Chapter 5 Chapter 5

“What can you do for them right now?” he asked, and I could see the genuine concern in his eyes.

This magic was dark and way too strong. As royalty, my magic was strong, but not this strong. Anna was dying, and I felt so bad. I knew I couldn’t save everyone, but maybe there was something I could do for Anna. Maybe buy her some time or boost her healing abilities.

I sat on a chair close to Anna’s bed. “Maybe there’s something I can do for her, but I can’t save everyone.”

He nodded his head. “Help her.”

I held Anna’s hand with both my hands, and instantly, the shadows sensed my presence and my intentions. I let my light take over, banishing the shadows, but they were strong. They did not want to let her go. They were fighting me. My eyes turned violet. This was my second eyesight, allowing me to see through the second realm, the demons’ realm. Whoever was behind this was working with them.

I could feel the blood seeping through my nose. My energy was draining away, but I could also feel Anna’s heart beating steadily and her healing taking over. I just needed a few more minutes.

I felt a hand pull me away from Anna, but I was almost there. I held her hand tightly, but he was too strong as he separated us, and suddenly, I felt so weak. I instantly fell into his arms.

“No, I was almost there,” I said angrily.

“You were dying,” he said, wiping my nose with a clean, warm, wet cloth. “I could see the color draining from your face, and your nose is bleeding.” He showed me the cloth with my blood.

“Alpha? What’s going on?” We heard Anna’s voice cut in.

I sat up straight, and my eyes lit up. She looked just fine. The color had returned to her whole body. Her eyes looked more alive. I had saved her, and the shadows surrounding her were gone.

Xavier looked surprised, but he smiled at her. “How are you feeling?” he asked her.

She scrunched up her eyebrows. “Tired, but I feel fine.”

“You scared us for a while. Get some rest, and I will come see you soon,” he said, helping me up.

I looked up at him as I held on to his arm for balance. “I can save some of them!” I said, looking at the people still sick on the beds.

He didn’t even listen to me as he dragged me away. “That was a mistake. Clearly, whatever you did back there almost killed you, and you think you can do it again?”

“I can take breaks,” I told him.

I only saved one person, and that felt so good, but so many people needed my help right now, and he was being stubborn for no reason. It was confusing because these were his own people. I could feel my hand getting sore from his tight grip.

“Stop it. You are hurting me, and I don’t understand why you won’t let me save your people!”

He stopped and let go of my hand. “There is no use in me letting you die in there when we haven’t even figured out the root of this problem. The only way my people will be saved is for us to find out who is behind all of this.”

I frowned. “So what now?”

“I am taking you back to your kingdom,” he said, holding my hand again. This time, I shoved him off as hard as I could.

“That’s your plan?” I said in disbelief.

He rubbed his forehead in frustration. “You need to rest. I will come to you tomorrow. Can you stop being so stubborn?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I will go back to my kingdom, and I will try to find as much information about this dark magic as I can,” I said, walking in front of him this time.

I heard him follow right behind me. “And by the way, I am not stubborn. I just really value life, and whatever is happening here is not right.”

He didn’t say anything as he continued to follow right behind me. The journey back to the border was deadly silent. I knew we were both thinking about the same thing: how to figure this out fast before things got out of hand. At the rate that his people were dying, his whole pack could cease to exist in a few weeks.

When we got to the border, I stopped. “Thank you for walking me back,” I said softly, but he stayed silent and crossed the border.

We protected our border with magic. Creatures like him weren’t supposed to just cross so easily without any consequences.

“I will walk you back to the bakery,” he said simply.

“How are you able to cross our borders?” I asked him as I walked beside him.

He smirked. “Now that’s a secret.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “You also use magic?”

“No,” he said.

I glared at him. “What’s the secret?”

I was surprised to see him smile a little. He was definitely having fun with this. While, on the other hand, I hated not knowing. Curiosity was literally eating me up.

“It wouldn’t be a secret now if I told you, Princess,” he said with a smile.

My stomach felt warm and fuzzy. The smile really made him look kind of cute. I shook my head. What in the world was I thinking? I quickly looked away from him. I blamed this on my fairy hormones. It was easy for my kind to find everything cute or even hot.

“Whatever,” I mumbled to myself, but he heard it.

We arrived at the bakery and stood by the door. He grabbed my arm softly. “Rest. Tomorrow is a big day.”

I nodded and watched him walk away into the darkness. For creatures we believed were wild and savage, Xavier seemed to be quite normal. Or was I finally really losing my mind for thinking that?