Chapter 35

• HAERA
• "Haera, If you found this and you're reading it, it means I am already dead by then. How I died doesn't matter. What matters is that you're alive and I was right. I was right Haera, whatever is going on has to do with Witches and spells. You can't ask how I'm right because I am not alive to tell you how. You have to find out yourself. But before that Haera, you have to stop that ritual at all costs. The ritual must not take place. If it does, you'll end up like me, Wolfless and weak and an easy prey to your enemies. Stop that ritual." I suddenly felt nauseous as bile rose in my throat up to my mouth, making me double over and causing the maids around to swarm me to see if I was okay. I ignored them and rushed out of the kitchen and straight for the bathroom where I emptied out all of the contents of whatever I ate before. My head swarm and I was certain I saw stars for a split second as the content of that written letter sank into my brain. It seeped into my brain, taking over every part of it that could think and reason. Baring the meaning of the letter and its details in front of me like an open book and almost driving me crazy with it. I knew what the letter meant. It was not a letter of warning or yearning alone. It was a letter of distress. The last letter written by a man who knew his death was coming and had to warn me of impending danger. The letter hid how he died or who killed him but I was no fool. It was glaring that this wasn't a suicide letter. It wasn't the kind of letter you write to your loved ones to comfort them after you kill yourself. It was a letter that spoke of ones foreseen last moments. Balfour didn't die of unforeseen circumstances or kill himself. He was murdered. Murdered because he knew something. Murdered because he told me part of what he knew. Balfour died because of me. That thought only made me double over and empty more of my bowels through my mouth. I plopped myself down on the bathroom floor, the reality of my situation swarming around me and screaming in my ears. All Balfour takes about was witches and spells. We were the only ones there. I didn't even believe him when he said it, waving it off as nothing but a myth but I guess I was wrong. It had me thinking, could he have stayed alive if he didn't say anything about witches? Would he have been alive if I didn't tell him about my mate? Would he have been unable to die and less vulnerable if he had his wolf? More tears formed in my eyes and I didn't even try to stop them from falling down my face. There was more to that letter. If Balfour had enough time to write it to me then I was sure he had enough time to run away but he didn't. why didn't he run when he knew that his death was coming? Why the hell couldn't he stay alive to tell me all these himself? There was more. He knew more than he was letting on about witches and the spells they cast. He knew too much and that was why he was murdered to keep him from telling me. He let himself get killed. I cried hard on the bathroom floor because of his murder and because I couldn't even prove it with that letter on the wall. People will think we were both crazy to talk about witch's existence in the woodlands. No one would believe me enough to investigate the cause of his death. It was up to me to do something and there were two things I needed to do because it was obvious that this isn't over yet. Balfour knew it wasn't going to end with his death and that's probably why he wrote that letter. Two things; 1) Find who murdered Balfour 2) Stop that goddamned ritual before it was too late. I rushed out of the bathroom and returned to the kitchen just in time to see a few guards and the maid I sent to Ulric, bringing in the Cinnamons I requested for. The maids all looked at me weirdly but I didn't care. I barked orders at them to start the preparation of the food. I've never yelled at them before and I almost felt sorry but I was too distraught to care. We just needed to end this as fast as we could so I could get to business. I was disoriented and wished the day would end faster. When my work hours in the kitchen finally ended, I rushed over to the maid quarters with only one thing and one person in mind and she was the only one who could provide the first hint to solving the first issue. The murmurings and loud gossips of the maids stopped when I walked into my previous room. They were all shocked to see me and most of them eyed me with envy and bitterness in their eyes. I didn't care. My eyes wandered around the room. Most of them were not there and were probably out in the Arena where the mate bond ritual will finally take place tomorrow. I looked everywhere but there was no sign of her. "Well...well...well, look who decided to pay us a visit...it's ugly duckling people." Erylis. I turned around to find her standing by the door way with a smirk up on her lips. She walked further into the room and stopped in front of me. \ "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in that prison you call a kitchen, cooking for our guests?" I ignored her prude comments. "We have to talk." I said as low and as quietly as I could to not attract attention to ourselves but leave it to Erylis to draw attention to you when you don't want it. She snickered at my polite words. "Being a chef must be good. Wearing that uniform and thinking you can now command and control anyone was you wish." "I'm asking as