Chapter 94: Two calls, two phones

Silence descended upon the living room as every breath caught, ears straining to listen.

Then, Pandora’s soft voice echoed up the stone stairwell again.

"Hello?"

Dorian was the first to move. He stormed across the living room, fangs extending, his beast clawing violently on the verge of shifting.

Jake, Henna, Anthony, and Alec sprinted directly behind him, their minds racing in utter confusion.

Dorian rounded the archway first and froze. Pandora was leaning against the stone frame of the basement door, one arm bracing her weight. Her left hand was smeared with blood. The moment she caught sight of him, a sharp gasp ripped from her throat.

"Dorian! Oh, thank the goddess. Something terrible happened."

She stumbled toward him with hands outstretched, but Dorian instantly let out a low, dangerous snarl, freezing her in her tracks.

Pandora stopped dead, her eyes darting wildly between Dorian, Anthony, and the rest of the circle. Henna stood paralyzed in shock, staring at her in horror.

"What is it?" Pandora gasped, her voice trembling. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Where is Alyssa?" Dorian growled.

Pandora’s brow furrowed in confusion. "I... I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since breakfast. What is going on?"

Dorian snapped his head toward Henna, his dark eyes narrowing into slits. "Didn’t you say Pandora drove Alyssa out of the gates for a Luna ritual?"

Henna nodded frantically, backed up against Jake. "Yes! I saw them leave with my own eyes! I don’t understand how she’s standing here!"

​Pandora’s eyes widened, the lingering fog in her mind suddenly clearing as the horror of the morning came rushing back.

"Oh, goddess," she breathed, her face turning ashen. "It was Samantha. Samantha trapped me."

Dorian closed the distance in a breath, pinning her under a fearsome, suffocating glare. "Tell me everything. Now!"

"It was Samantha!" Pandora repeated, her words tumbling over each other. "She came to me crying... said my maid was bleeding out in the basement. I sprinted down there, and she ambushed me from behind. When I woke up, I was bound in the dark..."

"I don’t have time for this!" Dorian roared, turning on his heel to sprint for the doors.

"Alpha, wait!" Jake yelled, reaching for him, but Dorian whirled back, his shadow aura flaring like black flame.

"Alyssa is still out there!" he snarled. "I don’t know what is happening, but I am going to find her!"

He took a step toward the front entrance, and stopped cold.

Samantha was stepping out from the servants’ corridor, staggering weakly on her feet, her hands trembling as she clutched her head.

The moment Pandora locked eyes on her, her breath hitched, and all her memories returned with a force.

"It was her!" she shrieked. "She knocked me out and transformed right in front of me! She’s the shadowshifter!"

Dorian suddenly moved with terrifying, unnatural speed. Before Samantha could even blink, he had crossed the hallway, slamming her back against the wall with a sickening thud.

His thick claws locked around her throat, squeezing until the windpipe groaned under the pressure.

"WHERE IS ALYSSA?" he roared, the intensity of his voice shaking dust from the ceiling. "REVEAL YOUR TRUE FORM!"

"Dorian..." Samantha choked out, clawing at his hands as her lungs were stripped of air. "Please..."

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Dorian raged, and the dam holding back his beast broke. He lost control.

Coarse black fur erupted along his arms, his shoulders expanding violently as his wolf burst through his skin. From his back, two enormous, obsidian shadow-wings tore out through his shirt, fanning out like wings of death.

The entire foundation of the mansion began to vibrate. The pressure was so immense, so crushing, that everyone else was forced down onto their knees, heads bowed low under the weight of the Alpha King’s wrath.

Samantha’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, her limbs going completely limp as the life seeped out of her.

Seeing the ceiling cracking above them, Anthony knew that if Dorian fully unleashed his fused form, he would destroy the entire mansion and murder everyone inside.

He didn’t hesitate. He shifted into his giant Lycan form mid-air, leaped across the hall, and slammed his full body weight into Dorian.

Dorian’s grip broke, sending Samantha sprawling to the floor. Moving with lightning instincts, Anthony scooped her up and threw her behind him, risking his life to shield her from the beast.

