Chapter 25: A Witch Hybrid?

A ray of sunlight pierced between his twitching eyelids. The law of nature woke him up, and the nearing footsteps occupied his senses as soon as he regained consciousness. Though he remained lying still on a bed made of haystack and woven wool, Dylan’s attention was on high alert.

His alertness subsided upon realizing he was in his pack, the Blood Claws Pack.

‘What happened? The last thing I remembered… damn it, I don’t remember anything!’ Dylan lashed out at the back of his mind. His knuckles were white from his clenched fists as his jaws clenched upon thinking that the rogues had stabbed him in the back right after he implemented the plan.

‘But why am I still here? Why am I still alive despite my plan failing miserably? I bet that Seymor is looking for me elsewhere.’ Dylan sniffed, inhaling the aroma of both seduction and innocence. Amid the onslaught of pheromones, a stray thought overlapped with the darkness – a silhouette.

A faceless image that reminded him of the calm spring – so full of life – popped into his train of thought. It was a feeling of finally witnessing a paradise, only to see it fade right when the autumn breeze blew. It was both euphoric and nostalgic.

‘I was healed by magic, my wolf is it. But how can a witch still be alive?’

Dylan expected his wolf to growl. After all, witches were the common enemies of werewolves and vampires. But for some reason, his wolf purred.

The sound of the buzzing bees ricocheted with the wind chimes. Leaves rustled as the dew dropped to the ground. Gone were the owl hoots he vaguely remembered at the back of his mind, replaced by the lark’s chirps. What he smelt and heard were enough pieces of evidence to conclude that he was indeed in a small hut on the outskirts of his pack territory.

‘There is such a serene place in my bloody pack?’ Dylan could almost not believe it. Had he not experienced it himself, he would not believe it either.

Dylan needed to go back. He feared that Diana was looking for him.

‘Damn! The Welcoming Ceremony must have been canceled because of my absence!’

Wandering his eyes, he found out that there were two beds in this place. The other bed smelled offending for his alpha bloodline – an omega scent, a scent that did not belong to his mate.

But why did he feel familiarity? What was blocking his senses?

The first thing that Dylan noticed amid the surge of information was the shelves of scrolls and empty bottles of medicine at his left side, merely two arm’s length away from him. As he sat up, the bed grunted from his weight. With his legs hanging, he knew somehow that the foolish owner who had helped him was smaller than his stature.

Foolish, yes.

In an environment wherein the strong trampled the weak, showing emotions such as sympathy and love was a weakness not worth of his life.

Dylan trudged to the cauldron which he reckoned to handle a medicine. His nose wrinkled upon smelling the rancid smell he was looking for a moment or two ago. On instinct, he took a step back and turned around only to hit one of the ceiling’s mainframes, eliciting a tremble from the hut made of scraps.

“Damnation! I need to inspect if there are any witches in my pack.”

Canines protruded, and he hunched as he trudged around the tiny place. But there was nothing really worth seeing. Aside from the vines that held the scraps together, flowers popped from every nook and crevice of the house. It was nothing but scrolls scattered on the grass floor while cobwebs littered the ceilings. Plucked plants consisting of herbs, and… spices filled the gaps between scrolls and emptied medicine bottles. A knot started to lodge between his brows, failing to recognize the person inhabiting the small place.

“Is it one of the new slaves Seymor bought? It is possible that witch hybrid managed to sneak in.” Dylan immediately answered his question with a shaking head. “No. Witch hybrids will not risk working with the creatures that hunted the witches down.”

A soft spring breeze blew its way to the small wool-covered windows

Dylan’s wolf stirred. His eyes flashed to a bright azure hue as his hackles rose. His attention snapped to the source of the unwelcome visitor. Canines protruded, and a snarl escaped from his lips.