Chapter 4: It's Him

My heart involuntarily started beating faster as I drew closer to where I had found my ma– the strange wolf.

“I hope he's still there. His naked incredible physique…” I muttered shamelessly, feeling my face burn up.

I had covered him with what I could find, else any other  female wolf in the area would lose their mind, although I was certain that there was no other wolf around.

I had left him alone to go find father. I didn’t know how he was going to feel about me taking a wolf home. I knew nothing about him and taking him back home could still be dangerous.

I hadn’t taken more than three steps before my sensitive ears picked up the sounds of his slow but steady heartbeat.

I turned around and  saw his unconscious figure lying faced up, just the way I had left him.

I got to work immediately. pounding, squeezing, and mixing different leaves and roots masterfully to produce a potion that could temporarily neutralize the effect of whatever poison he had come in contact with.

“There is only so much the piece of cloth I tied above your wounds would do. It was a matter of time before the poison got to your heart.” I muttered, fast and careful with the process.

“Ngh…” I heard a weak moan. My eyes suddenly diverted back to him as alarm bells rang in my head.

‘What is he thinking trying to get up? How could he even be awake right now!’ I screamed in my head as I rushed towards him, gently pushing his back to his lying position.

“Hey, listen to me, sir,” I said, almost in a whisper, my voice quivering. “Relax and don't try to get up, okay? You can hurt yourself if you decide to move some more…”

I wasn't sure if it was because he heard me but his body became still.

Too still, I had to check for his pulse again.

‘He’s still in danger…’ I muttered deeply, my chest heaving.

The clock was against me, so I rushed back to continue with his drugs. It took me everything to maintain my composure as I prepared.

As a little clear liquid started to appear in the mixture, I smiled, grinding the herbs more vigorously this time.

It was a sign that the medicine would be ready soon.

‘Done!’ I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding, as my shoulders relaxed.

Looking at the jelly-like texture of it, anyone would be unimpressed, but I knew this nine-herb recipe of mine would have this man ready to help himself to my home in no time.

“Hey, I'll just…” I loosened the bandage as my nose twitched at the sight and stench. Burning the poison at the surface after I took his pain clearly did little about the damage.

The black veins running up his wounds were a testament that the deadly infection and rot still lived rent-free in his body.

“Well, not for long…” I thought aloud and began applying. I was generous with the remedy for each injury.

His veins bulged, I could hear the grinding of his teeth from where I stood. Objectively I could say…

“It looks painful enough for him. It should be working…”

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes.He had stopped wriggling in pain, and I knew it was time to get home.

“Hey, can you hear me?” I called out to him, observing cold fumes escape my lips.

‘Yeah, we definitely need to go…’

The temperature in the forest was dropping fast as it approached nighttime. I could hear a distant howl which only made me work faster in trying to get him up.

“Rya?”

Finally! Father!

I turned to him and saw that  his eyes had moved to the almost naked man on the ground.

“Uhm,” I didn’t want to tell him that it was my mate. “That’s…” I didn’t even know his name. “He’s injured. We have to help him.”

“I told you. No wolves!”

I let out a deep sigh. He never told me the reason for such rules.

“Please…” 

We both turned to see that it was the wolf. He was standing now, but he still looked so weak and I felt even worse, knowing that he was my mate.

“Father, please. Let’s just..I can’t just leave him.”

It took a while before he finally agreed and helped carry him home.

As soon as we got home, I went to work immediately. For the antidote to work, he had to eat.

I thought about him while I cooked and as soon as I was done, I went to my father's room where he was. Father wanted to know more about him and why he was in the woods.

I was about to knock when I heard something that made me stop.

“…..renowned for her healing abilities. Dr. Rya Velas.”

He was talking about me! I heard my father speak, but I couldn’t hear what he said.

I pressed my ear to the door. 

“….need to save my father. Only she can do that.”

He sounded like he was sad. He must really want to meet me and he must’ve come from far away.

“But you wouldn’t tell me who you really are! I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” Father blurted out.

My heart raced. My mate needed me. And for some reason, his voice was familiar!

I burst into the room  and gasped. My skin prickled with goosebumps and not for the right reasons.

My father was speaking, but my attention had switched.  It was now on those eyes. Those same shades of blue I had seen on that day.

“W-what Pack do you belong to and why are you here? How did you end up so injured?” My questions came in quick succession, much to my own surprise as well.

I took a measured step backward, though it was close to impossible for the strange man to miraculously launch at me.

I felt him spare me a glance through the ghostly moonlight that escaped the cracks in my house.

His breathing was still labored, and he was visibly struggling to answer...

Turning his head as the moonlight catches his face. I froze.

"Silverfang!" Arthur whispered in the dark. His voice was cold.

I felt my whole world coming apart.

I staggered back, my back pressed against the wall as memories flooded my mind.

My eyes met his cold ones that had looked down on me from his throne on the day I was unjustly sentenced to death.

My insides overturned as I mumbled beneath my breath…

“Frost? The Crowned Prince?!”

The same person I had been accused of poisoning, the same person I swore to the goddess to kill for taking my position as the Duskborn heir.