The Lycan King and his Dark Temptation novel Chapter 109

VALERIA

"I'm feeling better, Quinn. The medicine Valeria gave me is working. In fact, it's the best I've ever taken."

"Celine!" we both exclaim with obvious relief, and she smiles from the bed, still weak.

I wipe the sweat from her forehead with a piece of my skirt and help her sit up.

"Thank you, Valeria. Quinn, what are you going to do?" she suddenly looks at her brother, and I do the same.

The Lycan uncaps the small bottle and drinks it all at once. We both stare in shock.

"Problem solved. It tastes awful. I'm sure she gave you some crap to stabilize you for a day and make you come back, probably worse," he says with a shrug, as if it’s no big deal.

In the end, we can't help but laugh, relieved to have gotten through the ordeal. I take the chance to tell Celine that only her mate can truly save her.

"I'm sorry, you followed me through something so dangerous, and I'm not the antidote to your illness," I say, embarrassed, but she takes my hand. It's rare to see her soft side.

"We never regret following you. Besides, if I weren’t by your side, I wouldn’t know the answer. Honestly, sinking my teeth into your power was easier than finding a solution. Where do I even get a mate? I hope he's not a damn bloodsucker, or I'd rather die in agony," she says, rolling her eyes as she gets up.

Quinn helps her, and I swallow my words.

The Goddess has a twisted sense of humor and has shown me time and time again that she always sends you exactly what you don't want.

We leave that unpleasant woman's house, and the night is already closing in on us. In reality, barely two hours have passed since we parted ways with the hateful King.

"Guys, I need to do something quickly. Wait for me here," I ask them in the same dark alley where I met Alondra.

"Valeria, what trouble are you getting into now? Don't separate from us," Quinn grabs my hand, worried.

"It'll be quick, relax. I can use my power; no one will detect me," I assure him, and although reluctant, he eventually lets me go.

The shadows are my allies, and I hide within them. Darkness is the one thing this decaying town has in abundance.

I spy behind windows and houses, following the direction where I saw that woman and the little boy go. This town isn't very big, but I don't have much time.

"Come on, where are you?" Just then, I hear the soft cries of a woman.

I follow the sound through a dead-end alley, leaning against the old wooden wall, crouching at the corner of an open window.

Inside, I see the woman crying, holding the child in her arms in a tiny, impoverished room lit only by the flickering glow of a candle.

"Oh Goddess, please don't let him be dead," I pray, seeing his pale, limp arm hanging outside the yellowed blanket.

*****

"When can we leave?" The Vampire King stood up impatiently.

"Right away," I said, eager to get out of this town. I didn’t know if the miraculous salvation of the child would come to light.

"Good, come with me," he motioned toward the inside of the decrepit inn.

Behind the counter, the innkeeper was trembling, and there were no other patrons—the place seemed to have been cleared out.

He spread the map over an empty table, and I repeated the spell to set the artifact in motion.

It fluttered over the town's position and then moved toward an unknown, unclear location on the map.

"That's it, but I don’t know exactly what it is," I admit, clueless. "Are we going by ship or on foot?"

"You, come here!" the King's second-in-command called out to the thin innkeeper, who approached with obvious terror in his eyes and was asked about the location near the village.

"It's the Lake of the Dead. No one who ventures into that infernal place ever returns alive," he said with a fearful expression.