Chapter 208

Ella’s POV

Over the days that followed, our strange, secret dance continued like a routine of hidden trysts and forbidden nights together.

I found myself settling into the routine more than I expected. In fact, I even looked forward to our little trysts, our stolen moments of happiness amidst all of the bleak expectations.

Whenever Alexander and I had a moment alone, our hands and lips wandered each other like we were trying to memorize the maps of one another’s flesh. Stolen moments in closets, against the wall, bent over the bathroom sink while the shower ran, even right there on his desk in between Alpha King meetings—we took every chance to feel each other, to share the passion we had missed so much over the past months.

Despite everything, despite the fear of the curse and the unknown and all of the other pain we endured in our day to day lives, those moments were sweet and special to me. They were the rare moments when I didn’t feel afraid. When the world seemed hopeful instead of bleak.

When I felt Alexander’s lips on my skin, when I felt his tongue dancing with mine, the outside world ceased to exist.

And when he held me so close in bed every night that I could hardly breathe beneath the bone-crushing weight of his arms around me, all that mattered to me was the sensation of his heart beating strong and sure against my own.

It was ironic, of course, being on the other end of a death sentence like this. The fact that the roles had once been reversed, in a way, wasn’t lost on me. If anything, it just felt like the universe’s cruel attempt at humor.

To think that a year ago, I had been the one on the verge of dying. To think that I had been the one who was making bucket-list plans and thinking about all of the things I missed experiencing, all of the love I wanted, all of the sensations I craved before the inevitable…

And now, Alexander was the one who was dying.

Maybe.

I hoped not, of course. I hoped, prayed, each morning I woke up and each night I went to sleep and each time I felt him pull me into his arms for a brief moment of hidden, tender love, that we could break this curse before it came for him just like it was coming for Liam.

But with each day that passed, my hope began to die out like candles in the wind.

If Margaret had the artifacts, then she was proving particularly elusive. Hunter had followed her to the outlying islands, where she, my father, and Brian had allegedly stayed in a hotel for a night.

But by the time Hunter arrived, they were already gone. The hotel staff said they checked out very early in the morning after only staying in the room for a few hours. Security footage showed them getting into a taxi and heading east.

Hunter eventually found their trail leading toward a train, which they took to a city on the east coast of the island.

The trail eventually ran cold after that. Alexander was still impatiently waiting for news from Hunter, but that had been two days ago.

For all we knew, Margaret had left the island by airplane and was halfway across the world by now.

We desperately hoped that wasn’t the case. Whatever plans she had with those artifacts couldn’t be good, and we needed them to break the curse. There was no other way.

And each day that passed felt like another tick closer to Alexander and Liam’s inevitable death.

Thankfully, Liam’s condition remained stable. The doctor said his wolf was keeping his body in stasis, so his condition wasn’t worsening; it wasn’t getting better, either, which wasn’t particularly comforting to hear, but at least he wasn’t getting any sicker.

Perhaps his wolf was buying us enough time to find the artifacts.

But could we say the same for Alexander?

He insisted he was healthy, that he felt just fine, but I heard the coughing. I heard the rattles in his chest when I laid my head on him at night. I noticed the faint pallor to his skin and the way he seemed more exhausted than usual.

On the third day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take the lies and the uncertainty for another moment longer. If Alexander didn’t get checked soon, we might never have a chance to find the artifacts before the curse took its final toll on him.

We had just finished up another one of our trysts in Alexander’s office, our skin still flushed and hot from each other’s touch when I heard the cough again. Alexander couldn’t hide it this time. Even though he turned away and coughed wetly into a tissue, trying to muffle the sound, I could hear it.

My heart thumped painfully as I sat up from the rug by the fire, pushing my skirt back down around my knees. I stood and walked over to where Alexander was standing near the window with his back turned to me.

“You’re sick.”

“I’m not,” he muttered, but he still didn’t look at me.

“I can hear you coughing, Alexander. Do you think I’m stupid, even after everything we’ve been through?”

Alexander didn’t respond to that or look at me still, but I could see the way his back went rigid. He knew that I knew. He knew there was no more avoiding it.

“I guess I should go to the doctor,” he muttered, lowering the tissue from his mouth. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the faint red stain of blood there, standing out starkly against the white.

“Yes, but the doctor might not be able to help,” I pointed out. “You might need to seek treatment from… other sources.”

Only then did Alexander glance at me. “Like what?”

I couldn’t believe I was saying this, but I said, “I know a… A witch. Julie. She might be able to locate the source of the illness, at the very least.”

Alexander turned to me fully then. I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, but also the resignation; the same resignation I’d felt in my heart, too, when I came to the realization that witches were indeed real and so were curses.

“You think she’d be able to help?” Alexander whispered.

I drew my lower lip through my teeth uncertainly. “Honestly?” I muttered. “I’m not sure if anything can ‘help’ except destroying those artifacts. But if a madwoman stole the artifacts and left the territories, then we have to try everything we can.”

He didn’t answer right away.

I took a step forward and wrapped my fingers around the hand that was holding the tissue. “I can’t lose you,” I choked out.

Alexander closed the remaining distance between us and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.

“You won’t,” he murmured into my air, his breath warm and smelling of the coppery tang of blood. “I made a promise that I intend to keep. Nothing will separate us again. Nothing.”

Alexander drew in a deep, rattling breath and said then, “Call the witch.”