THIRD PERSON POV:
Seeing Blake in that condition makes me feel terrible. I ignore the look of victory on Mindy's face and look away, causing the guard to roll up the window. Then I turn to Rufus.
"Open the gate." He opens his mouth to speak, but I do not allow him. "Now!" My order comes out harsh, so he walks through the side gate, then he draws the gate open.
I walk into the compound as the cars drive in. When Rufus shuts the gate, he turns to me.
"I hope you know what you are doing," he says, and I shake my head, causing his eyes to widen.
"Rufus, they are were-people. Not one, but six of them, and they are guards. Warriors, if you want me to put it in a much scarier term. I am supposedly their Luna now, though I don't know what is going on, but I hope to find out. If you stand in their way, they will kill you, and they don't even need a gun to do that."
"I understand that, but Mr. Malibu will kill me either way. I am supposed to protect you with my life, and that isn't going too well at the moment," he says, then he walks away.
I take a deep breath, making my way towards the cars parked in front of the bungalow. When I get there, one of the guards opens the door of the car Blake is in, and they help him out. He leans helplessly onto two guards who hang his arms around their necks, and they make their way into the house.
"James, right?" I stop one man, and he nods.
"Yes, my queen."
"Why is that lady with the alpha?" I ask, glancing at Mindy, who is speaking with another guard cheerfully.
"We met her when we got to Efla, and we asked for a healer. She says the healer lives here, so we are here to see the healer," he says, and my brows crease at once.
A healer. How did she know I could... never mind, that is Mindy.
"I'm the healer she's speaking about, so just let Blake lie in the room down the hall, and I'll be with you," I say to him, and he gives a bow before leaving.
My eyes meet Rufus's, who is standing in front of the door, and then I rush up to him.
"I know you want to call Zane, but please let me handle this. Zane hates these people, and knowing they are at his place will anger him even more. I don't want a full-blown war, and I'm sure I can settle this."
"I trust you, but I don't trust them, so I'll wait it out until tomorrow. If they aren't gone by then, I'll have no choice but to call Mr. Malibu."
"Thank you," I say to him, then he walks into the house.
The three guards left walk past me, giving a bow, then Mindy follows, stopping beside me.
"Whatever this is, Mindy, I want to let you know that you'll never get away with it." She stops when I say this, then we both turn to look at each other.
A smile hangs on her lips, then she makes a clicking sound.
"Let me jog my memory again. I helped Veronica get your husband, and now I took him away from her because she wouldn't help me take you down. She is living in misery in your pack. Demoted not to just a citizen, but a prisoner."
Fear crosses my heart as she says this. If I hadn't met Mindy in person, I would think Zane was bluffing when he says she is psycho, but he wasn't. She is more than psycho, and I cannot think of anyone more evil. Even Boris seems like a saint at the moment.
"It's like I have everyone's lives in my palm, so..."
"Except Zane, and that is what you want, but you will not get him." I cut her off. She looks at me, the smile on her face widening like that of a mental patient in an asylum, but I do not fear her.
"I am not afraid of you, Mindy. I have an entire pack behind me, and they will come after you," I say to her, then she chuckles.
"How well will that work for Zane?" My face contorts in anger when she mentions Zane. "Knowing that an entire pack of people he despises is in his territory, and they are possibly led by their queen, who has only been trying to get him on her side so she can ruin his empire."
I swallow hard when she says this.
"Zane will never believe you."
"He doesn't have to," she says casually, glancing down at her nails. "I can make him believe me."
"But you cannot make him fall in love with you." Her hands tighten into fists. "Pathetic. You are even worse and more desperate than Gia. She had some boundaries."
This is a lie because if Gia isn't human, I am sure she would have done worse, but I am trying hard to get under her skin.
"If I wanted to make Zane fall in love with me, I could have done that. But I want him to love me by himself, and he will once he realizes I'm the one who will never leave him."
"Then you'll have to wait until this life is over."
She is about to speak when a guard pulls open the front door, causing her to take a bow before walking into the house.
"Alpha Blake is a little conscious, and he says he wants to see you." I force a smile on my face when he says this, then I follow him into the house.
I spot Rufus, Treasure, and Mindy in the dining area, and I do not need a seer to tell me what is about to go down. I ignore them and make my way to the room.
"Kiara," Blake calls out in a faint voice.
I walk towards him, looking down at his figure. His face is still beautiful and spotless from the last time, but his skin is pale.
He puts out his trembling hands to me, and I hesitate for a moment before reaching for them. The moment they meet, nostalgia kicks in, and I barely notice the fact his hands are burning hot.
"James says you are the healer, and I cannot thank that lady enough for finding my wife."
The mention of Mindy makes me withdraw my hands at once.
"Is... is..." he barely makes a complete statement before his eyes shut.
Panic surges through my heart at once. I reach for his throat to check for a pulse, and it is there. This causes my panicked heart to calm down a bit.
"James, keep an eye on him, and I'll be back," I say to the guard, who nods, then I rush out of the room, making my way to the dining area where I see Mindy.
"The kitchen, now!"
"I would love to stay and play with you guys, but I have better things to do," she says to Rufus and Treasure.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I yell, and she shrugs. "You harm people for a living, and you wonder why Zane will not love you back? Look at Blake; he is going to die if you do not undo whatever spell you have done on him."
"Well, that is your problem. If he dies, then news will go out that the Luna killed the alpha just to elope with a human lover."
As she says those words, I realize I am truly standing face to face with a monster. The only way out of this situation is to step up as the sane one because she is out to kill.
"What do you want?" I ask the question I am sure she is dying to hear.
"Zane, but if you mean what I want before I can save your pathetic husband, then I need you to cooperate. Do what I say, or his obituary will make headlines in your stupid pack tomorrow," she says, and I try hard not to blow up on her.
"Now, you'll make him soup. Then I'll throw in a cure. He'll eat it, and get cured. He will want you back, and I don't care what happens after that."
I know this is a bad idea, but I am trying to de-escalate a war. If Blake gets cured, then I'll figure out how to tackle Mindy from there.
After she says this, I call Treasure to make soup. Just as Mindy had promised, when the soup is ready, she tosses the cure in it, and I take it to Blake's room.
"Feed him," I say to James, then I wait outside the room for any adverse effects, but nothing happens.
When he is done eating, he falls into a deep sleep.