14

X E N O S

➳

There they were again. The pictures. The moonlight illuminating the small clearing and the brown fur flashing. Bones that cracked and the agonizing scream that followed.

It was an ambush.

"NOOO!" I ran across the clearing, but I was too late. His head was already rolling across the floor and stopped at my feet. Empty hazel eyes stared at me as a dark laugh echoed through the forest.

"Leav is dead Xenos."

I heard his screams over and over again, chasing me, not letting go, while Serda's laughter mocked me.

“I was too late. I was too late. I was too late.”

And then the screams stopped instantly. Someone shook me. Hands on my chest, on my cheek.

"Xenos, wake up!"

“Arya. “

As soon as I opened my eyes, I shot up and centuries-old habits kicked in as I lightning-quickly grabbed the person in front of me and pinned him onto the bed, my arm pressed against their neck.

"It's me, Xenos! It's just me, Arya!"

I blinked several times and my vision sharpened as I abruptly jerked my arm away from her neck. "Arya."

“You have a strong grip, I have to give you that.” she gasped and grinned teasingly.

Suppressing the thousand curses that were on the tip of my tongue, I helped her up. "Damn, excuse me." She swayed briefly before catching her balance and clutching the sheets. My brows furrowed as I looked at her in the dim light that crept into my bedroom from the hallway. "What are you doing here?"

She quickly lifted her dull, shimmering gaze and tore it away from my bare chest. Desire ran hot through my veins and I gritted my teeth not to press them right back into the layered sheets.

My loins were already throbbing when she bit her lip. "You were... dreaming."

“Crap”. She must have heard the screams. My bones cracked under my tightly clenched fists, and I looked away as an all-too-familiar scent assaulted my senses. My head snapped towards her and I couldn't help the growl that escaped my lips. "Where? Where are you bleeding?” I was already scanning her body with my eyes when I spotted the red, blood-soaked stain on her sweater. I was about to take a closer look at the wound when she knocked my hands away.

"It's nothing more than a cut," she protested firmly, cheeks flushed.

That miserable stubborn one. "Then you don't mind showing me."

Her hands wanted to ward off mine again as they clenched trembling around mine and her body swayed. I quickly grabbed her shoulders as she fell onto me and her red-hot forehead slumped onto my shoulder.

I inhaled sharply. "Just a cut, huh?" It was as warm as blazing hellfire. I laid her down gently and pushed up the sweater. I froze as I removed the rag she had wrapped around her waist. She hadn't lied, it wasn't a deep wound, but that wasn't what worried me. It was the smell. The sweet, bitter scent that could only mean one thing.

I grabbed her in a flash, one arm around her shoulders, the other under her knees, I picked her up and stormed out of the room, glad to have worn leather pants to sleep like every other night, ready to fight at any time to be. "DEVON!" I didn't give a damn who heard my roar and woke up.

"Xenos, what are you doing?" moaned Arya in my arms, her already sweating head resting on my chest. "I'm doing well."

A dry laugh as I sped down the stairs, holding her tightly to me. "You don't give a fuck."

"Hey." A faint—terrifyingly faint—punch to my chest. "Don't talk to me like that."

The pounding of my bare feet on the cool stone floor as I ran through the foyer. I spun on my own axis. Where was that idiot?

"Don't make me soge," Arya mumbled incomprehensibly, her eyelids fluttering and her hand trembling against my skin. "I'm fine."

I stopped immediately and stared down at her. A growl deeper than Fyrsald Forest. "DEVON!"

"What's the matter?" Said stormed into the great hall.

"Tell Beau to go to the Healer Werewolf camp, we need Georgie."

Devon nodded in a solemn way that he rarely did. "Will be done."

I didn't wait for Devon to disappear, but rushed further down the stairwell, following several corridors.

"Xenos..." Arya's breathing slowed and she trembled in my arms. Whoever did this to her, I would kill them. Cut off every single finger until he begged for mercy, only to slowly drive the sharp blade between his ribs and watch him choke with blood from his mouth.

The door swung open with force as I entered the room overgrown with plants. “Petalouda poison. She needs the antidote—now.”

The little woman got up from her wooden stool, and turned away from her wooden table, whose maple top was covered with every herb and elixir. "Put them there." She pointed to the tray. "How long has the poison been in her?"

"How long Arya?" I gently brushed a few strands of wet hair from her face after laying her on the couch. When she didn't answer, just staring at an insignificant point behind me with dully glowing eyes, I shook her slightly. "How long?" But she didn't answer as her songs slowly closed and her head fell limp to one side.

