One Year To Burn

Chapter 14

Venessa’s POV

“Arrogant b***h,” I heard her hiss, the words sharp with venom. I swallowed my pride and kept my head down. I had plans for her plans that required patience.

They dragged me to a room tucked away at the back of the building. My clothes were stripped from my body, my wrists bound and stretched apart, each hand tied to a separate pole. Then they began.

If it had been an ordinary whip, I would have healed within a day. But this was silver. Silver slowed everything, poisoned the flesh, made recovery agonizingly slow. The last time, it had taken a week my body weak and starved then. I prayed it wouldn’t take as long this time. At least I had prepared. The herbal mixture I’d made would help neutralize the silver’s poison and hasten the healing. That alone gave me something to cling to.

The guards did what they were ordered to do. Pain exploded across my back, so intense it robbed me of breath and thought. I retreated into my mind, letting Nyla surface. Her tolerance was higher than mine. Tears streamed freely down my cheeks, but not a single sound escaped us.

“That’s enough, Omar. Her back is bleeding badly,” one of them finally said to the man wielding the whip.

“She’s one tough woman,” Omar replied. I couldn’t bring myself to hate them. They were only carrying out commands.

“What did she even do to make the Luna hate her this much?” he asked.

“Too pretty, maybe. I’ve seen how the Alpha looks at her. That would drive any woman mad,” Omar muttered, sympathy creeping into his voice.

They untied my hands and escorted me back to my room. If I had remembered this would happen, I would have disappeared long before now.

“Maybe the universe took this memory from us because we tried to run,” Nyla said as we hobbled along. “There are consequences for everything, Venessa.”

“You can’t blame this on that,” I snapped, anger flaring.

“We’ve been back for a month and remembered every tiny detail except this,” she argued. “We tried to escape, and we forgot something major. This is punishment.”

I shook my head, refusing it. “No. If we hadn’t gone to the border, we wouldn’t have found the herbs we needed. This only proves some events can’t be changed. We lost this one, Nyla. Let it go.”

I entered my room and headed straight for the bath. The hot water was agony, but I welcomed it. I used the antidotes I’d prepared, carefully disinfecting the wounds and encouraging my body to heal faster. I was grateful beyond words that I had made them. I skipped dinner, claiming illness. I needed every ounce of strength I had left. Denzel and Rayon would need me.

Hours later, bells rang through the pack grounds. My heart lurched. They were back and injured.

I forced myself out of bed and made my way toward the infirmary. This time, I knew what to do. I would use my connection to Rayon to get inside. Fear rippled through the pack; voices whispered in hushed tones. Beta Tyrell and Delta Devon stood guard outside, barring entry. They had gone out together yet Delta Devon stood unharmed. Why was Tyrell fine?

Tears blurred my vision as I approached.

“Please… may I see Gamma Rayon?” I asked, my voice breaking like that of a woman about to lose her mate.

Tyrell looked at me with open disgust. I expected nothing less. He was Jalisa’s lover there was no reason for him to tolerate me.

“Let her see him,” Delta Devon said firmly.

Gratitude choked me as Tyrell stepped aside. I rushed in and froze at the sight before me. Their clothes were shredded, flesh torn as though the attackers had tried to rip them apart completely. Blood soaked the bed, wounds gaping and raw. Rayon had suffered the worst of it.

“Save Denzel,” Nyla urged but Rayon was fading fast. I moved to his side.

“Hey,” a nurse snapped, blocking me.

“Please,” I begged, tears spilling over. “Let me help him.”

“You can’t treat silver wounds. Are you insane?” she said sharply.

“There’s foxglove in their system,” I said desperately. “That’s why their thumbs are purple and the wounds won’t heal. Please please let me help them. I don’t want them to die. My life is forfeit if the Alpha dies.”

It was the truth. However they chose to see it, if Denzel died, so would I.

The nurse checked their fingertips, her expression tightening.

“I need a blood sample to confirm,” the doctor said.

“There’s no time,” I shook my head. “Rayon doesn’t have that long. And the Alpha’s wolf is already failing.”

The doctor studied me. “How do you know all this?”

“My mother was a medicine woman,” I said. “She healed with herbs. She served Alphas and elites. She taught me everything she knew. Please, Doctor my life depends on Alpha Denzel surviving. I’m begging you.”

He hesitated, then nodded to the nurse. “Lock the door.”

Relief nearly dropped me to my knees.

“Hurry,” he said cautiously.

I ran for my room, retrieved the herbal mixture thank the moon I’d made enough and returned quickly, hiding it beneath my skirt so Tyrell wouldn’t see. I went straight to the emergency room.

I treated Rayon's wounds first, pouring the liquid over the deep gashes and helping him swallow some. Then I moved to Denzel and did the same.

“I need thick needles,” I said.

The nurse glanced at the doctor, who was studying the blood samples.

“Give them to her,” he said. “It’s foxglove poison.”

The antidote wasn’t something the infirmary kept. They had no choice but to trust me.

I found the flowing points my mother had taught me, puncturing their skin and leaving the needles at precise depths. Being close to Denzel helped our bond pushing his healing faster.

Dark, thick fluid began to seep from the puncture points.

“What is that?” the doctor asked, astonished.

“The poisoned blood,” I explained. “Instead of circulating, it’s being expelled. They ingested the poison.”

He stared at me in awe. “You’re a healer.”

I nodded, barely breathing.

“Their wounds they’re closing,” the nurse whispered.

Only then did I realize I’d been holding my breath. I finally exhaled.