"Stay close to me," Lyall whispers right before we walk out of the door, following Ganesh and Naver who are leading the group to the royal infirmary.

Even if he doesn't tell me, I would stay close to him. Athena has walked ahead alongside Naver, while I stay at the rear end of the group. So I only have Lyall for protection against these lycans, who were giving me deadly stares and can tear me up easily if they want to.

It's ridiculous, isn't it? Having to depend on someone else for survival. I bet if I had been a warrior, I would not have to worry to walk closely to someone else.

I bet if I had been a warrior, I could walk straight, chin high, and without a care in the world every time.

But I am not a warrior.

I am just an ordinary werewolf girl. No superpower, no strength in her bones, and no voice to speak up for myself.

Sighing, I nod at Lyall, then position myself as close as I can to him. Roy scoffs a little when he sees I am still under the lycan king's protection. 'What is wrong with him?' Sasha asks inside my mind.

Without me having to answer myself, Roy leans to Lyall and whispers, "I hope you have not forgotten 'her', Your Highness. With all the things she has done for you and for this kingdom." We three are far behind the rest of the group now, so only Lyall and I hear Roy's whisper.

Her... Is it the same woman that Athena and Albus had been talking about? The woman who I assume to be the boy's mother?

A diffuse burn pricks my chest as I wonder about this mysterious woman. It's a highly uncomfortable feeling. I keep reminding myself that it's never my place to be jealous of Lyall, but here I am, seething with that ridiculous feeling.

'He's our mate,' Sasha growls inside me. She tells me to grab Lyall's hand to show our possession, but I only curl my fists instead.

'Mate or not, he is not ours, Sash. Not like 'Ed' was to us.' I bite my lip to try to push down this jealousy.

'Ed was our chosen mate,' Sash continues, 'Lyall is our fated mate. So the Moon Goddess herself is telling us we should be with Lyall!'

'Shut it, Sash!' I raise my voice in my mind. 'Don't say that... That's also like saying that the Moon Goddess planned for Ed to die so we can be with Lyall.'

It hurts to even think about it. It's unfair to Ed too, and it really degrades our love together. I refuse to think like that. Ed will never be just a stepping stone for me to be with someone else. And his death should never be painted like such.

Sasha retreats to our deepest consciousness after that. I can feel her repulsiveness at her own words moments ago. My wolf feels guilty about her own words.

Those were truly ugly words. I caress my stomach without thinking at the same time that Lyall speaks up to Roy.

"Never speak of that woman in front of me, ever again." His voice is low, emphasizing each syllable, laced with a threatening growl. Not only that, Lyall hisses at Roy with his fangs descending slowly.

This is the lycan king showing his fangs to a subordinate. And as nature has set it in our blood, ranks rule our behavior. So Roy steps back and bows slightly. For the second time, he reveals his neck to Lyall, a show of submissiveness. But that is not enough for Lyall to retract his fangs.

"I know your family is indebted to her," Lyall steps forward, towering over Roy, who is also not exactly short either. The warrior lycan looks small compared to Lyall. "But have you forgotten what she had done to me?"

"Does this mean your loyalty is to her and not to me?" Lyall takes another step. One more inch and their foreheads would have touched. "Because if it is, that is a red flag to me, Roy."

"Should I reserve the dungeon for you? You know what I do to people whose loyalty is not to me," Lyall smiles on one side of his face though his eyes are still burning Roy intensely, "Lycans never produce rogues because we eliminate traitors and criminals ourselves. You know that more than anyone, Roy. After all, you killed the most traitors in this kingdom."

His face looks like a psychopathic sadist who just found his next prey. I guess when you find it hard to feel anything, you'd feel nothing after threatening someone so horribly.

I have never heard of rogue lycans before. And only now do I understand why. The realization makes the hair on my neck stand. While lycans give more opportunity to females, they are actually... crueler to rule breakers.

Then again, sometimes Mason banished werewolves he found troubling for him, even if they never really broke any rules. What if Lyall one day finds me to be insufferable, or he becomes tired of me? Will I be in that dungeon too?

Why do I sound like those pitiful mistresses that have to depend on the man's affection to survive?

Well... it does sound like my current situation.

Roy lowers his head even more. I can even see one sweat dropping onto his leather shoe from his temple. "My loyalty will always be yours, Your Highness," he says in a small voice without looking up. On his sides, his hands are trembling.

"Then act like it is, Roy," Lyall whispers back with a slight growl. Without waiting for any response, he grabs my arm and pulls me to walk past Roy, who is frozen in place.

We catch up with the rest of the group in the royal infirmary. It's much further in the south wing than I have traveled before, so I rely on Lyall's direction to get there.

The infirmary is this large room with more than a dozen beds on each side, separated by green curtains. At the edge of the room, there is a small mini library and a mini-laboratory full of equipment. The general theme of the room is white, other than the curtains.

On one of the beds, a woman with a bleeding shoulder is sitting. Her sleeves have been cut to reveal her wounds. Ganesh finds my gaze and nods to the woman, suggesting that I should take a closer look at the mark.

Like a puppy, I look up to Lyall first, as if asking for permission. Lyall nods. So I walk closer to the woman. But after just one step, the woman sniffs the air and reveals her fangs to me. Her eyes and posture become defensive. "What is a werewolf doing here?" she growls at me. In those few seconds, I see her fangs and claws coming out.

"Stand down." As soon as Lyall says the order, the woman calms down, retracting her fangs and claws. Though she keeps looking at Lyall in confusion. "She's my mate and she's here to help you," he explains to her.

