Free Web NovelChapter 52: Chapter FIFTY TWO — POISON
Ragnor
My fist crumpled the photograph but the image had already burned itself into my mind.
A man’s body stretched over hers and her copper hair spilled across the pillow beneath her.
I shoved the photograph into my trench coat pocket as jealousy ignited hot and ugly in my veins.
Who was that bastard? The angle obscured most of his face and the uncertainty gnawed at me raw. Was she seeing him? Was he her lover? Was he the reason she had wanted to die?
The door flew open and Reign stormed inside, his hazel eyes sweeping across the room before locking onto the bed.
"Shit." The curse exploded from him as he rushed forward, his eyes widening as he took in her condition.
Ryker appeared a second later and strode into the room. "We heard what happened. This better not be some pathetic trick she’s pulli—"
The words died in his throat. His gaze landed on her face and his jaw tightened and the color drained from his features. One hand clamped around the doorframe, his signet ring flashing in the light as his grip tightened. "She really did it?"
Outside, voices drifted through the open doorway as the packhouse staff gathered in the corridor. frёewebnoѵēl.com
"...Why would she kill herself?..."
"...Maybe she finally realized the Alphas would never love her..."
"...She was never meant to be Luna. She was just greedy..."
"Get the hell away from here!"
Ryker’s roar rattled off the walls and a chorus of startled squeals followed along with the frantic sound of footsteps scattering down the hallway.
Dread wrapped itself around my chest and squeezed hard. Candace lay too still, far too still, and every passing second felt like another step toward losing her.
Goddess, no. I couldn’t lose her. Not now and not before I had told her the truth.
That you love her but you’re too consumed by guilt to admit it, Terror hissed.
"Was it because of last night?" Reign’s voice came out rough and terrified and his gaze followed the doctor’s hands as she worked yet he never looked directly at Candace’s face.
I noticed it immediately. His eyes kept drifting elsewhere, to the wall and the bedside table and the medical instruments and anywhere but her.
"I saw her in the kitchen last night," he said hoarsely, his fingers burying themselves in his hair and tugging hard enough to pull at the roots.
"She looked exhausted. We were talking and..." His voice cracked apart. "Could she have done this because of last night? Because of what we did with Deidre?"
"No." The answer left me instantly, firm and desperate all at once.
"This is Candace we are talking about. She would never do this." At least I prayed she wouldn’t.
Reign swallowed hard and his gaze flickered toward the bed. "What if we pushed her too far?" he whispered. "What if last night’s pain was too much for her to bear? Goddess, what the hell do we do?"
I dragged a hand down my face. "I don’t know." The admission nearly choked me.
She had to live. She had to.
Ryker remained by the doorway and said nothing but I noticed the way he sagged against the frame and the way his fists trembled at his sides and the way he refused to take his eyes off the floor. free𝑤ebnovel.com
A thought wormed its way into my mind as the doctor continued examining her. What would I do if she died? The answer terrified me.
I had already lost River and losing another person I loved would destroy whatever remained of me. A future without Candace simply didn’t exist in my mind.
"She’s not responding." The doctor’s voice yanked me back and she sat back on the mattress with a grim expression.
"The discoloration on her face isn’t from hanging alone. Those markings are consistent with poison." My stomach dropped. "I’ve administered multiple treatments but none of them are working."
"What poison?"
The doctor exchanged a glance with the nurse. "There is only one poison that causes these symptoms and remains active this long." Her voice dropped low. "Blue Ire."
Silence swallowed the room whole.
"The poison has been in her system since last night at the very least. Possibly longer."
Reign and I exchanged stunned looks. "What does that mean?" I demanded.
The doctor lowered her gaze. "It means the antidotes available to us won’t save her."
"Then try again."
"Alpha Ragnor-"
"Again." The growl that left me silenced every person in the room. "Use everything you have. Every herb and every treatment and every antidote. Do you hear me?"
She flinched and turned immediately back to Candace and prepared another injection.
I stared at my mate and could barely detect the rise and fall of her chest anymore.
The bruising around her throat had darkened and the color spreading beneath her skin looked worse with every minute that passed.
Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare leave me. I won’t allow it. I will not fucking allow it. I forbid you from leaving us.
"Alphas," the doctor said quietly, "nothing we have can cure her. The poison has already spread throughout her entire body." My stomach twisted viciously. "Her lungs are beginning to fail and her heartbeat is slowing."
Ryker’s fist slammed into the doorframe and the crack echoed through the room.
"What are you saying?" I snapped. "Is there a cure or not?"
The doctor rose slowly from the bed and turned to face us and bowed her head. "There is only one antidote."
"Then where is it?"
Her expression tightened. "The last known antidote was created by the Witch of the Hollow Forest."
A sharp gasp escaped Bree and even the dog whimpered. Every child within three territories knew that name.
The Hollow Forest was exactly what people said it was, a cursed wasteland filled with predators and monsters and things far worse, and the Witch who ruled it was no less terrifying.
"There isn’t another option?" I asked.
The doctor shook her head. "No, Alpha. Not that I know of."
The words landed like a death sentence and silence settled over the room like a thick shroud. Then Ryker pushed away from the doorframe, his chest heaving.
"I’ll go." The words were quiet but they surprised me. I whirled around, and stared at him. And for the first time in three years, since the day River died, I saw fear in my brother’s eyes.
