The Moon Goddess' Chosen

528 The Price of Control

“It’s you, isn’t it? I know that scent. You’ve been coming here a lot, h—haven’t you?” the voice came again. Wyatt’s voice was weak, strained and hoarse like he was in constant pain.

“Hey, talk to me, Liam. I’ve not been able to use the mind link… My mind’s too quiet and I haven’t had many visitors in the past few hours. What’s happening outside? It sounds like a mess out there…” Wyatt called out, his voice loud and desperate this time.

Liam remained quiet, clenching his fists. ‘Can’t access the mind link? What was that supposed to mean?’

“I-I probably sound crazy… but it’s quite simple really. I was bitten by… by… Hmm… I’m not even sure myself. Believe it or not, I was too scared at the time. What I do know is that I’m not in the right pack anymore,” Wyatt grunted painfully.

Liam turned back to the door in curiosity.

He closed his eyes and tried sending a message to the wolf inside… again… and again… and again. Perhaps knowing where Wyatt was had kept him from reaching out with his mind… or to protect his own insecurities, he’d learnt to keep his mind locked away from Wyatt.

But now that he opened his mind up to his fellow alpha, there was nothing… Just silence. The familiar warmth of Wyatt’s mind didn’t greet him when he reached out with his own. There was nothing…

The person on the other side of that door could have been a human and he’d believe it.

Wyatt’s voice came lower this time, “I haven’t been able to speak to anyone through the mind link since I was bitten. And as much as I hate to admit it, the bite turned me into… into a rogue.”

.....

Wyatt chuckled humourlessly, “Just how much lower will I fall?”

“What happened?” Liam asked, sending the hall into a tense palpable silence. These were the first words he was saying to Wyatt directly in a long time. His first form of turning back to his friend in months.

The alpha on the other side of the door could barely believe the words had come out at all. It was the first time he was hearing his friend address him in a really long time.

Now that Liam had acknowledged his presence, however, his mind flooded with countless emotions.

Wyatt could choose to smite his best friend and remind him of how bitter he had been acting. But he what good would that get him?

Then again, what if he told Liam everything and the alpha just walked away? Liam had perfected the art of walking away from him recently without batting an eyelash.

Wyatt had always known himself capable of much more malice in comparison to Liam. Liam had, after all, be the more honourable devil of the two of them, simply following Wyatt in his schemes.

So, to some degree, Wyatt understood why it was so easy for the alpha to ignore a scumbag like him. It was no surprise at all.

However, in all of Wyatt’s malice and twisted mind, he never thought himself capable of turning a cold shoulder to his best friend. It just couldn’t register in his mind. He could direct all his cruelty to the rest of the world… but never towards Liam.

Liam was his best friend, plain and simple.

If there ever was anything he was sure of, it was this… and in this situation, when Liam had spoken to him, he easily let go of his spite and started speaking to him… Goddess knew how much time he had left.

“I got bitten, Liam. There was this… wolf with red eyes. At first, I wasn’t sure what I’d seen… but with time, it became more and more obvious what had attacked me. If it wasn’t for the Lost Luna’s help, I probably would have died,” Wyatt explained with a sigh.

Liam, on the other side of the door, suppressed the sudden urge to ask what the Lost Luna had to do in any of this.

A look of annoyance flashed across his face. Wyatt was trying to get him to say something.

The alpha walked up to the door and leaned against it, sliding down to the floor and pulling his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees.

‘You’ll have to try harder than that, Wyatt,’ he sighed.

Wyatt’s smirk fell and he shook his head instead. The alpha inside the room was also seated against the door, albeit in a more weakened state. His clothes were tattered and he lazily leaned against the door, exhaustion screaming in every fibre of his being.

Self-inflicted nicks, cuts and bites covered his hands and feet, the result of the battle to keep his mind.

“After getting bitten and getting saved by a… a jaguar. I ran back to princess Lina. We still had to finish the Trials. I had accomplished my task to hunt for food anyway. I was exhausted and quickly losing strength.

