Chapter 41. Scheming Kiana

Author's POV

■Royal Palace: Iris■

Daniel sat next to Carla on the bed as he gently ruffled her hair in an attempt to wake her up, "Get up, Carl. This prank is not funny anymore."

His sister simply laid on the bed without making a single movement, looking like a corpse with her face that had grown utterly pale due to the wolvesbane and silver that had burnt the life out of her.

A tear streamed down Daniel's eyes as he got up disheartened and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him slowly without making a noise.

Ariana who had been waiting for Daniel to come out of the room, stood up from the couch she was sitting on and walked up to him. Once she was in front of Daniel, she noticed the disheartened look on his face and the tear that ran down his eyes one after another in a slow motion.

"She never did anything wrong. Why would someone try to kill her? Will she really..." Daniel's voice broke in the end as his words caught in his throat.

Ariana's heart clenched looking at him be so miserable. She stepped closer to Daniel, wiped his tears with the back of her palm and hugged him tightly.

"Don't worry. Carla will be alright." Anthony will save her. Ariana didn't say the last sentence to him as she rubbed his back comfortingly.

Her mind drifted off to the time when she was passing by the hallway and had accidently heard Anthony speaking to the doctor.

"....we can do an organ transplant surgery." Anthony had said.

The doctor looked taken aback by the suggestion as he mulled over it, "We can do that...but transplanting all organs can cause the other person to die. Who would willingly die? We won't have the donor by the end of the day and-"

"I'll be the donor." Anthony cut off his meaningless talk abruptly.

Ariana never expected the man to be soo...selfless as to give up his own life without a thought. And now that she knew about it, she felt guilty for all the time she had considered Anthony to be a heartless man.

Anthony wasn't what he portrayed himself to be after all. He did have a heart.

Ariana's mind was in chaos as she tried to console a heartbroken Daniel. She could feel each and every feeling of pain and remorse Daniel felt due to the mate bond being placed on her and so could he feel all her feelings.

"What would I have done without you, Ari? I love you so much," Daniel pulled her closer to him snugling his face into the crook of her neck as his tensed up muscles eased drastically before he suddenly lifted his head to look up at Ariana, "Wait, you didn't eat anything since yesterday night. You must be hungry. Let me ask the cook to prepare something for you."

A gentle chuckle eluded past Ariana's lips as she pulled him back into an embrace, "Everyone are worried sick about Carla and this is what you're thinking. That I didn't eat food?"

Daniel pulled away from the embrace with a frown, "Ari, I'm serious. You should eat. Or else you'll faint like that day you didn't have any food for the whole day."

"Seriously, Danny. I'm fine-" just as she uttered those words, her treacherous stomach grumbled in response making a smirk appear on Daniel's face despite his gloomy mood, "You sure you don't wanna eat? 'Cause your stomach is saying otherwise."

Ariana wanted nothing than the earth to swallow her whole as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment before she finally gave up on his request, "Okay, fine! I'll go eat something. You stay here, in case Ariel or anyone needs you, okay?" Ariana quickly went over to peck his lips and was about to head towards the kitchen when she stopped on her tracks and asked, "Where's Anthony by the way?"

"He rushed to his packhouse in a hurry. I don't know what's wrong with him," Daniel murmured not very pleased with the man but then who was he to stop Anthony from doing what he wished.

Ariana hummed in response before heading towards the kitchen.

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■ Wolvesbane Packhouse ■

"Gio, I'll hand over the pack to you. You'll have to take care of all the pack members and the pack once I'm gone. I'm sure you'll make a good Alpha. Much better than I've ever been. Also, Richard always wished to help the lone wolves pair with other lone wolves so that they'd not feel alone and left out. I used to do it before Gini died, but after that, I completely stopped doing it. I want you to continue with that process. Rest I don't think I have to inform you much. You're well aware of the pack as much as I am. And there's one more thing..." Anthony strode into the packhouse in a hurry as he passed quick instructions to Giovanni.

Giovanni stared at his best friend, the tears almost threatening to fall down his eyes, "Why are you doing this? We can find some other way. You don't have to...die."

There were conflicted emotions swirling in Gio's heart. One part of his heart was desperate to do anything to save his mate while the other didn't want to save Carla in return for his best friend's life.

Anthony stopped on his footsteps on hearing his words before a sad smile crept up to his lips, "You know I've done pretty much horrible things in my life. I'm no saint, Gio. I've already made Carla suffer a lot because of my stupid urge for revenge. I'd played with her feelings. This might be the only good thing I'll be doing for her even if it costs my life. So, let me do it. Besides, it doesn't really matter to anyone if I'm dead or alive," he whispered the last sentence looking into a distance.

"Who said it doesn't matter to anyone if you're alive or not. You do matter. To me. To Anne. What do you think would happen to Anne if you're gone? You're the only one she has. You can't do this to her. She even lost her mate..." Giovanni's voice was low as he muttered the last sentence seemingly knowing it would hurt Anthony. He hadn't meant to mention it but it just slipped out of his mouth.

