Free Web NovelChapter 54: Chapter FIFTY FOUR — THE ANTIDOTE’S COST
Ryker
"Admit it, you love her," Ash’s taunt echoed in my head as our massive paws pounded the rough ground, crushing roots and snapping vines.
Behind me, five pack guards raced behind me in their wolf form through the trees as we made our way to the cave where the witch was rumored to be.
The hollow forest loomed around us, thick and heavy, the sound of shrieking creatures in the distance. The sun hung high in the sky, yet the thick canopy of trees overhead blocked the light.
Blood reeked in the air, matted over Ash’s black fur, a snarl curling my jaw. I didn’t love Candace.
So why is your heart beating so fast? I can feel your fear, I can almost taste it, he snarled.
The image of Candace’s lifeless body was etched permanently in my head, and even though I had been running nonstop since leaving the pack the day before.
I hardly felt the pain with the adrenaline surging through my veins. What if she were dead? Why the fuck would she die? She had no right, no right to die now, dammit! Not when she hadn’t paid for killing River.
Liar! Ash growled. You’re a fucking Liar, Ry.
Dammit, shut the hell up, I snapped back.
"Alpha, I can see a cave," Jerome, my personal guard, reported through the mind link.
Right at the edge of the forest, in the distance, stood a huge mountain with an opening cut into it.
Ahead of us, a mountain rose from the forest floor. Near its base yawned a massive opening.
The cave entrance glowed with strange blue-green algae that clung to the stone like living stars.
I launched forward, my bones snapping, my claws and fur receding as I shifted back to human form.
The guards behind me shifted too, one of them approaching me with a pair of pants and shirts while I studied the cave entrance.
I shoved my hands into the pockets of the jeans, fishing for a scrap of Candace’s dress that I had taken before leaving the pack.
The tension in my body drained out of my body once my hands closed around it. My bones ached like hell, and there was a gash in my side where one of those nasty, forest creatures had slashed me.
Disgusting bastards.
Dammit, I hated having anything to do with witches, but it was either this or lose Candace. I couldn’t let that happen.
Because you love her. Ash chanted repeatedly.
I swear to the goddess Ash, stop fucking plaguing my head with that nonsense!
The bond between Candace and I was thinning by the second, leaving a gnawing ache in my chest. I yanked on the pants, didn’t bother buttoning up the shirts, and stormed towards the cave’s entrance.
"Do you think she’s in there, Alpha?" Jerome asked, falling behind me as we stood before the mouth of the cave.
Blue algae coated the ceiling of the cave and a foul stench drifted from within.
"She better be, or we’ll tear the cave to the fucking ground," I growled, digging my thumb against my signet ring, my teeth clenching in anger.
"Haha!’" A loud female voice rang from inside the cave, echoing loud enough to stop the foul shrieking creatures in the distance for a minute.
Ash growled as I felt her presence. "Language, Son of Milan Pendragon,"
My guards immediately surrounded me. Jerome whipped out his gun while the rest bared their claws, ready to attack.
"You know who I am," I replied, glaring into the depths of the cave. Where the fuck was she? "Good, we can skip the pleasantries."
"Blunt as ever," The witch cackled, and it only had my blood boiling, surging straight to the roof.
"Only the seeker of answers shall step into my abode. If you want to see me, son of Pendragon, you must find me,"
"Stand down," I ordered my guards, and Jerome’s eyes narrowed into slits.
"What if it’s a trap, my Alpha? We cannot risk your safety- "
"I am capable of taking care of myself, so stand the fuck down, Jerome. Do you have a cure already?"
He immediately dropped his head in a bow, but that did nothing to calm Ash down or the fury burning in my veins.
"I apologize," He murmured, tipping his head at one of the soldiers who stepped forward with a black purse full of gold.
I retrieved it with a grunt. "Spread out and check the perimeter. Be on guard. See if you can contact the pack, and if I take longer than an hour, you come in there, and you slice her head off her neck, got it?!"
"Yes, Alpha!"
I stormed into the cave, scrunching my nose at the foul smell as my feet crushed the stones in my oath.
