The Moon Goddess' Chosen

454 Lina’s Decision

Crysta opened the white box and took out a cotton swab dipped in spirit before she started cleaning his wounds. The black ooze kept coming out of his wounds and seemed to stain the cotton much faster than normal blood did.

She focused on getting him cleaned up, making sure to slow down each time he grimaced in pain and clean the most sensitive areas with extra care.

“You seem experienced. When did this happen?” Wyatt asked.

“I only know a few basics. Nothing too complicated,” she responded, “Try to save your strength. You’ll need it if we are to make the rest of this journey.”

“I-I didn’t say everything I saw out there. Simply because I was scared out of my mind and didn’t look back,” the alpha spoke up.

Crysta’s hand stopped on its way to the man’s side, shaking at the tone in his voice. There wasn’t a lot that could scare Wyatt and not because he was powerful, but merely because he had too big of an ego to consider openly admitting it.

Up until this moment, the only thing he was afraid of was probably Katie Sirius…

Mentioning something else only meant there was trouble in the woods. The girl shook her head to clear her mind and started dabbing at the bite mark.

When he was a little cleaner, she then started working on the wounds themselves.

.....

The alpha’s fists clenched and he breathed sharply from the stinging pain of the sterilizing liquid, “It will only take a moment,” the delta said in a soothing tone.

His eyes flashed bright red with pain and he closed his eyes.

A tear involuntarily slid out his right eye even though the alpha did his best to remain silent.

Crysta continued working on him through the pain. The black liquid seemed to be coming from deep within the wounds. Even after she had cleaned him to the best of her abilities, there was still a tinge of black within the flesh…

And there was no sign that he was healing…

Beads of sweat glistened off the man’s brow. His eyes flashed bright crimson, his wolf sharing in his agony but his condition did not improve, “He needs medical attention as soon as possible, Lina. I don’t know how long he can stay like this. He already looks far too pale as it is.”

When no response came, the delta turned around and found the princess was binding all their belongings together. The three bags were all bundled against each other in one tight bundle, “Then we shall leave as soon as possible. We need to get him to a hospital.”

Crysta wanted to argue but the resolve in Lina’s eyes was so bright she could have sworn it could split the mountain in half. The princess had that look in her eye that suggested she was beyond reasoning, “How are we going to do that? We are not…”

“We’ll get there, Crysta. This time, though… You will have to put your trust in me completely,” the princess was practically begging her friend.

Lina wasn’t one to think very logically all the time. She was learning how to make rational decisions under the tutelage of her family and a few times, under Crysta’s instruction.

However, Crysta was yet to see the decisions the girl was capable of taking when faced with something as grave as this.

Simply letting her take care of everything was not the easiest thing for her to do. There was the matter of what Wyatt had to tell them. It sounded very important but when she looked back at the man, she forgot all about it.

Wyatt’s eyelids were already starting to droop and he was looking even paler than he had a moment before.

On instinct, the delta rubbed the cotton over his wound, wiping the black ooze that had started to get out of the wound. The man’s eyes shot open and shone a bright crimson, “You did that on purpose,” he yelled through gritted teeth.

“Thank the goddess. You can still shout. I was worried we were losing you,” the girl replied with a hint of relief.

“You know it would take a lot more than a simple bite to take me down,” the man yelled at her, “Are you done? We need to bid…” he stopped talking when his eyes landed on the royal. Lina had tied up their luggage in a format he was not familiar with. “What’s going on?”

“Cover him up, Crysta. I’ll carry the both of you,” Lina stated bluntly.

“Where will you be taking us?” Wyatt asked.

“Where else? We are going to the Great Arena.”

The two wolves were frozen for a moment before Wyatt asked out loud.

“Have you lost your mind or something?” the man yelled at the princess.

“No, in fact, I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life,” Lina responded. Her determination shone in her eyes like a beacon.

The man was almost sure she could cut through him with her gaze alone. The royal was serious about carrying the two of them… and this was the first time that he was seeing her so serious about anything…

Well, anything equally ridiculous…

Crysta didn’t bother asking and retrieved the bandages within the first aid kit, then got to wrap him up. The man didn’t resist. The sterilised patch that was placed over his wound hurt like hell and cooperating was the only way he could keep from feeling as much of the pain… or at least, it helped very little.

When Crysta was done wrapping the wound around the man’s torso, she gave him back his shirt which he put on. Crysta helped him up to his feet and the two of them looked to the royal, “Okay, how do you plan to do that?”

“Well, that’s quite simple really,” the girl replied, “I’ll run.”

“Forgive me, your highness. I still don’t believe you can get us to the Great Arena. In fact, the only reason I’m not logically screaming you out of the idea is that you seem convinced you can somehow pull off this miracle. The Great Arena is miles away…

The journey itself would take us two days at our current speed and we’ve already burnt daylight talking like this. At least, have some…” Wyatt was about to gesture to the hare that he’d brought for the girl but instead what lay in its place was a pile of bones.

Lina grabbed onto a strap that she’d braided to hold the bags at the top and shifted into her slender wolf form. While the wolf was slimmer than a normal Royal, it was still larger than an alpha’s. It kept the stature of a royal wolf and yet didn’t bear the same bulk as it was supposed to.

In comparison to a horse, Lina was almost twice the size and very capable of carrying her friends. Wyatt was not convinced but his condition didn’t give him a lot of room to complain.

Lina got down and allowed her two companions to climb onto her back. She could feel the weight of the three bags within her, “Wait…”

The two of them stopped before climbing onto the white wolf and watched the girl shift into her human form and open the bags. She started dumping out things one by one. She threw out all the tents along with all the extra clothes they had come with, “We might…”

“No, we won’t be needing them anymore…” the girl shifted into her human form, “Now get on. We need to bid this mountain goodbye.”

Crysta wanted to fight the girl on this idea but the slight hint of frustration in the girl’s voice kept her from speaking up. Soon enough, they were all saddled up and the girl stood up to her full height.

At first, it looked normal, but soon enough the ground was much further than Crysta had expected it to get… ‘Has Lina always been this tall?’ the delta asked herself.

“Crysta, hold on tight. It would help if the two of you were lying as flat as you can. I don’t want the wind to push you back. Also, make sure Wyatt does not fall off,” the royal commanded over the mind link. Her voice had never taken on a serious tone before.

Crysta felt her hairs stand on end. They both bent at the waist, with Crysta behind the weakened alpha. Lina then started the journey up the mountain.

She started running normally, bounding up the mountain with the ease of a graceful gazelle. The girl made it look like a walk in the park. She was climbing the mountain with an elegance that was not seen in the werewolf race.

Slowly and almost imperceptibly, she began to pick up the pace. The creek began to flow faster in reverse. Looking at it was dizzying and the delta soon decided against it.

She instead chose to take a look behind and was shocked by what she saw.

The delta nearly fell off the wolf from the shock. Their camping spot was already so far behind. It was already the size of a spec and was growing smaller even faster…

The girl looked back just in time to notice the change in their surroundings…

The temperature started dropping really fast, threatening the trio of travellers.

However, right before the cold could penetrate their clothes, something completely unexpected happened.

Something that placed Lina in a league entirely of her own…