Chapter 69

• ALPHA ZACHARY "Wake Up!" There was this strange sound in my head, wheezing like a queen bee or more appropriately, a low screeching sound that sent pain straight through my body. I felt heavy. I felt like my skull had cracked open at some point and it was healing rapidly but painfully. I gritted my teeth as the pain pierced my forehead in an anguishing manner. "Get up, Zachary!" I was too disoriented to recognize the voice calling out to me. I wanted to get rid of it because it was causing more pain as I could hear it in my head. It was weird. Strangely weird but familiar. "Zachary!" "Get the fuck out of my head, Serge!" I yelled right back at my wolf without having to think about it. It was Serge all this while but I couldn't realize that. I tried to open my eyes but the blinding light of the morning made me shut them tightly. It was morning? The last time I checked or that I was conscious, it wasn't this bright, and from the soreness of my body, I could tell I had spent hours in that same position. Instinctively, I tried raising my hands in order to shield my eyes from the light but I was only able to lift my right hand. My left hand was heavy like it was carrying a heavyweight. I didn't open my eyes as I wondered if my hand was broken or if it was behind crushed under the weight of a stone.... I used my free hand to examine the figure of the stone and to see how big it was but alas it wasn't a stone but a stiff human body. A human body that was partially laying on my body My eyes remained sealed as I focused on regaining my other senses. I inhaled deeply to take in the scent of the human and I couldn't be more shocked. Haera? It couldn't be her? My eyelids fluttered wide open right when I felt the usual tingles but at that moment, the tingles were barely there like they used to be. Momentarily, I forgot about myself and my sore bones as I pushed myself off the ground to check the state Haera was in. I was dizzy at first but I succeeded in gathering her into my arms as I pushed my body into a seating position. "What happened?" I was overly disoriented and multiple questions were eating me up from the inside. I called out Haera's name with the hope that she would regain consciousness but that didn't happen. "Tybalt happened!" Serge inserted the last piece of the bizarre puzzle my mental state had become. My wolf didn't have to say more than his name for the memories of the attack led by my brother and his rogue followers invaded my mind forcefully. Tybalt was about to kill me when something pushed me off the cliff. Haera was that something.....or someone. The intensity of her push made me lose my footing and I was too weak to shift into my wolf. I would have died but this fragile chef saved me even if I almost died from the fall. I gazed at Haera's face, trying to understand how she suddenly appeared at the scene. I also checked her body to see if there was any serious injury but before I could do that thoroughly, a large chunk of stone fell right beside me, missing Haera and me by an inch. I had to leave that spot if I didn't want to embrace death which I just escaped miraculously. I scanned my vicinity but nothing was familiar. The wilderness was scanty with few trees and the paths were rocky which made maneuvering with Haera in my arms more difficult. "Tybalt!" A voice kept chanting in my head as I walked aimlessly, searching for an enclosed area to shield Haera and me from the harshness of the sun and from whatever was coming. "There. That's big enough." Serge pointed out a shady tree and I scrambled towards it. I was weak and I needed to rest while I waited for Haera to open her eyes. The constant rise and fall of her chest showed that she was breathing even though it was shallow, it assured me that she was fine. There was no need to panic... I didn't chat with my wolf and I tried to clear my mind off Tybalt's case because I had to gather enough strength to get Haera and me out of here. I laid Haera on the floor, sitting nearby just in case I needed to attend to her. Tybalt was a problem but he was the least at that moment. I began to feel drowsiness settling over me and I allowed it to take full charge of my body. "Ouch......" Her groan woke me up and I wasted no time in scooting closer to her as she twisted in pain. Haera's face was contorted and I felt guilt creeping into my mind. Haera was an omega and she would have problems with healing. I cursed myself for forgetting that she wasn't as strong as I was and I could do nothing to help her. "Haera." I called to wake her but her groans didn't cease. I didn't see any visible injury but for all I know, she might have cracked or broken her bones. I wondered if she was bleeding internally but no one could answer those questions if she didn't open her eyes "Haera." I called again. Serge was awfully silent and having to deal with all of this alone was driving me nuts. "Hae-" She gasped, sucking in harsh breaths as she opened her amber eyes which I had been dying to see. Haera's fist clenched my tattered robe and she began to murmur incoherent phrases. "We have...I can't! Save him...we have to do it now..." She said a couple more gibberish but those were the words I could make out. I shook her vigorously to get her out of her trance and when she eventually escaped it, she threw her body on mine, hugging me and asking if I was alright. "A little bit hungry and sore but I'm Alright." I responded blankly. Haera chuckled in relief but it came out more like a cough due to her dry throat. "You don't know how happy I'm to see you alive, Alpha." Haera's voice was low and squeaky but somehow, I like it and I couldn't disagree with her because I was happy she was alive and conscious again. "Are you feeling pain on or in any part of your body?" I questioned her after I pulled her away from my body. Heavens