Her eyes widen at that moment, but she trusts Lyall so quickly that she lets me get closer to her. The air is awkward between us, but it is understandable. This woman had been hurt by a werewolf and I can never change the fact that I was born a werewolf. Still, it hurts to be judged by something that I cannot change, by something that is not my fault and will never be the equivalent of who I am as a person.

In my old pack, I was considered subpar for being a female. In this kingdom, I am the only werewolf. It's like everywhere I go, the world has something against me, making me feel I could never truly belong anywhere.

As we lock eyes, I can see the hesitation in her eyes. Swallowing that bitter pill of being generalized, I force a smile and raise my hands to show my palms to her. It's a small gesture to show that I am not a threat. "I'm a healer. I'm truly sorry for what the rogues did to your village," I hope my voice comes out clear and not wavering, "Ganesh told me you have a mark on your upper arm. May I see that?"

The woman stares at me for longer than a few seconds. But eventually, she tilts her head, as if saying that I can go ahead to look at her left arm. "Thank you," I murmur.

My eyes cast to the red mark on her skin. It looks like multiple spider webs from afar. Ganesh is right. The mark resembles the number eight. It also resembles the mark that my senior healer once showed me.

"It is the mark." My voice is small, but everyone near the bed could hear. A few gasps are heard, knowing that my theory is right. The rogues are kidnapping female lycans to procreate with the substance my pack created in secret years ago.

The woman looks worried after seeing some people's reactions. But Ganesh works fast to soothe her, "Don't worry, Miss. It was just a routine inspection." The old man clicks his finger to call on a man in the same blue scrub. "Po will help disinfect your wounds for now. We have to wait a bit for the anesthetic drug to arrive before we can stitch your wounds. I hope you understand."

Ganesh is amazing at making people feel calm. The woman relaxes again and nods at him.

As soon as the man named Po takes over to care for the woman, we all step out to the infirmary hall in deadly silence. Until Lyall cuts the tension with an icy tone, "We'll talk about this more in my office."

"Aarghh!!"

Just before we all start walking back to Lyall's office, we hear an agonizing scream from the chamber across from us. On alert, everyone looks at the curtain around the chamber.

Two women in blue scrubs walk out of the curtained chamber with fear painted on their faces. They rush to Ganesh. "Chief, this woman must go into labor now," says one woman healer. "She was brought here because she has the mark. But the substance must have induced her labor earlier than expected. What do we do now?"

"What do you mean 'what do we do?' Start her labor now!" Ganesh raises his hands as if the two women just asked something ridiculous.

Behind the women, the curtain of the chambers has been opened, revealing a woman in the late stage of pregnancy in pain. I can see sweat drenching her entire face. She has a wound on her cheek and her ankle has been bandaged. It must be terrifying for her to learn that on top of her village being destroyed, she now has to go under labor unexpectedly.

Instinctively, I put my hand on my stomach.

"But Chief," the second healer says, "We're out of anesthesia. And... and... we need to do an episiotomy. It'll be too painful for her."

"Aarrrghhh!!" the woman wails in pain. She's been holding onto the iron rails of the bed tightly. It's obvious that she really needs a pain reliever now.

Out of the blue, my motherly instinct kicks in. I grab Ganesh's arm and turn him to me. Not caring about the shocked faces of others, I scold him, "How does the royal infirmary run out of anesthesia?"

"Uh..." Before Ganesh can answer me, I have run to the woman crying in agony on the bed. I just know that if I was this woman, I would have wanted someone to hold my hand.

This woman is alone in this infirmary. She is hurt and scared of what's coming. The pain of giving birth is roughly the same as having twenty bones broken to pieces. Imagine going through that without pain relief or anesthesia. Moreover, imagine going through that alone, without any support.

This woman could be me in the future. And I would like to help myself.

So I grab the woman's hand. "Breathe calmly. It'll be okay," I maintain my calming voice, though my heart is beating fast. Whatever Lyall or others might think of me; I don't care anymore.

"I will help you reduce the pain, okay," I tell her, "But you need to help me help you by breathing in and out. Okay?" Her fearful blue eyes meet mine. Instantly, without question, she trusts me. It's as if there is this bizarre connection between two pregnant women. She doesn't even ask about my race or who I am.

She doesn't even know what I can do to help her. Yet she nods at me.

"Breathe in," I instruct her. We both take a deep breath.

"Breathe out."

That's when I use my power to feel her body entirely. Her heart is raging with fear and her body is exhausted, as well as in pain. The pain is entangled in her lower abdomen and inner thigh. In my mind, I untangle that knot slowly but surely like a skillful weaver.

I can feel the woman's breathing becoming easier. Her face relaxes, which means the pain is leaving her slowly. When her breath becomes steady, only then do I let out the breath I was holding.

But this is not the end.

I look back at the group of royal healers and warriors. They all look at me with blank faces and, honestly, they look stupid. Even Ganesh is frozen in place. This scenery annoys me so much. In another time, I would have stayed quiet, afraid to anger them. But there is a woman and a baby at stake here. And we all know lycans, werewolves, and faes have it the hardest to give birth. So, I kiss goodbye to my care for safety.

"You still need to start the labor procedure!" I cry out to them, "Snap out of it and do your job while I numb her pain. I've sedated her locally and maintained her blood pressure with magic. Now move!"

"Y– you heard her!" Ganesh follows my command, "Start the procedure."

I could be imagining it, but I see Lyall smirking as he observes me in action.

–to be continued–