Free Web NovelChapter 74: Could It Be...? II
The person paused, but then picked up speed and started to run even faster.
I knew it. This woman was definitely Lydia! If they weren’t her, they would simply turn back and tell me to stop chasing them and calling me names. This person was Lydia, and somehow, she didn’t want me to find her.
If I was still in Stormclaw, there was no way I could have caught up with Lydia’s footsteps. But with my new strength and agility, I was able to put on a burst of speed and tackle her down.
"Let go of me! Please!"
That voice!
"Lydia Johnson! I know it’s you!" I exclaimed, whirling her around so I could see her face. A choked sob escaped my throat as my eyes registered the sight of Lydia’s brown eyes staring at me in shock.
"Lydia... Is this you... Is this really you?" Tears rolled down my cheeks as I continued to sob, my breath coming out in choking gasps. My vision was getting blurry through the tears, and my hands trembled as they reached out for Lydia, stroking her soft cheeks.
I did not know what I would do if the woman in front of me was merely some doppelganger, some trick Damon created to break me. But the woman in front of me gave me a watery smile, and nodded, her own eyes wet with tears as she embraced me.
"Harper! I missed you so much! I thought... I thought I would never see you again!" Lydia wailed, her shoulders shaking with exertion, and I cried harder at the sound of her familiar voice ringing in my ears. How often did I hear that very same voice complain about our chores or console me through my tough times?
"You’re such a crybaby," I scolded, but there was no heat behind it. How could there be, when my own face was a wet bloated mess from sobbing so hard I resembled a plastic bag underneath a car tire more than a human?
"Not as much as you," Lydia retorted in a garbled voice as she continued to sniffle and sneeze.
It was gross, but we continued to wrap our arms around each other, unwilling to be apart for even a moment. I didn’t dare take my hands off Lydia, in fear that once I did, she would simply vanish again without a trace. Lydia must have missed me as much as I missed her.
Eventually, our tears dried up in the morning sun, and all I had left were questions. Judging by the inquisitive look on Lydia’s face, she was also curious about my circumstances.
"How did you get into Fangborne? How are you even alive?" I asked. "Why didn’t you come and visit me, if you were?"
How could Lydia let me believe she was dead all this while? Something wasn’t right. Lydia would never be this cruel to me.
"Honestly Harper, I’m not too sure myself. I thought I was done for when Damon speared me like a fish." Lydia shuddered and pulled up her blouse, letting me see the huge scars left on her belly and her back left behind by the steel poker. "But somehow I woke up in the infirmary, alive. Then... here I am."
Lydia shrugged helplessly at me, a wan smile on her face. "I hope you don’t hate me for it."
"I could never hate you!" I exclaimed vehemently as I shook my head. "Why would you think something so ridiculous?!"
"Listen to me first before saying it," Lydia muttered, her head bowed in resignation. She sighed. "I had nowhere to go, and I thought you were dead too... So when that asshole Alpha Damon offered me to be his woman, I accepted. I’m sorry, Harper. I have betrayed Stormclaw... and you. Since you are his fated mate after all. I would have never accepted his offer if I knew he was alive! He made me believe you were dead!"
"You’re... his woman?" I repeated blankly.
Lydia raised her head, and now that I have calmed down, my eyes finally caught sight of a familiar black band around her neck.
"He gave you a collar?!"
This was the same leather collar that adorned Susie’s neck. The very same collar Damon claimed he would not be using for me, the very same collar Damon claimed no other woman would wear, because he was done with all of them after he found me.
Damon was a liar, a bastard, and the next time I saw him I was going to ram a steel poker through his back the same way he did Lydia after I ripped off his dick with my bare hands. frёeωebɳovel.com
Lydia nodded glumly. "This collar shows that I’m Damon’s property," she said sadly. "I can’t even take it off, because it’s enchanted to shock us when we try, or worse, artificially make us go into heat so he can fuck us more easily. We won’t― we can’t resist him. I can’t even transform with this collar."
Lydia’s voice was filled with anguish at the end. "I feel so useless!"
I hissed in anger as I heard her words. How could Damon purposely cut off Lydia’s connection to her wolf? She wasn’t a criminal; and even if she was, Damon had no right to play judge and jury.
Stopping a werewolf from accessing their wolf and transforming... such cruelty could only come from Damon. And Lydia’s description of the collar’s other effects made me even more upset.
Wasn’t this the very same thing that had happened to me when I pissed off the brothers?
Blaise had torn apart my blanket dress back then and made me go into heat in front of everyone while I held onto the tattered dregs of my dignity. Damon had also made me go into heat and fucked me so I would not think about escape.
Clearly, they had a preferred way of dealing with women from other packs.
I clenched my hands and growled, accidentally tugging out the innocent strands of grass underneath.
"Harper?" Lydia asked cautiously, "I know I upset you, but―"
"It’s not you who upset me!" I roared at the sky, "It’s that bastard Damon Valentine! You know what he told me just last night before he slept with me?"
"What? You slept with him?" Lydia asked, her eyes practically bulging out in shock. "Wait, you actually fulfilled the terms of Ritual Combat?"
