My Alpha's Wolfless Daughter
My Alpha’s Wolfless Daughter – Chapter 64

Ayla

When Collin rushed into the room, I’d never been more surprised in my life. His eyes roamed over Dante’s body before they locked with mine. I could feel the tears running down my face as he approached me slowly. He raised his hands in the air to show he was no threat, but I didn’t know who to trust.

“My queen, I’m not here to hurt you. And I promise to explain everything to you once we are safe.” I almost forgot he was only fifteen. He was acting so much braver than I was.

He took my hand and led me around the body. He pulled me against his side and I was surprised at how tall he was. Even in heels, this fifteen-year-old towered over me.

“I don’t understand.” I stammered as my body shook.

He didn’t get a chance to answer as the doors were thrown open and Ezekiel rushed in. He stopped in his tracks as I watched his eyes find Dante’s body. His face turned into a sneer as he pulled a gun from his back waistband.

“You will die for your betrayal!” He screamed, his eyes locking on mine.

Ear-piercing gunshots echoed around me before there was nothing but darkness.

Alpha Nate

I’ve been camped out at the meet-up point all night. If anyone tried to secure the area, I would know about it. I sent for more warriors after Alpha Atlas and I secured the area last night. Now we had warriors all around the area as we waited until noon.

I tried to get some sleep when the sleep deprivation became too much and my head felt it would explode.

It was still early in the morning, the sun was barely rising. I was sitting on the ground with my arms resting on my knees as I watched over the spot Ezekiel instructed the royals to meet. Kaden and Queen Andrea were waiting with Alpha Atlas. The other two kingdoms hadn’t arrived yet but they still had hours until the meet-up time. Every minute felt like hours and an hour felt like days. My mind was in overdrive, thinking about everything that could be happening to Ayla.

“We will rip them apart,” Duke growled in my mind.

My first thought is to make sure she is safe and then I’d kill anyone and everyone who has laid a finger on her.

I’m not sure how much time had passed when Alpha Atlas sat beside me. I kept staring at the exact spot, hoping Ayla would manifest. I needed her to be okay.

“Xander is still running down a few leads. And my guy was able to get a hold of every property Dante Valentino purchased. So far, everything has just been condos in cities.” He informed me. I gave him a nod.

We sat in silence after that. Everyone was working from every angle and calling in every favor they had to find Ayla but nothing was getting us any closer to finding her. I felt completely useless. How am I supposed to lead a pack, when I can’t even keep my Luna safe?

“Do you think Ayla’s okay?” I murmured and he sighed.

“Ayla is strong and smart. If there is a way for her to get out of this, she will. Have faith in her.” He clasped me on the shoulder, squeezing it.

I was trying to have faith, but with every minute that passed without finding her, I was losing hope. I needed her to be okay. Just the thought of her dying, twisted my chest so tight I could barely breathe. I can’t find out she’s alive just to have that hope snatched away.

“Nate!” I heard Kaden yell. I was about to tell him to keep his voice down but the next words out of his mouth had me rushing to my truck.

“They found Ayla!” Alpha Atlas was running beside me as we made it to my truck in seconds.

“Where the hell is she?” I demanded.

“Ryan just called me, he couldn’t get ahold of you.” He said, and I forgot I left my phone in my truck last night. Duke was patrolling the area last night.

“And?” Alpha Atlas asks him impatiently.

“She’s at your pack, Nate. I don’t know all the details but she was immediately taken to the hospital.” Kaden rushed out.

“Mitch, get everyone. We need to head back to the pack,” I mind-linked before I climbed behind the wheel of my truck. Alpha Atlas jumped in before I took off. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive but I was determined to make it there in less than an hour.

I picked up my phone on the center console and hit the recall button on all of Ryan’s missed calls. The phone rang through the speakers in my truck.

“Nate, finally.” Ryan sounded like he was catching his breath.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded.

“Ayla showed up in the bay with my brother Ryker. Queen Andrea had asked him to stay with Councilman Andrews after his altercation with Ayla a few days ago at dinner. Turns out Andrews was one of Dante’s supporters.” He started and my knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel.

