The Queen's Conquer

Chapter 33 : A Greater Power

Castigate • [ka-stuh-geit]
To inflict severe punishment for wrongdoing.

🖤

~+~

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm barely able to stand myself up, I would've run out of Sterling and Liam's hold the second I saw the state of my mate.

A dark crimson color has already turned the grass below him into a vile sight—a bloody massacre. The second I'm gently set down at his side, I scurry to grab his nearest hand, unbothered that nearly a dozen others are watching their Alpha bleed out against this cruel forest's floor. His lower half has already been covered by a blanket of sorts, keeping him from being completely naked before everyone.

"H-How...?" I whisper through my relentless tears.

"Get my mate some fucking clothes," is the first thing Samuel chokes out, watching the way I shiver from the corner of his eye.

"Samuel, please," I reason with him. "That's not important right now."

"That bastard one-eyed rogue clawed through his body in a matter of seconds," Xander explains with disgust, crouching at Samuel's other side to observe his wounds.

Someone eventually wraps a blanket around my shoulders, protecting me from the gusts of wind that sweep through the woods every few seconds.

I eye the large lacerations myself, seeing the long marks that have been etched into the side of his neck and chest, lightly wrapped with dressings that hardly contain his bleeding. I place a gentle hand over the one against his neck, red coating my fingers as his face winces at my touch. The cuts are deep—healing, somehow. But not fast enough.

"I can heal him," I say, swallowing carefully.

"I'm sorry, what?" a confused Isaac says from a few feet away. I barely acknowledged the fact that the male was there while being half-dragged into these woods only a few minutes ago—barely took a second to see who was all watching. Barely cared for the several dozen naked bodies of rogues that are surrounding us, all unconscious and alive, most being gathered by warriors to be taken elsewhere.

"You said she has healing abilities, correct?" Liam asks Killian, who's resting against Lilith—both minorly injured, the female's wounds looking more external as she's treated by a fellow warrior.

Killian wearily nods, Lilith's hands holding his head against her shoulder. "She does."

"Is this a part of your wolf's powers, Anastasia?" Xander questions. 

"I-I think," I say, studying the dark-haired male with uncertainty. Though they were tested on Killian—and proved to be true—practicing them on my mate leaves me more uneasy.

"Killian also said that there was an explosion of light when you used them, though—that it knocked you and Sterling out," Liam says, crossing his arms. Sterling stands beside him, soon being handed some clothes to cover herself with so she's not left in just her undergarments.

"Lukalla must've really had an influence, then," Xander exhales, a bit astonished.

A snarl echoes through the air from several dozen feet away, revealing where the one-eyed rogue—now in his human form, his privates thankfully covered—struggles against the hold of at least four other warriors, not nearly as sedated as the rest of the rogues being dragged out of these woods. My body tenses at the sight of him still in a half-conscious state.

Isaac is the first to yell out, "I told you imbeciles to give him more wolfsbane!" before rushing over to assist them.

I only stare at the fighting rogue, left confused as to why he wasn't completely tranquilized like the rest of them as my mouth gapes open.