JOAQUIN WAS speechless as he felt Irlan standing motionless outside their tent the morning right after the party. His smell was particularly bad. His body reeked the scent of poison.

"Irlan..." He closed his eyes firmly before opening them again.


Joaquin saw him.

The young man's face was green and the way he stood bordered on passing out. Lance was three steps away from them. The way his face contorted into shock made Joaquin nervous somehow.

"Joaquin... your eyes are black."


'So this is how Lance look like all these years.' Joaquin smiled briefly at him. The last time he had seen Lance is when they were both young.

It was surprising to see him in his matured body. He always thought that Lance's voice doesn't suit the image of a young man in his mind.


"You don't have to worry about this." Joaquin referred to his sight. "At times like this, it's important that I can see so I can help now that Irlan was poisoned."

He didn't know where did Irlan got his fighting spirit but the kid managed to stand despite the excruciating pain in his chest. His skin color alternates in blue and white yet still, he succeeded to rely the details of his discovery last night.

Joaquin respects him.

"They wanted to severe my throat with this poison. My magic helped delay the poison's effect but it will fully envelop my body in just a few more hours." Irlan sighed heavily. "Joaquin, Lance, you need to escape this pack as soon as possible. I don't know what did Lesley's identity has to do with everything but she can't be trusted."

The shakiness of his voice squeezed Joaquin's heart. He walked to his side and use some of his power to help ease the pain of the poison in his muscles.

"My father never taught me how to cure a person but I experimented during my youth. My blood can help you fight this poison out of your body. Let me heal you."

'It's not entirely wrong.' Joaquin never experimented during childhood. It was the voice inside his mind tells him to do.

The other Joaquin still lives in him. Now blatantly telling him what to do and when to decide.

'I saw Adarmus heal a person just like that— you can never go wrong. I used to get jealous because of that.'

Sometimes Joaquin couldn't tell if his subconscious has a grudge with his father or not. It confuses him. But since he's helping him a great deal, he turns a passing eye to it.

'Then, I should help him the same way.'

"Joaquin, can we talk?" Lance quipped.

Joaquin signaled him to wait and looked at Irlan. Irlan swallowed and in the end shook his head.

"I... think I have an impure blood in me. A vampire's blood. I just noticed it a while ago. I don't know if having your blood in my system could help or worsen my situation. That... tiny drop of vampire blood is now struggling with the poison in an aggressive manner which makes my body hurt more. I don't think consuming yours will help me. At most, it will create more problem in my system. I'm a mage and not a wolf."

'He's hard-headed... why don't we let him die?'

Joaquin pursed his lips and ignored the voice in his head. He nodded to Irlan. "I know you have a reason why you're refusing my blood. But I want you to know that we have to make it out alive— all of us who drove here together."

"Don't worry." Irlan smiled cheekily. "I won't die."

"DID YOU expect this to happen, Joaquin?" Lance stared at Joaquin's face. "Why did your eyes suddenly turned black? Can you actually see everything right now?"

"To your last question, yes." Joaquin held his shoulder and laughed heartily. "Lance, the last time I've seen you was a tragic moment. Now I'm glad to see you alive and kicking."

"Joaquin..." The redness around Lance's eyes could not be faked. "Joaquin, what happened? Does Penelope know about this?"

"She does." Joaquin said, "Someone helped me see again, Lance. I never knew it was so easy. Penelope was not acostumed with the change in the color of my eyes but she's happy for me."

"But? What's the exchange?"

Joaquin tilted his head and avoided his eyes. "My wolf became weak because of this. The light that comes out of me was now gone. It changed to black— the wolf in me."

Lance's hopeful expression turned into dread. "Joaquin did you... give up your blue wolf for the chance to see again?"

Joaquin asked his other side about this but the guy was always silent. He knew that this could mean that he's tricking him but he believed when he said that he would never harm Joaquin.

"The important thing now is that I can see the woman of my life." Joaquin changed the subject. "And now that I can see everything again, I will be more useful to you. I will no longer be a burden to Penelope. This time you need help, I can be there and lend you some hand."

"Lance... this is the first time since then that I've felt I have a purpose again."

"I've always thought that Lesley might not be what we seem she is. According to pack rules, one territory should not recruit more than the limit that the shifter's committee allowed. The number of shifters in this pack exceed the quota by fifty to a hundred more. It's clear that she has the intent to do something unusual."

Lance shuffled his feet and stared at Joaquin. He couldn't help but feel as though the man before him is not the guy he used to protect. He's far more mature and level-headed.

He can now see.

Does this means he didn't need Lance's presence anymore?

"THE PEOPLE sure looked at me strangely today." Penelope rolled a piece of gum in her mouth. "Turns out, I was just a clown in her games. She managed to trap us inside this pack without doing anything. We delivered ourselves to her territory."

"Irlan is now in a critical condition, Pen." Joaquin's black eyes seemed bottomless. Penelope lose herself sometimes while staring at him. She was elated when she came to know about his sight. But the feeling that she's talking to another person was clear in her mind. "We need to sneak out this evening, or else we won't have the chance to escape again. Beatrix poisoned Irlan. This means she won't let us live for long."

"The river where the women washes their clothes is the fastest route to get out of the pack territory without getting noticed." Lance drew something on the paper he was holding on for a while now. "There were men who patrolled in this place for a few times. Taking them down is the only option we can make do."

"I can... cast a protective array for you guys. The poison will give myself away the moment we set out. You have to leave me behind."

"What are you talking about?" Lance broke the pen in his hand. "We're going to escape together. Shut your suggestions, they don't make sense."

Irlan avoided their eyes and swallowed. "Then, promise me that when I lose my pulse on the way, please leave my body behind and just let me be for a few hours?"

"Irlan!" Penelope warned him but Irlan only smiled with awkwardness.

"I told you, didn't I? That I don't die."

Joaquin squinted. It looks like this kid had more cards than he himself can play.

'He's a smart one. Let him be.'

What is it in Irlan that makes even the voice inside his head agree?