Chapter 226: Chapter 226
[SAMANTHA’s Point of View]
“W-What?”
My brows deepened into a frown as I felt the violent cold wind brushing on my flushed face. My vision was blurry for the first seconds as moans escaped from my lips while I tried to make sense of everything that was happening.
Despite the breeze that was slightly whipping on my face, there was this warmth that made the coldness of the night bearable until I realized I was in somebody’s arms.
I tried to focus my eyes on the person’s face, believing it must be Killian since it would be impossible for my husband to recover in such a short amount of time.
But as soon as I recognized who it was, my eyes widened with both surprise and relief after seeing that sharp jawline, those pinkish lips, those soft hazel eyes, and dark, unruly hair—it was my husband.
“D-Dominic?” I murmured, almost inaudible after I swallowed and felt the swelling of my dry throat. “W-What happened? W-Where are we heading?”
“We’re going back to Silver Crescent, my love,” he answered in his softest voice as he looked down on me while he jumped from tree to tree with fast, steady feet, trying not to attract any kind of attention from the beasts that were roaming in that part of the Black Forest.
He continued as his jaws tightened and his eyes focused on his path with sharpness and caution, “I am taking you back home.”
I got more confused. “No,” I told him, shaking my head slightly and wanting him to stop jumping and running. “No, we can’t go back, Dominic. I heard from the old masked guy that we have to go straight to the Wolf Tomb! The origin of the curse is there! We need to destroy it while we still have time! We can’t go back yet—”
“No, Samantha,” he said in his steel-like voice as he looked down at me with a grave look on his handsome face. “We are heading back. I can’t let you go through another dangerous situation in one night. We can go there another day. You’ve done so much tonight. I need you to get some rest after defeating that deadly miasma that almost destroyed the Moon Wolf Spring. You saved that ancient place, you know that?”
“I...” I breathed, still a little dizzy. “I just did what I could, Dominic.” “By the way, how did you survive all those lethal injuries you got after you fought the giant silver wolf? Most of your bones were broken.”
After hearing that question, Dominic decided to stop and help me sit on a thick, large branch of a tree that was tall enough for us to hide from the hostile creatures of the forest. He sighed deeply while gazing at my face with a loving expression that made me nervous as I looked into his hazel eyes that appeared silver under the faint moonlight.
“I heard your voice,” he said, so softly that if I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t believe it was him.
“My voice?” I murmured, confused. “I couldn’t connect in your head using our bond link because you refused to share your thoughts with me, but I understand. You didn’t want me to be in pain.”
“Thank you,” he answered in his hoarse tone, making me swallow as I stared at his handsome face. He tucked strands of my hair behind my ears and then cupped my face gently. “When I was almost losing it, when I thought I was already dying, I heard your voice in the middle of the darkness, and I thought, ‘I couldn’t die like this.’ It wasn’t my time yet. I couldn’t accept it. I thought about you and the kids—you all need me. And I couldn’t leave you all while this was happening. And then I prayed for the Moon Goddess to bring me back. To give me one more chance. And then a blinding light appeared, mending every broken bone and wound around my body.”
My eyes widened a bit, realizing it was the light that exploded after I poured the mixture of our blood into the Moon Wolf Spring.
“I don’t understand...” I whispered, still confused about what happened. “I thought the Moon Wolf Spring would cure the curse in you, Dominic. Why isn’t it gone yet? It just healed your injuries.”
Tears started to run down my face as I looked at him with despair in my eyes. I couldn’t understand what I was feeling at that moment. I was more disappointed because it only felt as if nothing had happened. I looked at the dark veins that were spreading from his arm right to his chest, and it was just becoming so much worse; it terrified me.
“The old man.” He cupped my face and then forced me to stare into his eyes. “You heard him tell you that the origin of the curse is in the Wolf Tomb, right?”
“Yes,” I answered as I straightened my back with eagerness, “Yes! And that’s where we’re supposed to go. Dominic. We have to go and destroy the source—”
“Only we can’t, my love,” he cut off the next words I was saying, and I froze, confused at what he meant by those words. I was about to ask him to explain, but he continued, “I need you to take me back to the pack house. What happened in the Black Forest is already too much for a night, Samantha. We need to retreat for now and make sure the kids are safe. We have no idea what is happening to them right now. And we have to go back in case it’s something serious that even Lian can’t handle.”
