Chapter 116 — Bond or link?

“ Eat! Do you think I can finish everything? It's a whole damn feast, Ester! Why did you get so much for breakfast? ”

Sebastian tried to feed her a morsel but she only took a tiny bite to make her feel good.

She had absolutely no appetite. Especially after what had happened last night.

The Ragnar's targeting of Sebastian was worrying her too much.

She fidgeted with her glass as Sebastian munched away hungrily.

His newfound Lycan seemed hungry and he was enjoying all the tasty treats.

The door to the door swung open and Ester immediately stood up on her toes. She was anticipating bad news but she didn't expect it to arrive so early, first thing in the morning.

The soldier seemed pale and he looked at Ester with worried eyes.

“ What is it? ” Ester asked, walking toward him.

“ The Alpha of the Red Crescent Pack went missing last night. They found his lifeless body dumped in the kitchen at dawn.

His corpse had no liver and heart and from the descriptions, it seems like he didn't have a soul either! ”

“ Damn! ” Just like Ester had anticipated. She clenched her fist and bumped into her other hand. But the messenger did not leave. He stood frozen and something told Ester that he hadn't even delivered the actual message he had come with. The worst was still to come.

“ Go on! Tell me! What else happened? ”

The soldier almost trembled. Sebastian had left the table and joined Ester by then.

“ The search party did not return. We sent a second one to look for them… ” He paused.

“ And? ” Ester urged him to continue fearing the worst.

“ We found no trace of the first group… ”

“ Gery? ” Ester's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets with worry.

“ Missing… ” The soldier answered.

“ Damn! ”

She turned around after dismissing the soldier, punched the wall and stood there frozen. “ What do I do now? ”

Sebastian stepped forward to place a comforting hand on her soldier, “ You will figure it out… ”

Ester didn't even get the time to look up.

The alarms started blasting and the siren went off.

They were under attack.

***

Back at the sacred lands (at the campsite).

“ So you're telling me you artificially inseminated her… You didn't touch her in that sense… David! That was brilliant! ”

Elara's eyes twinkled as they continued their conversation.

“ I am the one asking questions here, Elara! Not the other way around! ”

David's impatience was growing by the minute.

Elara shakes her head and wiggles forward, “ You don't understand the brilliance of what you did, even though you did it without understanding! ”

“ Get to the point Elara! I don't want your riddles anymore… ” The tapping of his feet intensified.

Elara sighed.

“ Alright! Did you ever notice how weak Aria was despite hailing from a reputed werewolf family? I bet you hardly ever saw her wolf. I bet it wouldn't even appear unless it was a life or death situation! ”

David nodded, “ Yes! But it's because she is a healer. And their wolves aren't exactly built for combat…”

“ She had a sister, right? I bet she was physically stronger than her even though she didn't have any of Aria's gifts! ”

Elara insisted.

David tried to remember and Elara's words did make some sense.

“ What are you getting at? ”

“ I am not making this up! I am simply letting you know what I saw. Try to keep an open mind about this. Right? ”

David nodded as Elara continued.

“ Aria was born different! I don't have many details about her family but it must have got something to do with the mother.

The Moon Goddess saw her opportunity and shoved her up your a** … ”

“ ELARA! ”

“ Alright! Alright! This woman was born with a part of the darkness suppressed along with her wolf. It has been a constant battleground for dominance, set to manifest once she attained maturity. ”

David's face was unreadable as he continued watching Elara!

“ Her soul is tainted! Though she is able to suppress the darkness within her while she is conscious, her subconscious mind sometimes acts otherwise! I don't know her history, maybe you will get to know more about it if you do some digging… ”

Elara looked at David but he had no reaction.

“ This curse…bond… link… whatever she has with the darkness will erupt once she is claimed. There would hardly be any way of going back for her because the darkness would feel threatened by the act of marking or claiming her and would completely overtake her soul… ”

This time David looked back at the camp but he turned to Elara again,

“ I locked some of her memories of the past. That was the only reason I didn't claim her… the spell would be undone if I did… ”

His eyes were swimming in lament.