Opening the mind-link, Anthony let out an agonized howl as Dorian’s psionic rage slammed into his mind.

[Dorian! Listen to me!] he bellowed into the link. [If you go feral now, Alyssa dies! You cannot track her if you destroy your own mind! Pull it back!]

The mental tug-of-war felt like an eternity. Dorian stood over him, breathing heavily, shadow-wings beating against the air until the dark mana surrounding him receded.

His fused form dissolved, leaving him standing in his human form, chest heaving, his fists dripping with his own blood. His crimson eyes burned into Samantha as she gasped frantically for air on the floor.

Anthony shifted back and knelt beside her. "If you value your life, you better start speaking. Who are you?"

"I am Samantha!" she sobbed, her voice raw and hoarse from Dorian’s choking grip. "Earlier today, Seth attacked me! But it wasn’t really him! It was the monster who killed him! He murdered my brother weeks ago and buried him in the forest!"

She looked up at Dorian with terror. "The day you left for the South, I tried to tell you! But you wouldn’t listen to me! Seth is dead! The thing wearing his face was a shapeshifter!"

Pandora gasped as the final piece of the nightmare fell into place.

"She’s telling the truth," she exclaimed, turning to Dorian. "I thought it was Samantha who knocked me out, but it was the shapeshifter using her face! He shifted into me right in front of my eyes before I lost consciousness!"

"That’s who Henna saw," Jake added grimly, forcing himself up from the floor. "He took Pandora’s form so Alyssa would trust him and follow him. He probably poisoned the guards too."

He met Dorian’s bloodshot eyes. "He didn’t just want to take her, Alpha. He did this to draw you out. He wants revenge for his brother."

Dorian’s teeth bared in a predatory snarl. "Then I will give him what he wants."

​"Dorian, stop!" Anthony stepped directly into his path. "You can’t just charge into the forest blindly! We need a tactical approach!"

"We’ve wasted enough time!" Dorian bellowed, his voice echoing through the hallway. "I am the one he wants! If he dares touch Alyssa, he’s dead!"

He started to head back to the front door when his phone suddenly rang from his pocket.

He pulled the device out, his heart slamming against his ribs as his eyes locked onto the caller ID.

ALYSSA.

He almost smashed the screen as he swiped to answer, pressing the phone to his ear with trembling hands.

"Alyssa? Alyssa, can you hear me?! Where are you?"

"Dorian..." Alyssa’s weak voice rasped through the speaker, accompanied by heavy, ragged breaths. "Dorian... I’m hurt..."

"Where are you, my love?" Dorian demanded, his voice cracking with desperation.

"I... I don’t know..." she sobbed softly. "I managed to slip away from Pilate. I’m hiding in the forest..."

Static tore through the line, sending a surge of terror through Dorian’s blood. "Listen to me, my love. Stay where you are. I promise I’ll find you."

"Hurry... please..."

The call abruptly disconnected.

Dorian swiftly pulled up the internal tracking protocol linked to her device. A small, pulsating red dot blipped repeatedly near the edge of the southern border.

"She’s at the South border ridges," he muttered. "I’m going to get her."

"Dorian, wait! Think for one second!" Anthony pleaded, stopping him again. "This is a cunning shapeshifter we’re dealing with. It could be a trap to lure you into an ambush!"

"My Luna is bleeding in the forest, Anthony!" Dorian snarled, shoving him back. "Do you expect me to sit here and wait for him to finish her off?!"

"I expect you to think!" Anthony shouted back. "We are dealing with a creature who steals faces and voices! If you rush in blindly..."

Before Anthony could finish, another phone rang, the soft chime echoing through the quiet room. It was coming from Pandora’s pocket.

She pulled out her phone, staring in confusion at the unknown number flashing on the screen. She tapped answer and raised it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Pandora... help me..."

Pandora froze, her face draining of all color. With a shaking finger, she tapped the speaker button, holding the phone out into the center of the room.

Alyssa’s desperate, pain-filled voice filled the air.

"Pandora... I’m bleeding out... I need help... please..."

Dorian stood rooted to the floor, his blood running ice cold.

Two calls. Two phones. Two identical, agonized pleas from Alyssa.

Who was the real one?