Chapter 453 - 453 Beautiful Fantasy World

453 Beautiful Fantasy World

When the sun had finally announced its full glorified presence to the world, Lina started the walk to her friend’s tent to wake her up.

On her way there, she stopped and turned to Wyatt’s tent.

‘A few more minutes won’t hurt. I’ll wake Wyatt up and have him help get breakfast ready. Crysta needs her rest after the night she had.’

The princess thought to herself before approaching the tent, trying to justify her reasons for torturing the weakened alpha.

He had turned out to be less helpful than they thought he would be. He was almost at the same level as Crysta in strength it was disappointing… perhaps he was even weaker.

The girls held off on mocking him for it since it would have made them just as bad as he was to Lina.

Lina paused when she reached the flap of his tent, blinking a few times in confusion.

It was open…

Rushing to check inside, she was greeted by the calm silence behind the tent flap.

.....

There was no one inside. Wyatt was not around.

The princess cursed under her breath and searched the mind link in hopes of picking up on his location but he wasn’t nearby either.

Focusing harder, Lina searched for the prince’s presence in her mind. He was not a royal which would make it easy for her to find him even if he blocked out the mind link.

Royals were able to penetrate the minds of any werewolves regardless of their rank. One of the perks of being part of the most powerful werewolves in the world.

Right when she was about to give up, a new presence suddenly made itself known at the edges of her consciousness…

It was Wyatt but judging by his mental state, he seemed tired, frightened… and barely able to walk. Lina looked up at the mountain lions still watching over them and gestured to the tent that had her sleeping friend.

She nearly slapped herself for trying to talk to the creature.

Of course, there was no way the lion was going to understand her and the fact that she was even comfortable with it spending the night there watching them was shocking on its own.

To her surprise, the lion leapt off the ledge it was sitting on and walked up to the delta’s tent before laying down and getting comfortable with its head on its paws.

“Yeah, that works too.” The princess said out loud but the lion wasn’t paying any more attention.

With her friend in capable hands, the girl rushed away from their camp and started following the faint consciousness of her friend.

She rushed downstream, following the narrow path that was meant to lead her to Wyatt.

Further down the path, she found a white and black wolf laying on the ground. Wyatt’s body was covered in scratches and a few blood stains on his fur and he looked like he was in bad shape.

“Wyatt, what happened?” the girl called out to his mind.

The wolf was panting for a while before speaking up, “I… I’m not sure. One moment, I’m hunting for a hare or at least a deer, and the next, I’m attacked by goddess-knows-what. I could barely see it. It attacked from the back… or the side… I don’t know anymore.

Using such underhanded tactics to try and subdue me. I think it’s dead but I barely got away with my life. I had already killed the hare by then and just thought I would bring it back to the camp, but the distance is large… I got winded…

Ambush… More than one…”

Lina frowned at the alpha’s state. He looked worse than she thought he was capable, “You need some rest before you can start back up. Shift back into your human form and I will carry you.”

“No, I won’t be carried by the likes of you… and I don’t mean to offend you,” the man responded tiredly.

“Then what were you trying to imply?” Lina asked through gritted teeth, tugging at the wolf’s paw. She wanted to get away from the forest now.

The beta alpha sighed, “Your wolf is not an energetic type. You’re fast and there are things only you can do but heavy lifting is not one of them. Your wolf is more powerful than ours though. I’ll admit that much but I’ve also noticed your increasing appetite.

You burn through more energy than we do. That is why I went out hunting. To be honest, from here on, I’ll only be slowing you down more than you can afford. You royals are truly something else,” the man responded.

“You can stop talking now. Shift into your human form and let’s get you back to the camp. It’s that simple really. I’ll do the morning cooking. You won’t have to do a thing. You can eat your fill and be lazy all you want but you will make it to the finish line with me,” the girl responded firmly, holding his gaze.

The man shifted into his human form. Beside him was a large hare, dead with its eyes staring off into nothingness. Wyatt looked paler than he had when he went to sleep and Lina worried that the man was worse than he was letting on, “Hey, Wyatt, you don’t look so good.”

A feeling of danger took over the girl as she tried to help the man up. She looked off in the direction he’d come from, her ears tapering into long tips with white fur at the back. When she was sure there was nothing following him, she started the walk back to their camp, “Are you going to leave my kill behind?”

