Rufus held me tightly in his arms. He didn’t say anything, but I felt his tears land on my neck like burning acid.
“I’m sorry, Rufus. Just let me be stubborn one last time.”
Rufus still didn’t respond. Murray’s urgent voice pulled us back to reality. “We need to hurry. Beryl won’t last much longer.”
I pulled away from Rufus and locked eyes with him seriously. “Rufus, it’s time to make a decision.”
Rufus clenched his fists and took a deep, trembling breath. “Fine. I’ll be with you no matter what happens.”
Then he smiled at me gently, his eyes filled with unconditional love for me. He cupped my cheeks and kissed my lips. “Since our fates are intertwined, I’ll go with you, even if it leads to a dead end.”
I understood what Rufus meant. If I died, Rufus refused to live without me. The mate connection and our love for each other made our minds and souls live as one.
But Rufus couldn’t kill himself for love. He shouldered the burden of running the werewolf pack, and Laura wouldn’t accept it. She had lost her mate, and I couldn’t take her child away, too.
“I love you, Rufus.” My vision was blurred by tears, but I somehow managed to force a smile. “No, Rufus. You can’t go with me, not this time. You have to live on. I want you to live a long and happy life. I’ve sacrificed so much for that to happen. You’re the lycan king, the hope of thousands of werewolves. Laura needs her son, and our kids need a father. Don’t worry. I’ll always be with you.” After saying that, I pushed Rufus away resolutely and turned to look at Murray.
“Let’s do it.”
Murray’s face was pale, but he nodded resolutely. “Hold Beryl in your arms and sit opposite her.”
I followed his instructions and picked up Beryl carefully.
Murray took out a delicate dagger and slashed his wrist. He used the blood that trickled out to draw some words around me.
The spell was very complicated, and the words constantly changed. When Murray finished the last stroke, the bloody words instantly came to life. A dark purple glow enveloped the entire room, and at the same time, all of Murray’s hair turned white.
“It’s a forbidden spell, so I need to pay the price, too,” Murray explained casually when he saw me staring at his white hair.
“Th-thank you, Murray.” I felt both guilty and grateful. I hoped there would be a chance to repay him in the future, although the chances seemed slim.
“Don’t worry about me. This is gonna work.” As soon as Murray finished speaking, an unbearable pain came from the depths of my body, as if all of my bones were being shattered at the same time.
Rufus’ POV
I watched in horror as both Crystal and Beryl screamed in pain. For the first time in my life, I felt completely and utterly powerless. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t take the pain for them. I could only stand aside and look at them helplessly.
I didn’t dare to imagine what would happen next. Just thinking about it made me extremely restless.
“It hurts! Damn it, Murray! Stop it!” Noreen’s voice sounded from Beryl’s mouth.
Her face contorted in pain, she shrieked, “I won’t let you get away with this! If I’m going to die, I’m going to take Beryl with me_”
“Shut up, Noreen. We’re going to kill you today, whatever it takes.” Gritting her teeth, Crystal endured the pain and interrupted Noreen. Holding Beryl in her arms, she was sweating profusely all over, her face pale nearly gray. The torture she suffered was far beyond what she could bear.
I became more and more anxious, scared that I’d lose Crystal forever.
“Okay, okay! I was wrong. I’m really sorry. I’ll leave Beryl’s body, I swear. Just let me go!” Noreen looked at us and desperately begged for mercy, but it was too late. Murray had said that the spell wouldn’t stop once it was activated.
Now, the evil and powerful black witch cried like a young child. “Help! It hurts!
It really hurts… Please let me go. I won’t pester Beryl anymore, I promise!”
Her desperate cries were useless. Even if she left Beryl’s body, my daughter’s life was still hanging by a thread. Now, we needed to use Noreen as a tool for Beryl’s survival.
I stared at Crystal and Beryl, feeling worried sick.
“Mommy, help me! Please! It hurts. .
.” Noreen’s voice switched to Beryl’s. She cried in Crystal’s arms, a sight that nearly tore my heart into pieces.
I had to admit that I was a selfish person. No one was more important to me than my mate, not even my own daughter. But hearing Beryl’s childish cries of pain, I finally understood the meaning of parenthood. Beryl was in pain, and so I felt so terrible that I almost couldn’t bear to look at her.
“Don’t cry, my baby. Daddy and Mommy are here. You’ll be fine soon.” Tears streamed down Crystal’s pale, sunken cheeks. The loss of her black witch power gradually turned her into a half-wolf. Wolf’s ears came out of the top of her head and drooped listlessly, trembling from the pain.
Crystal and Beryl were surrounded by thick black mist. The array became dimmer and dimmer, and their cries of pain became more and more intense.
I finally closed my eyes, unable to keep watching the horrific scene before me.
My wife and daughter were suffering, but there was nothing I could do to help them. The emotional stress caused the blood in my veins to curdle.
“How about you wait outside?” Murray could tell that I was a wreck, so he tried to persuade me to leave.
“No, I need to be here with them.” Every minute was torture for me, but I refused to leave. I needed to stay by my family’s side.
The black mist continued to envelop Crystal and Beryl. The dark purple light gradually merged with the black mist. The floating words in the array spun faster and faster, which made me nauseous.
Suddenly, I heard an explosion. The black mist streamed into Beryl’s mouth like a reverse waterfall, and the flickering light of the array went completely dark.
The next second, Crystal and Beryl blacked out.
Rufus’ POV
Now that the spell had been completed, I staggered over to check on Crystal and Beryl.
Crystal lay in my arms, her skin as cold as ice. She weakly interlaced her fingers with mine and croaked, “Check Beryl.”
I held her tightly and didn’t want to let her go, but I managed to tear my gaze away from her momentarily to look at Beryl. Beryl’s skin had turned red, and she was out cold. The force surrounding her seemed very unstable. But she looked a lot better than before. The wound on her neck seemed to be healing, and the bleeding had stopped. It seemed that Crystal succeeded. As I held her in my arms now, I could feel that there was only werewolf power left in her body.
“Because Beryl now has tremendous black witch power in her, the unstable power fluctuation is normal. She might have a fever in the next few hours, Murray explained. Then he put his finger on Beryl’s forehead and murmured a spell.
“I’ve temporarily sealed a portion of her strength. She’ll recover slowly as her body adjusts. It may take a long time, but her life won’t be in danger. At most, she’ll be irritable when her strength starts to get chaotic.” As he spoke, he pulled out a potion he had prepared and poured it into Beryl’s mouth. A few seconds later, Beryl’s face slowly returned to normal and she fell asleep Crystal loosened her grip on my hand and lay limply in my arms. Seeing her slowly close her eyes, I shouted, “Crystal, don’t go to sleep. Beryl hasn’t recovered yet. Don’t you want to see her again?”
Crystal struggled to peel her eyes open and cracked a smile at me. “Silly boy, I’m just exhausted. I’m trying to get some rest over here.”
“R-really?” I asked her with difficulty, kissing her trembling eyelids Crystal didn’t respond anymore. Her breath became lighter and lighter With a sigh, Murray picked up Beryl and said to me, “TIl take care of Beryl. You can take the time to say goodbye to Crystal…”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply