Chapter 68

Chapter 68

The history, the anguish, and the passion were all burning inside of me, paralyzing me. The power I had released was still licking my skin, and I was stuck in the feeling of it—locked in my immobile body, trapped in his presence—with nothing I could do about it. The regret of what I had done washed over me like a tidal wave of horror.

My body and bones felt like fragile branches, and the aftermath was beating my brain, but my heart hurt more than anything else.

I could sense him too, wherever I was.

Between us, the anguish felt like a fist around my heart, squeezing until I was unable to breathe. I could feel the suffering intensifying as I struggled to regain awareness. Our wolves' wills were uniting, compelling the celestial oath to supersede our humanity, and I could sense his heart's untamed nature nearly as much as my own; it pounded incessantly with the fury of our situation, holding me captive.

"When will she wake up?" His words reverberated through me, his voice taking on the tone of his beast, and I felt empty inside.

I had no idea what to make of the intense agony he was displaying, but my racing mind was unable to focus on the crucial details, allowing my fears to take precedence over reason.

Had I let my guard down without even noticing?

Was that his plan to keep me obedient by injecting me with wolf's bane?

Even though I was struggling against the bonds of my unconscious body, I was free from any physical limitations—something they wouldn't have hesitated to apply if they had known who I was. I had been trained to take more than what they believed was necessary to keep me submissive, even though the wolf's bane felt like ice in my veins. Nevertheless, something was off, and I was too stressed to solve it.

The running, the rogues, the tree I'd pulled out by the roots. All of this occurred prior to the arrival of the warriors and Derrick's rescue mission.

"Your highness," Another person began to speak, but their remarks were cautious. "You are just as familiar with the workings of the wolf's bane as I am; the dose you provided Luna with will be in her system for a couple of days, and she will remain unconscious for the majority of it." The tension in the room was palpable; one false word and it would break like glass, but I hadn't seen the title tossed at me, a title I most assuredly wouldn't have been given if this was my interpretation.

"And what of her healing?" Derrick got tough.

"Luna's healing process will be slow until the wolf's bane is out of her system."

Derrick gave me a very scary growl that shook me to my very core and echoed throughout the room.

The pack doctor was mistaken, though, as the wolf's poison would leave my system far sooner than he anticipated. I had experience with this kind of thing; as a child, I had been dosed up with the poison for years, so I was no longer accustomed to the sensation.

It made perfect sense as to why I was feeling weak.

My wolf and my body were trying to bring it under control, drawing me away from the impulse to wake up as they grew accustomed to it.

The room fell still for a moment, and then I heard a body thud and a strained breath. Derrick was becoming aggressively protective, and I knew that the only way to stop him was for me to wake up, but my body was not cooperating.

"Look at her—look at your Luna, and tell me you can't do anything more for her." As I listened with expectation, my own heart began to race.

I could feel the dark desperation and the quiet rage pouring into me.

My mate would not have been acting this way if he had known that I was a witch blood wolf, and he refused to accept the doctor's diagnosis. I mean, he wouldn't have threatened the pack doctor I was seeing, and he most certainly wouldn't have been speaking out for my best interests. His beast was about to be destroyed, but that was only because I was asleep, lying in a hospital bed. It was not because he wanted me healthy before he tore me apart, but rather because I was his mate and it mattered to him that I was okay.

"It will take time." The physician reiterated in a choked voice, but Derrick had had enough of his indifferent remarks and his irritation piercing my soul.

"Get the fuck out." He spoke in a low voice, threatening to use violence.

We are making every effort, Your Highness—"I said, get the fuck out!" The sound of metal striking the floor reverberated loudly, then the door slammed shut.

As I kept trying to wake up, Derrick swore, became furious, and destroyed the room surrounding me.

At least one thing had come to light, thanks to my mate's primal rage: I wasn't tethered to a dungeon's walls; I was in the infirmary.

"Do you really believe that she will want to wake up to a beaten and wounded partner? You accomplished what you had to, so please relax." Morgan's urgent voice echoed across the space. It was only after he had introduced himself that I felt his presence in it. I was not aware of how much the wolf's bane was affecting my senses.

"If I had stayed with her, this would never have happened."

"You had no way of knowing that two of the rogues had attacked us and gotten this close—

"She is my mate, and I put her in harm's way." Derrick was wallowing in his own words, which were final.

Morgan laughed, and I knew instantly that Derrick had given him a death gaze.

"She's strong; what other female wolf in this pack do you think would have managed to fend off two rogue wolves?" Morgan's statements were beginning to seem dubious. "Let alone pin them to death under the trunk of a perfectly healthy tree; don't you think she should have been stuck under it too?" The room's mood grew chilly. Since our first meeting, a storm had been building inside of me, and now that it had erupted, I wasn't sure what to do with it.

Derrick was too infatuated with me to notice that Morgan was right.

"She chose to lure those rogues away from a pack she hasn't even taken claim to yet; she distracted them enough so that your mate had time to make sure your son was safe. What exactly are you accusing her of?" My heart was broken as Derrick leaped to my defense.

"I just think that something isn't adding up." The beta muttered cautiously, aware that discussing his alpha's mate was a sensitive subject.