Just as he thought, Anthony snapped his head to look at him in the eye with a pained expression marring his face, "And whose fault is it that she doesn't have a mate? Mine. It's completely my fault that Anne had to bear the pain of losing her mate. I killed her mate. She's miserable because of me. I know she hates me. That's what I said Gio, I'm not good for anyone. It's better I die."

"Don't say that! Jake's death wasn't your fault. You were just performing the duties of an Alpha and protecting your pack. You didn't even know he was Anne's mate until she accidentally stumbled into the underground cellar and Jake was at his death bed already. How can you say she hates you? She's your sister. She has always loved you. You think she'll be happy seeing her brother die?" Gio was in tears saying everything.

Anne was really annoying to him when she was still in the packhouse. Giovanni would gladly say that she didn't like his presence one bit and neither did he. They never really got along with each other, fighting over the stupidest things and picking on each other every now and then. Anne was always overly protective of her brother and if anything were to happen to Anthony, she would first blame Gio and throw a tantrum for not taking good care of his brother as if she was the one in pain and was sick. What did she even take him as? A caretaker of Anthony?

But however she was, Gio knew one thing for sure. No matter what happened, even if earth shattered, she would always love Anthony. He was the brother she admired. Anthony had taken care of her since she was a baby and saved her life countless times not even caring about his own life. Besides, she wasn't annoying to everybody except him.

"Why will Anthony die?"

Anthony and Gio froze on their spot hearing the very familiar voice after years. Her voice was still bubbly and loud but there was a hint of fear in it.

"Anne?"

Anthony couldn't believe his eyes. What was his little sister doing here after two whole years? And why now when he's about to-

"Why would you die? Is there something wrong with your health? Don't tell me you got some rare werewolf disease or something. And don't even try to deny what stupid Gio said. I won't buy your excuses. Wait, you can't die! Giovanni, you idiot! How dare you say something like that about my brother! How could he die? Gio, You're an idiot! An annoying one at that! I just left my brother for 2 years and you-"

"Anne, you're rambling," Anthony chuckled whilst the tense atmosphere, cutting her off.

Anthony had missed his sister so much that he almost wanted to jump in joy at the moment. He thought he would never be able to see her again given that he was going to die soon but who knew he would see her for one last time.

"Don't dodge my question, Anthony. Why did Gio say you would die?" Anne looked at her brother in the eye with those jade like eyes of hers.

Unlike Anthony who resembled his biological father, Anne was the mirror image of their mother. Green jade like eyes, fair round face, plush pink lips, dark and thick lashes and her long brunette hair tied together in a high ponytail. One could say by just taking a glance at her that she was an absolute stunner. Drop-dead beautiful from head to toe. Just like her mother.

Those deep green eyes held concern as they stared at her brother waiting for a reply. Anthony was in loss of words. What was he supposed to say?

Hey, I'm going to die since I decided to transfer all my organs to a girl who I used for my revenge which you aren't even aware of. Now I regret playing with her emotions and want to save her life as a compensation. I know you'll be sad but I want you to cope with it and move on with your life without me.

If it was only that easy. But lying to her wouldn't do him any good. She would know sooner or later. It was better this way.

"Actually...." Anthony began with explaining his sister the turn of events ever since she left.

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■Royal Palace: Iris■

Ariana walked through the isolated hallway towards the kitchen. The kitchen was usually crowded with servants and maids who were all now busy aiding to Carla and the others, leaving the place empty without a single person.

Ariana decided to grab something from the fridge. Grabbing a loaf of bread and Nutella, she put her head out of the compartment of the refrigerator and shut the door of the fridge. She turned around with the food in her hands only to be met by a pair of grey eyes looking at her with immense anger.

"Kiana," the name rolled out of Ariana's mouth as she took in a gorgeous looking Kiana standing in front of her with a pissed off look marring her face.

"Where the heck did you elope in middle of your marking ceremony with Anthony? And what did you do with Daniel?" Kiana spewed, venom lacing her voice.

"What I did with Daniel is none of your business," Ariana said attempting to walk past Kiana but was blocked by her arm.

"Ofcourse, it's my business. Daniel is mine. Not yours. Only if you had understood it earlier, poor Carla wouldn't have suffered because of you." The tone in which Kiana spoke made alarm bells ring in Ariana's head.

Did that mean it was Kiana who fed Carla wolvesbane and silver solution? Why didn't I think of this earlier? Who else could it be other than Kiana!

Before Ariana could voice her thoughts, a cloth was placed to her mouth by Kiana. The moment the smell of the liquid sprayed on the cloth wafted into her nostrils, Ariana felt her senses seizing away as she dropped the bread and nutella in her hands and fell to the ground with a thud as darkness took over her.

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