“Ryker knew something was up when Collin, Andrews’s grandson, came to him for help. They planned to have warriors follow them.”

“That doesn’t explain why Ayla was rushed to the hospital?” I growled.

“Ayla was shot before Ryker and Collin were able to get her out. She was immediately rushed into the operating room and we haven’t heard anything about her condition. They took her back about ten minutes ago.” He sighed.

“When you get news, you call me.” I ended the call.

Ryan never called back by the time I pulled in front of my pack house. My sole focus was getting back there as fast as possible. My mind was a spiraling mess with every scenario that could have happened that led to Ayla being shot.

When I threw the truck into park, other vehicles pulled up behind me. Without paying them much attention, I jumped out of my vehicle and ran into the pack house. There was a small hospital wing located on the main floor. I haven’t had time to set foot in it until now. The waiting room was small with a desk on the far side of the room. There were also double white doors beside the check-in desk. The room was painted white and chairs lined the walls. The room was full of waiting warriors. Ryan stood up from his seat and rushed over to me with an older-looking vision of himself. I assume that’s his brother Ryker.

“What do you know?”

“We don’t know anything about her condition so far, but Ryker can explain what happened. Well, most of it. We don’t know how she killed Dante or if he hurt her.” I growled as my rage began to surface.

“Nate, breathe. I know this is hard.” My father grabbed my shoulder. I didn’t even notice he was in the waiting room. He stayed behind with Alpha Matt.

“Nate, my name is Ryker. I’m a personal guard to Queen Andrea. I was assigned to keep tabs on Councilman Andrews. Soon after Ayla and Xander left the kingdom, his grandson, Collin, approached me. He didn’t know the details but he had a feeling something was about to happen,” Ryker explained.

“And where is Collin?” I demanded.

“Here,” I was taken aback when a teenager stepped out from behind Ryker. He can’t be older than sixteen.

“Collin, I know there’s more to this story, but right now all I want to hear is how Ayla ended up shot,” I told him and he nodded. Tears swelled in his eyes and he cleared his throat.

“When Ayla and Dante were talking to my grandfather about starting a war. Ayla was very forward with Dante. He dragged her away. That’s when I mind-linked Ryker. We needed to strike before something happened to her. My warriors started a commotion and I snuck away to get Ayla. Dante was already dead when I entered the room.” He stopped, struggling to get the words out. Ryker clasped the young man’s shoulders, while he took a few deep breaths and wiped his eyes.

“I was trying to get her out of there when Ezekiel entered the room. When he saw Dante on the floor with his heart ripped out, he raised his gun. Ayla shielded me with her body.” He stammered, the dam breaking. He was just a kid and I know why Ayla would protect him. It wasn’t easy to swallow, but I would have done the same.

“That’s when I rushed in and killed Ezekiel,” Ryker finished.

“Collin, what is your relationship with Ayla?” I asked him and he sniffled, wiping away his tears.

“I was to take over if Ayla refused to be queen. I was next in line for the Western kingdom. At dinner, before she left, she told me I needed to prove myself or she would split the kingdom three ways between the other kingdoms. My grandfather had been grooming me for the position since my father died. I didn’t want the position, but when the black pearl herself asked me to prove myself, I knew I couldn’t go along with my grandfather’s plan.”

“How old are you, Collin?”

“Fifteen, sir.” He answered.

“What you did for Ayla is admirable,” I told him.

“But I got her shot?” He questioned, his voice cracking and my heart twisted painfully.

“You did what you could. And that’s all anyone could ask. Mitch, can you get everyone settled into their rooms.” I turned to find him standing with the group that followed me. He gave me a nod. Just then, the double doors opened and a male doctor rushed out. His eyes only showed pity as he looked at me. My heart sank.

“Alpha Nate, I’m Dr. Wilson.” He introduced himself.

“How is Ayla?” I demanded, my voice cold. Hearing details of the events distracted me, but now, my panic was once again rising to the surface.

“Alpha Nate, Luna Ayla arrived with three gun wounds. All entered through her back. One was a threw and threw with minimal damage. The other threw and threw nicked her right lung. And the third one is lodged in her heart.” I didn’t hear anything he said after that as I dropped into the closest chair, resting my face in my hands.

