Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Getting chased by wolves should be something that I should be all too familiar with by now. I know that it is kind of sad that I have such a thought, but the world that I am living in isn’t exactly that kind either.

I hear the wolf closing in behind me, and this time, I know that I have to act on my own. One of them almost got to me, but I was able to blast it off with a strong gust of wind just enough to send the wolf flying out of my range.

There’s no way that I'm going to outrun the wolves. I’m just a mere human - or witch - running in the woods, which is their turf, barefooted. I turned around and waved my hand, sending a cutting beam of light that knocked a branch to the ground and blocked their path. At least that bought me some time.

I never thought that there were this many wolves who were against Al as a leader. I know that I have heard a few wolves outside of my room, but not more than a dozen!

My feet were bleeding as I climbed a muddy slope. Rocks and branches had pierced them. I had no time to stop, so I can’t tell how bad my feet look, butI can tell that they will definitely have an infection if I don’t do anything about it soon.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks after I climbed. I began running ahead, ignoring every pain in my body that I felt. Their continuous howls and growls were the only ones that motivated me to keep on running.

There’s a rustle in my peripheral view that got me distracted. I thought that it was a wolf, but it seemed a little too fast for my eyes to follow. Because of that, I slowed down for a bit, and that caused one of the wolves to pin me to the ground. My cheek hit the muddied ground, and I could feel a rock scratching my cheek in the process. The weight of the wolf’s also caused me to hear my shoulder make a disturbing crack, making me scream and cry out in pain.

I felt the breath of the wolf on my neck for a split second before it was gone. The weight was suddenly lifted from my chest, like the wolf was never there in the first place.

“How bold of you to touch what’s mine.”

Maybe I hit my head when I fell because I believe that I might be hearing things because I think that I heard Al.

I blinked my eyes rapidly to focus and keep myself awake. With what is left of my strength, I forced myself to cran my neck and turn back. I barely could barely see through the night, but I could just make out Al standing before me. His eyes were blazing in anger while he held the wolf by the neck.

“Where’s Deindra? Why isn’t he here? If you won’t give me an answer, I’m going to snap your neck.”

My vision was a little blurred, but I heard a pleading whimper before a loud snap followed, and suddenly, the wolf’s body started to go limp. Al discarded the body like it was nothing but trash. He starts to turn and address me, the anger in his eyes were started to recede and replaced with concern when he heard wolves coming over. He directed his gaze at them for a few seconds before coming back to me.

“Don’t worry. This will be quick. I will take care of you. Just hang on. I won’t let them get to you or touch you again.” He knelt before me and kissed the top of my forehead. “Close your eyes for this, darling. It might get a little messy.”

Even if he didn’t have to tell me about it, I was so exhausted that my eyes were beginning to close by themselves.

But just before I could shut them close, I vaguely saw Al transforming into his black Alpha wolf before charging the others. I heard a massacre in the background, and somehow, I was glad that I had fallen asleep before I could witness any of it.

***

I came to consciousness when I felt a pain on my arm. Soon, my senses kicked in, and I started to feel the wind breezing over my face.

My eyes flew open and I was surprised to see the scenery moving before me.

“You’re awake. Sorry, I was hoping to transport you gently, but I want to take care of your injuries as fast as possible.” I try not to scream at the amount of blood splattered over Al’s face. It doesn’t seem likeilike it was his injuries so I was wondering where it cames from before I remembered the scene I heard just before I lost consciousness.

He killed the wolves in his pack.

I started to move, but my whole body ached. Al notices my discomfort and immediately comes to a stop. He starts to move slowly and places me on the floor.

“Does it hurt? Do you have the strength to use your magic?” He asks me in concern.

“I want to, but my arm hurts. I could not focus.” The pain was constantly nagging me at the back of my mind that I couldn’t even focus on healing.

Al’s eyes were looking at my shoulder. His brows were drawing to a close as he studies it carefully.

He bites his lower lip before looking at me apologetically. “You might hate me more than you already do for this, but you can hit me after.”

I try to breathe slowly through my mouth as I try to focus on Al and what he meant. But before he could give me an answer, he grabbed my arm and yanked it hard in a certain direction until I felt it pop back into place. I screamed and fell to the ground in pain.

“I’m sorry! Gabby poo, are you-”

I slapped him as soon as I managed to right myself up. “Don’t you dare call me by that nickname after what you just pulled!”

“You mean your arm? It was dislocated, so I was just putting it back in the right socket.” I know that I did not slap him too hard, but he still placed one hand over his cheek when he looked at me.

