Brethren, though? My body shook with distaste.
Anton eyed me. “How bad are your injuries?”
I didn’t kid myself that he was asking out of concern. He just wanted to make sure that I’d get out of his demesne before I caused any more trouble. “I’ll live,” I answered shortly, squaring my shoulders. I was bleeding from a thousand different cuts and it was still painful to breathe, but there was no way I was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much I hurt. “What about my things?” I asked him. The thought of leaving my little treasure chest behind was almost as much of a wrench as leaving behind the pack. Almost.
“I’ll arrange for them to be sent to you once you are settled somewhere else,” he said dismissively, then moved away wrinkling his nose. “We need to hurry. The Lord Alpha will be sending the doctor to the portal as we speak. We need to get through before he manages to return. And for god’s sake stay at least a few feet away from me. Your stench is getting unbearable.”
I scowled at him, angrily. Even though he was getting everything he’d ever wanted, he still couldn’t resist sticking the knife in. “What? Don’t fancy licking my blood any more?” I hissed at him.
“Oh, believe me, I still want it. And I’d have it if I was so inclined.” I looked at him, warily before he continued. “But now I’m alpha I need to rise above such base desires. Keep your funny blood, ape. It’s about all you have left after all.” And with that he turned and started striding away.
My eyes shot daggers after him, but I followed regardless. I wondered if Anton’s attitude would change if he knew the truth about my blood. I shrugged. It didn’t matter now. I put my head down and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, ignoring the dots of bleeding pain from around my body.
It seemed to take an age to get anywhere. The landscape remained entirely uniform throughout – emerald green blades of cutting grass, brilliant blue sky and the walls of the valley. There was absolutely nothing else to be seen anywhere. It was a blessed relief when the purple shimmers of the second portal finally came into sight. Anton turned back towards me briefly, raising his eyebrows with an extraordinarily annoying look of anticipation. Screw him. I wasn’t leaving for him or because of his demands – it was for the good of the pack. My friends and my family. I felt unbidden tears rise up and blinked them furiously away. I had to stop thinking of myself though, and start thinking of the others. It occurred to me that I now possessed absolutely nothing. All my weapons were lost, and my ‘fainting fit’ had meant that I couldn’t even retrieve my trusty backpack. I had no money and nowhere to go. And with Iabartu’s death, not even at my hands, I now had absolutely no purpose. I felt utterly bereft. I watched Anton disappear through the gateway, taking a moment to compose myself. I was damned if I’d let him see how upset I was.
Digging deep inside myself, I searched for the flare of bloodfire. Once I had it, I let it swirl around me, and I let its waves of heat curl around me my body. I pictured John, and Julia, and everything I was leaving behind. I even reflected on Iabartu’s corpse and how I hadn’t even managed to kill her myself. At least as long as I was angry, I wasn’t going to weep in front of Anton; I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and stepped through the portal.
Chapter Twenty Nine
The sensation of passing through the gateway made me feel oddly nauseous. I pushed it away, however, blinking, and realised that this second gateway was close to the clearing where John had shown me the wichtlein’s stone. It made sense now, after all we were some distance from the beach and it had never quite tallied that Iabartu had travelled so far away from there instead of going straight to the keep. It seemed a lifetime ago now since I’d been here last. I closed my eyes for a brief second, imagining John in front of me, before composing myself, opening my eyes and looking coldly at Anton. “What will happen to the portal?”
“It’s none of your concern,” he muttered.
Fuckwit,