Chapter 66: Chapter 66

Miatta

The sun arose but I didn't get to see it. Neither did any occupant of the room but it wasn't unusual because the room had no windows. However, I could not deny that the man I had once thought was a part of my imagination was real. I had seen him the night before, his face hovering over mine. He had run away before I could ask him who he was and I had forgotten to inquire from Addy due to the impromptu hassle. Speaking of Addy, I immediately remembered the condition she was in. She still lay beside me, inert and quiet.

“Please, get up, Addy. I don't like seeing you like this,” I beseeched her, kneeling by her side. I slipped a petition across to the Moon Goddess to keep her alive for my sake.

“Is it morning already?” a hoarse voice croaked, yawning afterwards and opening my eyes, I saw Addy blinking at me drowsily. I sat too, overwhelmed before I could recognize that she was indeed awake. I flung myself on her, hugging and kissing her on the cheek.

“Oof! Get off me, you rogue princess!” she scolded, grimacing in pain. At least, she could feel pain which meant she was alive. I was relieved, my guilt nullified. She soon began to smile and finally hugged me back warmly. I was glad to have her back.

“Addy! Oh, thank the Goddess! I’m sorry for what happened. I should have listened to you regardless of how I was feeling. I was raving mad and you had to save me from myself against your better judgment. I was punished though by the Lycan Prince.”

“He was here?” she almost yelled, her eyes suddenly wide open. She sat up swiftly, rubbing at her arms subconsciously. Her breathing was unnatural and she was worried. “What did he do while he was here? Did he see me? Talk about me?”

Her questions were direct but puzzling to the mind. If the rumours were true, then Addy and the Lycan Prince were half-siblings, bound only by a common father. I hesitated in giving her an answer, uneasy about her reaction.

“Well, I don't think he saw you. He didn't come this far into the room because Yvette arrested him by the door. As for talking about you, he didn't mention you. However, he put a magical muting collar on me. The bitch told him I attacked her in wolf form and I got punished. It’s my personal death, I’m sure because I can't get angry or upset while wearing it. It triggers a killer migraine and I faint too sometimes.”

Addy nodded in her characteristic manner, digesting my update. She pushed my hair aside to have a look at my collar. I inclined my neck slightly so she could have a good look. She eventually sat back, her countenance contoured in confusion.

“Is your punishment over?”

“No. I wish it was though. I think I've learnt my lesson.”

“Miatta, there is no collar on your neck.”

Her pronouncement shocked me more than when I had found her awake. I tentatively raised my hand to my neck, praying that she was wrong but sadly, she wasn't. The slim, spiky collar was not wrapped cruelly around my neck and it was not beside the place I had fallen asleep. Panic blurred my view, tinting my pupils to a faded brown instead of its usual hazel hue. It was gone, disappearing into thin air...just like the man who had snuck into our room the previous night! He might have stolen it, not knowing what it was. I felt so foolish to have not noticed that something of such great importance had been stolen from my throat.

“Goodness, Addy! You are awake!” Ramona exclaimed, as happy as I had been. She beamed and extended her palms to heaven, in gratitude to the Goddess. “How did you do it, Miatta?”

“I didn't do anything,” I shrugged carefreely but within me, my heart was in a turmoil. I could not tell Addy what was bothering me with Ramona in our midst yet she seemed to know that I was bothered. She squeezed my palm secretly and smiled lopsidedly. Ramona was nice but she had to go before she babbled my secret to the whole pack, courtesy of her loose tongue. She greatly admired Addy and it was reflected through her closeness to her group head.

“Miatta prayed to the Goddess on my behalf and she listened. I must have been out for a long time.” She stretched her arms and yawned in exhaustion. “I want to have a word with Miatta. Can you please give us some privacy? You can have me all to yourself later on,” she added as a bargain power and the younger wolf, understanding when she was not wanted, strolled away peacefully. Addy turned to me, giving me her total attention.

“Addy, I think the collar was stolen, not by any of the slaves here but by a stranger I saw in here last night. I have met him once in the garden and he showed me how to use the shears yesterday. I thought he was a nice person but now, I know he is just an ordinary thief.” I did not know if I was feeling bad because he was a thief or because I had guessed wrong about him. I was good at reading people but that stranger had slipped in and out of my life so fast that I had not had the time to study him.

“A thief? How true could this be? Besides, the key to the collar is always in the possession of Lucas. So there is no way anyone could get hold of it without his blessings,” Addy reasoned, more to herself than for me. I had managed to catch the name she had dropped while speaking. Lucas. I knew someone who had a name like that but I couldn't recall whom it was. My recent migraine must have messed with some of my memory.

“Addy, who is Lucas?”

She grabbed both my hands and stared into my now hazel eyes. “He is the same man I was forced to make it for. Yes, I made that torture device in obedience to my mother,” she confirmed when I appeared surprised. “I did it against my will and I am not proud of my actions. Lucas is...”

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the rogue wolf and her wolfless witch,” Yvette interrupted and Addy swallowed her leftover words, leaving me in suspense. “Too bad you survived. Why didn't you just die and spare us your pitiful existence?”

Addy grinned, shaking her majestic hair loose and its golden locks pooled down her back gloriously. I had never seen a wolf with blonde hair or even a lycan and they were not even real wolves. Yvette copied the action vainly, tossing her glossy black hair behind her. “You are not usually this aggressive early in the morning, Prefect Yvette. Did the Lycan Prince refuse to share his comfortable bed with you last night?” she fired, aiming for blood.