Silver Rain

Chapter 37

Felix wasn't sure how, but he knew something wasn't right.

The feeling started in his chest, a deep, unsettling weight that spread like ice through his veins. He wasn't sure what it was or what it was from, but he knew it had to do with Olivia.

He had quickly showered after his business meeting with Ethan, or rather a strangling-the-information-out-of-him session, and jumped in his car tearing off for the hospital. The tires screeched as Felix sped down the street, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly. His pulse hammered in his ears, the rush of panic choking out any sense of rational thought.

Something's wrong. It pounded in his head, relentless and unforgiving.

Erebus stirred violently inside him, the wolf's growl reverberating through Felix's bones. He couldn't shake the feeling, the growing dread that had lodged itself in his chest.

Why didn't I stay at the hospital? She could have woken up by now.

Calvin's car raced behind Felix, likely thinking he was a madman for speeding nearly double the speed limit. The city lights blurred as he sped through intersections, barely registering the honks of angry drivers or the occasional flash of a red light he blew through. His only focus was Olivia.

He could feel Erebus pushing at the edges of his control, the wolf agitated and restless. It seemed his small tirade of making Ethan spit blood did anything but quell the beast inside him. His chest burned with the effort to keep himself together, but the rising panic made it nearly impossible.

The hospital came into view, its sterile white walls bathed in the dim glow of streetlights. Felix barely managed to slam the car to a halt before he was out, his legs moving faster than his thoughts. Calvin's tires squealed behind him as he followed suit, but Felix was already tearing through the hospital entrance, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He wasn't sure how far behind Calvin was, and he didn't care.

Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was on edge. Maybe there was nothing wrong inside that small hospital room that she was in.

Which was all the more reason to pick up his pace.

The familiar antiseptic smell hit him like a wave, but Felix didn't pause. He darted past startled nurses and patients, his feet carrying him down the hallways in a blur. His heart raced, each step feeling like it took too long, like he was losing time.

Finally, Olivia's room came into view at the end of the corridor.

Felix slowed as he approached the door, his heightened senses immediately picking up the shift in the air. The temperature dropped, the once-warm atmosphere of the hospital room turning cold—unnaturally so. His breath fogged in front of him as he stepped inside the already cracked door.

And then he saw it.

A figure loomed over Olivia's bed, its form twisted and grotesque, a shadow made flesh. It was tall, hunched, with a dark, leathery face that looked like it had been scorched and stretched. Its sunken cheeks gave it a skeletal appearance, lips shriveled and cracked, revealing jagged, decaying teeth beneath. Its clawed hands reached for Olivia, dark tendrils snaking down to wrap around her wrists, as though it had every intention of dragging her away.

"No!" Felix's voice came out in a snarl, anger and panic surging through him.

The creature turned its head slowly, the hollow pits of its face locking onto him.

A shadow body.

Here. In the hospital. Standing over the woman he wanted. The woman they wanted.