The girl froze in her gait. Fear had drowned all thoughts of the dead hare from her mind, “Oh, sorry… Slipped my mind,” she responded. Setting Wyatt to lean against the steep mountain wall, she picked up the carcass and slung it over her shoulder.

Their progress was slow, but they managed to make it back to the camp within an hour.

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Lina greeted the delta who was bringing down the tents so that they could get moving. She then helped Wyatt take a seat at the furthest wall away from the creek.

She put her fingers to his neck to check for his pulse only to have her hand slapped away by the stubborn alpha.

“I’m just tired. It’s not like I’ve come down with some disease that’s going to kill me,” the man responded weakly. The fire in his eyes never wavered but his body betrayed that determination.

“I want to believe that, Wyatt, but…”

“Lina? What happened to him?” Crysta’s voice cut the girl off. The tone in her voice made Wyatt scrunch his eyebrows.

“What is she talking about, Lina?”

The princess remained quiet, afraid to reveal what she was looking at. Crysta pushed past the girl and felt for the man’s pulse and temperature. “I’m just tired. Why are you…”

“You’re pale Wyatt. You look dead,” Crysta stated bluntly, “Lina, where did you find him?”

“He went out hunting early in the morning. I found him like this when I went looking for him,” the girl explained.

“Take his shirt off,” Crysta asked abruptly.

“What?!” Lina and Wyatt were dumbfounded.

“Ugh! It’s important. Not what you degenerates might have running through your minds,” the girl groaned, reaching for the hem of the alpha’s shirt.

Wyatt slapped her hand, “I can take it off myself, thank you… Who’s being the degenerate now?”

“You…”

The alpha proceeded to pull his shirt off his body. When he did, however, the girls gasped. The looks of shock on their faces confirmed the fears that had been running through Wyatt’s mind. He’d been sure something was wrong but these reactions were almost too much to bear.

The alpha followed their gazes until his eyes landed on a large bite mark on his side. The wound was fresh and still bleeding. However, the liquid that was oozing from the wound was not the normal crimson blood that a normal person had. It was black and smelt like completely wrong.

Crysta shook herself from her trance and ran for her bag. Within it, she retrieved a first aid kit and came rushing back to the alpha, “What happened to you, Wyatt?”

“I… I was attacked… but I fought them off. I did… Left them for dead in the woods and took my kill with me. The princess needs all the strength she can get to make it over the mountain and make a beeline straight for the finish line at the Great Arena,” the man said.

“That’s a risky gamble. The mountain is cold and even after Lina makes it over the mountain, there is still a long way to go before she can get to the Great Arena.”

“It’s better than us slowing her down any more than we already have. We’ve helped the princess make it this far. There is enough water for the three of us and now I’ve got the nourishment she needs to make the rest of the journey. Hunting in the mountains is next to impossible. I don’t see a way out without us ruining her chances of winning the Trials,” Wyatt tried reasoning.

“Wyatt…” Crysta was cut short by the man leaning against the mountain wall as he placed his fingers on her lips.

Wyatt was suggesting they crossed the mountains and allowed Lina to make the rest of the journey on her own, unrestricted by their slow pace. Wyatt was suggesting staying behind despite his state. It simply wasn’t like him.

Wyatt was sweating profusely, his condition worsening right before the delta’s eyes.

“No, Crysta… You’ve done enough in the scolding department. You’ve said enough…” Normally, Crysta chose a time like this to insult the alpha for his stupidity but Wyatt was not having it.

His silence now though… had a different meaning that it came with.

The night before, Wyatt and Lina had gotten into an argument and he’d succeeded in riling up the princess and Crysta had stepped between them.

At the time, she hadn’t thought that Wyatt had understood anything the princess tried to tell him. But now, after everything she’d witnessed. Wyatt had gone out hunting to help Lina and had returned injured.

Even in his injured state, he was fine with letting the princess push forward without him slowing her down. Aside from Liam, this could have been the first time Wyatt was acting selflessly for another.

His weak sickly eyes said it all. He’d finally let go of his hard-headed nature.

‘Did you have to make me wait two years?’ she said through the mind link.

‘She has a beautiful fantasy world.’