Chapter 34: Chapter 34

**Trigger Warning: This chapter contains depiction of sexual abuse that may be upsetting for some readers.**

DAHLIA:

I didn’t know what came over me. I was enraged but also extremely exhausted. My body was hurt a lot, and my head was spinning. I wanted to throw up some more…

Suddenly, I felt myself floating into air again, but in a different way. I never felt lighter in my whole life.

‘Sleep, Dahlia… I’ll take over…’

Eva’s voice was so comforting that I readily succumbed to it. I let myself float aimlessly into a void.

I began to wonder… Why did Tristan do it? Why did my husband, a person who was supposed to love me, do it? Was this side of him always there? Was that the real face of the person I chose to marry?

Maybe I made a mistake… Maybe I shouldn’t have married him too soon…

In an instant, I became conscious of something else… I became aware of the smell of the earth and the feeling that I was going away somewhere else.

‘Eve… What are we doing?’

‘We’re getting away, Dahlia… We have to get away…’

I succumbed to Eva’s decision. I really wanted to flee when I was hurting the most. I wanted to dissipate into the air and flee, but I wasn’t able to… I wasn’t able to help myself back there…

I felt more alone and helpless than before… I’m glad though that Eva took over. In times like this, I was glad that wasn’t alone. I had my wolf within me…

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TRISTAN:

I staggered for a moment. Dahlia fled away from me, and I didn’t know what to do.

I wanted to run to her, but I remember how her eyes abhorred me. I saw how much she hated me with those beautiful light blue eyes that used to adore me.

‘Does that matter? Didn’t you want her to suffer?’

I gritted my teeth as I listened to Arthur’s words. ‘Damn you! Weren’t you the one to blame for all of this?!’

He barred his fangs in mockery against me. ‘Didn’t you call me because you wanted to hurt her? I just did what you asked me to do… I hurt our mate and our enemy...’

I shook my head. Despite his madness, this dark wolf has a point… I was the one who fed him with anger. I was the one who wanted to harm Dahlia, and I was solely to blame!

I stood from the bed and immediately summoned Albus. I needed to find Dahlia in Eva’s form.

In the Animal Spirit World, the alternate plane of existence where werewolves roam freely in their animal form, I had often met Eva. She has recognized Albus as her mate too, so it would be easy to find her with him in charge.

I transformed into my white wolf form. As soon as Albus took over, our senses became sharper. He was able to identify the direction that Dahlia went with just a sniff in the air.

Albus roared, ‘You, idiot! She’s hurt!’

I didn’t know if Albus was speaking to me or to Arthur, but both of us did not say a word.

We sensed Eva going into the woods. My heart went into a fit of panic. She was still unfamiliar to the feel of being a wolf. It was a dangerous thing for her if she encountered a rogue or a vampire. It was the first time that Eva had been exposed to this side of the kingdom, and she was wounded and heavily bleeding. Albus picked up his pace to find her.

I also did my part in finding her. I uttered a name.

“Samalah…”

As we galloped near the river, a tornado suddenly appeared in the middle of the water. It was Samalah, my friend and my close ally in this plan of vengeance.

“Why did you call me? Is there something wrong?”

“Yes. Dahlia had fled! Have you seen her?”

“Dahlia,” she said in surprise, “Why? What have you done?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Can you help me find her first?”

Samalah was a water fairy. She quickly summoned her powers to link with all the water creatures in the vicinity with a wave of her hand.

“I don’t sense her presence anywhere near the river,” she said dryly. “Now tell me quickly, what did you do? Did she discover who you are?”

“Almost, so I punished her a bit…” I said. The moment that I was reminded of what I had done, I felt a tremendous amount of shame inside my heart again.

“Serves her right. You don’t need to worry. She’ll come around.”

“No, she’s injured!” I roared. “And this is the first time she’s been into these woods. She could get lost…”

“Then that’s much better. Let her suffer a bit… Anyway, didn’t she have the power to heal herself? She can’t possibly die, so don’t worry.”

“How can I not worry,” I growled, snapping my mouth at her, “I had injured her! You didn’t see how hurt she was!”

“So what? She deserved it, just like the rest of them!”

“You – what are you saying to my mate!” It was Albus who spoke. He leapt in the air and attacked Samalah.

Of course, nothing had happened. He simply passed through her body just like when one did with water. She was in her elemental form, so she wasn’t harmed at all.

“Tristan, snap out of this! I am not your enemy. Dahlia Hurst is, or did you forget why we are here for?!” Samalah shot a fierce look at me. “Have you really fallen for her now?”

I was speechless. It was only Arthur who still had the energy to growl back at Samalah. “You have no right to say that to our mate!”

“She is not your real mate! You are attracted to her by magic! How can you be this weak?!”

Samalah walked into the edge of the river where Albus and I stood. She knelt by our side and examined our face closely. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this affected by the potion? I should have adjusted the concoction if I knew it was this potent…”

She sighed. “Anyway, look for me later. I’ll give you a new potion to counteract the effects of this one…”

Albus was still growling at her quietly, but she stroked his head in an affectionate manner. “I know this is just the potion that’s acting up against you, so I am going to forgive this ill behavior today, but Tristan, please always remember…” he cupped my snout as she whispered her words. “Dahlia is part of those who’ve hurt us! You must never, under any circumstances, pity the ones we ought to hurt! They don’t deserve our mercy, just as much as they did not give us the kind of mercy we needed back then…”

She stood and went back once more to the middle of the raging river.

“Hurry up and find her. I can sense that someone else is coming close. If he finds her first, he’ll surely let all hell break loose for her… You’ll have a harder time getting Lady Hurst back, and that’ll affect the rest of our plans extremely.”

Right after hearing Samalah’s words, I traced Eva’s scent in the air and hurried as fast as I can to reach her.

Samalah didn’t need to tell me who the person she was talking about was. I can smell his own stench as I ran.

Damn that Kaist! If he finds Dahlia in that state, I’m sure he’ll never let her return to me until the day of his death!