Lycan's Affection

Eleanor slowly turned back to them, her eyes thin. "Show me where the poppy flowers are."

Ruth swallowed hard, then shook her head. "I do not know."

"Of what use is it if you lose your lives after going on your knees?"

Ruth swallowed hard, tears running freely down her cheeks. "I truly do not know. Alpha Alexander never let me know anything. I was only the woman he was married to, nothing else. He could never forget you."

Eleanor shook her head. "I do not care. But it only shows me how foolish you are to try and protect a man who never valued you."

Ruth swallowed, her hands wrapping around her stomach tight. "I...I know, but... I need a promise."

Eleanor's brows furrowed as one of the assassins walked up, then grabbed one of the wolves. Without hesitation, he put a knife on his neck.

"All I see here are helpless women, and this boy disguising amongst them. All of your soldiers died in our land. Who do you think you are to set conditions?" The assassin's voice was gruff, and everyone could tell he meant business.

"Let me go," the boy shrieked, but it all fell on deaf ears.

"What is your condition?"

She swallowed, turning back to face Eleanor. "I wish to work as your servant."

"What?" Eleanor asked, her voice betraying just how strange she found the condition.

"It is the only way I can assure myself that I will be safe. And...you asked why I still want to protect Alpha Alexander even though he had put me last in his affairs."

Eleanor's eyes squinted a little more. "Speak."

Ruth hugged her stomach tighter, then swallowed. "He gave me a child. One that I intend to raise in my likeness. In safety and her mother's love. I do not want to raise her where her father led his people to war. A war he knew he would not win."

"And you think a place where her father was killed and her mother is taken as a servant would be best?"

"This is what it has come down to. This is the only option I have."

Eleanor swallowed. "Where are the poppy flowers?"

"Promise me."

"I could kill you, Ruth."

"If you do, you will never be able to save Conaan. You will become a widow, all because you couldn't grant one wish."

Eleanor's teeth gritted hard. Conaan was one thing she could not lose. Not even if she had to accept a condition as ridiculous as this one.

She gave a small sigh. "Fine. Tell me where the poppy flowers are."

Ruth swallowed, then slowly came to her feet. "He destroyed it."

Eleanor's eyes widened, and she took a step forward, her hand wrapping around Ruth's neck. "How dare you?"

Ruth swallowed hard, her eyes reddening. "He destroyed it because he knew what he wanted to use it for. He reserved a small field, however, but it was razed down by Conaan himself when he destroyed the poison factory."

"Why did you make me give you a promise when you knew it did not even exist?"

Ruth gave a small laugh. "Because the simple fact that you are asking for the poppy flower shows that you do not even know what the cure is. The root of the poppy may cure everything, but not when the poison is built to break it down. You will only make him worse if you give him poppy flowers."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "You little... Alexander will rot in hell, I swear it."

She gave a small laugh, then gently raised her hand. A ring shaped like a flower sat in her ring finger, and she tilted her head to the side. "A single poppy flower lies in here. It is indeed part of the cure."

"Ruth..."

"I do not care for Conaan or you. And I do not care to fulfill Alexander's dying wish. All I want is to be taken to the lycan kingdom before I divulge anymore."

Eleanor's lips parted, and she took a step back, indignantly pushing Ruth away. The latter stepped back, then wiped her tears, her eyes wide.

"Chain her up and drag her back. As for the rest, put them under the lycan jurisdiction."

Ruth gave a small sigh as the assassins rounded her up, then pulled her to the waiting rides. She was to go on foot, while the rest stayed back, watching the luna run to safety.

Shadow thrust a pencil drawing of Jenna, his eyes thin as he watched the man.

"Have you seen this woman?"

The man slowly shook his head. "Why do you seek her?"

"Have you seen her?" He asked again, his voice stern.

The man gave a small sigh. "No."

"Three days ago, during the war, you operated the only ferry that crossed the grand city's water borders. Quite remarkable of you."

"I do not..."

"The last man to see them saw them with you. This woman and her brother. Now speak, before I am tempted to kill."

The man took a step back, his chest heaving. "I was only helping, and they were desperate and..."

"Where... did you take them?"