I had barely taken ten steps when a gust of wind whipped through the air, and a woman wearing a blue hood, glowing like the algae on the roof of the cave materialized.
The hood shrouded her entire body except her hands and the lower part of her face. I could only see her lips; I couldn’t see her eyes, and I couldn’t be fucking bothered about that. I just needed the damned antidote.
"I have been expecting you, son of the Pendragon. A wielder of destinies so great and a temper to match,"
"Where is the antidote?!" I demanded. I didn’t come all the way here to hear some fucking slam poetry.
"Ooh," She chuckled, gliding to the side and circling me.
I shot a hand out to grab her, but she disappeared into a cloud of grey only to reappear behind me.
Bloody witches, they were as slimy as snakes.
"Now this is the real impatient Ryker Pendragon, here to save the woman he loves from the jaws of death."
"Fuck no, I do not love her," I hissed, my nails digging into my palm.
I did not. There was a time I did, yes, but that was before she took my brother from me. Nothing could ease the burning hatred I felt for her. Nothing. "This is nothing but pack duty."
"You can call it pack duty, whatever makes you lose your sleep at night, Alpha," She mused, still circling me like some vulture. "But you crossed three rivers and a witch’s clearing for a woman you supposedly hate so much, forgive me if I do not believe you."
"DO YOU HAVE THE ANTIDOTE OR NOT?" I bellowed, irritation clawing through me. "I don’t have time for this."
She dissolved into her cloud of grey, rematerializing much closer to me now with a small bottle not bigger than my pinky, filled with a blue liquid.
"For a price, I am willing to part with it, and you can save the woman who owns your heart.
I thrust the purse of gold in her face, and she laughed again, that irritating grating sound. "For the last time, she is nothing to me. Here’s your pay."
"The payment, son of Pendragon, is neither gold nor blood as your family line is used to,"
My brows snapped together. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Her lips curled in a smile, and she held out her other hand. "The pay for the blue ire antidote is something precious, something cold, something chosen, something gold. It is the one thing you hold dear; that is what I require."
Her fingers curled, leaving one finger pointed at the signet ring on my finger. It glittered in the dim light of the cave. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"No," I hissed, a tremor shooting through my veins.
My signet ring? Giving it up was like losing a part of myself!
Hurry up, I’m losing connection with our mate. Ash howled in my head.
No, no fucking way. "Take the gold," I snapped at the witch. "If all you want is a fucking ring, you can make a hundred with the gold in this purse."
She wagged her finger in the air. "But it is not as precious as the one you keep from me, is it, Alpha?"
"I cannot part with this,"
"Fine," She shrugged, and the antidote vanished from her other hand.
"NO!" I roared, lunging for her, but like the snake she was, she slipped from my grasp again.
"You must make a choice, Alpha, an eye for an eye, something precious for something precious."
Every second we waste here, our mate is dying! Ash growled. Fucking give it up, Ryker Theron Pendragon!!! What if she dies?!
The piece of Candace’s dress in my pocket burned against my skin. My heart slammed hard against my ribcage, and the flash of her lifeless, cold body waiting back home had my entire body shaking with tremors.
"Fuck," I cursed, reaching up to wrench the ring off my finger with shaky hands.
My fist tightened around the one thing that had kept me sane these past three years and beyond.
My eyes snapped closed as I held it towards the witch’s outstretched hands, trembling terribly. I dropped the ring into her palm, heaving for breath.
"Now give me the bloody antidote," I fumed, my fingers felt naked without the ring. The antidote reappeared in her hands, and I snatched it off angrily.
"A man does not trade his anchor for a stranger, Alpha," The witch drawled, tossing the ring up, and it vanished into thin air. "Whatever she is to you, she is not nothing."
The urge to smash her into the wall burned in my veins, but that would take time I didn’t have. I stuck up my middle finger at her and turned to get my ass out of there when she continued.
"You should know, the blue ire antidote is dark magic. There are always consequences. No other dark magic should be used around the packhouse for at least a month."
With a grunt, I rushed out of the cave, blood pumping through my veins.
I had to get back to the packhouse in time. I had just given up my signet ring for her to live, so Candace Sinclair had better not die on me. She still had a lot to suffer for.