knew how far the cliff must have been from our landing spot and although I suffered most of the injury, I still had to make sure Haera was more than okay. "I'm fine. I have been wanting to warn you before the incident but I couldn't get a hold of you. It was Tyba-" "I know, Haera but how did you find out? Whereas, how did you happen to be at the scene of the attack?" The selfish part of me couldn't wait any longer to get answers from Haera and she was visibly ready to tell me the details that I wasn't aware of. Haera's eyes avoided mine and I could sense her embarrassment immediately. She was twisting her fingers which seems like an act of humiliation to me. Before I could ask her what was wrong, Haera spoke clearly. "You were right. Your brother was up to no good and he didn't fail to use me in plotting his evil schemes. I was such an idiot for not heeding your words b-" "It happens and although it isn't okay, there is nothing we can do to change that. What do you mean by he used you?" I stopped her guilty talk, saving her from embarrassing herself further. Color rose to her cheeks which made me assume she was well again as she wasn't looking pale anymore. "He used me to get to you. Even though I'm not much of a wonder, I guess Tybalt figured out that we are mates or-" "Haera... You-" "It's alright if you still don't believe me." Her amber eyes cut to mine again and I felt bile in my throat but this bile wasn't that of anger or irritation. It was that of an emotion that I couldn't decipher at that moment. "I saw Tybalt sneaking out of the palace and I followed him, thinking that he was off to see yo-" "What if he had killed you? What if he discovered that you were tailing him?" I was irritated by what she had gotten herself involved in. The thought of Haera dying in the hands of Tybalt scared the shit out of me yet Serge remained silent, pretending not to feel or understand my emotions. "Can you stop cutting me off!" Haera raised her voice at me, grimacing irritatedly. "Can't you be thankful that I was able to save you because of the conversation I overheard between Tybalt and the banished luna! I tried to warn you but I couldn't get hold of you majorly due to your marked ma-" "You saved me from Tybalt but you almost killed us both! Think about what would have happened if you fell first or if you landed on a piercing rod!" I cut her statement again, yelling at her and also ignoring her rising anger. "You aren't dead and it wasn't my fault that I couldn't warn you. I wished I had left you to be killed by him maybe then you wouldn't be lynching me with your word for what didn't happen!" Haera countered. I knew I was overreacting but she doesn't have the right to talk down on my judgment. I was blinded by the fear of losing her but she didn't seem to care about that. It was as if Haera was desperate to die. "So you followed me stupidly because you couldn't warn me and you liked me to the extent that you didn't want me dead?" I made sure she heard my disbelief. Haera was one of the few people that I had treated poorly so why she was hell-bent on saving me was a mystery to me. "I don't like you very much and right now, I regret not leaving you to die or killing you myself by joining hands with Tybalt..." Haera responded bluntly, showing her disappointment in what appeared to be my ungrateful attitude but to hell with that. I hated feeling so vulnerable and Haera was uncovering the wall around my emotions. "You aren't listening to what I have to say. There is a bigger picture besides what you are seeing. Tybalt has an ally and you will be shocked to know the person and the relationship between the both of them." Haera finally got my attention with her statement. I stared at her in confusion because her words made me assume she wasn't referring to Luna Hegna and I wanted to know what she knew that was hidden from me. "You have to believe me, Alpha. I saw them together and Tybalt confirmed their relationship himself. What I'm saying is that, Princ-" "You are bleeding. For fuck sake! How didn't you feel that?" My anger was back tenfold. I was mostly mad at myself for not seeing the huge cut on her stomach before now. I was certain she didn't have external injuries but there was a bloody wound on her stomach and she didn't even care. What kind of a woman looks out for a snub like me at the expense of her freaking life? "That is the least of the wounds I had gotten in the past. It will heal soon enough. You have to hear the-" "Shut up! Shut the hell up or I'll make you!" I was furious. I was livid at Haera's nonchalant behavior toward her well-being. I blamed myself for indulging her as soon as she woke up that afternoon. I should have been more attentive to the fact that she was an omega with zero to no healing abilities. "Bu-" I stormed away from her as I went in search of herbs that might help her heal. I wasn't versed in that domain but I had little knowledge from the battlefield. I just hoped I would find those herbs in the wilderness that we were trapped in. "You have to go back to her. We can't leave her alone in an unknown place." Serge muttered and I Insulted him for showing up at that moment. "Why do you care if she was to be devoured by a wild animal?" I asked rhetorically before blocking my wolf out of my head and thought. I listened to him though, walking back to the shady tree after searching fruitlessly for the herbs. I might just have Serge lick her wound to release his healing properties into her opened flesh. My wolf would have to do that because whether we agreed or not, Haera did save us from dying. Nothing could have prepared my mind for what I saw when I got back to the tree. "What the fuck happened?" Haera's face remained unfazed by what I found alarming and impossible unless.... "How did you do that? Don't tell me you did that by yourself."