Freda Pov
The heat pain was completely gone, but the bone pain was getting so much worse. The healer had warned me this would happen. She said drinking the potion would make the mate bond hurt more every day until it either healed or broke completely.
She had been right. Every hour that passed, the ache in my chest grew stronger. It felt like something was slowly squeezing my heart. Like invisible hands were crushing it a little more with each breath I took.
I could not sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Urdon's face when he told me to go to Kyran if I wanted him so much. I saw the coldness in his eyes. I saw the way he grabbed my wrist hard enough to leave bruises. I saw him walking away without looking back.
At midnight, I gave up trying to sleep. I got dressed in simple clothes and snuck out of my room. The pack house was dark and completely silent. Everyone was sleeping except me and whoever was on night watch at the borders.
I went outside and walked to the pack garden. The night air was cool against my skin, and I hoped it would help with the burning feeling in my chest. The moon was huge and bright overhead. Almost completely full. In just a few days, it would be the mating rites.
I walked through the garden until I reached the big oak tree in the center. It was the oldest tree on the pack lands. Some wolves said it had been there for hundreds of years. That it had seen every generation of this pack come and go.
I sat down under it with my back against the rough bark. The grass was wet with dew, and it soaked through my clothes immediately, but I did not care. I just needed to be outside. Needed to breathe air that did not smell like my own tears.
"I miss him so much," I whispered to the empty garden.
Fresh tears started falling down my face, and I did not try to stop them. What was the point? Nobody was here to see me crying. Nobody was here to judge me for being weak.
I missed Urdon's touch more than anything. Missed the way he used to hold me at night. Missed his smile and his laugh and the way he used to look at me like I was the most important thing in his entire world.
Now he looked at me like I was a stranger who had hurt him. Like I was an enemy instead of his mate.
"This is all my fault," I said and wiped my face with my sleeve. "I should have tried harder to make him believe me about the curse. I should have shown him the proof instead of just talking about it."
"You should have," a voice said from the shadows.
I jumped up so fast I almost fell over. My heart was pounding, and I spun around trying to see who had spoken.
Rex stepped out from behind a group of bushes at the edge of the garden. He was just standing there watching me. Not moving. Not blinking. Just staring.
"Rex," I said, and my voice came out shaky. "You scared me. What are you doing out here?"
He did not answer. He just kept staring at me with those strange eyes. Something about them looked wrong. In the moonlight, they almost seemed to glow. Not like normal wolf eyes that reflected light. These were glowing from the inside.
"Are you okay?" I asked and took a step toward him.
Still nothing. His face was completely blank. No expression at all. He did not look happy or sad, or angry. He just looked empty. Like nobody was home behind his eyes.
"Rex, please say something," I said. "You are scaring me."
He tilted his head to the side slowly. The movement was strange and unnatural. Like a puppet being controlled by strings. Then he smiled at me.
But it was not Rex's smile. Rex had a warm, friendly smile that made people feel safe. This smile was too wide and too cold. It did not reach his eyes at all. It looked wrong on his face.
Fear shot through my entire body like ice water. I knew immediately that I was not looking at Rex. I was looking at something else using his body. Something that wanted to hurt me or scare me or worse.
"Yolande," I whispered.
The smile got wider. Rex's body took one slow step toward me. Then another. He was not walking normally. Each step was too deliberate and too careful. Like someone who was not used to having legs.
I did not wait to see what would happen next. I turned and ran as fast as I could back toward the pack house. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. My hands were shaking, and my legs felt weak, but I pushed myself to run faster.
I did not look back. I did not want to know if he was following me. I did not want to see that terrible smile again.
I made it to the pack house and yanked the door open. I ran inside and slammed it shut behind me. Then I locked it even though I knew locks would not stop whatever was controlling Rex.
I ran straight to my room and locked that door too. Then I pressed my back against it and tried to catch my breath. My whole body was shaking so hard my teeth were chattering.
"That was not Rex," I whispered to the empty room. "That was Yolande using him like a puppet."
Rex was not Rex anymore. Whatever Yolande had done to him was getting stronger. I could see it in his eyes and his movements and that horrible smile. She was taking over more and more of him every day.
Soon, there would be nothing left of the real Rex. Just an empty shell that Yolande could use to hurt people.