When the Healer Became His Curse

CHAPTER 3

Nyx's POV

The blade came down.

My father's blood sprayed hot across my face, across my mouth, across everything.

His body hit the ground with a sound I would hear in my nightmares forever.

The world tilted and my knees gave out, but the guards held me up with hands like iron bands around my arms. I couldn't look away or close my eyes or do anything but stare as my father lay in the dirt with his blood spreading around him like a dark lake. His eyes were still open, still looking at me.

A sob tore from my throat that hurt to make.

"Papa." The word barely came out. "Papa, please."

He didn't move. He would never move again.

"No." I fought against the guards with everything I had, my nails digging into their arms until they bled, but they didn't let go. "Let me go! I can heal him! Please!"

But I couldn't heal death. Nobody could heal death, and I was just my father's daughter, just a girl who picked herbs and made healing salves, just someone completely useless when it mattered most.

The Alpha wiped his blade clean on my father's shirt like my father was nothing. Then he looked at my mother.

"You're next unless someone tells me where the rogues are hiding."

My mother lifted her chin, and even bleeding and bound, she looked every inch the Luna she was. Blood dripped from her forehead but her eyes stayed fierce. "We don't know. Kill me if you want."

"Mom, no!" Finn's voice cracked as he tried to reach her but a guard held him back.

Isla just stared with blank eyes. Shock. My baby sister was in shock.

The Alpha stepped toward my mother with his blade rising again, still wet with my father's blood.

My mind raced through everything in seconds. He would kill her, then Finn, then Isla, then everyone unless I gave him a reason to stop, unless I gave him what he wanted. But I didn't have what he wanted unless I lied.

"Wait!" The word exploded from my throat. "I know where the Black Rogue Alpha is!"

The Alpha froze with his blade hovering in the air above my mother. Slowly, he turned to look at me, his eyes narrowing.

"What did you say?"

"I know where the Black Rogue Alpha is hiding." The lie came out steady even though my heart tried to beat out of my chest. "I can tell you exactly where to find them."

"Nyx, no," my mother breathed, her eyes wide with horror.

The Alpha studied me like he was trying to see through my skin. "Your father just died swearing he knew nothing. Now suddenly you have answers?"

"My father didn't know." I forced myself to meet his gaze without flinching. "The pack keeps certain secrets from most members for protection. Only certain Alpha's heirs are told. My grandpa told me before he died. So right now, only me knows."

It was a good lie, clean and believable, the kind of lie that could keep us all breathing.

"Then tell me now." He lowered the blade and walked toward me, each step deliberate. "Tell me exactly where they are."

"No."

His eyes flashed black. "No?"

"If I tell you now, you'll kill my pack the second the words leave my mouth." My mind worked fast, building the lie layer by layer. "You'll get what you want and s*******r everyone anyway. Why would I help you do that?"

"Because if you don't, I'll kill them all right now."

"Then you'll never find the Black Rogues." I lifted my chin, channeling every ounce of courage I didn't feel. "They'll keep killing your warriors, keep attacking your pack, and you'll have wasted the only person who could have stopped them."

For a long moment we stared at each other while the mate bond pulled and twisted between us, but I shoved it down. This wasn't about that. This was about survival.

"What do you want?" he finally asked, his voice cold.

"Let my pack go. They're innocent. Release them and I'll tell you everything."

"No." The word was flat and final. "Your pack stays in my custody. They'll be imprisoned but alive. And yes, no harm will come to them as they’d get food and shelter." His eyes bored into mine. "But the moment you lie to me, I start executing them. Ten at a time. Starting with your mother."

My stomach dropped but I couldn't show it, couldn't let him see how his words cut.

"How do I know you'll keep that promise?"

"You don't." He grabbed my arm hard enough to leave marks. "But you don't have any other options."

He was right. I didn't.

"Then I need time. The information is complicated. Locations, supply routes, contacts. I can't just tell you a single place."

"Then you'll have time." He gestured to his warriors. "Chain her. Take the rest to the castle dungeons. Separate cells. If anyone resists, break their legs but keep them breathing."

A warrior stepped forward with silver chains that seared my skin the moment they touched my wrists, but I bit down the pain.

Guards began dragging my pack toward cages. My mother's eyes found mine across the distance and tears cut through the blood on her face, but she gave one firm nod. Stay strong.

Finn stared at me with pure hatred burning in his young face. "This is your fault. You should have saved him."

Each word was a knife but I couldn't defend myself, couldn't explain.

Isla didn't say anything. She just looked at me with those huge empty eyes and clung tighter to Mother's dress, my little sister who used to sing constantly but hadn't made a single sound since Father died.

The Alpha pulled me toward the horses waiting in the shadows. I looked back one last time at my father's body in the dirt, at my pack being shoved into cages, at everything I'd ever known turning to ash and smoke.

"You just made a deal with me," the Alpha said as he lifted me onto his horse. He climbed up behind me and his chest pressed against my back while the mate bond sang at the contact, but I refused to acknowledge it. "I hope for your pack's sake you can deliver what you promised."

"I can." The lie burned worse than the chains.

"Good." His breath was hot against my ear as he leaned close. "Because if I discover you're lying to me, I won't just kill your pack. I'll make you watch while I do it. Slowly. Starting with the smallest ones."

Ice flooded through my veins.

"Move out!" he called.

The horse lurched forward and behind us, my father's blood soaked into the ground while my pack disappeared into cages and my village burned to nothing. And I had just lied to the most dangerous man I'd ever met.

The Alpha leaned close, his voice dropping to something cold and deadly. "When we reach the castle, you'll tell me everything you know. And if I sense even a hint of deception, your little sister dies first."

My blood turned to ice as his words sank in, sharp and absolute as a blade at my throat.