.Chapter 11-1
Simone
“S-Stay back,” Kane growled desperately in a barely audible voice as I approached him with the yarrow paste.
I hummed dismissively and knelt down to start a fire with the wood I’d gathered. The cave was getting cold, and he’d need warmth to help his body fight off whatever poison was coursing through his system.
“You can’t order me around,” I said flatly, striking flint against stone.
“I’m the king,” he grunted, trying to sound authoritative despite being naked and bleeding all over the cave floor.
“Not mine,” I answered without looking up from the growing flames.
When I turned back to him with the herbal paste, he tried to drag himself away from me. His movements were weak and uncoordinated, but the panic and utter terror in his eyes was real.
“No,” he grunted, his gaze unfocused but desperate. “S-Simone please, don’t touch me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Kane, but I need to put these herbs on your wounds,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and reasonable. “I saw earlier that the beast’s claws were poisoned. You might die at this rate.”
“Then I die.” His voice was flat, final. “Do not touch me. Swear you won’t. Just-let me die. I damn
sure deserve it.”
This was the most terrified I’d heard him sound since we’d started traveling together, and every word made my chest tighten with frustration and confusion.
“What’s wrong with you?!” I shrieked, unable to help myself.
Hearing him talk about dying, about how I should just let him go, tore at me in ways I didn’t expect. He was a stranger, technically my enemy, but he’d shown more kindness than anyone else in this damn kingdom. He’d saved my life three times now. And the Moon Goddess had deemed us
mates.
How could I just let him die? Even if my wolf didn’t go absolutely feral at the idea, even if we weren’t mates, I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t in my nature to watch someone suffer when I could help.
“You’re not dying on me, you asshat,” I sniffled, blinking back tears and storming toward him with the yarrow paste.
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Chapter 11 1
Cham
He freaked out completely then, using what little strength he had left to drag himself backward across the cave floor, his thunderous snarl making me pause for a second. His movements were
frantic, until his head hit the back wall with a dull thud.
The lost king of Aerith Kingdom knocked himself unconscious.
“Well, that’s just perfect,” I muttered, looking down at his still form.
A snort escaped me as I approached his unconscious body. At least now he couldn’t argue with me about getting medical treatment.
I knelt beside him and started inspecting his wounds properly. The gashes across his abdomen and chest were long but not deep, which was good news. What worried me was the way they weren’t healing at the rate they should have been for a lycan.
I took a deep breath to center myself, but the scent of magic immediately clogged my nose again. It was stronger now that I was closer to him, more concentrated around the wounds.
I held my hand just above the largest gash on his chest, not quite touching. The prickling sensation of magic danced across my palm, confirming what I’d suspected.
The wounds were definitely poisoned, magically so. The beasts hadn’t produced natural venom, no, this poison had been applied deliberately. This was the work of a witch, designed to make those creatures even more lethal.
But there was more than just the poison making my senses tingle. I could feel layers of magic radiating from his skin, older and more complex than the fresh poison from the beast’s claws.
I closed my eyes and focused, tuning my null abilities the way Mom and Irene had taught me. It was like adjusting my vision, shifting from normal sight to something deeper. I’d done it when I’d exposed Kellan’s magic, following that golden thread back to its source.
My breath caught in my throat at what I saw in my mind.
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