Chapter 34

Today's patrol was uneventful. Blade led the new werewolves around the area to familiarize themselves with the terrain of the forest, and they did not encounter any rogues. Blade wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or suspicious. It was odd to not even have caught a whiff of their scent given how often they had been running into rogues before.

Arthur sighed as they reached the training ground and said goodbye to the rest of the patrol, bounding up the hill towards their house. The sun hadn’t set yet, so Daphne was, likely, still making dinner.

He reached the door, shifted into his human form, and opened the door carefully.

"Daphne, I'm back!"

"Dinner's almost done!" She replied from the kitchen.

He smiled a bit, happy at the sound of her voice before going to wash up and sit at the table. She served them both and set an extra bottle beside his plate. It was small and unmarked. He didn’t know what it could be, but Daphne didn’t offer any explanation as she began to eat.

Arthur frowned at the little bottle, "What is this?"

He picked up the bottle and looked inside. Daphne's scent tainted with a metallic twang filled his nose: blood.

Her blood. He closed it, stiffened, and looked at her in shock. Why would she give him this? How did she get this?

The stark white bandage wrapped around her arm drew his attention and he jumped to his feet. Anger roiling in his chest. Hadn’t she scolded him about hurting himself? Why would she turn around and hurt herself?

"Why did you do this?" Arthur demanded. "How could you hurt yourself?"

Daphne’s eyes widened just a bit as if she was shocked at the question before she met his gaze calmly, "I thought about it for a long time, and I'm worried."

Arthur shook his head stubbornly. That wasn’t an answer that made any sense!

"That's not a good reason to hurt yourself!"

"What if you get hurt and I can't get to you?" Daphne asked, her voice breaking as she met his gaze. The little tremble of her jaw as she spoke made him hold his words. Her eyes glossed over and his chest tightened with regret. "I can't fight with you, but I want to help at least a little. Take it. Maybe you’ll be able to save someone else like we saved Anthony.”

Arthur trembled, his heart conflicted. He knew that Daphne cared for him, but he had never expected her to go to such lengths to try to help him. It doused his anger a bit, as he looked at the small bottle. It was an act of great trust to give this to him, and it was very dangerous. How would he explain carrying around some sort of magic potion? How would he explain how he got it if he were ever caught?

Even if he managed to not get caught while treating someone, was it worth the risk?

"But--"

"It's useless to refuse; the blood can't flow back into my body!"

Arthur huffed at that, refusing to laugh though it was strangely funny. She looked nervous and stubborn as she stared at him. Her golden eyes were unfaltering. She wouldn’t take it back even if he left it here.

With a defeated sigh and frown, he opened the pouch around his neck and carefully put the bottle inside. The bottle was made of wood, so it wasn't fragile, but he knew he couldn't underestimate his strength.

“Fine,” Arthur said. “But… please don’t do this again.”

Daphne smiled at him, "I have something else to give you. Hold out your hand."

Arthur was wary, afraid that she gave him another bottle of blood, but he held out his hand.

Daphne placed a small stone in the palm of his hand and he gasped staring at the little stone: another point. He tore his eyes away from the stone as he closed his fingers over it and looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

Daphne felt her face starting to warm under his expectant gaze and she averted her eyes as she tried to explain.

"I-I saw you defending the patrol members on the training ground... That was cool, so I'm giving you a point."

Arthur grinned, his heart light and happy. He put the stone in the pouch quickly, afraid that Daphne would think twice and try to take it back. If she asked why he’d done it, he was certain she would want to take it back.

He had only done what he wanted on the training ground: they pissed him off and he vented his temper. It hadn't been noble, or really for anyone else’s benefit. He hadn’t even considered why he’d gotten so angry. He just was and it was better to vent a little bit than to lose control.

Sure, he’d thought about all the werewolves who were still in the infirmary, like Anthon, but he wasn't convinced that was the reason. He didn’t think it was just about the werewolves who had died either. His feelings had grown more complicated since coming to Sharp Armor. He still wasn’t used to feeling all the other feelings he’d been dealing with since meeting Daphne.

The more he thought about it, Daphne wasn't the only one who had started to act differently after the confrontation on the training grounds. Blade had been giving him slightly amused and happy looks whenever they met gazes. He seemed almost proud. The patrol members had acted strangely while they were showing the new werewolves around too. They were usually a bit distant, but today, they were oddly kind to him. It had been weird and a bit suspicious, but Arthur had kept calm.

Were they thinking his actions were noble too?

Arthur shoved those thoughts away and settled down to eat with Daphne. He couldn't stop smiling, and she hadn't been able to look him in the eye for most of the dinner. He praised her cooking, though he could have just eaten the meat raw and laughed when she told him he wasn’t allowed to try and help with the dishes if they meant to have any dishes left.

They were almost done eating when Arthur suddenly caught a familiar stench in the air. His heart sped up and he pushed his senses out further, trying to get a feel for how far away they were.

"Rogues!" He shot to his feet. "They're near the pack again!"

Daphne gasped, "What? Have they tried to poison the wells again?"

"I don't know, but enough guards are guarding the wells that if they’re trying to, it’ll be difficult for them to succeed. You stay at home and don't come out!"

Daphne nodded while Arthur shifted to his wolf form and rushed out the door into the darkness of the night she closed the door behind him and resolved to wait overnight for news while hoping that no one died that night.

When Blade realized that the threat had been neutralized, there was blood everywhere. Arthur growled as he killed the last rogue with a sickening crack of its neck.

The rogues attacked the guards at the gates instead of sneaking in during the shift change. They aimed to attack during dinnertime and tried to get close to the well again. What didn’t make sense was how direct and obvious that attack was.

"How many did that make?" Blade asked as Arthur huffed.

"At least twenty."

It was a lot more than last time. Another one of their pack members was dead and several others were injured in the fight. The only saving grace was that the wells had been secured. If they had not taken precautions after the last attack, it would have been a disaster.

Still, something was missing about the entire affair. Only one of the rogues had been carrying poison, but Blade wasn’t certain that it was enough to have caused much damage.

"Get the injured to the infirmary," Blade commanded, glancing over the group.

Rose and some new members came to help kill the rogues who had gotten in, but Mike was wounded in the attack. If the members of the patrol had not helped him, he would have lost his leg. He stared wide-eyed and dazed at Arthur when he'd leaped on the rogue, giving them time to get him away.

No one had expected the rogue to initiate an attack on a pack of this size, but they were impressed by the pack's preparation and the patrol's mobility.

Blade had a feeling that the Milky River Pack's werewolves would come for training the first chance they got when they were healed.

"This is worse than we thought," Rex came to stand beside Blade with a frown. "I used to think that Owen was just attacking our pack to kill Arthur, but it looks like he wants to kill us all. Why?"

Blade couldn't even begin to fathom an answer.