Chapter 86: Chapter Thirty-Three
**Travis’s POV**
‘*Thanks to you, we’re all dead anyway*….’
‘*Thanks to you, we’re all dead anyway*….’
‘*Thanks to you, we’re all dead anyway*….’
Aki’s words repeated themselves louder and louder in my head until they got stuck in a nightmarish loop and invaded every nook and cranny of my mind. Eventually, I couldn't think clearly anymore. A feeling of impending doom had shaken my thoughts, and as they spiraled out of control, so did my focus. My vision started to blur, my ears began to buzz, and when Gisele and I approached Colevan's well-hidden borders, my stomach turned a little further. Ultimately, I could feel myself breaking down, literally crumbling under the weight of a truth I had denied for too long.
He was right; I had sentenced us all to death, but what could I do? Turn around? Too late. Fight? Impossible. I was without option, so I kept walking toward the inevitable, slowly putting one foot in front of the other until a deafening cry pierced the air and suddenly forced me out of my thoughts.
Five large men were rushing at us, splitting their forces between Gisele and me, and within a few seconds, three of them pinned me to the ground, punching and kicking at random. They threw heaps of heavy brown ropes around my body to tie my arms and legs together and shoved a large black cloth into my mouth while the heels of their boots continuously pounded on my ribs.
“Make sure you get his feet!” One of the men hovering above me shouted.
“This one is fighting back!” Another voice screamed to my left. “Fuck! She’s about to shift!” He warned as he and his friend struggled to restrain Gisele.
I watched as a thick fur began to grow over the rogue Alpha’s skin and razor-sharp claws spread across her fingertips. Then the rope, barely wrapped around her, began to snap, and a loud growl erupted from the back of her throat. Her shift was almost complete, and just when I expected her wolf to leap forward finally, Gisele painstakingly returned to her human form.
“Nothing a little wolfsbane can’t help.” One of the guards previously above me chuckled as he stood up from her body, needle in hand. “Let’s see the bitch shift now.”
“What about this one, boss?” The men holding me asked as they lifted me from the ground. “Should we give him a prick too?”
“Why? He doesn’t seem like a threat to me.” The red-haired guard responded. “Are you even capable of shifting, man? Or are you wolf-less?” He smirked, approaching me.
“Who are you?” The youngest of the guards asked, lowering my gag.
“I’d answer the kid if I were you.” The ginger boss said threateningly at my silence. “We don’t like to repeat ourselves.”
“I’m Travis Reese.” I slurred, blood pooling inside my mouth. “Delta and Head Warrior of River Creek.”
The guard's smirk faded at my words, and his expression hardened as he looked back and forth between Gisele lying on the floor and me. “What the hell are you doing here with a rogue, man?” He asked harshly.
Ticked by the insult thrown her way, Gisele's low and strained voice rose from the ground. “Fuck off; I’m an Alpha.” She said, correcting the guard.
“Oh, is that right, sweetheart? So that makes two of us then.” He burst out laughing before ordering his men to gag the rogue. “Now that we got her crazy ass quiet, I’m ready to hear your answer, Delta.”
“I don’t have an answer for you.”
“You don’t have an answer for me, hmm?” He repeated, shaking his head slightly. “Well, let *me* tell you something, man. There are only two types of werewolves that come around here on purpose; fools and traitors. So all I need to know is which one are you?”
‘*I’m both*!’ I screamed in my head, wanting to give myself up, but kept my mouth shut instead. I didn’t need to speak. I might've played the tough guy, hiding behind his title, but I knew deep down that all of them could see right through me, to what I genuinely was; confused and ashamed.
“I hope that whatever you came here looking for is worth it, Delta.” The guard sighed before turning his back to me. “Get ‘em both in the Jeep and to the packhouse. The beasts are already waiting.” He said, dismissing us with a final wave of his hand.
Under the command of their leader, three men dragged us to one of their cars parked on a clear path in the woods. They threw the bound and gagged Gisele into the front seat, tucking her between the driver and passenger, and pushed me to the back with the youngest of the guards. His heavy and accusing gaze instantly fell on me the moment we began our drive, and to escape it, I chose to keep mine on the clear glass window of the car.
