Chapter 162 - Luke - Part 2

"Luke!" Both me and Andrew simultaneously rushed towards him, catching him before he hit his head on the floor. I brushed the broken teapot aside, not minding a few pieces that accidentally grazed my feet. "What's wrong?"

I helped him sit and leaned him against the wall, allowing him to relax his body. Though it was my intention to let him relax his body, the excruciating pain in his head wouldn't allow him to do so. He grasped his hair with both hands, trying to withstand the pain.

Along with the pain that came, he lost the strength in his body, even the strength to answer my question. The sweat that had vanished started to reappear, and the veins in his temples started to show. It was my first time seeing him in such pain.

"Andrew, call Ronald! Quick!" I said, but then I felt Luke's hand on mine, stopping me. 

He shook his head weakly, struggling to even utter a word.

"M… Maggie…" he said, his voice as soft as a whisper. Andrew didn't spare a second longer and immediately rushed out, doing as he was told to.

Maggie? Why look for her now? Shouldn't we look for Ronald in a case like this?

Though I was confused, my concern was bigger than my curiosity. I could feel my heart beating faster as I saw him wriggling in pain, panicking as I didn't know what I was supposed to do now.

What on earth is happening? He did look unwell before, but I thought it was because he needed to go to the toilet. He was fine just a minute ago, so why is he suddenly hurting?

"D-do you need anything? Water? Pillow?" I asked as I looked around, trying to find anything that might help him with the pain. "I'll go get some water," I said, but then he grabbed my hand, preventing me from leaving.

His grip was so strong that it hurt my hand, but that alone was enough to answer my question without him uttering a word. He needed me.

What should I even say to someone who is in pain?

"It's… it's okay," I said, hesitating as I didn't know whether those were the right words to say, "I'll be here. It's going to be over soon," I squeezed his hand, trying to give him the support he needed.

Think, Violet, think. What can I do to ease his pain? I took a moment to think about the best way to help him, but I couldn't help but be distracted by his constant groaning. He was someone who never showed anyone that he was suffering, but now, he couldn't even hide it even if he wanted to. This can only mean that he's in a lot of pain.

What do people usually do when they find someone in pain? The first thing would be to call a doctor, then what? I was always the one in pain, but no one really came to my aid. Anna would come by my room every now and then, but all she did was give me some ointment and some warm soup—which was more than enough for me—as she had to do it discreetly to avoid being found out by the two devils in my house. Aside from that, all I did was cry myself to sleep as I endured the pain.

"Damn snakes…" he groaned, saying every kind of curse word that I didn't even know existed for the aforementioned snakes with extra struggle.

What snakes? Wait, no! I shouldn't keep getting distracted! I should hurry and come up with a—wait, distract? That's right! I should distract him so that he wouldn't be so focused on his pain!

"D…do you want to hear a story about a girl and a prince?" I asked, trying my hardest to come up with a story with my limited imagination. Though he didn't manage to give me an answer, I started my tale, assuming that he had agreed to hear about it.

"There once lived a girl in a haunted house, where she lived there all by herself with the ghosts that existed there. Every day, the ghosts would keep on bothering and harassing her, making her life a living hell. And as much as she wanted to escape, the ghosts wouldn't let her out and locked her inside.

She struggled in that darkness for years, and her only solace was in her dreams. Every day, the only thing she could look forward to was for the day to come by quickly, as only then would she live in a world better than the one she was living in."

Though he was still groaning in pain, it didn't seem to be as bad as before. Perhaps distracting him was the right solution.

"She dreamt of the vast blue sea, the sweet chocolate, and everything she saw in the old books left by her mother—which were her only source of entertainment in those hellish years. But then one day, a prince from another country came to that haunted house and chased away all the ghosts she couldn't.

He broke the chain on her legs and brought her out of that house, showing her all the colours of life that she had long forgotten. The prince brought her to his palace, giving her his utmost care and attention so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable living in an unfamiliar place. The prince was the kindest, bravest, strongest, and most handsome of men. Everyone in the country admired him, and almost everyone liked him. Then—"

The door suddenly sprang open, making a loud noise as it collided with the wall behind it. Two figures, Andrew and Maggie, appeared from the other side of the door and rushed in to see the Alpha's condition—well, only Andrew.

"How's he?" asked Andrew.

I shook my head at his question, telling him that he was still in pain. Maggie shoved Andrew aside and crouched in front of Luke, snorting as she saw his condition.

"I told you their poison is deadly, didn't I?" She asked him, not caring about how he was still in too much pain to answer her. "Then why do you have more of their poison inside of you instead of that damned antidote?"

This being my first time hearing about it, I couldn't help but ask what all this nonsense was all about.

"What are you talking about? What poison?" 

She looked at me, dumbfounded by what she had just heard. She then glanced at Andrew, who shook his head lightly as if to answer her questioning look. Then she laughed.

"It seems that your mate cares more about your well-being than his own life," she said, which didn't help at all and only added to my confusion.

"What do you mean?"

How did he even get poisoned in the first place? We were always together, and nothing—poison? When he cursed those certain snakes, were they perhaps the two snakes that bit him back at the church? But when we got it checked with Ronald the last time, he said he didn't find any poison, so how did this happen?

And why didn't he tell me if he knew about it?

Seeing that I was starting to realize what she meant by it, she smiled at me and started to explain more clearly what was happening.

"He," she said, pointing to Luke, "got poisoned by those snakes at the church—which we call the guardians—and if he doesn't take the antidote to the poison within a week, you might have to bid your handsome Alpha farewell."

I glanced at Andrew, seeing him nodding his head to confirm her words. I felt my heart fall at his confirmation, not wanting to believe that this wasn't a lie. He only had four days to live, and yet, he didn't even tell me about this? How could he do that? He could at the very least tell me about it so that we could think of a way to solve this together.

How am I supposed to live if I lose him?

"You knew, so why didn't you tell me?" I asked Andrew, biting back my lips to hold back my anger.

"I—" he paused, clearly feeling guilty, but continued, "I didn't mean to. He didn't want to worry you, so he tried to sort this out by himself, but…" 

"Don't you think I'd be more concerned if I found him squirming in pain for no apparent reason?" I felt myself fuming, but I knew it wasn't his fault. He was only doing what he was told to, but I couldn't help but let a little of my anger out.

"So… are we going to save him or what?" Maggie stepped in before Andrew could respond, unintentionally sparing him my wrath.

At the same time Maggie asked the question, Jack appeared and came to a halt when he saw what was happening with the Alpha. Unlike me, he recognized what was going on right away.

Andrew stood up and helped me move Luke to the bed, using the most serious expression I've ever seen on his face as he announced,

"We're going to Larion."