“You know exactly what I am talking about.” I glared at him before focusing on healing my injuries. I focused on my chest first because I felt like my ribs were broken.

Al looks a little disheartened and rubs the back of his head. “I-I…” It seems like he wants to tell me something, but stops himself at the last moment.

“If I were you, I would come clean right now while I am listening.” I was finally starting to breathe normally as soon as I fixed my ribs. The pain on my feet was reminding me that I still have another part of me to heal. I was just going to get to it when Al stopped me.

“You’re not touching that until we get to clean it. Come, I think I saw a river nearby.” He starts to shrug off his jacket and cover it with it, but I start to flinch and move away, glaring at him.

Al looked hurt by the gesture before heaving a tired sigh. “I’m really sorry about all of this. It’s my fault that you got mixed up in this mess.”

“If you’re really sorry, you can start by telling me everything, especially about your curse and how I am involved in it.”

His expression grows somber when he looks away. “So you know about that, huh.” He sighs. “I’ll tell you. But only if you allow me to help you and take you to the lake. I don’t want you to get your feet infected.”

I looked into his eyes and was almost swallowed in by them. I averted my gaze. “Alright. But you have to tell me everything.”

He nods and places his jacket over my shoulders before carrying me. He starts to gently run until I hear a rush of water coming from a river. He sets me down gently and places my feet on the water.

“What are you doing?” I ask when I saw him dipping knee length into the water to stand in front of me, wetting his own jeans in the process.

“I’ll wash your feet.” He says like it’s obvious.

“You don’t have to do that!”

Al snorts like he finds something funny before raising his head to meet my gaze. “How else are you going to clean your feet? The water is cold and you are already shivering.”

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment when I felt him massaging my feet.

Damn it. How can this guy make it so hard for me to hate him?!

“Just start talking, Al.”

“I don’t know where to start. Why don’t you just ask me instead?”

“I want to know about the curse. I heard from your beta that I am somehow involved in it.”

Al’s jaw clenches when he hears about his beta’s name. “My curse,” He sighs as he gently massages my feet. “My curse is having vampirism. Even though my parents are both werewolves, I was born half a vampire. My parents used to lead the wolves to exterminate all vampires as they considered them as plagues.” His expression becomes unreadable, like he was lost in the story. “One of the vampires, in particular, had a wife. She’s a witch with a power like yours. When my parents killed her husband, she acted out in spite.” He scoffs and shrugs his shoulders. His gaze was still focused on cleaning and inspecting my feet when he continued. “It’s not like I can blame her. My parents did such a foolish thing.”

I winced when Al pulled out a splinter from my feet, and I was amazed at how I had not felt that before. “The witch cursed you because of what your parents did?” I ask to distract myself from the pain.

He nods. “My vampirism did not fully manifest until I turned twenty. That’s when I stopped aging and finally lost my wolf. It wasn’t that bad at first. I could not die and live a very long life, but when the people you know start to age and leave you, you start to realize that immortality isn’t as fun as you imagined.” He switched to my other foot to begin cleaning it. “After my parents died, I went and visited the witch, begging her to release me from the curse. She told me that she could no longer lift the curse. I think that she took pity on me because she was the one who gave me the prophecy that a special witch with a smile of a killer would arrive to lay me to rest.” He chuckles and finally sets my foot back in the water to signal to me that he had finished cleaning before coming to sit at my side. “It would have been nice if she told me that I would have to wait for centuries before I could meet you.”

There was a pause while I started to focus on healing my feet. “Is that why you started stalking me? Because you know that I’m the only one who could remove the curse from you?” For some odd reason, I felt hurt just thinking about it. To think that he had a reason for approaching me.

Al looked embarrassed. “Gabriella, to be honest with you, that’s half of the reason why I followed you. The other half is something else.” He met my gaze and smiled, sending my heart racing faster than I ever thought it could.

“What is…the other half?” I asks.

“Something that finally made me feel like wanting to live for the first time in a very…very long time.” He started to lean so close that I could feel his breath on my lips.

I know that I should push him away, but I just can’t. I just watched and waited for him to close the gap between us.

And then we heard a growl behind us.

Al acted fast and carried me to safety before looking at the person behind us. The clouds blocking the full moon at that time disappeared, revealing the person walking towards us with a glare aimed at Al.

Aelfric scoffs before placing me on the ground. “About time you showed up, pup.” He says to Tyrelle.