I backed away from the door and ran down the hallway, heart pounding violently. I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and called my mother.
Ring.
Once. Twice. Three times.
No answer.
I tried my father next.
Nothing.
My brother.
Still nothing.
“Please…” My voice cracked. “Answer… please…”
I tried again.
Still silence.
My chest tightened painfully. Something was wrong. Something was already happening.
I leaned against the wall, my legs barely holding me up. My mind spun—fast, chaotic, suffocating.
I needed to go home. I needed to reach Ironvale. I needed to stop this.
But—
Ezra.
He was still inside that room. Feverish. Helpless. Mine.
And Adrian’s guards would never let me take him.
My hands covered my face as I whispered, broken, “What am I supposed to do…?”
For the first time in years, I felt completely cornered.
Like prey caught too deep in a trap.
My son needed me.
My pack needed me.
But I only had one body.
And it was being pulled apart in two different directions.
Elira’s POV