“ It was a brilliant move like I said earlier! This child will give you the ultimate heir because of your mate bond, yet you will be saving yourself by not marking her as your mate. It's a winning situation… ”

Elara looked extremely happy about it.

“ Why don't you mark me? ”

Aria's words floated in David’s head and the hurt she carried with those words.

“ There must be a way to undo this. There must be a way to rid her of the darkness! ”

David told nobody exactly. He was just exclaiming.

The glow from Elara's eyes vanished.

“ I have never heard of something like this in my entire existence. I don't know what kind of a link we are dealing with. I have no idea what she is! But it seems like you didn't pay much attention to my words! Let me spit it out clearer. The Moon Goddess set her up with you to destroy you completely. She knows you are the future of the lycans. By destroying you, she would be getting rid of your entire clan without much problem. It was a trap! ”

David sighed as he leaned forward.

For a moment Elara froze as his face came too close to hers.

His hands touched hers. She could feel her fingers tremble but instead of holding them, David took the cup from her hand.

“ Thank you, Elara! ” He said as he stood up to put the cutleries away. “ Your knowledge and wisdom have been a great help! I bet my father knew about this situation as well! This explains his obsession with her. I thought he was merely jealous because I was blessed with a mate. Guess not! He was after catching bigger fish! ”

Elara opened her mouth to say something but suddenly turned around.

“ There is incoming traffic at the borders! David? ”

She was absolutely panicked. “ I can smell blood! ”

They darted faster than the speed of light. But the sight greeting them wasn't remotely what they had expected.

Ester stood there with a small plank of her soldiers.

Her hands were pressed over some places in an attempt to stop her bleeding but she bled freely from other spots.

“ David! ”

She tried to dismount from the horse as David rushed forward to catch her.

“ Please save Sebastian! He is fighting all the packs all by himself. Lucas launched a surprise attack after the Alpha of the Red Crescent Pack went missing. They are killing through our ranks like knives through butter. Sebastian wouldn't listen. He thinks being a new lycan makes him invincible… but there aren't only wolves to fight. They are using other trickery. Sorry, David! I didn't turn out as capable as you expected! I created a big fat mess! ”

She collapsed in his arms as David rushed her inside.

Elara poured over her wounds. She placed her hand over them and closed her eyes.

David turned to go inside to fetch the first aid box but Elara grabbed his wrist with her other hand.

“ It's futile! No medicine will be able to stop the bleeding. These are not simple gunshots or blade wounds, these wounds have the essence of darkness. ”

She finally opened her eyes and stared straight into his soul.

“ Can't you see, David? It has already begun? The destruction that will claim her soul! There is no way you will be able to deny the darkness what it wants. It will find one way or the other to claim what belongs to it! There is no stopping that! ”

“ David? ”

They turned together at Aria as she walked out of the tent, rubbing her eyes. Her eyes rested on Elara's grip over David's hand and then her eyes fell upon Ester.

“ Damn it! Ester! What happened? ”

She ran beside her, almost shoving Elara and David out of her way.

She checked her pulse and sniffed her wounds, there were eyes darted all around, scanning the place.

“ Keep the pressure over the bleeding spots, I will be right back! ”

Before long, she was back with some herbs in her hand.

“David, get me hot water and clean clothes, now!” Aria ordered without looking up.

Aria set to work, mixing a poultice and applying it to Ester's wounds as Elara stepped back and watched.

She cleaned the wounds, dressed them up and then set to make a potion with whatever she had collected. At the end of the mixing, she added a drop of her blood.

“ Help me lift her head please! ”

David immediately bent down and forced Ester's mouth open as Aria pushed the potion down her system.

Like magic it went down her system, stopping the bleeding and fixing the wounds.

David turned around to look at Elara with pride. Aria had just cured something Elara had said was incurable, within minutes.

But Elara looked back at him with equal zeal in her eyes. But her zeal was screaming, “ I told you so. Like cures like. Doesn't it? ”

Aria finally looked up, satisfied with what she achieved but she caught David and Elara staring at each other.

She immediately looked away.

Something in their gaze told her that she wasn't included in their nonverbal communication.