Chapter 64 On one condition
On one condition
Milo’s POV
I woke up with a lingering headache.
The first thing I noticed was the smell of medicine that lingered in the air like pollution.
Then…
“Hey, sleeping beauty”
The voice of my wolf rebounded in my head, making the headache worse.
“Where am I? What happened? I asked lior, my wolf, confusion creeping inside my head as I tried to remember why I was suddenly waking up like a princess.
“Let me just show you…”
As if I was watching a film, what happened in the hall began to play in my mind. Within minutes, everything from beginning to the end played in my mind.
“H…how did you do…”
“We are special Milo, this is one of the abilities we the Ashbourne are born with.”
“Can it be like… work on other people?” I asked curiously.
“I don't know. I guess we will need to try to find out.” lior replied,
The sound of a wolf howling in grief reached my ears. At that moment, I remembered that the pack was currently in a crisis.
hissed a little while pushing myself up from the bed. Masters room was just as it was, except that this time, his towering presence was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe he is probably busy…” I told myself while I tried to get up from the bed. At that moment, the door opened, and Daphne came inside carrying on her hands, pots of herbs, and medicinal powders.
“Milo.”
A sense of relief washed over me, and before I knew it, I crossed the room within milli seconds, the scent of her warm and motherly aura waffled through my nose, calming my tensed nerves, as I pulled her into a big hug.
She froze for a split second as if wondering how I reached her, but her body relaxed a bit, and she hugged me back, patting my back. My heart warmed.
“It’s been too long,” I murmured against her shoulder before pulling away to look at her tired face and wild eyes. “What’s going on? Why’s the whole pack…”
“It’s a mysterious disease.” She answered, her shoulders slacking visibly as if all the weight of the world rested on her shoulders. “It continues to spread fast and wild. And mostly fatal to children below the age of 20. We already lost close to ten young pups and twenty wolves in general just on day 1.”
My stomach dropped. “How? Is there no cure…” I trailed off, seeing the way her face fell even further.
“Noo.” She shook her head, glancing at me briefly before turning to enter the room. “It's spread through the air. Currently, the pack is in another state of emergency. The people are not happy, but there is nothing we could do about it. The disease is spreading faster than we could curtail it. In just a few hours, the death toll is higher than anything I have ever seen.”
She stopped. When I thought she would break down in tears, she continued. “
“It's not natural, and from our examination, the disease is a symptom of a rare and banned fruit, the purplebane. Another myth that is poisonous to wolves, especially children.” She explained, her voice becoming fainter.
But my head was already swarming with different thoughts. A plant that is more poisonous than wolfbane, I cringed. “If you said it's banned, then how could one access it? How did it surface…”
The only ones who could have access to it are the… Council.” She whispered the last words like it was a taboo.
“The Council…” I swallowed hard, before another thought scarier than even the council came to my head. “And Master?... Is he furious about what I did yesterday?”
Daphne’s lips twitched into something between a smile and a smirk. “that should be the least of your worries, milo. If anything, you did him a great favor. The elders and the commanders will leave you alone for a while.
My brows contorted into confusion “why?”
She sighed, before she started talking “Here in our pack, strength matters more than anything else, and during the meeting I heard you challenged commander Grath, something not even the elders could boast of doing. In summary, you proved to them all that you are not weak.”
My eyes widened in realization as I took a deep breath I didn't know I was holding. At least, this was the only best news I have heard so far.
She stepped closer, her eyes scanning me up and down “is it true that you challenged General Grath, a commander.
“Yeah,” I answered, unconsciously taking a step back from Daphne, who was now looking at me like I was an alien. “Am I in trouble?”
“What? Nooo, nonsense. I am just shocked. I heard the commanders are beings that rival some alphas. How did you do it” she eyes, her eyes blazing with mad curiosity, the kind you can find in the eyes of a mad scientist that was looking at an unexplained mystery.
“N…nothing,” my back hit the wall. I swallowed hard, She had backed me to the wall. My brain tried to think of ways to escape her clutches.
“Where's master?”
I guess my plans succeeded as she stepped back, her attention diverted.
“Currently he is not in the pack, away on an emergency business.” her face fell, but i saw it “until he is back, Only the Beta is holding the fort for now.”
The air shifted, Almost on cue, the door swung open and Cornelius, the new beta stepped in at a slow deliberate pace, his eyes still carrying the same piercing glare from the day we first met.
“Speaking of the devil” I rolled my eyes,
He stopped in front of me, his eyes trained on me like I was his worst enemy. “You’re coming with me,” he said flatly.
My wolf growled in my chest in response, and for reasons unknown to me, I met his stare for stare, not looking away for a moment.
“i want to go with her.” I shot back, the words escaped before I could process it entirely, his eyes widened for a fraction of seconds before his expression changed to pure rage. The tension between us sparked instantly, thick and enough to be cut with a knife.
Daphne’s eyes flicked between us. “milol…”
“It's not a request. It's an order.” His tone was flat, leaving no room for argument, but I was not done either.
I stepped forward. “I’m not some fragile thing. You have to keep locked up…”
“You are exactly that,” Cornelius snapped, his voice rising from anger. “One mistake, and we will be carrying your body back in a stretcher."
“Better than sitting here while everyone else fights for their lives!”
The air between us burned even hotter. We were standing chest to chest now, well almost, with his height that towered over me with a small margin, but that didn't stop me from glaring at him with all the hate I could muster.
When it felt like all hell would be let loose, Daphne suddenly slid between us, separating us with her hands on our chest.
“Enough!” she barked, her voice sharper than I have ever heard. Her gaze locked on the beta in a murderous look. “I am in charge of Milo. If the Master's is not here, I decide what’s best for him. And right now, what is best is keeping him moving and working, not shutting him inside until he breaks again.”
Cornelius’ glare shifted to her. “You’re overstepping…”
“No,” she said coldly, her eyes unfearing, “I am merely doing my job as the healer. And this is my honest report, if anything should happen you will be responsible, I know you know what that means.”
Cornelius bared his teeth in a snarl, “are you threatening me, the Beta, and a member of the shadows unit.”
We stood there unmoving, the silence bearing down in the room. The air turned colder, but just like it had come, it dissolved like smoke.
Member of shadow units…?
According to James, the shadows units were the mysterious units of the pack. They were the most powerful, and according to him. They don't accept any recruits, and because of this, they are the smallest unit in the pack.
According to James, every member of the shadow units could match an elder in the pack.
If cornelius is a member of the shadow unit, and he was among the four bullies I had encountered in the training yard. Does that mean that the remaining three were also part of the…
“Fine I agree” Cornelius finally exhaled, stepping back a little.
I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that I had won this fight, but my joy didn't last for long.
“But…” he raised his finger, an evil smile slowly creeping towards his lips, “on one condition.”