Betrayed by Blood, Claimed by the Alpha

The room was still.

Not a whisper. Not a breeze. Only the rise and fall of Avery’s chest on the bed. Her skin, usually warm with color, had turned pale.

Three healers moved quietly around her, their hands steady. Bowls of herbs steamed in the corner of the room. One healer dipped a cloth into a mixture of crushed sage and moonwater, gently wiping Avery’s forehead.

"Goddess," she exclaimed, jerking back, her eyes wide with shock. "She’s burning up again. Her temperature is unnatural."

The second healer moved closer, placing her hand on Avery’s forehead. She winced, jumping back. "She’s not just burning up. She’s heating," she exclaimed. In less than a second, Avery had begun to sweat, so much so that the bedsheet got soaked in under a second.

"Her powers are tilted. It’s irking negatively in her body right now," the third healer said.

"Where is Elder Loris? She’d know what to do," one of them replied. The other two got moving, getting ice-cold water and a clean towel, they started to wipe her body in hopes that her temperature would lessen. It doesn’t. The ice water turns hot the second the towel is dipped into the water. It wasn’t working.

"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad. I’m afraid she will melt with how bad she’s burning up. She’s burning from the inside out, therefore we cannot cure it," one of them croaked out.

"So we just allow her to burn? Goddess, this is too much for her," one of them croaked out.

"Get Elder Loris! Where is she?" Just as the healer screamed, the door jerked open.

Elder Loris stepped into the room. Her robes were dark, her expression grimmer than they’d seen. She paused at the door, eyes locked on Avery’s body, on the way steam now lifted from her skin.

"She’s going deeper," Loris said softly, her voice thick with worry. "Into the in-between."

One of the healers stepped forward. "We tried everything, moonwater, cold compresses, grounding herbs. It’s like something in her is rejecting the physical world."

"She’s not rejecting it," Loris murmured, making her way to Avery’s side. "She’s being pulled."

She knelt beside the bed and opened a small velvet pouch at her hip, drawing out a dark paste. "This is from the moon goddess altar," she said. "We don’t have time to waste."

"Shut the windows. I need to say some chants," she ordered, and the healers immediately shut the windows tight.

Loris smeared the paste across Avery’s collarbone, her stomach, her forehead. She dabbed the oil across her temples and began to chant, words that hadn’t been spoken aloud in centuries.

The candles flickered violently. A gust of wind gushed through the room, even though the windows were shut.

Avery’s body suddenly arched off the bed. Her eyes fluttered open, not fully, just for a breath, and her mouth moved, barely a whisper.

"Cain..."

One of the healers gasped. "She said his name."

Loris didn’t stop chanting, her voice only growing stronger. Avery fell back to the bed, unconscious again.

"If Alpha Cain doesn’t return with the heart of Celeste," Loris’s voice was tight, "she won’t survive this crossing. Her body will burn away... and her spirit will stay lost."

For the first time, Elder Loris’s hand trembled.

~~~~~~~~~

Cain stood still, his eyes locked on the pool of blood staining the floor. No body. No trace. Just blood.

Behind him, Toby stumbled into view, his chest heaving. "Dren! Dren!" he cried, his gaze darting around in panic. "Alpha, where’s Dren? What happened? Where—"

Cain turned to face him, "He’s gone."

Toby’s breath hitched. "Gone?"

"The forest took him."

They returned to camp in silence. The warriors stood at attention when Cain entered. A few looked past him, waiting and hoping for Dren.

"He’s gone," Cain said, voice low. "Whatever you think you know about this forest, forget it. It’s alive. It’s watching. It’s playing with us." He looked around at each one of them.

"No one walks alone. Not even to piss," Cain said. "You hear something? You see something? You stay still. You do not move. This place wants to break us, one by one."

The rest of the night passed in silence. No one dared sleep. Even with the fire burning again, no one trusted the light. They sat in circles, backs touching, weapons ready.

Cain didn’t sleep either. His body throbbed with an ache that had settled in his side. It had started a while ago, maybe during the fight with Callum, but now it was worse. A biting sting that made his muscles clench every time he shifted.

He brushed it off. Not now. Avery was the only thing that mattered to him. Only her.

The next day, they got back on the trail and just like how it got dark when they settled in. It got bright the second they took off.

They walked deeper, somehow able to break out of the loop there’d been on the previous day. The trees grew stranger here, bending like spines.

The warrior was still quiet but not as much as before. Xander walked quick, to catch up to Cain but then he paused, his eyes noticing something.

His brows furrow at the sight. "Alpha," he called out, catching up to him now.

"What is it?" Cain asked, turning around to see if the warriors were still there and alive. Once he was certain, he glanced back at Xander only to find him staring. Cain’s brows furrowed, and he trailed Xander’s gaze.

His eyes widened the second he realized what Xander had been staring at. Blood.

"Fuck, shit," he cursed, his injury had bled out and stained his top.

Cain clenched his jaw. He turned away quickly, yanking the top, trying to hide the stain already spreading.

"Alpha..." Xander stepped forward, his voice low. "You’re injured."

"I know," Cain snapped.

"Since when?"

Cain didn’t answer.

Xander’s expression hardened. "That’s not something you keep to yourself out here. If that wound festers—"

"I said I know," Cain snapped, turning to face him. "Do I look like I need a reminder?"

Xander stepped back, "This isn’t just about you anymore. If you collapse, what happens to the rest of us? What happens to her?"

Cain exhaled harshly, pressing a palm to his side. The pain flared, like a knife twisting beneath the skin.

He didn’t know what kind of blade Callum had used, but whatever it was, It was sticking... like poison.

He straightened up, "We’re almost there. I can feel it."

Xander nodded slowly, but the concern in his eyes didn’t fade. "You bleed again like that and everyone will know. You’ll need to change your top."

Cain hummed, "Take a five, everyone! We need to rest a little before continuing," he ordered, glancing at Xander for a second before walking off for privacy.