CHAPTER 69: 69

Charlotte

I woke up to realize that Xavier was not on the bed with me. He had stepped out. So I took the liberty to wander around the pack and visit the pack’s hospital.

Sofia went on one of her short trips to pick some flowering herbs to plant in the pack so she couldn’t follow me to see Arianna. She was returning that day so I already had a lot of gist waiting for her.

I figured we could meet at the pack’s hospital and talk about how both our trips went.

While I waited for her to show up, I went through the activities of the hospital. The volunteers were doing well with the patients. They were eager to learn. And they were learning. I gave them some books which I also read to help them through it and they knew a few things about herbs.

Alpha Xavier also sent some of them to learn orthodox medicine so they could perform an operation if need be. They would come back to the pack hospital to teach the others what they have learnt.

I hung around and checked the supplies while I was waiting and she finally came.

We held each other in a tight embrace when we saw each other.

"You came later than you told me." I poured.

"I’m sorry, I heard there was a special herb south of my location, I had to go check it out." She replied and I embraced her again.

"I have gist for you." I started.

"I saw my friend Arianna. Did you know that the Alpha bought her whole flat and made her a house owner? All the tenants now pay her as house owner."

"Are you serious? That’s so nice of him." She replied

"The shocking part was he didn’t even tell me about it. I found out from my friend and I didn’t know how to react. Like he kept me here all these months and I’d been hating on him calling him heartless for taking me away from my friend not considering how she will fare without me after an operation but I guess I worried for nothing."

I said with a proud smile.

"Seems like the Alpha now has a special place in your heart because of this?" Sofia chuckled at my soft expression as I spoke about Xavier.

"Well, I guess the Alpha is good." Her tone lost its exciting touch to it.

"I wish he was this good and caring when I lost my parents. At least my mom. The last healer." Sofia mentioned it and my heart melted for her.

"I’m sure there was a reason." I replied, my tone laced with the bitterness I felt.

"Don’t..." she replied. "Don’t tell me that. You were not there. You don’t know how he ignored their death like it was nothing. Like they didn’t mean the world to me. He burned bodies like they were candles." Sofia shook her head, sniffing back the tears that fought to come out of her eyes.

I patted her back gently.

"I can’t say much because I wasn’t around then but I want to believe that something happened. There had to be something that made him do that."

Two guards walked into the store room in search of the plant of life.

"Who is sick?" Sofia asked, she overheard them talking to the store keepers.

"The Alpha instructed us to bring it. There is someone who is in need of it." One of them replied but that didn’t answer our question yet.

"Who is this person? You know we don’t just hand out the fruit of life to anyone who walks in right?" I chipped. Even though they didn’t take Sofia for granted, they wouldn’t do that to me.

They would explain as they should because of my relationship with the Alpha.

"A man was brought in. He is sick." They explained but they seemed to be in a hurry so I let them grab what they needed and scurry off.

Sofia and I exchanged glances.

"Do you think the Alpa will let random wolves walk in and give them the plant of life to get better?" Sofia asked and I shook my head with a smile.

"I don’t think so. There is a reason he is Alpha.

Sofia shrugged. It was no news that she wasn’t really on good terms with the Alpha. She still held some grudges against him but she minded her business.

"Let’s hope he knows that doing that will expose us to enemies." She replied.

"And not doing that will expose us to even more enemies. If he doesn’t give them more packs can hold them against us." I replied but she scoffed.

"Is it not better to have an advantage against other packs? At least our men are stronger and they can’t die." She replied.

"But they are not immortal. It doesn’t make them immortal. They can die. If Xavier is giving out bits of the plant of life to save sick people, I don’t think that’s going to bring us enemies." I said with a certain smile.

Again, she shrugged.

"I won’t argue with you. I’m starving." She replied and made her way out of the store house where she dropped all the herbs and plants and seeds and other parts of plants that she went to get.

"Me too." I added as I followed her out.

"I haven’t had anything to eat since morning. Let’s eat together while you tell me about your trip." I nudged at her.

"I came across legendary plants and I almost didn’t want to return." She laughed as she walked away further.

"Really? I wish I followed you this time. The person who tipped you this time did a good job in finding the plants." I commented

"That’s why he charged an extra amount. The plants grew naturally and the location hasn’t been compromised yet." She replied agreeing to what I said.

We got to the pack kitchen and made our order but Sofia had an idea. She wanted to make eggs with one of the herbs she was able to find. And she claimed that the herb would change the taste game entirely.

I had nothing to lose so I agreed. She broke six eggs into a bowl, turned in some seasonings and went to bring the herb. It was a green leaf with a tiny amount of fur like little thorns and the edges were pointy.

She sliced them into halves and dumped them into the eggs. Greased the pan with some fresh butter and turned in the mixture.

"This plant is what some people call the life or death plant." She chuckled as she informed me.

"If prepared well, it can be nutritious, boost one’s system and even heal wounds and nightmares but if prepared badly, it can be poisonous. Kill anyone, slowly from the inside or faster if you want them dead in minutes."

A gasp escaped my lips.

What a plant.

"It was said that our ancestors used it to kill their husbands." She added.

"What?!" My eyes flew open

"Back then, the males didn’t see anything wrong in giving out their wives or selling them to other wolves who desired them. A female wolf could be passed down from her husband to three other wolves, her children abandoned as she went."

"Not all females liked that the males could do things their way and go scot free so they had a meeting to deliberate on the issue and came up with the plan."

"So even if their husbands saw the plant in the kitchen they would think it will be used to cook. The sick ones would think they would be getting healed soon." Sofia shook her head and scrambled the eggs even more.

"The females had the liberty to prepare the plant as they wished. The ones who wanted to be freed quickly would prepare it a certain way to end their husband’s life. They were mostly mothers who had to go meet their kids. While the ones who chose to let the man feel excruciating pain first and drain life out of him applied it in such a manner." Sofia dished the eggs that were done and brought it to a table by the corner of the kitchen.

"So, is this one to kill or heal?" I asked, gesturing to the eggs.

She shrugged.

"This is just a vegetable that is nutritious." She replied and dug into the eggs first to assure me that it wasn’t poisonous.

"I’m hungry now so I will eat without asking questions but when I’m done, you will teach me both ways to prepare it to be poisonous and nutritious." I replied and she nodded.

"Sure."

The kitchen chef brought our meal while we ate the eggs. But just then, the Alpha’s guards ran into the kitchen, startling Sofia and I.

"We need a plate of food and water." They demanded.

The kitchen chef looked as puzzled as we were. Why would two guards need a plate of food and a cup of water?

Sofia and I exchanged glances but it clicked as soon as we did.

It had to be that sick man.

"Whose food are you here to take?" I demanded. They weren’t the same set of guards who visited the hospital.

"A man... I wouldn’t call him wolf because his wolf was killed but he was brought to the pack in a really bad state. He said something about meeting the Alpha’s brother when he was staying at the abandoned Elder’s house and he claimed to hear from the goddess. The Alpha doesn’t believe him but he wants to save him. The man almost passed in front of all of us."

By the time the guard finished explaining, the chef brought what seemed to be some leftovers from our meal and a cup of water. The guards took it and hurried out of the kitchen.

Sofia and I locked eyes. We were silent but the silence said all that was needed to be said.