It was soon clear that I was a liability that would slow them down even more and yet we still had a long way to go before finishing the Trials.

Lina had lost and it would be my fault.

Nothing could ever prepare me for what she did next though. She’s special… Even more than Crysta tried to warn us about. She rushed the both of us to the Great Arena in under an hour. I still find it unbelievable.

We were so far behind… and just like that, it was over.

The first thing I noticed was how I couldn’t access the mind link. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t. It was impossible.

But after the Rogue King invaded my mind the first time, I confirmed what had happened to me. Royals can only invade the minds of people within their control.

So, I was slowly becoming a rogue. He’s powerful, Liam. So powerful…

I didn’t know how long I would last against him… and he kept coming back. I fought hard to stay myself.

And in the past few hours, he’s grown even more violent. I don’t know how much longer I can resist his control.

I’m grateful though… I was able to talk to you once more…”

Liam’s heart quickened its pace. Yes, Wyatt was an apathetic liar… but when he was talking to Liam, he seldom did.

“Hey, don’t talk like that…” Liam started, “You sound like you’re on your deathbed.”

“I could as well be. You know what the hunters do to rogues, especially the rabid ones. I can feel the rogue king’s will. It’s violent and simple… Kill, kill, kill everything,” Wyatt responded.

“I’ve barely slept. His will to take control of my body keeps me awake. Just falling asleep might be enough to bring me under his control. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on and…” Wyatt stopped talking when the door he was leaning against shuddered violently.

The alpha quickly pushed himself away from the door and watched it tremble once more from a violent force. The wall cracked at the hinges as the door shook again from the monstrous force that assailed it similar to that of a battering ram.

The next violent shake shattered the hinges and sent the door flying. Liam stood panting on the other side of the door. His dull crimson eyes quickly scanned the room until they fell on Wyatt’s weakened form.

The emergency room was in shambles with scratches covering the walls, the sheets torn and in ribbons, the machines in pieces and the furniture broken and glasses littering the floor.

Wyatt was in no better condition either. Blood soaked his tattered hospital clothes. Scratches, wounds and cuts covered his arms and legs.

Liam’s panting stopped when he spotted his friend’s form. Wyatt was malnourished and in the worst condition he’d ever seen him before, “Wyatt…”

“Hey… Took me getting bitten and self-mutilated to finally get your attention. You’re a jerk, Liam,” the alpha chuckled dryly.

Liam ignored his friend’s comment and started darting about the room in search of different items. Cotton swabs, alcohol or anything to clean his friend’s wounds. Bandages. Wyatt’s appearance was frightening even for a werewolf.

“Do you really have the time to treat me? You should be running away, you know,” Wyatt said weakly, pulling himself up so he could rest his back against the wall.

“No, you need to get some rest and treatment,” Liam answered sternly, “And I thought you were being taken care of here. Your condition has gotten even worse than it was before.”

Wyatt sighed and resigned to watching his friend tend to his wounds, “This was all self-harm. I was being treated well.”

Liam soon gathered the items he was looking for managing to pry a locked cabinet open and retrieving most of them.

He quickly dipped a cotton swab in alcohol and started cleaning the nastiest of the wounds first. Wyatt winced when the wet cloth touched a rather ugly gash on his leg, “Why aren’t you healing?”

Wyatt didn’t answer.

A look of annoyance crossed Liam’s face and he turned to his friend, “I asked you a question, Wyatt.”

“I don’t know. And it’s a good thing too,” Wyatt replied.

Liam shook his head, getting back to cleaning his friend’s injuries.

“Can I ask a favour from you, Liam?” Wyatt broke the silence.

“Break my leg,” Wyatt asked. Liam’s hand froze, dropping the cotton swab. The former irritation left his mind and was replaced with a slow fear that formed in the pit of his stomach.

Like he was on the verge of uncovering something dark.