Page 40 of Destined to the Lycan
“You don’t know him!” he spat angrily. “You’re vulnerable and desperate, easily manipulated by anyone who could give you an ounce of hope. For all you know, he’s just playing you.”
I shook my head firmly. “Even though he and I just met, I trust him with my life. We’re Twin Flames.”
Lyall snorted, his anger seeming to fade as quickly as it flared, and a disdainful expression settled on his features.
“Are you?” he asked mockingly. “He could just be saying that to get you to blindly follow him.”
Once more, I firmly shook my head. “His physiological responses to me are undeniable. Others of his pack also noticed. In fact, it was one of them who pointed it out to me, and I was the one who forced Remus to confess.”
Lyall clenched his teeth and stared at me quietly for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Why was he so displeased about the connection between Remus and me?
“And so now you’re in love?” he finally asked, his voice dripping with contempt.
I gave him an unimpressed look before replying. “Of course not. As you said so well, I don’t know him as we’ve only recently met. But I love how I feel around him and the wonderful way he treats me. If I survive this sickness, there’s no doubt I will fall madly in love with him.”
He snorted again, looking at me as if I was stupid. “How idealistic. Except that your perfect Twin Flame utterly sucks at protecting you. He abandoned you in the middle of the Haunted Woods, and I only had to stroll in and nab you.”
Although I had indeed hated that he left me on the road, he had notabandonedme. Remus did what he believed was the safest approach at the time. This blatant attack against my man only whipped my need to defend him.
“Remus didn’t abandon me. He made a difficult choice under dire circumstances. He had no reason to think you would be lurking nearby. In fact, he said that no beings like you ever wandered in that area. So what were you doing in the Haunted Woods?” I challenged.
“I will grant that his assessment was fair,” Lyall conceded with a taunting smirk. “I shouldn’t have been there, but I was curious about you.”
My eyes widened. “About me?” I echoed, confused. “Why? How did you even know of my existence? I’m nobody, just a chandler from a small town.”
“I wanted to know who was so bold and arrogant to want to kill Ranael,” he said, his voice and expression hardening. “My little test proved you completely unsuited to face the demon wolf. And you think you can just show up and subdue him?”
“What?! No! I don’t want to kill him!” I exclaimed, stunned. “I don’t know who told you that, but it’s completely false. I’m going there seeking his protection. Did you not see me recite that incantation in your illusion?”
“His protection?” Lyall asked, taken aback. “For what?”
“So that he will bite me with his snake tail to counter the poison that’s killing me, without inflicting me any other harm,” I replied in a factual manner.
Of all the reactions he could have had, sitting there, gaping at me as if I had grown an extra limb on my forehead was the last thing I expected.
“You’re insane!” Lyall whispered before seeming to recover from his shock. “His venom will kill you, silly female. No one survives the venom from Ranael’s tail!”
“It won’t kill me if I get the second bite after his venom neutralizes my poison,” I said with confidence. “I know how crazy this sounds. Truth be told, I thought the same thing the first time I heard about the nature of the only cure I could hope for in the time I have remaining. But the Weaver sent me. She taught me how to invoke Ranael’s protection and the steps to follow to achieve my goal.”
His face completely shut down. He leaned back in his chair, almost as if he needed to put distance between us. His eyes went out of focus, and he appeared lost in deep reflection as if trying to solve an impossible riddle. My tongue burned with the urge to ask him what was going through his mind, but I held my peace.
After a few moments, he refocused on me. “Why would the Weaver send you on this impossible mission?” he whispered.
Although he addressed the question to me, it seemed to be more of him musing aloud a question to himself.
“You will not survive it,” Lyall said in a factual manner devoid of his previous taunting or malice. “In fact, you will likely die before you even reach the plateau. And assuming you make it, Ranael will kill you, or you will die of his venom. The poison ailing you is spreading extremely fast. Even from where I sit, I can literally see it multiplying inside of you. There are still ten days left in your journey. But there are barely seven or eight days left in you. At this point, eating you would be showing you mercy.”
“You lie!” I shouted, even as despair surged within me.
Where he’d previously been deliberately needling and provoking me, this time, I sensed no deception from him.
“Ineverlie,” he said matter-of-factly. “You can feel it, too. The clock is ticking, and you’re running out of time.”
My shoulders drooped, and I blinked back the tears pricking my eyes. I wasn’t ready to die. Beyond the fact that I was too young to already leave this world, I had just met my soulmate. I hadn’t come this far only to fail now. And why would the Weaver have seen me if I was a lost cause? She sent me off on that mission because a path to success existed, however slim it might be.
And then it struck me.
I jerked my head up to look at him, an impossible hope blossoming in my heart.
