The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 23

Aldrich

The hours between battle were usually too somber to talk about life. Soldiers normally liked to bond with the brothers they battled with, but it was often too emotionally difficult to formulate words. There was too much b***d spilled and lives lost to talk like it wasn’t happening.

It was also hard to talk about life outside of war in case you didn’t get home to continue it.

But it was different this time. Last time, I didn’t know Cathy. Now, she filled the spaces of silence from my lips perpetually, each drop of silence dried by her name.

“You seem to really love this girl,” Agar chuckled, sharpening his dagger with his claws.

Agar had to hear most of my ramblings. He was my second in command warrior, replacing Alan’s spot for this war. I only told him about Cathy because he was my most trusted and worthy warrior. He was the only one who accompanied me in my general chambers tent, wide awake while everyone rested.

“And she has no idea?” he questioned, recalling my account of our story.

I shook my head, bent over our deployment map. “I think a part of her knows, but she doesn’t want to.”

“I don’t blame her. Sounds like some stockholm syndrome, mate,” he laughed, scraping his claw against the curve of the dagger, “She doesn’t want to fall in love with her former captor.”

Guilt twisted my stomach at the reminder. “I don’t blame her either.”

“But hey, I mean, she seems to have come to terms with it if she kissed you and then moved in with you,” he added encouragingly, shrugging.

“She refuses to speak about the k**s,” I sighed, scanning the list of soldiers’ names that were not deceased. “And I think she only moved in for more protection. For Theo.”

“The Cathy you speak about does not seem like she needs protection,” he mused.

“She doesn’t. But she knows that Theo does.”

` He looked at me with a serious glint in his eye. Agar was usually quiet and to the point, despite his occasional flashes of humor. “Life is too short to not tell the girl you love her,” he said, “you never know what might happen out here. I say you do it while you can.”

I thought about that for a moment. I never assumed about how it may soon be too late to let her know my feelings.

“I should have told her before I left,” I whispered, realizing. Resisting looking down at the unhealed wound on my abdomen.

“There’s always a should have,” Agar urged, “it’s never too late if you’re still breathing.”

Emily

Elias threw a banquet for Benjamin by the next day. He wasted no time.

The scheming couple celebrated him and toasted him with alcohol, excusing the banquet with some stupid reason he was too oblivious to raise an eyebrow at. They said it was for him to replace potential suitresses, and compare the prices nobles were selling their daughters for into marriage.

“See anyone good?” Elias questioned, facading actual interest. He was a good liar at least.

Benjamin lazily took another swig from his drink. “I never replace anyone on my level. Females simply will never be as good as me.”

Emily feigned a laugh. “You’ll need a queen if you want to compete for the throne. We’re trying to help you have a chance, Ben.”

“Especially now that Aldrich is in the race,” she warned, looking uninterested.

“What did you say?” he demanded in an angry tone.

Elias nodded. “Aldrich wants the throne. The people favor him the most.”

“Who cares what the people think?” he snapped, throwing his mug of beer to the floor, and it shattered in a mess of glass and foam. The partygoers paused then continued on quickly, unphased by his hot headedness by now.

“Your father. He will be picked by the people–”

“He cannot be picked if he’s dead,” Benjamin hissed, stomping his boot onto the shards of glass. “I will kill him myself.”

Elias and Emily shared a glance before she turned to him, smirking. “We can help you with that.”

Cathy

“Mommy,” Theo cried in a panicked shrill, “mommy, come help!”

It was like ice water pouring down my spine. Ever since the incident in the garden, and the note confirming my paranoia, I had stayed indoors. Danika and I shared silent, petrified looks whenever we were with each other, but did not speak of it. If we talked about it, it would be real.

So hearing Theo’s voice was like a knife to my gut. I didn’t remember rushing down the stairs or tripping over my skirts until I saw the bruises on my knees later that night. It was pure, blinded panic until I got to him. He was downstairs near the secondary entrance to the training grounds, among a group of guards surrounding someone.

Relief washed through me when I saw he was not the pinnacle of interest; instead, it was my friend, and dread replaced the relief again very swiftly.

Alan.

His face was wrinkled in pain as he was laid on the floor, the guards examining him, a medic holding up his leg. Theo beckoned me over and I joined the circle.

“Alan got shot,” Theo cried, his face wet with tears, “we were in the training grounds and someone shot him!”

B***d drained from my face as I knelt to the floor over Alan. Right from the spot I healed him, there was an arrow protruding from.

He was perfectly conscious, but it was smart to lie down and be checked in case he was shot. I automatically placed a hand on his shoulder, worried.

“Theo is alright,” he promised urgently when he saw me, sweat beading from his forehead. He grimaced.

“I know you’d always protect him,” I said, trying to sound soothing instead of completely panicked, “But I’m worried about if you’re alright right now.” I offered him a small smile.

He rolled his eyes. “I’ve had injuries that make this look like a paper cut.”

“Who shot you?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.

Alan squeezed his eyes shut as the medic expertly worked on removing the arrow, his grimace deepening. He then gasped, “I have no idea, that’s the f*****g annoying part. It was some cowardly bastard in the woods—the arrow came from there.”

What the hell was going on?

He tensed as the medic cut the shaft of the arrow, and he sputtered, “I don’t know how the son of a bitch knew where to get me. Unless it was some shitty coincidence.”

“It wasn’t,” I muttered, and he looked at me confused.

“Is Alan going to be alright?” Theo demanded, kneeling down next to me. Alan flashed him a pained smile.

“I’m always alright, kiddo,” he said, and squeezed Theo’s hand.

I stopped listening to them talk for a moment, too encompassed in staring at the wound on his leg. How did someone know exactly where to hit him? Dread and more dread weighed on my chest, and my head suddenly felt light. I was terrified that this was only the beginning.

I lost consciousness after that thought.