Infected
1323 Words
IRIS' POV
I pulled the tattered cloak tighter around my body and forced my voice into something steady.
"We need to bring him back for interrogation. He's our only link to whoever is behind this."
No one responded immediately. I could feel Kael's gaze burning into me—dark, unrelenting, heavy with questions he wasn't asking yet. But he didn't confront me.
Not yet.
"Take him away," Kael ordered his warriors. Two of them moved toward Marcus immediately, hauling the groaning Alpha from the ground.
But suddenly, I noticed something.
Two of Kael's warriors have multiple gashes across their arms and torsos. They could still stand, still function. But something else caught my attention.
Black smoke—thin, almost invisible—was swirling around their wounds. Curling into their skin like living tendrils, seeping deeper with every breath they took.
My stomach dropped. And then something clicked in my mind like a lock turning.
The dead man in Frostclaw's dungeon. The Gamma who attacked his own mate. The brother who helped subdue him, now dead from the same affliction.
The wounds.
It spread through wounds. Through direct contact with flesh. The corrupted wolves didn't just attack to kill—they attacked to infect.
That’s how the black magic keep spreading.
"Stop." I moved toward them quickly. "Don't move."
The warriors froze.
"What's going on?"
I realized Darius was also now at my side. He had shifted back to his human form, his face also bare and exposed.
"Their wounds are infected," I said, my voice tight. "Everyone who was wounded earlier needs to be treated immediately. If you don't, the black magic will spread into your system. And you'll succumb to it too."
The warriors exchanged alarmed glances. One of them looked down at his arm as if he could see the corruption crawling beneath his skin.
"What the actual fuck..." Darius cursed.
I turned and quickly examined his body. He had a minor scratch along his arm—small, barely noticeable. A wisp of black smoke clung to it, but it was already fading. Disappearing on its own.
Probably because of his Lunaris blood.
Then Kael's voice sounded behind me. Low. Serious. Carrying that same suffocating intensity.
"What do you mean, infected?"
I forced myself to stay calm as I turned to face him. Pushing aside every thought about the lake, the chase, him recognizing me—everything.
"Wounds from these corrupted wolves carry the black magic," I said evenly, meeting his gaze. "It seeps in through the injury. If left untreated, the infection spreads. And they'll succumb to it just like the others."
As if on instinct, my eyes drifted to scan his body. He looked formidable—strong, unshaken, like the battle had been nothing more than a morning exercise. But instinct drove me, and I scanned him anyway.
Then I saw gash on his back. Deep. And black smoke swirling around it, thick and steady.
"Then Miss Irene, do you know how to deal with it?" Luis stepped forward, standing behind Kael with an alarmed look on his face.
I didn't answer immediately. My mind was racing, sifting through every piece of knowledge I had about black magic. But there wasn't much to draw from. It had supposedly been eradicated centuries ago. The records were scarce, and none of the books I had studied ever mentioned a cure.
Then my eyes drifted toward Alpha Marcus.
He was sprawled across the ground a few feet away, still groaning in agony. The silver fire I had struck him with continued to burn weakly across his scorched limbs, the faint flames flickering against his blistered flesh. But it wasn't the burns that caught my attention.
It was the black smoke.
I froze.
Around the edges where the silver flames still lingered, the black smoke wasn't merely retreating.
It was being consumed.
An idea immediately struck me. I looked up.
"I think I can try."
---
We moved to the nearest settlement—a half-ruined outpost on the edge of the corrupted territory. It wasn't much, but it had walls and a roof. Better than open ground with whatever was still lurking in the forest.
I started with Kael's two warriors—the ones most heavily wounded. I pressed my palm over the first warrior's gash, closed my eyes, and reached for my Ignis abilities.
The Ignis were healers as much as destroyers. But I hadn't practiced healing much in the Silvermoon Valley—other Ignis handled that role, and my duties had always leaned toward combat. Now I pushed everything I had into my palms, reaching for a part of my abilities that had lain dormant for years.
Silver light illuminated from my hands, spreading into the wound. The warrior flinched, then stilled as warmth seeped through his body.
I watched closely—my heart pounding.
The black smoke shrank. Retreated. Dissolved beneath the silver light like shadows fleeing the sun.
"It's working," I whispered, relief and firmness mixing in my voice.
I pushed harder. The silver light intensified, and the wound began to close—flesh knitting together, the last traces of black smoke vanishing completely.
By the time I finished treating both warriors, the exhaustion was already creeping in—a dull ache behind my eyes, a heaviness in my limbs. But they looked at me with visible gratitude.
"Thank you, Miss Irene."
I nodded and moved to Darius.
"Black magic healing can take a mental toll on you," Darius said quietly as I pressed my hand over his scratch. "These aren't ordinary wounds, Iris. And you've already healed two—"
"Stay quiet and let me heal you," I said firmly. "This is serious."
Darius went silent. The silver light did its work—his scratch was minor, and the black smoke vanished quickly. His Lunaris blood had already been fighting the infection on its own. I was just finishing the job.
But when I pulled my hands away, a wave of dizziness hit me harder than before. The room tilted. I gripped the edge of the table, steadying myself. Energy draining from my body like water through a cracked cup.
Darius noticed. "Iris—"
"I'm fine." I straightened. Blinked the fog away.
I wasn't finished yet.
I turned—and found Kael watching me. His dark gaze had been on me the entire time. Studying. Waiting.
"It's your turn," I said.
He didn't respond. But he didn't stop me as I moved behind him.
I placed my palm over the gash on his back. His skin was warm beneath my fingers—hot, even. The heat of him radiated through my hand, up my arm, into my chest. That same unsettling warmth I'd felt the night he grabbed my wrist at the lake. The same sensation that made Aria go quiet inside my head.
I pushed the feeling aside and concentrated.
The wound on his back was slightly deep. It took a few minutes before the black smoke finally dissolved and his wound began to close.
"I'm finished," I said, pulling my hand back—
But his hand suddenly caught my wrist.
Firm. Unyielding. Not painful—but absolute.
My heart skipped a beat.
I looked up. His silver eyes were on mine—close, intense, burning with something I couldn't name. The question he'd been holding back since the battlefield finally breaking free.
"Don't you have something to explain to me?"
I opened my mouth to answer—but the world tilted.
My head spun violently. My vision blurred. The energy I'd spent healing four wolves hit me all at once—a crushing wave of exhaustion that swept through my body like poison. My legs buckled. My knees gave out.
The last thing I felt was Kael's grip tightening on my wrist—catching me before I hit the ground. His other arm wrapping around my waist. Pulling me against him.
Then everything went dark.
- Writer
