Damian.
Waking on the cold ground, I took in my surroundings. After hours and hours of torture, I couldn’t take any more and quietly slipped into oblivion. It was clear I had been placed in the dungeon of whatever building they had taken me to.
The damp smell of the air filled my senses, causing the sweeping feeling of nausea to flow through my body. Alokaye had tricked me. He had come after me, even though he had seemed satisfied with Ivy’s response before.
Deep down, I knew he wasn’t done with me, and even though I had known that, I let myself get carried away hoping to save myself. I was a fool, and looking around at my confines, I now understood now how much of a fool I had been.
Placing my hands on the floor, my wrist shackled with silver, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and groaned at the pain surging through me as I moved. At least the silver reminded me of what I was.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be as affected.
The words of the woman in the woods burned into my brain. I wasn’t dying per se, but I wasn’t living either. At the end of the day, my relationship to Ivy had been both a blessing and a curse.
The creaking sound of iron doors opening caught my attention in the darkness. Turning my gaze to the left, I looked up towards the long, dark staircase waiting for my tormentor to approach me again.
Alpha Richard was the man who had taken pleasure in tormenting me for hours. He was convinced I was the one who had killed his son. That there was no way a woman had taken down the son of an Alpha.
Especially one who had no prior knowledge of our ways.
Little did he know, though, Ivy was not any ordinary woman, and even though the whispers through the halls of the building said so, he refused to believe it. He refused to believe that some girl who didn’t know anything about our culture could outwit and outsmart him.
As the footsteps approached, I glared at Richard’s shadowed figure as it stepped into the light. He didn’t seem as pleased now with being here as he had been hours before. Instead, he seemed uncertain, and as he moved toward me, he hesitated.
Furrowing my brows, I heard the shuffling of feet and spotted Alokaye approaching from where Richard had come. “Ah, good. You’re awake.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” I croaked as I lifted my burning wrists to show the blood still slowly pooling around me. “I don’t think I would give these accommodations five stars, though.”
Laughter escaped Alokaye as he nodded. “It pains me to see you like this, Damian. You are a great alpha. The problem is, you have a habit of not listening to what I tell you. We all know Ivy was the one who killed those people. She is a threat to us all.”
A scoff echoed from Richard’s lips as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“What’s wrong, Richard? Do you find it hard that even Alokaye believes a woman is capable of something like this?”
“Go fuck yourself, Damian.” Richard snapped. “If your mate did it I will kill her.”
“My mate didn’t kill anyone! Instead of acusing her you should be out there finding the murderer.”
Alokaye glanced over his shoulder at Richard and laughed. “You think this idiot wolf is the one who actually killed the three people in that cabin? Do you honestly think that Damian would have been able to kill a Nephilim?”
“A Nephilim?” I replied, narrowing my brows.
“Oh, she didn’t tell you? I’m sure that she knows, considering she has such a close connection with the gods, they would have told her what she did. Yes, your dear mate ingested Nephilim. Disgusting, isn’t it?”
Alokaye seemed absolutely delighted by the notion, even if that was problematic. Those creatures were rare to find, and even when they were found, they were typically used for the raw purity they possessed.
“If you know that I’m not the one that killed them, then why am I here?”
Hesitating, he seemed to think over what I asked, and slowly he nodded his head from side to side before shrugging his shoulders.
“I can see where you would be confused, but that actually is a surprise. Patience is an important attribute to have. In time, you will get the answer you seek.”
His words sent a chill down my spine I didn’t recognize. For hours I had been trying to reach my brothers or even Ivy, but with the silver in place, I was unable to.
I wanted to reach out and warn them to tell Ivy I loved her, that I was sorry for the things that had happened, and I should have listened to her. I wanted more than anything to travel back in time and never leave the pack, but that was not the path I chose.
“Then get on with it, Alokaye, stop playing games, and finally explain what it is you want, because you and I both know that I’m not leaving this place, so what’s holding you back?”
Running his tongue over his teeth, he took a moment before his smile grew wide.
“Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I should get on with it. Although, if I rushed into what I wanted to do, there was a chance I would fail. I have to wait for the perfect moment to make my move.”
Groaning in frustration, I rolled my eyes and looked down at the bloodied floor beneath me. Was it honestly hard to get a straight answer nowadays?
“It’s always the same with you people,” I muttered, shaking my head.
“What’s on your mind?”
Taking a moment, I let laughter escape me as my eyes looked up to meet his again.
“Do you really want to know what’s on my mind?”
Alokaye smirked, nodding his head. “Yes, actually. Please enlighten us about what intrigues you.”
“Okay…” I chuckled, readjusting the way I was sitting. “I think you’re both ridiculous. I don’t think either of you knows what’s going on, and honestly, I don’t think the council knows I’m even here. So instead of the bullshit, take me to someone who knows what the fuck is going on.”
