“How is Eva?”
Seth asked Ashley, while she just shook her head slowly and looked glum. Seth looked at Eva, who was lying on the bed, with concern. What kind of protection magic could cause such suffering in a powerful witch like Eva?
“All we can do is wait. Luna Edith is already utilizing her healing magic to assist me in reducing her suffering. Her situation is critical. Her use of magic depleted all of her magical energy, and now her spirit is suffering instead of her body.”
“Is this one of those soul-sharing black magics, Ash?” asked Seth skeptically.
Ashley shook her head strongly. He couldn’t give a definite explanation as to why Eva was the way she was. He looked at Will, who looked at Eva sadly, and patted his shoulder to encourage him.
Seth felt bad for Will, who stayed by his side. His friend never complained about the situation, but Seth knew that he was concerned about Eva. Seth could only hope that Edith could heal Eva because the Red Crescent depended on her.
“Gamma Will, I’ll keep an eye on Eva every day. I must reciprocate Eva’s protection of my daughter,” Edith added.
“Thank you.”
Seth looked at Eva’s sweaty body, and the woman was delirious. One moment she was moaning in pain, and the next her body was convulsing. Seth felt so bad for asking Eva for help.
As the weeks passed, Eva was still the same. The only significant difference was that her body was calmer. Eva looked like she was fast asleep. Her life was only sustained by Edith’s healing magic, which eased her pain.
Edith was holding Eva’s hand when Seth entered the room. His hurried steps aroused Edith’s curiosity, so her gaze turned to Seth.
“Luna, I want to talk to you for a moment.”
Edith released her grip and straightened her body to focus on listening to Seth. She greeted Seth with a faint smile and waited for him to speak.
“I have to go somewhere, maybe a week. I’m going with Liam, and the pack will be led by Jadden while I’m gone. I also asked Ashley to stay here, so you can coordinate with Jadden to organize the pack.”
“Is there anything else I should know?” asked Edith, who saw hesitation on Seth’s face.
“It’s about my parents; you don’t have to worry,” Seth continued, trying to sound confident.
“Promise me that you’ll stay alive, Alpha Seth.”
“I promise, Luna Edith.”
Seth pulled Edith into his arms. He held Edith’s body tightly, and they stayed like that for several minutes.
Edith felt that Seth would be gone forever; she didn’t know; various thoughts were running through her head at the moment. Seth once told her that he had ambitions to overthrow Matthieu’s regime for enslaving her father.
Edith realized her position as Luna, who must always be ready to support her Alpha in any situation or condition. She was not allowed to accompany Seth this time.
“I’ll take you to the front door,” Edith said.
“There’s no need, Luna. You can resume your activities.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
With dread at the possibility of a replay of that incident, Edith watched Seth leave her line of sight. Even while she gave Eva healing therapy, the thought persisted in her mind.
Edith felt something tap her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Jen smiling at her. The girl’s eyes looked a little droopy, and her mouth was wide open as she yawned.
“You look so exhausted, Jennie.”
“I’ve been on night patrol; Jed just filled in for me. I can finally rest. Things have been really tense lately. All the warriors are assigned by Jadden to patrol while the witch is down, yeah, on the Alpha’s orders, of course.”
“Thank you,” Edith said.
“For what?”
“Because you guys have been working hard.”
“We like to do it, Luna. Werewolves love it when things get tense like this. Not that I like chaos, but we like to stretch our muscles. Even if I say I’m exhausted or whatever, we enjoy it. How we run around, clawing, tearing with our fangs, and so on. Living in the midst of human modernization has made us forget a bit about our werewolf nature.”
“You’d better get some sleep; you talk too much, Jen! You’re a girl, but you act like a boy!”
Edith stood up and pulled the she-wolf by the hand to follow her out of the room. She needed to get the chatty werewolf out of the way of her healing Eva.
“But, Luna I actually wanted to ask you a question.”
Edith stopped her movement. She looked at Jen, who was darting left and right. Jen looked suspicious while acting like that. Edith raised one of her eyebrows and asked, “What are you doing?”
Jen pulled Edith’s hand and led her to the corridor. The girl brought her face to Edith’s ear and whispered, “Is it true that Seth is going to challenge the Supreme Alpha?”
“Huh, what did you say?”
Jen narrowed her eyes. It was Jen’s guess that Luna did not know the truth about this. She exhaled harshly and said, “You don’t even know yourself! I heard Alpha Seth and Beta Jadden mention monomachia, not very clearly, but after that they also mentioned Supreme Alpha.”
“Monomachia?”
“Don’t you know that?”
“I don’t know, Jennie! You want to make me fucking die of curiosity?” Edith shook her head quickly and then raised her voice in impatience.
Jen lowered her voice as she pulled Edith close to her body. She again whispered in Edith’s ear, “Monomachia is the term for a one-on-one duel for the position of Alpha, in this case, and probably; I’m honestly curious too; Seth will be doing monomachia with Matthieu!”
Edith widened her eyes and was shocked. She had no idea what the situation would be like if what Jen said was true. Edith feels an overwhelming fear in her head right now. If she knew Seth was going to do that duel, she would have strictly prohibited it.
But what could she do? Seth must have been far away from the pack house, and there was no way she could catch up with him just to stop the Alpha.
“Monomachia is a battle of pride for a werewolf,” Jen added.
Edith thought for a moment. She connected all the signs from Seth’s own words and Jen’s, then summed it up. Edith was sure Seth would do it to get back at Matthieu.
“Has anyone done it before?”
“They have. A werewolf from Germany. He challenged the Supreme Alpha, who was a Lycan, but he died with his body split in half.” Jen replied.
“Lycan?”
“They’re pureblooded werewolves; they’re getting fewer and fewer. Hey, you haven’t answered my question, Edith!”
“Unfortunately, you’re right. Before you came to see me, Seth said farewell to me.”
“By the Moon Goddess,” Jen squealed.
“He didn’t say it directly, but I can deduce that he will,” Edith said weakly.
Both were silent, lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Jen looked at Edith and said, “You must be worried.”
Edith was even more frightened when she heard that the monomachia challenger had ended tragically. She didn’t want to imagine that Seth would end up like that werewolf from Germany. Without Edith realizing it, her tears escaped and spilled down her cheeks.
“We can only hope Seth will succeed. I heard Matthieu is a stupid werewolf, but that doesn’t mean he’s not strong.”
“Let’s hope so…”