Chapter 163
RYKER’S P.O.V
The wind whipped through my fur as I ran, I wasn’t going my fastest because if I did, the game would be over in seconds and I wanted to draw it out as long as possible. The chase was the most fun part of everything. It made catching her all the more worth it. I saw her light fur as she weaved through the smaller trees. She was truly taking my words into consideration and taking paths I didn’t recognize but she didn’t realize I had a better memory than she did, I came into these woods more than her and I knew them like the back of my hand.
I took a right and I felt her confusion down the bond because that was the completely opposite direction from where she was going. Regardless of that, she kept running. I could still see her out of the corner of my eye, my wolf vision was something to be rivalled. I wasn’t sure if it had improved since becoming prince but it was almost as if my senses were sharper
Once I started hearing the sound of the stream, I took a sharp left just as she was coming out of the trees. She ran into me but I turned us over at the last minute so I would absorb the impact of the hit. She let out a whine while I laughed. She was on top of me sporting what looked like a small frown and I leaned up to lick her face- technically, my wolf did but in this state, we were one and the same.
Our thoughts were always the same when it came to her, I never had to fight him, we just wanted her happy. A lot of people found it hard to control their wolves once shifted, it was the reason most people didn’t do it often but I had learned from a young age how to become one with my wolf. We rarely argued or had differences, it was like having another living, breathing soul with the same thoughts and ideas..
“You cheated,” Camilla complained still lying on top of me. I immediately flipped us over before slowly getting off her and nudging her towards the lake. “You ambushed me.”
“There was nothing against going through a short cut. My job was to catch you and I did.”
She huffed and turned away from me. She wasn’t truly upset, I knew that much so I waited until she had finished lapping up the water before I nudged her back to the ground and wrapped my large form around her. At first, she tried pulling away but she soon realized it was fruitless and she actually wanted it because she relaxed into my hold. The moon was high in the sky and we just lay there wrapped up in each other as the breeze it our skin. It was a different kind of bliss, one that couldn’t be expressed in words
“Ryker,” she spoke softly down the link and I hummed. “Thank you for this. I didn’t realize how much I needed it until you brought it up. I feel more relaxed than I have in weeks.”
“It’s okay,” I nuzzled her side. “We all need a break now and again. You work too hard and you work yourself too much. Come out for a run once in a while.”
She laughed softly. “I will, but I have a question. How are we going to get our clothes back, I don’t even know where they are right now?”
“We’ll find it.”
I wasn’t bothered about clothes in this moment. I had my mate in my arms, I had my family safe in the palace, there was nothing more that I needed. Everything else was calmly situated in the back of my mind where it belonged. At least, it was, until I heard a twig snap. My spine stilled and my ears twitched as I tried to figure out where the sound came from. Camilla tried to rise but I put a paw on her side and let out a low growl warning her to stay down.
Even in her wolf form, she rolled her eyes at me. She had a problem with my over protectiveness, she always did but until I found out what that was, I wasn’t letting her go anywhere near it. I lifted my nose in the air trying to take a sniff but what I got back nearly had me throwing up. It smelled like rotting flesh and death. Death didn’t have a particular scent but if it did, this would be it. It was pungent and horrible, as if all the bad in the world had come together.
“What is that smell?” Camilla asked but I didn’t respond. She rose on all fours but I nudged her until she was behind me.
“If I tell you to run then you run, am I very clear on that?”
“Whatever.”
I would have hounded her more about that but some leaves shook in the clearing on the opposite side of the stream. I let out a loud growl warning whoever it was to stay the f uck back but to no one’s surprise, they didn’t. When the leaves cleared I was not expecting to see a man there. He looked even worse than the first man we healed, his skin was black, as if every cell in it had died. His eyes were hollow and they looked empty, he was fixated on Camilla and he stretched out a hand to her.
“Help me,” he pleaded and the next thing I knew, he was falling into the stream.
Camilla tried to go after him but I stopped her. “Get our clothes and get back here. I’ll save him.”
“But-”
“Now!” this time she didn’t hesitate, she took off in the opposite direction while I jumped into the stream. It wasn’t hard to retrieve the man but he felt heavier than a person was supposed to. I managed to get him onto dry land and thankfully, he hadn’t drowned yet.
He coughed out water and looked around as if expecting to see Camilla. “Where is she? Please, I need her help. She said that she could help me. She said that the Queen was my only hope.”
I nudged at his mind. If he was from the pack then I could access his mind link. His mind was different than most others I had come to relate with. It was like a deserted hallway filled with cobwebs, the scent of death lingered even in his mind also. I had never experienced anything like that before. I wanted to pull out of his mind but I needed to know.
“Who is she?” I asked. “Who told you that the Queen could help.”
“The woman who did this to me,” he responded with a voice softer than a feather. “She said that only the Queen could heal me. She said it was a test, she said she was helping her grow and I was practice. Please, I don’t want to die.”
Camilla returned with our clothes in her mouth. I reluctantly pulled away from the man so I could get dressed behind a tree. I was done first and went back to him. He hadn’t moved an inch, he looked too exhausted to move and that led me to question how he managed to get through the woods alone at night.
“What were you doing here?” I asked but he didn’t respond. “How did you manage to get here? Did she drop you off?”
I could feel Camilla’s confusion but I made a mental note to explain it to her later. My attention turned back to the man who managed to look at me.
“No, she left me in the, town. I came here on my own. I needed- I tried-” even speaking seemed to be hard for him. Camilla reached forward to touch him but I grabbed her wrist.
“No,” I warned and she frowned. I explained everything the man had said down our bond. “Whoever this woman is, she is baiting you, you aren’t going to fall into her trap.”
“I’m not going to let innocent people die either. She is not going to stop, people are going to keep coming in the number and it will be our fault that they died. I am not like you, Ryker, I cannot live with the knowledge of that on my chest. Just let me touch him.”
“No, it drains you too much, why don’t you try using your blood?” I asked and I saw her hesitate. Since we discovered this new development, we never saw need to try her blood. I wasn’t even sure if it still worked. “Just try it, Camilla, there is no harm in knowing.”
She pursed her lips but realized there was no other way I was going to let her try it. She found a sharp rock and sliced her palm open on it. Watching that alone was hard but I stayed close to her as she lifted her hand over his lips and allowed the blood drip freely. I knew her hand would heal within seconds but hopefully it was enough to heal him.
At first nothing happened, he just lay there quietly when he suddenly started to convulse. His body shook badly and foam started to gather in his mouth. Camilla tried to reach out to him but I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away from him. She screamed and fought trying to get to him but I couldn’t risk her life for a stranger. It might have been cruel but it wasn’t something I would do.
“Ryker if you don’t let me go, I swear I will never forgive you,” she cried out and I hated hearing her like that but I still wasn’t convinced. “He is dying and this is my fault. Just let me make it right, please.”
“You have given too much.”
She let out an ear splitting scream. “Please, that is someone’s son. If it were our girls, we would want someone to help them. Just let me do this one more time. Please, whatever I did is killing him. I am begging you.”
Tears were free flowing down her cheeks and she looked at me with raw pain. I hated to see her like that, I wanted to take her as far away from this as possible but I knew her better than anyone and I knew she wasn’t bluffing when she said she would never forgive me so I let out a sigh and released her.
