Blood & Bone [Book Three of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

3.3: Vacant

I hadn't expected to fall asleep and stay here. I'd half expected Dhana to approach in the night and wake me from my slumber. That hadn't happened though. I'd woken with a shiver instead; an icy sensation running down my spine like a skeletal finger. I blamed the noxious combination of the cold winter night and the vulnerability that sleeping forces me to succumb to but when I'd risen from the couch still clutching onto Dhana's cardigan, I soon realised that shiver had been caused by something far worse. Our front door was on its hinges and slamming against the side of the house with erratic thuds as it was beaten by the howling wind outside; another snow storm blowing its way through Eternity.

It took me a moment to understand the repercussions of the door being this way. At first, I'd considered I had left it unlocked and askew when we'd entered from outside, but I realised within seconds that was definitely not the case - remembering having locked it as soon as I'd left Dhana in the bathroom. My second thought had been someone had broken into our home; and that thought alone was enough to force me from my position, priming myself for the run to find Dhana and ensure her safety.

However, as I bolted up from the couch I let out a pained screech as my feet came into contact with shards of glass. With a quick observation, I realised that someone had smashed the coffee table in front of me; the glass top had been completely destroyed, and pieces ranging from large chunks to small shards were strewn across the carpet. With a swallowed breath I'd jumped away from the area; scowling as embedded glass forced itself deeper into my skin, cursing myself that I'd removed my boots before I fell asleep.

I'd landed by the front door; which caused a chill to run down my spine as I embraced the cold air flowing inside more intimately. I'd taken a long look outside the door first, hoping Dhana was sitting out there in the snow, not far, and definitely not injured. This was wishful thinking, of course, as all I could see was a small rabbit hopping across the garden field.

With a lack of awareness of where my wife could possibly be, my instinct was to run down the hall, and when I reached our bedroom where I'd last seen my wife, a sinking feeling filled my gut. The door was less open, and more completely gone, and I could see inside easily. Much to my dismay, not only was Dhana missing, but our room had been torn apart; the bed itself had been snapped in half, and the bedding completely torn to shreds. The grey set my wife had put on last night was lying in tatters on top of the white, shredded sheets.

It wasn't just the bed that had been completely ruined either. A number of our other 'perfectly chosen' furniture pieces had either been completely wrecked; wooden pieces broken in multiple segments or just tarnished with claw marks, or knocked over. Everything on top has either been smashed or ruined; the two photos we'd taken during our mock-town hall wedding had fallen out of their silver frames after they'd been ripped in half.

That seemed to be the worst of the damage Dhana caused in here before she'd rammed into the bedroom door and started rampaging down the hall. It seemed surprising to me that I hadn't heard any of this. I had to put it down to an evolutionary advancement; that more hindered us than aided us, to be deep sleepers. Older werewolves had considered that because of our hearing abilities, and our need to recuperate after turning, we'd evolved to ignore sound while we slept.