Furious, my wolf scratched the walls, wanting to get out. wanted to help her. I spun around, digging my claws into the mattress. "The antidote, now." If the highly poisonous liquid of the deadly butterflies, whose bite could mean worse consequences than a river snake's bite, were to flow in her body for more than an hour, even Gaia herself could not be saved from death. And I would rather move mountains than allow that to happen.

Fumbling with her bowls and herbs, the healer scurried over to me, then bent over Arya. I almost bit her throat. "One wrong move and you'll regret it."

"Of course, Your Majesty." The Healer lifted Arya's head as she pressed the bowl to her mouth and poured the potion into her mouth. After she had used everything down to the last drop, the little woman withdrew again. "That's all I can do for her at the moment."

"Thanks," I ground out hoarsely as I took Arya's wet, hot hand and knelt beside her as the icy cold of the cobblestones etched into my bones, but I didn't give a damn.

I wasn't late. Not this time. I was not allowed.

“Come on, “kitten”. Wake up.” Do it for me.

X E N O S

➳

Georgie locked the door behind her and stepped into the cobbled, cool hallway, which was lit by several torches. "The wound is fully healed and the poison will be gone from her body in a few hours." She clasped her hands behind her back as the flames from the torches lit her face. She smiled. "Arya will make a full recovery."

The iron hand around my heart loosened. "Thank you Georgie. You can go now."

She nodded and then quietly disappeared around the corner.

"What are you doing?"

I did not look up after stepping into the room, but continued to inspect the various elixirs in the vials on the maple tabletop in front of me that the old healer had prepared.

A squeak of the tray. She must have sat up. "Xenos?"

I took one of the potions in my hand and studied the blue liquid closely. "Who was it?"

"I don't know," she said indifferently.

I closed my eyes and my hand clenched on a bottle. "Do not lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you." As scratchy as ever.

"You don't know who it was?" I eyed her skeptically and raised an eyebrow. "Someone suddenly attacked you, for no reason?"

Arya shrugged as she sat up straight against the wall and placed the glass goblet she had just sipped from on her bedside table. " Aee ."

"And you think I'll buy that?"

She lifted her chin and glared at me - a dull glow in her eyes. The poison was still not completely gone from her bloodstream. "I don't give a damn."

I shoved my rampaging wolf deep behind the bars, tugging at my frighteningly thin self-control. I sat by her bed for hours. Hoped, prayed that she would wake up. Not touching her now almost drove me insane. "Was it someone from your tribe?"

"How dare you!"

Acid bit into my bones as I asked a question I never thought I'd ask. Which I would never have asked under any other circumstances. But someone had dared to violate something that was sacred to me. And I would never be too proud for that. "Someone from my pack?"

She paused, surprise crossing her face. "No of course not. As I said, I didn't know him."

The glass vial in my hand shattered. 'It was a man? "Anger didn't even begin to measure what was raging inside me. My wolf roared. "A man dared to stab you?"

"What difference does it make?" She had swung her legs out of the bed, albeit unsteadily, and was glaring at me. "Fact is, even if I knew who he was, it's none of your business who attacked me." I growled and started to protest, but she didn't let me get a word in edgeways. “You think I won't take revenge for this? That you have to do this thing for me? That I can't do it myself?” She waved her hands wildly. 'If you haven't figured it out, that's my problem . I take care of myself I …” She pointed to herself and hissed, “ Ehsa .”

“I know you've got it under control, Arya. I know that.” I growled back and stalked across the healing room, hands balled into fists at my sides, until I stopped in front of her. "I know that. It's nonetheless my concern."

She folded her arms across her chest and stared up at me, careful not to touch me. "Then why don't you leave me alone with this? Why don't you trust me?"

“Because I am king and you are in my kingdom . So tell me the fuck who did it."

An infinite cold settled into her eyes. "Go."

I immediately realized the misdeed I had begun. "Arya."

"I said you should go!"

I caught the fists, held them with one hand, and knelt in front of them. Gently brushing the thin braid away from her face, avoiding her snapping teeth, she studied her cheek, which still showed the slight greenish discoloration. It took the last drop of my self-control not to grab her. “It's none of my business because I'm king or because you're on my territory. It's because I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you.” With that, I left her and locked the door behind me, just in time for the glass goblet to shatter on the door and not on me.