Defiance

3.9

Chapter 39

A L D R I C 

I wasn't the first wolf to suffer from Svesta. There were hundreds of wolves who had suffered from the same pain. How they managed, I didn't know. My mind went to Ella - witches had tortured my little sister with this curse without thinking of the consequences once. They hurt her despite she was only thirteen, a child that could barely defend herself. I tried not to think about the pain. Before me, the healers were losing their minds. I didn't know how long I laid in bed, shutting my eyes and forcing my body to recover. The only problem was that once it did try to recover itself, the curse would be back and start its process again.

The worst part was that I had lost my vision in my left eye. I could see nothing but darkness. I knew from the side mirror, the eye had become a black abyss of my blood. My tattoos only looked worse with the black eye. I only looked more terrifying, if possible.

My wolf was crying out in the back of my mind. It wasn't just from the pain from Svesta, but he was certain his mate was hurt. I shut him out this time. He wasn't making this easier. 

It had been three days, I realized. Ella once assured me that she suffered under Svesta for a few minutes because Elysia had found her by then. Each night was worse than the previous.

I had enough of this.

Yet, my body continued to shut down. There was black blood at my fingertips as well as my face. Freya was beside me, wiping the black blood on my face as fast as she could. "Only a witch can undo Svesta. Only a witch can -" Selene was muttering recklessly above me. Despite her attempts of inserting pain-easing potions and medicines, it wasn't enough. Beside her Kevan was fumbling over the medicinal flowers in his hands.

"We don't have a witch," Kevan muttered, forcing Selene to shut up. But I knew the underlyings of what Kevan was trying to say - Elysia. Once, she had saved Ella, Ian, and Cassandra. Once, my wolves decided that they would rather die than accept help from a witch. I wondered if Elysia cared about me enough to wonder if I was dead or alive. I wondered if my wolves would accept a witch's help now that their Alpha was suffering its effects.

"We can't lose you," Freya was beside me. She held my hands gently. She had been here for the past three days, without sleep. At the same time, Freya had been praying to the Moon Goddess, playing music in whatever she could to appease the goddess. I couldn't find the words to thank her. She realized I was in trouble and brought all the Moon Priestesses to help me. Kiara, the Moon Priestess of Accius' pack had the power to project the magic of the Maji onto the witches. However, she had been training with the other Priestesses for the past year to fully channel her magic. She proved how strong she was to the witches. It was clear they would be the one that would be worried now. 

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Freya then said. 

I felt weaker than I should've. It was my fault I was in this mess. I was the one determined to take Elysia back with me, I ignored all the signs of what I was walking into - a trap. I made the decision to fight and my stupidity got me into this mess. She told me to run - she chose to help me. I blinked at the realization.

I groaned in frustration. I could ignore whatever I was feeling in my body but I couldn't ignore the frustration Elysia gave me. The wolves, however, seemed to be occupied with something else. Their worries were written across their faces.

The Svesta could easily kill me if I didn't continuously remind my body to recover and rebuild. So my body would heal, only for the curse to come back with its tantalizing pain. I felt like needles were stabbing through my body. I had an urge to scream but couldn't. Too many wolves were here. The last thing I wanted for them to be reminded of how truly weak their Alpha was.