nice as I can Erylis, we need to talk and it's important we do right now." Erylis only laughed harder and turned to everyone else in the room. "The chef wants to talk and she's asking as nice as she can. Now I'm wondering what it'd be like if she isn't asking nicely." Everyone in the room burst into laughter too. I didn't have time for this today and in surely wasn't going to let her continue to make fun of me this way. "Need help?" Dezra growled in my ear. "You're damn right I do." I responded through the mind-link. "Good...leave it to me to kick some ass." Erylis was still saying something and laughing along with the other maids when Dezra took control and grabbed her by the hair. Everyone gasped and Erylis screamed, struggling to get away from me but unable to. Dezra's strength scares even me. "Now listen to me, you're going to follow me and we're going to talk. I don't care if you want to or not." She couldn't even say anything in reply before Dezra turned to look at everyone else in the room, she was sharing my subconscious but of course, the maids probably thought it was me because they all scrambled to the side. They've never seen that side of me before. A side of me that was holding Erylis back with just a single hand. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" Silence. Not a single soul made a single sound. "I thought so too." She smirked and with that, she dragged a screaming Erylis out of the maid quarters and behind it, where the lake was, out of everyone's sight. Dezra then let her off making her fall to the ground from the impact of the release. She fell with a big thud and a gasp of pain leaving her lips. I had a feeling she had broken a rib but didn't care and slowly, Dezra returned and allowed me to take charge. It took a whole for Erylis to get hold of herself before her eyes shot up to look at me, blazing and flaming with anger. "You bitch! How dare you? What has gotten into you?" "I have no time for that. Unless you want to get beaten up again. I just need you to answer my questions and we will both go our separate ways." She only snorted and tried to stand to her feet. Holding her sides. Yep, she did break a rib and it made her wince as she stood. "If you think I will sit down here and talk to you because you demanded it, then you must be out of it! This stupid uniform must be deceiving you, making you feel like something special when you're not." I guess Dezra's strength wasn't enough to scare her. I was going to show her who the boss is. I will show her what I have never shown anyone before. I didn't say anything as I took a step back and began to shift. It was something I hated doing because of the pain and because of the way I had to shed my clothes to the floor. "What...what are you doing?" Erylis stuttered miserably. I didn't say anything and just allowed the painful change begin to happen. It was the first time I was ever going to shift into my wolf in front of someone. I felt my bones snap, crack and morph into a more strong and alternate shape. My fingers and toe nails grew into claws as I fell to the ground on all fours, landing on huge paws that held the rest of my body up as thick fur began to replace the parts of me where my olive skin was before. Erylis was tall. One of the tallest maids but as I shifted, I looked down at her like she was nothing but a giant ant who still was no match for me. Her eyes widened out of their sockets and she gasped, falling back to the fall and shifting on her hands to the back. I could smell her fear all around and it gave me the satisfaction I needed. I was now fully shifted into my wolf. Big and strong. The color of snow and with patches of black in a few places. The air danced on my fur and the breeze caressed me. It felt good to finally let Dezra out after so long and she was over joyous. I stared down at Erylis who was already backed up against the brick fountains of the lake, unable to look away and run away. I was too big for a wolf of my kind, whichever kind I was and I knew. It was why I shifted in the first place. To scare Erylis into talking. "Why-what are you?" She stammered. I stalked closer. Each step I took made me feel like a giant and it was obvious that Erylis thought the same thing as well. She went on her knees in front of me immediately, scared to the teeth. "Please...please don't hurt me. I'll talk. We'll talk about whatever you want to talk about. Just please don't hurt me." She was literally shaking on her knees. I sniffed and caught scent of her fresh tears. I had her where I wanted her and I knew she was ready to talk now. Slowly and painfully, with cracking and snapping of bones back in place, I shifted back to my human form. My clothes were already in shreds and I was naked in front of her. "Are you really ready to talk now?" I asked her again. She looked up at my nakedness and down again still on her knees and with fear still in her eyes. Maybe I should have done this sooner. Then she and her cohorts wouldn't have bullied me so much. I was just being careful about them finding out how big my wolf was. It would surely be a thing of gossip and spread like wildfire all through the pack. But I had no choice but to do it now. "Yes. Yes, I'll say anything you want me to say." "I only have a few questions that I need you to answer." "I'll answer them. I'll answer anything." "Good...but first, hand over your clothes to me." And she didn't hesitate to.