“Alpha Nate, we are doing everything we can to get the bullet out and to repair the damage. I will update again when I have more news.” The doctor informed me before I heard him walk away.

My mind was racing with everything I’d been told. All of this can’t be happening. It has to be a nightmare.

“Why the hell would you bring her all the way here if her condition was so severe?” Alpha Atlas bellowed. I looked up to see Collin crying and Ryker trying to form an answer before sighing.

“As soon as we got Ayla into the water, she struggled to shift. I let her go and a pack of great white sharks surrounded her. I’ve never seen great white sharks work together. They are not pack animals. But the biggest one in the group grabbed Ayla between his teeth and took off. The other sharks swam alongside the big one, protecting them. I’ve never heard anything like this happening and if I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. We didn’t know where we were going until I could reach Ryan through the mind-link. Only when we were close enough to shore did the sharks move and the big one released Ayla.” Ryker explained.

“Xander said seawater helps mermaids heal. Why didn’t the water heal her?” I demanded, standing up from my seat.

“It will heal, but with wounds like hers, it is slow. We aren’t like wolves,” he answered.

“f**k,” I yelled, punching my fist through the stone wall. I pulled my hand from the wall just as Xander was rushing into the room.

“Where’s Ayla?” He demanded. I didn’t answer. I just took a seat again with my face in my hands.

Duke was whimpering in my head as I willed myself to stay hopeful. Ayla can pull through this, she has to.

“She’ll pull through,” Xander said, pulling me from my thoughts. Looking around, the waiting room was now empty with only Xander sitting beside me.

“Where is everyone?” I sighed.

“Mitch and the others went to get rooms ready for everyone. And Alpha Atlas stepped out to phone his mate. Alpha Matt went to check on patrol. He wanted to increase it, just in case.”, he explained.

“Did you find anything?”

“Let’s just worry about Ayla. Everything else can wait.”

It felt like days before Dr. Wilson came out of the double doors again. I stood up from my seat, along with Xander, Alpha Atlas, Alpha Matt, and Kaden. Everyone else was resting. Poor Queen Andrea hasn’t stopped crying, according to Xander. This was a nightmare for all of us.

“Doctor,” I nodded.

“Alpha Nate, we were able to remove the bullet and stopped the bleeding. But she fell into a coma. She had lost a lot of b***d. We are giving her another b***d transfusion and hoping to bring her b***d pressure up.” I let out a breath.

“She’s alive.” I breathed out.

“Yes, Alpha. It was a touch-and-go there for a bit but we managed to get the bleeding to stop. But after we had her all stitched up, we did a final assessment. We were more concerned about the bleeding when she arrived,” he explained.

“What did you find?” Xander asked him. My tongue became thick and I was unable to speak.

“She has some bruises on her cheek and neck. We also found swelling and bruises in various stages of healing in her v****a.” He confirmed my worst fear.

“f**k,” Xander yelled out. The room echoed with the growls of our wolves.

“How long ago?” I asked him.

“It’s hard to say, but I would say a few days ago. We checked her for anything foreign and we are waiting for the results. They are just moving her to a room now. With her in a coma, she required a breathing tube. I’m hoping after a few days spent healing, she’ll wake up.” He said.

As soon as he walked back through the doors, I threw my fist into the wall again, reopening all the cuts from before. I was beyond furious. My b***d was boiling, demanding b***d for what they put Ayla through.

“It’s all my fault.” Xander broke down as he sat. And all I wanted to do was blame him, but he wasn’t the one who did that to her.

“At least you got to kill him,” I growled out.

A nurse walked out the doors and whimpered. With all the anger I was feeling, I had let my aura slip out. She was forced to bare her neck to me in submission. Taking some deep breaths, I managed to rain it back in.

“Alpha Nate, Luna Ayla is now in her room. Will you please follow me?” She motioned for me to follow her.

Anxiety and guilt twisted my stomach tighter with every step I took toward Ayla’s room. I’ve been training to be a beta my entire life but nothing could prepare me for what I saw as I entered her room.