My mind started to wander through the various scenes that paraded before me, and at first glance, Colevan looked no different than any other run-down, dirty old town. However, even the less trained eye could notice the dark and sinister atmosphere that indeed hung over this small town if he only paid attention.
Street after street, the bodies of sick and homeless people seemed to pile up on the ground while a putrid smell of decay seeped into the car's cabin through the sealed windows. No smile and no laughter; there was no sign that the black-clad citizens I saw were happy. Instead, each of them kept their heads down as they carried their chores, stepping over their weak with complete indifference.
Just when I thought I had seen it all, our car pulled up at a traffic light, and my eyes caught a glimpse of a short-haired blonde, barely older than me, struggling against another man to enter a fish shop. I jumped in my seat, stunned, when, for a little while, her torn black robe slipped from her back and exposed the stumps of two severed wings between her shoulder blades.
“A fairy.” I gasped lowly.
The young guard next to me leaned forward and looked into the crowd before straightening his back, undisturbed. “So?" He said casually.
“I thought fairies were extinct.” I told him in a voice barely above a whisper.
“They wished they were, trust me. The Lycans only keep a few of them alive at the same time for their magic. They’re slaves, like the rest of us.”
“You mean your pack?”
“Mine and every pack around here. The witches’ coven too. We’ve all become subservient to the Lycans decades ago.”
“So that really was your Alpha in the woods, wasn’t it?” I asked about the red-haired guard who had been giving orders earlier.
“Jonah? Yeah, I guess. He’s of Alpha blood, but now? Now, he watches the borders.”
“Shit.” I let out under my beard.
“You know, my grandma was from River Creek before she moved here to be with my grandpa. She kept talking about the loyalty and fearlessness of the werewolves of your pack, and I gotta say, I almost believed her.” He said with a disappointed look. “Seriously, man, what are you doing here?”
I gave the young wolf and the other two guards looking at me through the rearview mirror, another heavy silence in response. I couldn't help it, for the reasons that seemed so right and important to me only a few days ago had now become grotesque. How could I explain to men who have known only servitude, misfortune, and death that I have come to implore the help of their cruel torturers? How could I tell them that I came here to betray everything they've ever dreamed of? And in the name of what? An illegitimate love of Mina? No, they deserved better, and so again, my silence was the best thing I could offer.
"I guess we'll find out soon enough." The young guard sighed before looking away from me for the first time.
I could feel the white Jeep losing speed as it made its final turn on a long, unpaved road that served as a driveway. My heart threatened to let go twice, and my palms became sweaty as we drove the final minutes leading up to the imposing estate. And just like the car I was in, time itself came to a complete stop when we arrived in front of a gray brick mansion.
The Lycans’ packhouse was remarkably extravagant in both size and style. Fenced by a dense pine forest, it was easily two or three times the size of River Creek’s packhouse. Yet, its most formidable asset laid not in its vastness but in the number of guards that patrolled its grounds. Everything around me indicated danger, and my uneasiness only intensified when the guards put my gag back on and dragged Gisele and me out of the vehicle.
About ten other guards joined our captors, and, by the smell coming from them, I quickly realized that they were also werewolves. However, another scent I couldn't place lingered faintly on each of them. They followed as the rogue Alpha and I were hauled through the mansion, and with each corner turn, the odd smell of rain-soaked wood grew stronger.
I frantically scoured through my memories to pinpoint the scent, and as I came up empty, I had to face the fact that it probably belonged to the Lycan collectivity. As the men yanked me from left to right, I began to feel the utmost helplessness and mentally pleaded with Orin to come back, alas in vain. Locked somewhere inside of me, he had disconnected entirely and left me alone, unprotected.
All of my past feelings, experiences, and decisions became a big blur as the guards finally stopped speeding through the hallways to open a massive set of double doors. They then forcibly pulled us into an enormous hall and threw us at the feet of the Lycans, and for the first time in my life, I felt nothing but pure, undiluted fear.
“Well, well, well…." A low and ominous voice suddenly took over the room. "What do we have here?”