The Lycan King's Healer
The Lycan King’s Healer – Chapter 33

He did not flinch, but he had the decency to look upset about it.

Aldrich stepped back, regaining a couple shreds of his composure after realizing what he was doing. “I’m sorry,” he muttered reluctantly.

“I don’t care,” I sniped.

“I have the right to know if my son was in danger. I need to know what happens to him!” he insisted, glaring at me. The thought of Theo being in danger seemed to hurl him into a spiral, and he was containing himself very well.

Don’t say, don’t say it, don’t say it. “I never told you he’s your son.”

He froze. His rage froze. His body froze. His face froze. As if he was a volcano icing over, but would erupt even harder once thawed.

“We’re still playing this game?” he demanded, his voice acidic and dripping with malice. He was so angry, he didn’t even seem like he was talking to anymore, rather a soldier that disobeyed him or an enemy.

“I’m not playing a game,” I said weakly, “I was going to tell you what has been happening. But you just got back—”

“No,” he cut me off quietly, “we’re not discussing that right now. I asked you, are we still playing this game?”

I rolled my shoulders back, jutting my chin up at him again. “He is not your son to worry about.”

The ice thawed over the volcano, and he pushed over the nearest piece of furniture. It was a drawer chest, surely heavy wood and full of clothes, but he knocked it onto the floor like it was made of paper.

I flinched, jumping back. “Aldrich, what are you–” I gasped.

“He is my son, Cathy!” he roared, his face completely red and his eyes glistening with madness, looking nearly indinguishale. He was out of his mind that I was still demanding this facade.

His anger suddenly scared me for the first time. I felt like crying at his outburst, at the fact he could become so impeccably angry at me. It just seemed to confirm that he was only here for Theo—once he discovered that he was his son, I would not be needed anymore.

Hot tears burned my eyes and threatened to stream down my face. My lower l*p quivered.

“Fine,” I growled, glaring at him, “Theo is your son. Are you happy? You finally got what you wanted.”

I then stormed past him into the hallway, not daring to even glance at him.

Aldrich

I stood in silence staring at the knocked over chest. Then slowly sighed to myself, wondering why I had been an a*****e to the love of my life.

My rage had blinded me. The need to have confirmation of Theo was given to me at the expense of basically taking a knife and carving it out of her. She still was not ready to tell me, but I carved it out of her anyway. It was the first time since I’ve known Cathy that she looked at me with fear.

Alan peeked into the room and I looked at him guiltily, showing him that my anger has alleviated. “I promise I will pick up the chest once I return. I have to replace Cathy,” I told him, and he nodded, not quite meeting my eyes.

I first traveled to her bedroom but she was not there. Then, I ventured to Theo’s room; I only found him napping in his bed. The last place I bounded down to was the garden, the only other place she would be.

The garden was mostly dead. My heart broke as I discovered the dead sunflowers, the brown, wilting petals of all the daisies, and a dirty, rusting garden swing. The fountain was no longer streaming, and any water left in it was so dirty that it was a deep green.

She had been surviving something I had not an ounce of knowledge about.

Empathy replaced the rage. I had been a fool to be angry instead of to be worried.

Eventually, I checked all the fields within the estate; the backyards, the training grounds, and I even checked the mouth of the woods, in case she was being truthful about the leisurely walks. I couldn’t replace her anywhere. I asked the guards at each place I looked if they’d seen her, but they hadn’t.

A sudden fear went through me; what if she never came back? What if she didn’t want me to replace her ever again?

I decided to look for her beyond the estate grounds. Threading through the woods, I aimed for the fields that were just through the patch of trees. I wandered through the small bundle of forest and stepped out to a place I guessed she might be. The lavender fields I used to frolic in.

I regretted not telling her about them, but figured she’d replace them. She was drawn to plants like this. I ran through the rows and rows of lavender, weaving through a sea of purple, but I did not see her. I looked across the field and found no one.

Suddenly, something whistled through the air at me. It came from the direction of the trees.

Usually I was quick enough to dodge such things, but I was so emotionally tangled in replaceing Cathy, I didn’t have enough time to defend against it. The object struck me. It came at my face, impaling my cheek. I cried out, the object large and heavy. It skimmed my outer cheek, ripping a piece of the flesh out, before whizzing by.

I fell to the ground for cover, looking around in a panic. The attack came from the trees surrounding the lavender field.

After a few moments slowly dragged by and I confirmed there would be no second ambush, I reached a hand to my face. B***d stained my fingers, and the wound was deep enough to need stitches. I cursed at myself.

The object had passed me and eventually landed a couple yards beyond me. I crawled over to where it lay, not risking being out in the open on my feet. Once I got to it, my stomach lurched, and I held back a retch.

It was an arrow.