Chapter 51: Chapter 51

REYNA

“Oh my god, Cas, talk to me, please talk to me.” But there was no movement.

“No, no, no. Cas? Please wake up, please, you can’t do this to me,” I cried hysterically as I hit his chest, trying to wake or revive Casvan back to life.

Terror was not enough of a word to describe what I was feeling at that moment. I couldn’t wrap my head around what the hell had just happened.

“Casvan, please, you need to wake up,” I begged, frantic and on the verge of hysteria.

My heart tripped when I felt a slight rise of his chest. Hope surged, and a sob escaped my trembling lips.

“Oh thank God, you’re not dead, Cas. You’re not dead. You can’t be. You’re going to be okay.”

I was too shocked to cry, only able to shake Casvan’s body and call out his name as I yanked at that connection between us. I knew Casvan had used that connection to spy on me, and he’d never hidden the fact.

I’d never bothered to ask him if I could also do it—now I wished I had. I gulped in a breath, trying to calm myself, to think.

My whole body shook. My hands were unsteady. I inhaled again and shut my eyes, trying to find that thread that bound us forever.

Tears sprang to my eyes, but I swallowed them back. It wasn’t easy to deny myself what I really wanted to do; the tears accumulated in my throat, threatening to choke me.

I placed my trembling hands on Casvan’s chest, directly beneath his heart where that inner light glowed. His Aekhi (essence) wasn’t as bright as it had been before.

I closed my eyes and mentally opened my mind, letting everything I felt for Casvan flow through me, filling and consuming me. My mind searched for the direct link to his subconscious mind connection that tethered me to him, and him to me.

Which should have been made stronger with my claiming bite. Suddenly, I saw it—clear and colorful as a neon light, powerful and vibrant.

I grabbed hold of that thread with my mind, letting it guide me. But just as easily as it came, I lost the connection.

“Come back to me, Cas. You’re mine. Come back to me, you can’t do this to me,” I sobbed brokenly.

I was blabbering, begging him to wake up for me, pleading with him with all the love and fear I was currently feeling. As though in a dream, I felt him deep inside, and I raised my head and looked at his face.

His lashes fluttered. He blinked his eyes open, then winced even as pain sliced through him.

I gasped, feeling that pain as though it was in my own body.

“Reyna,” he called out to me.

“Cas, oh my God. You’re awake, oh thank…thank you so much,” I sobbed, hugging him tight.

More tears were leaking from my eyes.

“Don’t cry, I’m okay, Kitten,” he whispered.

Casvan sat up, his hand clutching mine.

My body screamed in agony, but I held it in the recess of my mind, not wanting Cas to know that I could feel him on a visceral level.

“Let’s go back to the Castle,” he said, trying to stand up.

With my help, he was able to stand, but then his legs gave out under him. I screamed as he fell deep into the water.

I didn’t know how or where I got the strength. But I was determined to save him, my Ar’sen (soul mate).

My body and arms screamed for mercy and got none as I dragged Cas out of the water, panting and heaving. I didn’t think of how I was going to get Cas to the castle. I just knew that I had to do it.

And somehow, I managed to dress him back into his pants. I barely remembered to pull my own dress back up.

Now the only battle was to get him up the stone stairs we’d climbed to get down here. I took off Casvan’s shirt and wrapped it around his head.

Then, just like I had brought him out of the water, I half carried and half dragged him upstairs. It was not an easy thing to do with an almost seven-foot-tall man.

I knew if it wasn’t for my lycan half, I would have never dared to even attempt to carry Casvan. Fortunately, Sterling was exactly where we’d left him, grazing.

It took a few tries to get the brilliant horse to lower down so I could put Casvan on its back, but he did it. Using Casvan’s shirt, which I tore into strips, I tied him to my back on the horse.

His weight almost sent us both crashing down. I grabbed the reins and kicked the horse into a fast trot. I wasn’t sure if I could remember the way back.

So I loosened the reins and let Sterling lead. As though the smart animal could feel my sense of emergency, he ran fast.

Cas was heavy on my back, but I held on. Soon I could see the gleaming onyx palace that was cut out of black rock.

Dakkuth warriors followed me with curious glances. When they realized their king was on my back, unconscious, they raced after me—all the way to the palace.

Alaric, the doctor who had treated me, was right outside. The minute he saw me, he knew something was terribly wrong.

He quickly called some of the warriors outside the castle to help us both down. They were taking Casvan to what I knew was Alaric territory—the healing compartment, as they called it. I’d visited it when I was really sick.

“What the fuck happened to him?” Alaric thundered, glaring at me.

“I, I…I don’t know. I really don’t know. I guess it could be me. I bit him,” I said.

Tears blinded me from seeing my front, and I almost tumbled down.

We’d already arrived at the clinic, which was more of a large hospital. Two warriors carried Casvan and quickly laid him down on the hospital bed.

“Tell me what happened,” Alaric said, checking Casvan over.

So I did. Any other time I would have felt weird telling people what we did, but right then I didn’t care.

“I will conduct some tests and find out what’s wrong with him,” Alaric said, extracting a blood sample from Casvan, who was still unconscious.

“You poisoned him. He’s bleeding from his eyes and ears just like Vok and Drik. Since Kayak isn’t here, I’m sorry, but I have to detain you,” Alaric said, and nodded at the warriors.

My face completely paled with shock—not because I’d expected any other outcome, but because I never expected to hear that Casvan’s condition could be a result of poisoning.

But who could have poisoned him? The thought of anyone betraying him in such a way after he’d sacrificed so much was unimaginable.

I just thought it was because I bit him. But now Alaric was telling me that Cas was poisoned, and the suspicious look in his eyes was pointing at me.

“I didn’t. I would never,” I said incredulously. But the evidence was right in front of me.

“Take her away and find Kayak,” he ordered. “Tell him to come back, now.”

I didn’t try to fight or argue. I felt so much, and at the same time I felt numb.