Ashton was puzzled. Hadn’t he been fine when they came back from the northern mountain just now? What was going on with him?
Maya who had been replenishing her energy opened her eyes. She felt that something was not right. Although she had to rest, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Ashton was her mate. They had an undeniable connection and they could sense each other’s emotions and any other change. Although she had been sleeping, she sensed Ashton’s discomfort which is why she woke up.
She looked over and saw Ashton’s head bent. His nose was bleeding and he looked like he had lost consciousness. His breathing was erratic and he seemed to be in a lot of pain.
Maya was stunned.
What was going on? She had only been out for not more than thirty minutes and Ashton had already been injured?
Had he been attacked? But if he had been attacked, why was she perfectly fine?
Maya stood up and rushed towards Ashton at a lightning speed.
“Ashton! Ashton!” She shouted as she shook him. She noticed that his forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat and his eyebrows were furrowed.
Ashton slowly regained consciousness when he heard Maya call him. Had he fainted?
Ashton realized that something was wrong with him.
When he saw the color of the blood coming from his nose, he instantly knew that his wolf had been poisoned. But how and when he had no idea.
“What is going on darling?” Maya asked as she looked at Ashton with fear and worry about losing him.
“Is it the spell I performed that is affecting you?” Maya asked, her voice trembling slightly.
“No. I think Kelly has done something to this villa. He might have anticipated that this place will be my first stop the moment I came back thus he might have prepared something to catch me off, guard. ” Ashton said.
He was no fool. He knew that Kelly was someone who could go to any lengths to accomplish the things he had set himself to do even if it meant selling his soul to the devil.
“But he has been here just a moment ago, how comes he wasn’t affected?” Maya asked puzzled. She had learned a lot about werewolves before and she understood that what was happening to Ashton was not something ordinary.
“I don’t know. He might have guessed that he won’t be getting anything out of the safe thus he must have decided to destroy everything altogether.”
“Then what is wrong? How can I help you?” Maya asked worriedly. They had just bonded. Ashton was yet to mark her as his mate, there was no way she was going to lose him.
Ashton stood up and walked towards the door. But he stumbled and couldn’t even walk straight.
After Kelly left he said that he was going to see their grandfather but Ashton never imagined that Kelly will have the whole villa put under wolfbane.
It was some kind of poison that prevented werewolves from shifting to their wolf form. It was meant to keep a wolf in their human form and weaken them. If it stayed for long in the body, both the wolf and the host would die.
It was only used on the wolves who had turned rogue to prevent them from causing harm to the pack or the enemies of the pack.
Ashton had never used a wolfbane to deal with other wolves. He had in fact banned the substance in his pack. He never imagined that Kelly will deal with him using the wolfbane.
He had not sensed it at first thus he had inhaled a lot in his body. He could feel his wolf weaken and even his vision was turning blurry.
Kelly must have known that there was no use in opening the safe thus after he left, he had ordered Kevin to have the villa put under wolfbane. Or maybe he had already noticed that Ashton was back but he had pretended not to know.
Someone who was able to take over half of the pack with his means wasn’t a weakling.
Although he was rushed in his decision and not as calm and decisive as Ashton, Ashton knew that Kelly was a force to be reckoned with.
Kelly went to his grandfather’s villa.
It was true that he had noticed the abnormal aura in Ashton’s study room. He was too familiar with that aura that he did not need to think twice to know that Ashton was back.
But of how he managed to escape all the guards he had positioned outside to ambush him, Kelly didn’t know. He could only guess that someone with magic helped him. Hadn’t he gone to the northern mountains to see someone? Maybe he had gotten some help from that old man.
Although Ashton had tried to hide his aura, Kelly had still felt it. It wasn’t like that a few days ago when they were killing everyone in the villa. If Ashton had been back by then he could have intervened and Kelly knew that he would have had a hard time succeeding.
That could only mean that Ashton had been back not too long ago.
But Kelly was not worried. No matter what his brother did or whatever means he came back with, he was going to take him down.
He would never give him the opportunity to fight head-on with him.
So after Kelly noticed the abnormalities in the study room although he was quite shocked, he did not act out of the ordinary.
Although his heart was thumping hard he continued to act calmly as if nothing was amiss.
He wanted to stall for time and see if his brother would show himself but since he wanted to hide Kelly left calmly.
It was only after he had moved far away from the villa did he order Kevin to spray the wolfbane powder that he had prepared a long time ago. Although it was specifically made for Ashton because he used his blood and the chances of it affecting other werewolves were slim, Kelly did not dare take the risk. It was only after he moved far away from the villa did he allow them to spray the wolfbane.
That was a secret weapon that he had specially made for Ashton. He should feel honored that he was taking extra notice of him.
Once Ashton was weakened, it will be easy to take him down.
In fact, Kelly had sealed the whole villa and no matter what Ashton did, he won’t be able to escape.
He had planned for too long, he wasn’t about to let anything disrupt his plans.
…
“Ashton….”
“There is wolfbane all over the place. Can you teleport us somewhere safe?” Ashton said. His consciousness was on and off and he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open.
“Wolfbane….? But why can’t I feel anything?” Maya asked. She was perfectly fine. She knew how lethal that thing was. How could she not be affected?
But she had no time to think about it. She wanted to get Ashton out of this place as soon as possible.
“Stay with me, Ashton. Don’t close your eyes. I will get us out of here right now.” Maya said.
Although she had no idea what she was supposed to do, she wasn’t about to let them die here.