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[Webnovel ©Lynnifer Ice]
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"She should have contacted us hours ago!" Yunki threw his hands up in the air, pacing the shared bedroom.
"Well, maybe she just forgot?" Candice suggested, seated on the edge of the bed. Her hands were gripping the sheets as she watched Yunki worriedly pace back and forth.
"Forgot?" Yunki stopped in his tracks, turning toward Candice. "You and I, BOTH KNOW she would never forget something THIS IMPORTANT!"
"Hell... You don't have to yell...," Candice pouted, going back to thinking about what could be preventing Azariah from contacting them with the communications lacrima she was given before her departure.
"I'm sorry... This is just stressing me out," Yunki swiped a hand down his face in aggravation before holding his forehead, staring down at the floorboards. "Something must have gone wrong... There isn't any other viable option here! Ugh! I knew we should have followed her!!!"
"Yunki, calm down. Getting angry and shouting is not going to help anyone or the situation," Candice reasoned, patting the empty spot on the bed next to her. "Besides, you know the Guild Master would have forbidden us from following her. Not only that, she would have been pissed if she spotted us following her. You know how much pride she takes in accomplishing missions by herself."
"I'm worried, Candice...," Yunki sighed, sitting down next to his friend. He leaned against her, his head on her shoulder, "What if Azariah doesn't come back this time...?"
"She'll come back. She promised us, and she never breaks a promise," Candice reassured Yunki, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Maybe we should try contacting her instead...," Yunki tried to rationalize, his hand reaching for the matching communications lacrima on the nightstand. That is until Candice swatted his hand away.
"No. Don't even think about it. We cannot call Azariah under any circumstances. If she is already in enemy territory, it could give her away and put her in more danger than she already is. We have to wait for her to contact us. I know it is hard, but we must be patient," Candice reasoned with a heavy sigh. She was just as worried about Azariah, but she still had faith in her.
"So, we are just going to sit here and wait, doing nothing?" Yunki complained, groaning.
"Well... Yeah, I guess so," Candice nodded before turning her head toward the window.
Azariah was supposed to check in before dawn, but now the sun was more than halfway above the horizon. As tempting as it was to send a search party, it was too early to jump to conclusions. Protocol usually demands that if a guild member goes three whole days without a single check-in, the guild will split into teams to scout the guild member's mission area. If the scouting is unsuccessful, they widen the search. If they still have not received word by the fifth day, the guild member is presumed to have died on their mission. From there on, it turns into a recovery operation so that they can properly bury the body, but sometimes, the body is never found. The guild just hoped that they would hear from Azariah soon.
"Dammit...," Yunki bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees while holding his head in his hands.
~***~
Alpha Arcadio had backed away from the gamma. He was now leaning back against his desk, gripping the edges as he stared at the smiling gamma. As weak as Remy looked, Arcadio couldn't figure out where he got the strength to smile. Finally, Arcadio turned his head toward the mithril door and yelled.
"FYNN! Come in here!"
"The door is locked, Alpha...," Fynn called back from the hallway.
Arcadio groaned in annoyance, pushing himself away from his desk. He eyed the gamma before walking over to the door and unbolting it. He opened it just enough for Alpha Fynn to step in. Fynn swiftly passed through the opening before Arcadio shut the door again, locking it once more. Arcadio pointed toward the still smiling and bloodied gamma, who still had a dagger stuck in his chest, blood slowly oozing from the wound.
"That," Arcadio pointed out, "...is not normal for any werewolf. He claims he is a gamma, and he smells like a gamma, but his wounds-...!"
"Holy moons... How is he not dead?!" Fynn's jaw dropped as he came closer to inspect the gamma.
"That's what I want to know!" Arcadio shouted back in frustration, "...-and he's just smiling at us! I... We NEED answers."
"How do you expect to do that if this gamma isn't talking?" Fynn asked as he poked the dagger's hilt as if checking if it was real or not.
Azariah's smile faded as she hissed. It hurt enough to have the damn black steel dagger in her chest, but to have someone touch it while it was embedded? That pain was a whole different level. She watched as Alpha Fynn gave her an amused smile before turning back to Alpha Arcadio. Azariah was relieved for once that she had been born with no heart; her body had somehow evolved and adapted without one while she was in her mother's womb. Of course, not many people knew that she was a heartless human being, literally... Now her only worry was that they would pull the dagger back out of her chest; if they did that, she'd bleed out in minutes. Although, she had been relatively lucky that Arcadio hadn't punctured a lung.
"Do you want to kill him?" Fynn asked Arcadio, a serious look in his eye with his hands loosely on his own waist.
"I did before, but now...? I'm not so sure. I'm even more curious than I was before about him. Can you go get the Witch Doctor?" Arcadio looked at his brother-in-law, hoping he would agree with him.
"That snake shapeshifter in the mountains? You know I hate that snake! How can we trust him?" Fynn growled, disagreeing with Arcadio's plan.
"Let me remind you that it was because of that snake that my sister was able to live several years beyond what we were told by our doctors in the clan. I only treat you as an equal because of her. Don't soil her memory," Arcadio growled back. "So now, instead of asking nicely, I'm ordering you to bring the Witch Doctor here."
"I know he prolonged her life! He did everything he could for her; I know, I was there. He gave her treatments every other day until her heart had become resistant to treatment one day. I won't soil my wife's memory; I love and miss her too, Arcadio. She always did hate it when we fought...," Fynn sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'll go retrieve the snake, okay? I'll be back within the hour."
"Be quicker if you can," Arcadio nodded before letting Fynn out of the room.
After Arcadio closed the door after Fynn, he turned back to the gamma. He cautiously stalked toward him, sizing him up. Arcadio leaned forward, grabbing the top of the chair with one hand to steady himself. He sniffed the gamma again, the scent still confusing him.
"Am I that good-looking or something that you keep getting so close to my face, Alpha Arcadio?" Azariah chuckled softly through labored breathing.
"Well," Arcadio's eye twitched before he grabbed the gamma's chin between his thumb and index finger, "You won't be so good-looking if I cut up that pretty face of yours. I decided I'd let you live. I summoned the Witch Doctor to patch you up because I can't have you dying on me while we're playing our little game of truth or dare. Maybe the Witch Doctor could even give me some information about you; that would be nice."
"Oh, lucky me...," Azariah sarcastically drawled, "You get to play the hero and the villain at the same time. Unlucky for you, though, Alpha... I like to play rough."
- End of Chapter Eleven -