And There Were Wolves

(d) fifteen

You're in for a surprise, Dear Readers ...

Xyrra POV

I felt the connection being interrupted for a split second before it truly was severed. It was either because something had happened to Ryker or Tiffany not being able to retain the linkage. Whichever it was, both Tiffany's and Ryker's minds were no longer linked therefore she was no longer able to see things through his eyes. "Hey, are you here with me?" I asked her once I had pulled all my magic from her and was no longer touching her temple. 

Tiffany blinked a few times and when she finally looked directly at me, I knew that she was here with me and no longer seeing through Ryker's eyes. Her petite oval face paled, and her silver eyes widened in complete terror. It made me curiously wonder what she had seen. For the past two years I'd checked in on Ryker, he'd been in the woods which technically meant that I'd seen things through Khrysaor's eyes, and there wasn't anything remotely odd or terrifying. Perhaps we had caught Ryker and Khrysaor at a bad timing and they were eating raw meat or something. Yet a part of me doubted that it was the case. 

"Tiff, are you alright?" I asked even though judging by her current state and the expression on her face, I knew she was far from being okay. Still, I had to ask because I needed to know what she saw. The downside of this spell was that only one person could see through their target's eyes. Deidre had once warned me by saying that should two persons or more were looking through the target's eyes, it could mess with the target's mind thus why by letting Tiffany link to Ryker's mind, I couldn't see what she'd seen for myself. 

Tiffany shook her head, her lips were trembling. "You need to help her, Xy. He's in really bad shape. That disease is making him do the unspeakable things."

"Like, what?" 

She didn't answer my question. Her hand reached for the spot below her neck and she started rubbing it as if trying to calm herself down. Still not answering my question, she reiterated her words once again. "He really needs you. He really needs your help." 

I let out a frustrated sigh. "I can't possibly help him if I don't even know what's going on." I could try tapping into Tiffany's mind, there must be a memory of what she'd seen, and yet at the same time, I didn't want to do it because she was my friend. I wouldn't do that to a friend unless she let me. Right now with her looking as if she'd seen the worst, I knew it wasn't a good time to ask for her permission. 

Tiffany closed her eyes. I watched her take multiple deep breaths. A few minutes passed before her eyelids fluttered open and she regarded me with a much-controlled expression. "He was drinking blood. Human's blood." 

With a voice that I didn't recognize as my own, I heard myself asking, "Would that be so wrong?" Unless my mind wasn't playing a trick on me, Ryker had drunk my blood in that bathroom during my graduation ceremony two years ago. I knew that when wolf marked their mate, they could drink a bit of their mate's blood so I wasn't sure whether this would be considered taboo or not. 

"It's wrong when it's human. When it's not their mate. Moreover, werewolves aren't vampires. We're no bloodsuckers." A single tear slipped out of one corner of her eye. "That disease made him do that. It made him crave blood. He—" She shook her head, tears started streaming down her cheeks. "He doesn't behave like my little brother when he sucked that man dry." 

My heart nearly stopped. The thought of Ryker who always tried to protect everyone sucking the blood out of a man was making my heart sink. "Did he kill him?" 

"I don't know." She shook her head and wiped her tears away. 

"I'm going to find out," I said determinedly as I pulled the Book of the Damned closer to me and started reading the spell.