The Witch And The Cursed Child- Part III

Leora:

Fuck!

I slowly rise from my sitting position, my eyes not once leaving the predator who has his eyes fixated on me, his lips slightly parted as he regarded me with disbelief, predators attack the second the prey makes sudden movements, and I need to stall the said attack until I can find a place to run and put all my energy into it, oh who I am kidding? I have known this man all my life, he is one of the swiftest werewolves out there, not to mention one of the best hunters, there is no way I can out run him.

There is no way I can bargain with him either, I think as I swallow my fears only for them to clog my throat, Ray had always kept to himself, even though I knew him all my life, I never really got to know him, and now that I think of it, he wasn’t a part of the torture party that unleashed all their cruelty on me back in the silvermoon cell, still, that doesn’t mean he wishes me no harm.

“What are you doing here?” I freeze as the words poor into my ears, dripping with hostility, I am done for, I think as take a slow step back, his eyes not failing to notice it, I have to run, even when I know he will catch me in no time, I have to run for it is all I can do.

But my legs never make the first step as he freezes me in place with his warning eyes, showing me a peek of his wolf who is lurking right under the surface, and I watch with dread as he comes to stand next to me, placing his hand over my back and nudging me forward.

What the fuck?

I ask myself as I take small and hesitant steps in the direction he is pushing me, unable to resist or run away from his hold, but why? Why is he acting this way.

“Keep your head down and don’t speak, Liam is right behind us and he will recognize you immediately!” Ray whispers in my ears and I shiver, fuck, right when I thought my situation couldn’t be worse, I know Liam wouldn’t waste a second before ripping my head off my shoulders and therefore, I abide by Ray’s command, not knowing why, but at least he hasn’t killed me on spot.

“Yo, Ray, what have you got there?” my shoulders stiffen as I hear Liam’s voice right behind us, fuck, I can feel his eyes glued on my back, blood drains from my face and limbs and I barely stop myself from falling, images of what he has done to me all rushing back, Goddess, I hate him!

“I have to take care of something real quick, I will be back soon.” With his most nonchalant voice, I hear Ray brush off his friend, the later just snorts, completely oblivious of my identity.

“Take care of something you say? Well, you could have at least found yourself a more descent looking one if you want a quickly!” Liam throws off his shoulder before I hear him walking away, and even when I can no longer feel the eyes on my back, I don’t let go of the breath I am holding, I am not out of dangers way just yet.

Rounding the block, Ray leads me to a narrow and dark alley before slamming my back against the wall, I gasp with pain as I look both ways, deciding which one to take, but he traps me by putting his hands on each side of my head, his head itching closer to mine, fuck, I have no chance to run, I am going to die in a dark and dirty alley and then he will probably dumb my body in the disgusting trash container.

“I will ask you this one more time, and you better tell me the truth, what the hell are you doing here?” he asks through gritted teeth, and I can see the struggle in his eyes, this is treason, I think as I try to make sense of his actions, instead of ending me on spot or taking me straight to Axel for interrogation and later on execution, he brought me here and is interrogating me himself instead, if this could be called an interrogation, I contemplate my options, looking at his eyes and reading through the mixed emotions, I may still survive this after all.

“I am here to save those who matter to me, I am here to save my friend!” I tell him my truth, after all, this is why I am here, for all of my friends, mr. Bells, Mila, and all the humans his pack is about to sacrifice.

“She thought you would…” he says mostly to himself but I still heard him, her?

“Ciana?” I ask with terror as I watch the gears spinning in his head, weighing down his next move, but instead of agreeing with me as I thought he would, he scoffs before taking my wrist in his iron grip, dragging me behind him while sniffing the air.

“I do not answer to that witch, nor will I ever agree to be her dog, now, keep your mouth shut and don’t dare make any sounds until I tell you it is safe to do so, there are many people here who can easily recognize you, not just by your face but by your voice, and I assure you that none of them would be as lenient as me!”

Not that I didn’t know that, I think as I silently follow him, adjusting my cap and and the collars of my jacket to cover my face, I might not be safe with him but I am safer with him than any other member of the pack, and he is clearly not on Ciana’s side, I wonder if he knows about the upcoming massacre, I wonder if any of them knows, I wish to pester him for answers but I know I cannot do so, not right now at least.

Keeping my footsteps as silent and swift as I can, I follow Ray to his car, he opens the passenger door for me and I get inside silently, the luxurious seats of the black range rover do wonders to my sore back, I watch as he rounds the front to come and sit in the driver’s seat, not wasting any time before starting the engine, not yet, I tell myself, I cannot speak just yet for there is still dangers around us.

After ten minutes of driving towards the main area, speed driving that is, Ray slows down a little before looking my way, his eyes studying me before returning on the road.

“You look like hammered shit!” he announces out of the blue, and I want to scoff at his comment if it wasn’t for the fact that his voice lacked all traces of humor, he is being serious, I can see it in the way he tightens his grip over the steering wheel and the way his back is stiff, he is struggling, not knowing what to do with me.

“Why are you helping me?” there is no point in beating around the bush, this man is not my friend, I am not here to joke and chat with him, I need to know his intentions, and I need to do it fast for I am already wasting precious time.

