Calleb looked at Lidya, who approached him lazily before crouching down in front of him. Out of instinct, the Gamma moved away from her, but his act was rewarded with a deep sigh from the witch.
"Where do you think you can go in this condition?" Lidya asked, as she leaned closer to Calleb. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it when you were asleep, not now."
Calleb didn't believe her immediately, after experiencing life and death, it was hard for him to let his guard down. On the other hand, what Lidya said was right. "Why are you here with the dwarf? Why were you not in the castle to ward off the curse?"
The curse that forced those shifters to lose their inner beasts and rendered them helpless to the state where they weren't even able to fight back.
"Do you think me trying alone was enough to ward off that curse?" Lidya asked, folding her arms in front of her chest, while staring at him. "Of course, I was in the castle, that was the main reason why you are still alive now."
Calleb squinted his eyes at Lidya's statement. "So, why didn't you help us then? You could do something." But, then he remembered something. "Where is Sterling?"
After asking that, Calleb immediately stood up and was about to go to find Rossie's father. If something bad happened to him, he didn't think he could face his mate.
"He is all right, he is in the next room," Lidya said helplessly and tugged Calleb's shirt, so he could sit down again.
It was easy enough to handle the Gamma in his current state now, because one move from Lidya was enough to send the now seemingly weak Calleb tumbling back down to his position from earlier.
The Gamma glared at her, but couldn't do much, especially when the exhaustion washed over his body. At least, he knew that Sterling was still alive.
"Who else did you save aside from me and Sterling?" Calleb asked again, fighting his sleepiness and weariness.
"No one," Lidya said simply and took a glass of yellow liquid from the tray which the dwarf had brought into the room earlier. "Drink this." She gave the glass to him.
"What is this?" Calleb asked suspiciously.
"Medicine, to strengthen your inner beast. The curse had done more damage than you can imagine," Lidya said and thrust the glass into his hand, as he grabbed it warily.
Calleb looked at the yellow liquid with a frown, but after looking at it for a few seconds longer, he decided that the witch could be trusted, though he didn't trust the dwarf.
"I have told you that the guardian angels were not supposed to be separated from each other, but your Alpha did exactly what I told not to," Nutdrouk said condescendingly.
Ignoring Nutdrouk sharp remark, Calleb focused on his urge to find out more pressing things.
"Do you know where is Raphael?" Calleb tasted the liquid and his frown deepened when the bitterness hit his taste buds.
"He is dead," Nutdrouk answered it for him before Lidya could say anything.
==============
Jedrek grabbed Lilac's arm, pulled her away and to his side suddenly, making the guardian angel look at him questioningly. Nothing that could be determined as danger was around them, the massacre seemed to have ended a few hours ago, so, why did Jedrek look very strange?
"I feel there is something wrong with this place," Jedrek could sense that something was not right in the air and Sybil, the witch agreed with him.
"This is a curse," she said, raising her hand to feel the air. "The same curse that you had suffered, My king."
"The same curse?!" Lilac almost shrieked. It answered her question, why the dead bodies of the lycan warriors were in their human form rather than in their beasts'.
Lilac couldn't imagine how they could fight those intruders without their strength... It was completely a one sided massacre.
On the other hand, Jedrek balled his fists tightly and called out for Sebastian and Theo to comeback, through mind link. He couldn't afford to lose some more people now.
The death of these people in this castle and the city, not only made him lose his man-power, but also weakened their strength for the up coming war, since he had gathered half of his forces in this place.
It didn't take long before Sebastian and Theo returned. They looked fine, just a little bit exhausted. The aftereffects of the curse must be still in the air and it would affect them also if they insisted to stay any longer.
"We need to go from here," Jedrek reached out for Lilac's hand, but she refused to budge. Her eyes stared deeply at the carcasses that were lying in piles before their eyes.
"What about them?" Lilac asked, while gritting her teeth. It wasn't very long before she was crowned as their queen, but the first thing that she had done was failing them.
This city was empty. Lilac could feel it. Those citizens had died because of this…
However, another question soon probed Lilac's head when she realized those citizens gathered in the castle. It seemed they were coming here voluntarily…
What exactly had happened.
"We have to leave this place, now." Jedrek emphasized his words, urging Lilac to understand that they should took off from this cursed place as soon as possible.
He lost yet another castle and territory…
Jedrek couldn't sit well with this fact.
"There is nothing we can do for them." Even though his words sounded cold and harsh, but that was the truth. There was nothing they could do for them now, it was too late for them to return and save anyone.
"What about Eaton?" Sebastian asked in low voice. "At least we need to know if he is still alive or not."
Jedrek's face darkened. "If he is alive, he will find us." This time he pulled Lilac's hand with a little bit strength, he didn't want them to stay there any longer.
Lilac was still reluctant to leave them like this. They should give them a proper burial, yet she also knew it was impossible in their current state.
They didn't deserve this…
"Where are we going?" Sebastian asked when they started walking away.
"To the other realm. To find my brothers," he said darkly.