Chapter 132: Human Nature
My eyes almost immediately lit up at his words.
That was exactly what I wanted. Especially now that I knew Samuel had actually dipped his toes into this vat of poison the last time, he should be able to provide some valuable insight. Whatever he and his mentor found out during their first round of research could help me greatly.
"You will?" I asked, sounding a little too eager.
Samuel’s hand reached for the doorknob, preparing to leave.
"If this arrangement works for you, and you have further samples, you may hand some over to me so that I can conduct some experiments," he said. "I’ll let you know once I have any findings."
"You’re not going to juke me, are you?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.
Now that I thought about it, I had been a little too hasty. He was trustworthy, but that didn’t mean that I should’ve just trusted him so easily.
After all, Jessie had been trustworthy last time, too. I never thought that she would one day work for Violet, and yet, here we are. The human mind was fickle, and so was loyalty. Samuel had no reason to be loyal to me either― he wasn’t even my friend.
"And what if I do?" Samuel asked. There was no teasing in his voice, and his face lacked visible emotion. However, for some reason, I knew that he was joking. At least, I hoped that he was. "Isn’t it a little too late? You’ve already told me everything I need to know."
I pursed my lips.
Samuel continued, "If you don’t trust me, you shouldn’t have told me any of this. For your sake, you ought to learn not to trust strangers too easily."
I wrinkled my nose and murmured under my breath, "You’re not exactly a stranger."
Maybe it was what I said that melted some frost that had long gathered around Samuel’s heart. Whatever it was, he sighed.
"Briar, there’s no one in this world that you should trust other than yourself," Samuel quietly said. "Even your fated mate could betray you one day. We may be werewolves, but we’re still half human. And human nature is, more often than not, dark and cruel."
He twisted and pulled the door open. Right before he left, he looked over his shoulder and added, "However, I know it’s hard to believe, but at the very least, I don’t think that Alpha Cassian actually wants you dead."
Samuel pursed his lips, the expression in his eyes conflicted. "I don’t necessarily think you should trust him," he said. "Likewise, you don’t need to completely ward yourself against him either. The world isn’t always just black and white."
With that said, Samuel stepped out of my room, locking the door behind him with a resounding click.
***
The next morning, I woke up bright and early.
After running out in the middle of the night in hopes of finding clues in the infirmary, I had burned through some precious hours of sleep. Whatever remaining hours I had left hadn’t been enough. After all, I had ended up wasting most of it in the infirmary, and then another hour was gone with Rowan and Samuel’s visit.
In the end, I had barely fallen asleep when dawn broke. It wasn’t long before the door suddenly burst open with omegas rushing in, carrying various breakfast selections. They laid everything out on the coffee table before leaving, but the noise they made was enough to snap me awake.
Especially since one of them kindly reminded me that Samuel and Cassian would be waiting for me two hours later to start on the first healing session, so I’d better get started on eating and getting ready.
After finishing breakfast and getting dressed, I headed outside. They had left the door unlocked and had provided specific instructions on where to go. If they dared to leave the door unlocked, I had no doubt that the pack house was currently heavily guarded, just in case I decided to make a break for it again.
To be fair, I wasn’t stupid enough to do so in broad daylight, especially since everyone was awake to catch me. Most of the warriors were hanging around the pack house at the moment as well, since it was just in time for their morning training. I would be a fool to run now; I wouldn’t even make it past the pack house grounds.
Sighing every few steps, I trudged down the hallway as though my feet were made of lead, dreading meeting Cassian.
Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to take a detour. I needed to grab more of the tea leaves as well so that Samuel would have a substantial amount to experiment with.
News of Cassian’s poisoning would’ve no doubt spread by now, and I needed to act fast before the culprit realized that their stash of wolfsbane could’ve been compromised. Once they knew, it would only be a matter of time before they erased the evidence, just to be safe.
My job was to grab more of the dried tea mix before they removed the entire stash.
With that in mind, I turned down a different path and headed straight for Willow’s room instead.
However, the closer I got to her door, I realized that something was amiss. For one, the door to her room seemed to be left wide open. That immediately made me frown as I hastened my pace, my mind immediately racing with all the possible outcomes.
At best, it could have been Healer Samuel paying her a visit to do what I wanted to do. At worst, it could be Violet returning to finish the job. Or perhaps, it was just Cedar or one of the Alphas visiting.
Regardless of who it was, I burst through the door, fully intent on confronting them.
There was a man with light brown hair who stood right by Willow’s bed, his body hovering extremely close to hers. His face might as well be plastered against her sickly pale one from where I stood. His hands were still by his side, and it didn’t seem like he was going to strangle her or attempt to take her life.
In fact, he seemed more curious about her than anything. I saw how he was inhaling deep breaths near her, as though he was breathing in her scent, and his nose bumped into Willow’s cheek.
An immediate revulsion crawled up my spine. Was he one of my sister’s admirers who was taking advantage of her bedridden state?
No matter who he was, I wouldn’t let him get away with this! I stepped closer, ready to subdue and interrogate him, but his ears pricked the moment I shifted my feet.
Almost instantly, he looked up in surprise.
The moment he turned and looked at me, my jaw dropped. The person who greeted me was not within my expectations. It was someone so entirely surprising I had to do a double-take just to be sure I was not hallucinating.
His green eyes widened in shock when he realized he wasn’t alone.
"Ralph?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Is that really you?"
Ralph’s lips slightly parted as well, and he instinctively took a step back. He seemed like he wanted to shake his head to deny it, but his reaction was already telling enough.
I eagerly approached him, nearly reaching out to grab his arm.
"I knew it!" I said, almost too excitedly. "I saw you sneaking around last night in the pack house! Why didn’t you wait for me to catch you?"
When Ralph had disappeared down the corridor and into seemingly thin air, I had doubted myself for a moment. I thought maybe I missed Lucien so much that I imagined his friend here. But now that I thought about it, it made even less sense. My brain should have imagined Lucien, not Ralph.
"W-What―" Ralph said, stammering. His face had an odd tint of red, especially coloring the apples of his cheeks. I had never seen him make such an expression before.
"Why are you turning so red?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, suspicious. "Are you poisoned?"
Did the wolfsbane infection in this room turn so strong in the span of hours? With it being in a secure little bag and kept in a drawer, I didn’t think it was possible for werewolves to be affected just by being in the same room.
He raised a hand to block the bottom half of his face, but it didn’t stop the blush from creeping to his earlobes.
"I am not," he quickly denied, but his line of sight refused to rest on me.
"Oh?" I asked. "If you’re here, then is Lucien here as well? Is he alright? Did he send you here?"
One by one, the barrage of questions left my lips. I took a step forward to close the distance between us, but Ralph merely stepped back, looking a little panicked. Judging by his pale expression, I suddenly thought of the worst.
"Don’t tell me that Lucien..." I paused, trailing off. The words were choked up in my throat, unable to completely vocalize themselves. "He... Where is he?"