Richard growled, taking a step forward as if he wanted to strike. Yet he stopped when Alokaye lifted his hand. “Very well. If you want to know exactly what is going on, then I will give you that much information.”
He didn’t waste time gesturing for two guards to grab me. Their rough manhandling as they moved me from the dungeon towards the stairs had my jaw clenched in pain.
“Where are you taking me?” I seethed as my eyes met his briefly.
“To get answers, of course. That is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Staring at him for a moment, he turned back in front of me and continued walking. The stairs were longer than I thought, but as soon as we stepped from the dungeon, I was blinded by the light of the halls. The crisp white coating making me flinch back in protest as I was taken down long white corridors straight for a set of double doors.
The same double doors my brothers and I had gone through once before.
“Don’t look so shocked, Damian. If you honestly think that the Council has ever been on your kind side, you are sadly mistaken.”
Pushing the doors open, I was dragged inside before the elders and dropped onto the marble flooring. The blood dripping from my body slowly pooled on the floor, drawing gasps from the elders I hadn’t expected to hear.
“What is the meaning of this?” The Grand Elder said as glared down at me. “Why is Damian in the state he is in?!”
My current state outraged the Grand Elder, but as Alokaye stepped forward, I had a feeling it wouldn’t last very long. “Damian helped in the murders of elder Harrison and the son of Alpha Richard. I brought here him to seek his punishment.”
“Lies,” I snapped as I let out a low growl.
“You will hold your tongue, Damian. I will speak with you in a moment.” The Grand Elder replied as he turned his gaze back to Alokaye. “What proof do you have of this to accuse the Alpha of something this severe and punish him from the looks of it without approval?”
“I have plenty of proof.”
“Damian, what do you have to save for yourself?” The Grand Elder asked, turning his attention back to where I kneeled upon the cold ground.
“They are lies, Grand Elder. I had nothing to do with those murders, nor did anyone in my pack. The elder left our pack perfectly healthy, and Alokaye was given proof of that. Richard is simply using this as an opportunity to kill me. He wants my land and my pack.”
“Lies,” Richard growled, hitting me. The blow caused two guards to hold him back, and the Grand Elder looked down on him in disappointment.
“You will refrain from touching him. Do not make me cast you into the same position that he is. Everyone is allowed a fair trial, and I demand to see the proof.”
“It’s proof you want, your honor. It’s proof I have. Not only do I have proof that Damien’s mate was the one who had killed those three people in the cabin, but I have somebody who can testify against his nature that he has slowly lost his mind, considering that he is no longer whole.”
Alokaye’s smooth words seemed to go over well with the council, but my mind blanked, trying to think of who would be a witness. There is nobody outside of my pack that knows of Ivy. Nobody except the elder counsel, of course. Everybody had heard words, but Ivy had met none of the people that were there.
So who in the hell could he possibly have someone who would have known me when I was younger and known Ivy when she got her powers?
With my mind rattled, I waited to see whom it was Alokaye had on his side. His eyes peering towards the side door of the room as a blonde figure I hadn’t expected to see waltzed in as if nothing bad had ever happened to her, and smiled.
It was Allison. A woman who I had long thought dead stood there with a wicked grin on her face, staring at me.
“That isn’t possible. She was sentenced to death. Why is she still alive?” I growled in anger as I tried to stand to my feet, to have only three guards hold me back to the ground.
“I stopped her sentencing,” Alokaye said with a grin across his lips as he looked down at me. “She had a much larger purpose, proving that you and your pack have committed great sins.”
“You cannot believe a thing this woman says,” I yelled out, turning my attention to the council. “She has lied and manipulated the system for many years, and she even allowed her own mate to be killed in the process. She is the worst kind of woman, and she cannot be trusted.”
Silence befell the council, and as they stared at the situation before them, they seem completely confused. “I think we should deliberate and reconvene on this in the morning.”
“Of course. That won’t be a problem,” Alokaye said.
The Grand Elders’ words seemed to please Alokaye, but before the Grand Elder left with the others, he stopped, turning back to Alokaye, and frowned. “If I see him in the dungeons again, we will have a problem. He is still an Alpha and should be treated as one before being judged.”
“You’re giving him a room?” Richard sneered as his angry glance looked upon me. “He is a murderer.”
“Enough from you Alpha Richard. We will decide this tomorrow. Until then, he will be treated as I say. This is my choice. Do you challenge my authority?”
Richard hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and stepping back, remaining quiet. There was no reason to say anything else when the elders have made their final say. The best thing to do is to be quiet and accept it.
At least for now.
“Did you miss me?” A soft, wicked voice said in my ear as I realized Allison had slowly made her way towards me while the elders’ words distracted me.
“Go fuck yourself,” I snapped, watching as she laughed at my comment with nothing but amusement in her eyes. “I will kill you if I get the chance.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you won’t. I told you before, Damian, you won’t win.”