“Who said I am helping you?” he answers with a sharp voice, his eyes shooting me a glare, well, your actions does, I want to tell him but refrain from doing so, he is already aware of the consequences of his actions, and I do not want to point them out for I know it might be the one push he needs to chop my head off, “And I will be asking the questions in here!” I gasp as he brings the car to a halt, I look outside the window to see that we are in the middle of the forest road, somewhere far from any gatherings, it is a secluded part of the territory , he either wants a secret conversation or a secret execution, I choose to believe it is the first one.

“Once again, know that I will not forgive any attempt to lie to me, I want the truth and nothing but the truth, and based on that truth I will decide what to do with you.” I silently nod at Ray, not seeing any point in resisting, I know his instincts will catch on the smallest of lies, not that I plan on lying, if he knows about the massacre and so does the rest of the pack, then it is game over, if he doesn’t then maybe he can help me stop it.

“First, did you or did you not attack the Alpha’s mate?” he is not addressing her as luna, I think while registering that detail before looking him straight in the eyes, not an ounce of hesitation in my voice as I answer him.

“No.”

“Did you lie about the things you said you saw in your visions, including the one about Axel and the ones about the dead girl we found at our borders?”

“No.”

“Did you kill our hunters?

“No.”

“Did you kill Carmen?”

“No.”

“Did you have a hand in her death?” I gulp as I lower my eyes before nodding, I might have not killed her myself, I might have even tried to save her, but none of that changes the fact that she died because of me.

“Elaborate…” Ray says with so much difficulty, his knuckles turning white against the steering wheel, I look at him, allowing him to see my emotions.

“She was captured, I didn’t know about that until I stumbled upon her, I tried to help her, I tried to free her, but she attacked me, she almost killed me.”

“And? Who killed her then?

“My mate…” I gulp as I confess my truth with so much difficulty, images of Carmen’s death appearing in front of my eyes and making my stomach flip, I know I shouldn’t have told him, especially not about Tynan, but unlike any other member of his pack, Ray didn’t call me a liar, he didn’t stop to question my truths, he is believing me for some reason, and that itself is a good line.

“You have a mate?” I nod at him, my lips involuntarily stretching at the sound of the word and the reminder of him, my Tynan, the home I have missed so very much.

“That makes sense, no one but a coward dip shit would see their mates being harmed and do nothing about it.” I look at him in confusion as I watch him swallowing hard, his words were not directed at me, I can sense it, it feels as if he was talking to himself instead.

“If you had a mate which you clearly love judging by that fleeting smile, then why aren’t you by his side, why are you here, and why do you look like this?” I contemplate my answer for a second, the pain of leaving my Tynan once again stabbing through my heart but I push it aside, I need to focus on the present.

“Because I had to, I have friends who are in great danger, ones whom I have to save without endangering anyone, especially not my mate.”

“It is not like you can easily break her free, she is heavily guarded and that witch had placed some sort of spell on her cell, it won’t break no matter how hard I tried.” I look at him in confusion before the meaning behind his words register in my mind.

“Fuck! Mila! Is she okay? Is she still alive? Did anyone hurt her?” I nearly jump out of my seat as I grab his arm, my eyes wide and begging him to tell me the answers I wish to hear.

“So, that is her name, Mila…” he whispers to himself, the way he said that her name before a ghost of a smile danced across his lips and eyes, I look at him with confusion, not understanding his weird reaction, when did he become this soft towards prisoners?

“And yes, she is alive, for know, I don’t know how long she will remain so for the warriors aren’t going easy on her, and yet, she refused to crack, she refused to even cry or scream, and she certainly refused to give out any pieces of information.”

“That is because she can’t, she is mute, and she is innocent, the purest heart I have met if I may add, she had nothing to do with Carmen’s death!” I tell him as tears escape me, thinking of my poor friend in that cell, his face contours in pain as he breathes heavily, barely able to contain his wolf.

“Fuck…” he says at last while running his hands through his hair, I don’t know why he is acting this way, why he is even talking to me, and why is he this angry…could it be that he feels some kind of way towards Mila?

Could be that he is her…

“Something isn’t right, I have been feeling it since the witches arrival, but no one cared to listen and I didn’t want to face the same fate as you, nevertheless, I kept on watching from the sides, and sure enough, Axel can barely tell the difference between soap and cheese anymore without that witch pointing it out to him, this is not normal, nor is it acceptable for an Alpha.” Ray says as he once again starts the car, a strange rage clouding his eyes.

“She has him all wrapped around her pretty little finger, and he even agreed to use the humans in the upcoming war, I might have not liked you that much as I barely like anyone, but I respected you for many reasons and one of them was your devotion to protect and serve the innocents, humans have nothing to do with this war, and something tells me that witch is not just planning to take a tiny bit of their energy as she promised!”

“No, she will kill them, it is going to be a massacre!” Ray looks at me with shock and disbelief, but before he could question me, I quickly add…

“Humans of all ages, old and young, and even children, some were told to come to plan projects, others invited to simply enjoy the nature, but they are all going to die, the witches are going to kill them all, tomorrow that is…” as my words register in his mouth and his expressions turn to those of absolute terror and rage, Ray steps on the accelerator, pushing the car beyond speed limits.

“That is why I came here, leaving behind everything I hold dear, I must stop it from happening!”

“Then, I will help you!” I turn my head at Ray as shock and relief fills my heart, barely believing what I just heard just as he focuses on the rode infront of us.