The Alpha King Marked Me. I Still Haven't Told Him I'm A Girl novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Eighty Two

Valka

Present

I shiver, twisting onto my side as the ache tears through me. It’s spread from my stomach to my chest. Every breath feels like needles are pricking through my ribs.

A firm hand presses me against an equally firm chest, shielding me from the cold, but it’s useless. The chill is in my bones. It’s killing me from the inside out. Another ragged sob slips from my lips.

"We’ll get you to a healer soon," a low, soothing voice murmurs against my ear. "Hang in there."

I vaguely remember Lucien pulling me from the carriage, wrapping me in bundle after bundle of blankets before setting me on his horse and holding me close. He bit his wrist and fed me with a mouthful of his blood, and it had kept the fever at bay all night.

But it returned by morning with renewed vengeance, eager to take me down the deadly plunge.

Lucien had no choice but to send the party ahead, veering through the northern passes to find the closest physician.

We’ve been riding for hours ever since and I don’t feel any better. My breath is hot as flames as I thrash against him, the rickety gallop of the horse sending my body into a dangerous lurch.

My lips skim a strong collarbone and my mouth waters at the smell of the blood thrumming under his skin. Thirst consumes me. I lick the snow off my lips but it does nothing to quench the thirst. Instead it fuels it, filling my gut with fire.

My nose drifts toward his neck on instinct, running down the length of his strong, steady pulse. Lucien draws back, his palm firm on my cheek as he guides me away from his neck. "No," he warns. "I can’t tell if it’s helping or worsening your health."

"I’m thirsty," I plead. "It hurts. One...more drop?"

Something rumbles in his chest. "We’re almost at the mountains--"

His words blur as my canines stretch, pain and need blurring together. A moan slips from me as I press my face into his neck, running my teeth along him--and sink them through the leather and into his skin.

He jerks so violently, the horse rears so high, neighing as it hurls us off its back. Lucien breaks my fall, catching me and encircling his arms around me as we roll in the thicket of snow and rocks.

My lips never leave his skin. His blood tastes like fire and nectar, like the world itself melting on my tongue, granting nothing but dark, sweet oblivion. I drink greedily, the high rushing through my veins, smothering the pain.

Lucien’s back slams into the tree, the trunk cracking upon impact, halting our crash. "Valka," Lucien pants, fingers threading into my hair to yank me off, but they stay, his breath stuttering as I crawl into his lap, fingers gripping his silky silvery locks as I pull back his head, drinking deeper. "That’s enough, Val."

A little more... I think.

He clutches my shoulder and against my ear, he whispers something in the old tongue that makes my limbs turn to jelly. My lips leave his skin, eyes growing heavy-lidded. I slump forward, lashes fluttering shut as the darkness takes me. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

***

I come awake to the scent of brewing herbs and low arguing, Lucien’s voice and a woman’s in hushed tones I barely hear. Metal chimes, jars clink. "I told you not to come here, boy," the woman scolds. "You risk drawing your enemies to my door."

I tilt my head to see who could possibly talk to Lucien like that, but I must lose time and consciousness for a brief moment because when I come to, it is to adept fingers pressing sharp into the center of my skull. My limbs are rendered immobile, needles pierced into several points of my near bare skin.

"Those weeds have kept you alive through every idiotic decision you’ve made," she snaps. "If you had any sense, you’d have left her mated to the wolf."

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