think it was a distraction. He had you walking there like a zombie while he carried the b-" He backtracked. "While he carried King and got away."
I squeezed my eyes shut again.
"Carried her…" my voice trailed off but my eyes were wide open again. He reached out to touch me, I recoiled away this time but he ignored me, he left his hand on my shoulder. I felt like it weighed a ton.
"You were both unconscious by the time I got there." He spoke slowly, his eyes were cautious again.
"I clearly remember hearing her, she begged me to open my eyes," I told him.
His hand that was on my shoulder squeezed it, "I think she tried to intervene." Li's voice was grave. Adding fuel to my uneasiness, he removed his hand from where it was.
"Elizabeth…" I whispered her name; I was disgusted with myself for walking around thinking I didn't need protection without running a proper estimation of my opponent.
The pompous ass was me.
For the first time in my life, my body mass meant nothing, it was my brain that was weak.
"Weak…" I whispered again; I wanted to get stronger at any cost. I wanted to be able to fight my enemy.
Something happened right then.
A feeling I wasn't familiar with took over me. A current was floating around me, the starting point to that current was my head, but there was no pain this time. I was wrapped up with a red hue that radiated all around me.
"I'll be honest with you, Theo." Li seemed oblivious to whatever it was that happened just now. "Purebloods are cold to their core when they're raised to rule, 'the living dead' came from somewhere solid if you know what I mean."
I wasn't paying much attention to what my brother was saying, still preoccupied with the energy my head was producing.
"Is there something going on between the two of you?" He asked when I didn't comment on what he said before.
That got my attention alright. It was the moment of truth. I mentally let go of the current and marveled at how it evaporated from around me in the same second. I gave Li my full attention as I answered him.
"I'm very attracted to her," that sounded only physical, it wasn't all. "It runs deep." There was no doubt about it.
He sighed, his shoulders uncharacteristically dropping. He lifted his chin and took a deep breath.
"There might be a bond there." He was talking in riddles now. But I wasn't going to let anything about Elizabeth pass without fully understanding it.
"Bond." The word felt heavy as it left my tongue, I prompted him to explain in that direction.
*Thud!*
Both of us jumped out of bed, I was about to bolt out of the room and go check on Sophie. But Liam was faster, he stopped by the door covering the exit, he was facing me when he spoke.
"Just leave it," he said, preventing me from rushing to the girl downstairs.
"Didn't you hear that?"
It was pretty loud though.
"She probably broke something; you'll just embarrass her if you go down there now." He said dismissively.
He was right, it was probably nothing.