Dominic was right.
We couldn’t stay any longer in the Black Forest, and the sun will be up soon. We couldn’t let anyone from the council know that Dominic, Killian, and I had gone to the Black Forest again. So as much as I wanted to end everything that night, I had to listen to my husband and go back to the Silver Crescent pack house.
“Yeah, it’s better if we head back home and get some rest too...” I finally agreed, convinced that Dominic’s idea was the safest to do. “We all fought and are badly injured already. We have no idea if more enemies are waiting there in the Wolf Tomb after we conquered and purified the Moon Wolf Spring.”
“Thank you.” Dominic leaned closer to me and kissed my forehead. “Now, let’s go back and check on the kids.”
*****
“What is happening here, Diana?!”
My eyes widened as I saw the black mist spreading slowly on the ceiling. I stared at it with horror as my mouth gaped, scared for the lives of my twins! What if Dominic and I didn’t come on time?! What would happen to them?!
“Purple figured out that our baby teeth can purify the black smoke, Mom!” Diana answered with panic in her voice as I pulled her and Devon away from the pup that Dominic suspected was also cursed. She struggled to escape my grip, wanting to take the puppy with us, but I refused to let her go and instead dragged both her and Devon much further away from the puppy while holding them tightly. I was worried I was being harsh, but I wouldn’t let this miasma poison my children!
“Samantha...”
I was confused at Dominic’s tone of voice and lifted my face to look at the wonder I saw in his eyes. My eyes searched for the object of his gaze. Then I saw it—just as Diana had told me, their baby teeth indeed absorbed the miasma as if they possessed an invisible vacuum that cleansed the poisonous black smoke until it disappeared.
For seconds, all of us didn’t move, confused and shocked at what happened.
“What’s that?” I asked, dumbfounded at what I saw. Purple, the rogue wolf pup that Diana and Devon named, ran towards us with soft eyes and floppy ears. It wagged its tail playfully, heading to Diana with gentle barks as if wanting to be praised for what it did after protecting the twins.
“Awww,” Diana jumped out of me and then scooped the pup in her arms with a huge and proud smile on her face. “See? She just wants to help, Mom, Dad. She saved me and Devon!”
Dominic and I couldn’t help but just look at each other, too surprised and unable to believe what had happened. He gave a short nod, as if to say it was safe and okay for them to keep the pup for a moment, and that made Diana and Devon jump with happiness.
*****
“Let’s go to the Wolf Tomb tomorrow...” I whispered to my husband while watching him take off his shirt, revealing the bruises and scars on his skin from the deadly injuries inflicted by the giant silver wolf of Moon Wolf Spring.
I looked at them with a heavy heart, but it only made me want Dominic more. He was a warrior. A brave and amazing one, and I couldn’t believe he was mine.
But as he turned around to look at me, horror started to spread all over my chest as I noticed those black veins slowly spreading from his left arm and up his shoulder like a sleeved tattoo.
I could also see that he was struggling to hide his pain and not show me any signs of the deep agony he was experiencing, which made me feel bad. I felt horrible that I couldn’t do anything for him about it. I couldn’t help him.
“If we delay this, I don’t want to think what could happen—”
Dominic didn’t say anything. Instead, he took a clean pair of white pants and a shirt and then opened the door of the room to leave. “I need a moment alone,” he said in his sad, stoic voice.
Tears started to well up in my eyes, but then I decided to leave the bed and walk around the room, as thoughts began to torment me. I understood he was in pain, so I just tried to understand that he was not in the mood to make any arguments with me after everything that happened that night.
I noticed Lena’s diary on the bedside table and picked it up. A photo fell from between the pages, and as I bent down to get it from the floor, I saw that it was her, holding a baby in her arms. Was it me?
She was with a man wearing a silver wolf mask, and behind them was the entrance to the Wolf Tomb, which piqued my curiosity and confusion. I looked behind the picture and there was writing on it. Lena’s handwriting said, “It all started in the Wolf Tomb, and it will end in the Wolf Tomb. The curse can be lifted. But are you willing to sacrifice what the dead wanted?”
“Sacrifice?” I murmured under my trembling breath as my heart started to beat loudly in my chest.