Chapter 37 Writer's POV
Onyi woke up with a pounding headache, his body aching all over. He was disoriented, unsure of where he was or how he got there. As he looked around, he saw a woman standing in the corner of the room, her eyes fixed on him with an unnerving intensity.
"Who are you?" Onyi asked, his voice hoarse from shouting and crying the night before.
The woman stepped forward, her movements fluid and deliberate. "I'm Laila, the pack doctor," she said, her voice low and husky.
Onyi's eyes narrowed as he took in Laila's appearance. She was tall and imposing, with piercing green eyes that seemed to bore into his soul. Her long black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of night, and her skin was deathly pale.
"What happened last night?" Onyi asked, trying to piece together the events that had led him to this place.
"You passed out," Laila replied, her eyes never leaving his face. "You were running after Amanda's car, and you collapsed from exhaustion and grief."
Onyi's eyes dropped, shame and guilt washing over him. He knew that he had hurt Amanda, that his refusal to mate with her had driven her away.
Laila's eyes seemed to gleam with a dark fascination as she watched Onyi's emotions play out on his face. "You're a mess, aren't you?" she said, her voice dripping with a sinister tone. "You're so caught up in your own pain that you can't see the world around you."
Onyi's eyes snapped up, a spark of anger igniting within him. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice cold.
Laila's smile was a thin-lipped thing, a cruel curve of her mouth. "I want to help you," she said. "I want to help you see the world for what it truly is."
Onyi's instincts screamed at him to be wary of Laila, to be cautious around her. But he was too broken, too vulnerable, to resist her ministrations. He let her tend to him, let her touch him, even as he felt a growing sense of unease.
As Laila's hands moved over his body, Onyi felt a shiver run down his spine. There was something dark about her, something that didn't feel quite right. And as he looked into her eyes, he saw a glimmer of something sinister lurking there, something that made him wonder if he was in grave danger.