Chapter seven: Questions and Answers

Alina pov:

I watched as the green-eyed vampire pulled his claws away from me, and I retracted mine, turning to face my mate.

"You owe me answers," I said, narrowing my eyes at him

He inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment, so I continued.

"What is this place?" The question has been on my mind since the first time I stumbled upon this forest . A place crawling with vampires, this close to the pack borders? I could have asked my father, but explaining how I came across it would raise too many questions. surrounding how I came across it, besides I doubt he would sit still knowing vampires were lurking just outside the borders of the pack, father has no idea, so this is my best short getting my desired answer

"A wasteland" he said "centuries of war turned it to ruin, too much death and blood, the warewolves abandoned it long ago, labelling it as a cursed ground and no one should trend on it"

A wasteland, no wonder no warewolf patrolled this area, but why haven't I heard of it, I stare at him, filled with suspicion

"Then why are you here?"

His lips twitched slightly. "Because I am not a werewolf."

I scoffed, ignoring his jab. on to the next question

"Why did you send Refeal to help me back then" His eyes darkened, and before I could react, he stepped forward, closing the space between us in an instant.

"Would you rather I let you die?" he murmured

I swallowed, ignoring the way his closeness made my pulse stutter

"I had it under control. No way your kind would be an issue for me," I hissed, agitated about the way his smell enveloped me

He hummed, like he didn't hear what I said to spite him, then, without warning, he raised his hand and bit down on his thumb his blood, welled up—red, stark against his pale skin, I stood there transfixed, unable to take my gaze off him, He brought his thumb to my lips, pressing it against my mouth. My breath hitched. Sparks ignited where his fingers brushed my skin, the sensation making me itsy, Without thinking, my lips parted. His blood slipped onto my tongue and a shudder ran through me.

The taste—gods, the taste. It was unlike anything I had ever known,without knowing I closed my eyes leaning into the touch of his rest fingers on my face, his blood taste like heaven if that was possible, My tongue curled around his thumb, licking and sucking every bit of the blood, wanting to savour it, A hum of satisfaction escaped me before I could stop it.

The sound jolted me back to my senses. My eyes snapped open, locking onto his.

He was staring at me.

Not just staring, he was watching me, as if I was something he wanted to devour.

I couldn’t breathe. Or maybe it was that all I could breathe was him. His scent, his presence, nothing else just him, consuming every inch of my being,I needed to move, to create distance, but I couldn’t. My body refused to pull away from his touch. And looking at him now… it was like he felt the same. I needed to think

I forced myself to step back, breaking the connection. The loss of contact was immediate, painful

"For your wounds" he said the action registimg into my mind, I had a taste of his blood, a vampires blood, and I..I like it, it was like the sweetest delicacy I've ever had, I wanted to savour the moment, what the hell, why would I feel that, why would he do that to me

"For your wounds" he repeated, trying to get his words through my foggy mind swamped with thoughts and it worked

I glanced down. The bruises and cuts I had sustained from my fight with Rafael, they were all gone. My lycan healing had already been working, but now… now they had vanished entirely, just like the previous time

Realization slammed into me. He had healed me.

With his blood.

A vampire’s blood was in my system, and worse—worse than anything—I had liked it

so that was how he healed them, by feeding me his blood, I felt disgusted but even more to myself for enjoy every bit of it

I clenched my fists, swallowing down the lingering taste on my tongue.

What the hell had he done to me?

And why did I want more?

I pushed through my next question, the most important one "The vampires... What are they doing so close to my pack? Don't tell me they're just passing through. Their numbers tell me they're planning something. Also, three vampires were found inside my pack." His mask cracked just slightly.

"They're moving faster than I anticipated."

"Who’s moving faster?"

My breath caught when he told me everything, eyes widening. I needed to inform my father immediately. The entire wolf line was at risk. what he told me explained the missing werewolves from the other pack and the insider problem Jeremy had warned me about. The witches... the witchers were involved. They were raising the dead. They’d been capturing werewolves, killing them, and infusing them with dark magic to bring them back—along with vampires, making a unilateral army. Those were the creatures I fought in my pack, the horde who had attacked me. That’s why their blood was black, cause they were rotten. The thought of reanimating the dead without a soul, trapping them, sent chills down my spine. Killing the living and then reviving them was cruelty at its worst. But they weren’t just raising an army—they were wiping out the human race, offering them in some twisted ritual. And we didn’t even know why.

also this would be able to cause a war with both clan misunderstanding the other, warewolves attacking vampires in their territory and vampires attacking warewolves in our territory was a call for war, many live would be lost, the two race going for each other

"The creatures you killed needed to be wiped out, you helped clear a great deal of them, but I never thought some would be able to escape to your pack"

"Do you know the witches next move?" I asked trying to stop the dread for engulfing me, the thoughts of my pack members being controlled in death or being roped into a war didn't sit right with me, imagines flooded my mind, I couldn't breathe, it felt like I was falling into a dark hole

"I have the location of their target, a small human town. I'll be heading there."

"I'm coming along." The words slipped out before I could stop them. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"This concerns the werewolves as much as it does the vampires," I said, standing my ground. "I need to protect my pack and make sure what you say is true. If it is, I can’t entrust the safety of my pack to you."

"We leave tomorrow evening," he said quickly.

"Tomorrow evening?" I blinked in surprise.

"My brother’s coronation is tomorrow evening. We can leave an hour after it ends."

"Jeremy?" he asked, his voice sharp.

"How do you know my brother?"