Marcid • [mar-sid]
Withered; incredibly exhausted.
🖤
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Barely—just barely—do I feel my leg being lifted, shifting for something to wrap around it. I want to scream at them to stop, to not bother trying. I grip the blanket tighter, my head tilting up to look at the trees behind me.
I mouth the word over and over, Stop. Mouth it, but never fully release it from my throat.
Leave me to die.
Something is secured around my damaged leg, causing my blood to pound harder—causing my hearing to come back slowly.
"We have a straight shot to the nearest road. Besides, I already mindlinked Xander," Samuel sternly says to the group, but more to Liam with his arms crossed over his muscled chest.
My eyes stay on the leaning trees and the sky beyond. For whatever their conversation is about, I don't want to be a part of it—I don't think I can even be a part of it with my inability to form a coherent sentence right now. I cough out involuntarily, a rush of cold air overwhelming my lungs.
They glance at me for a second before Samuel looks back at the rest of the males. "Do not question my decision, it's finalized," he growls. "We're getting her out of here before this shit gets worse." He exchanges another hard look at them.
"Look around you, Sam!" Liam motions to the ongoing chaos not too far from where I lie. "You really want to risk our necks for a fucking human, in the middle of an attack?!"
I can feel the anger radiating off of Samuel who now stands next to my half-frozen body.
"I make the calls. Not you," Samuel barks back. "The rogues are under control. Issac has his warriors containing the wall as we speak. We'll deal with the consequences later. Besides, this isn't a battle we can't handle."
"She'll bleed out before you even reach the road," Liam protests, his fists clenching at his sides.
"She'll be fine. Her leg is wrapped," Samuel snaps. Kneeling back down, I feel his tone bare arms slide under my shoulders and knees, hauling my body against his warm chest before standing up. I don't fight him, I can't anyway, not in my condition. But I let out a groan from the shift of my body that had been laying on the frigid floor for what felt like forever.
"You're really going to stick your neck out for a human bitch?!" Liam seethes again.
I let myself be encased by the warmth of Samuel, not caring much that he was the same man that slaughtered my people only weeks ago. If I'm going to survive, I guess this will be the way whether I like it or not.
Silence falls among the group, a silence of tension and rage. My eyes finally flutter shut as I allow my other senses to make up for my heavy eyelids.
"Stop fighting him, Liam," one male huffs. I don't let my eyes reopen so I can match a face with the voice. "Whatever our Alpha says goes whether we agree or not."
"You're all foolish idiots," Liam mutters. "She's a waste of your time and resources. I don't know why you didn't throw her in a labor camp the second she set foot in Phantomridge."
The conversation Liam and I had together on our walk that one evening—the first evening I was ever allowed out of my room—splinters into a million pieces in my memories. Sure, he wasn't pleased with having to babysit the very species he despises, but I thought we had come to an understanding—an even ground amongst our differences. I guess I was deeply wrong though.
If it wasn't for the fact that Samuel's arms are preoccupied with holding me, I'm sure he'd be strangling Liam by now. The grip around me does tighten ever so slightly.
"Either shift and help to keep the rogues off us or be chained for a week in the cells. You pick," Samuel threatens. A stillness falls on the conversation, but one hard exhale from Liam indicates he's finally caved.
He keeps his mouth shut as the sounds of cracking bones send nausea through my stomach—Liam shifting to his wolf form, I assume. From a crack through my eyelids, I catch a glimpse of his grey coat with black highlights—and a flash of those bright green eyes. A low growl reverberates off of the trees until the sound fades into the pounding of paws against the packed snow.
My head spins more and more with the fading blood from my body. Liam might've been insensitive, but he wasn't wrong. If my leg doesn't get medical attention soon, I'll surely be dead long before dawn.
In and out, my focus wavers from reality to unconsciousness. A murmur of Samuel's voice resonates in the back of my mind along with those that come from the other males.
"I need...two to cover...take some rogues to the packhouse...buy me time..." is all I make out as my blood violently pumps in my ears, muffling most of their conversation.
More cracking of bones distantly sounds before I nearly pass out. The faint feeling of a steady beat carries my body along the snowy landscape. It's quick at first but slows soon enough. It reminds me of all of those bumpy horse rides I would take with Bianca when we were younger—long before she realized she had an interest in Jace.
It was just the two of us for a while. Jace was vaguely a part of our group until we aged more, and by then we were all attending council meetings alongside our parents. Rebellious is what we were called by most—the three mischievous children who were always up to no good.
I think they were mistaken though. I think they were blindsided by the fact that we wanted to be the change Mylithia needed. Sure, most were comfortable with their lives, especially the upper-class. But we knew better—knew that our privileged community was only a fraction of our kingdom's population.
Jace had plans after his coronation to reallocate the districts—to break the divide amongst our people. It would've created a commonwealth for our people. It was supposed to be one of the many things to look forward to before he became king.
But instead, I can feel the life fading from my limbs and death slowly replacing my veins. My body feels too light to be real, my brain can't seem to grasp sounds and images fast enough for them to stay in my mind.
A running engine—some kind of car we walk up to. My eyes feel as though they're rolling into the back of my head.
"Are you fucking serious?!" An angry woman's voice growls. I can't open my eyes—can't control the small parts of my body anymore.
Pain and alluring peace; screaming and utter silence. The two worlds I'm facing back to back as I sway more into that calming darkness. It's hard to make out if I'm indeed drowning from the inside out, or if those voices are truly suppressed by whatever serene waves are washing over my being.
Warmth and heat—and pure comfort. Somewhere safe, I tell myself—somewhere out of those unbearable woods. Maybe the other side of this nonsense.
"Fuck—" I can't make out who swears the word, but what comes next feels nearly like a bolt of lightning striking my bones, rattling my soul, and knocking me out completely until the world spins into pitch blackness.
The darkness I had been searching for for a long, long time.
~+~
YOU ARE READING
The King's Prey (Unedited Edition)
Manusia Serigala{COMPLETE, UNEDITED} - Book 1 of The King's Prey Series. "We were both raised blindsided by what could've been of our lives. The broken princess, shielded by any evil that would bring her suffering; the vindictive Alpha, raised through a life of con...
