Chapter 18 Fury
~Lyra's POV~
“Shut up,” he said to me, his voice sharp with annoyance for reasons I could not understand. I shot him a glare, but he did not even acknowledge that someone was glaring at him.
I should have swallowed my words at that point and remained quiet, yet I did not. The order had probably not been loud enough or authoritative enough to compel silence from me.
“Why should I shut up? All I have said is the truth. Or do you hate hearing the truth?” I asked, and he slammed on the brakes with a sudden force that threw my heart into a frantic rhythm. The car jerked to a complete halt and my eyes widened.
That action alone was loud enough to make my courage shrivel. I did not speak again, but I could not pry my eyes away from him.
“When I tell you to shut up, I expect complete silence,” he said in a firm voice. His eyes shifted between gold and amber, and this time the full weight of his authority seeped into every word he spoke.
I turned away from him and fixed my gaze on the road ahead, realizing that the other vehicles had stopped as well. They were probably wondering what had gone wrong with their Alpha.
Seconds later, he put the car in motion again and the journey continued. Silence settled heavily between us until he finally spoke.
“What did Gordon say when he came to take you out of the cell?”
I heard his question, but I did not answer. My mind spiraled into the questions and thoughts his words brought forward, and for a moment I forgot that he had even spoken to me.
“Have you suddenly gone mute?” he asked again, and I could feel the anger radiating from him. His anger was beginning to irritate me because I had no idea why he had chosen to direct it toward me.
“You said for me to shut up, and you said whenever you say that, you expect complete silence. I am only following instructions,” I answered, saying the first thing that came to my mind and surprising myself with how calmly the words left my lips.
“Now I am asking a question, and whenever I ask a question, I expect an answer. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Go on. I am listening.”
I let out an inaudible sigh, then went ahead to narrate everything that had happened that morning, beginning from when Gordon approached my cell up until the attack by the Shadow Pack warriors.
He was supposed to keep quiet and digest everything I had told him, but instead he chose to speak words that only succeeded in infuriating me more.
“I am still trying to understand what the hype about you is all about. A basic witch who knows nothing about witch tradition.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked him, genuinely confused about what he meant. For a moment I wondered why he was speaking so freely with me. What could a werewolf possibly know about the traditions of witches?
“You hear your aunt is being buried just three days after she died and you jump at the opportunity. Do witches get buried that way?”
His words made my teeth grind together in anger.
“What did you expect me to do? Say no to him? Am I not a prisoner? Do you expect a prisoner in your stronghold to say no to you or your men? Do you want to behead me that badly?” I threw the questions at him one after another without stopping. How could he even ask me something like that?
“Shut your mouth,” he said again. This time the furrow between his brows was deeper, but I did not care.
Realizing that the one who had been haunting my dreams was the same man sitting beside me made me less afraid of him, and whatever those Shadow Pack people had made me recite had stripped away most of my fear anyway.
So I said nothing for a while, but the silence could not last.
“Alpha Kael Thorne, why did you capture me?” I asked him, but he gave no response.
I waited for a while, then threw another question at him.
“What do you want with me and why did you come back to get me?”
“You sound like you want to go back to them. Do you?” he asked.
Before I could speak, he continued. “Don’t even bother answering. Even if you say yes, I am not letting you go.” His words left no space for argument or negotiation.
I left him alone after that, keeping every thought to myself as we drew closer and closer to Ironfang.
When we arrived, I remained in the car while he moved around to my side to open the door. When I stepped out, he held my arm as usual and began to lead me inside. The gesture reminded me of the first day I had arrived there, but he suddenly halted before stepping into the house and turned to face the others.
“Gather all cabinet members in the meeting room,” he said to Dagan.
At that moment I saw Taren being helped out of one of the cars by two warriors. His eyes were open, but his body was motionless.
My heart tightened painfully at the sight. What had happened to him? I wanted to ask, but I forced myself to remain silent.
Before I could see anything else, Kael turned around and continued walking into the house. This time, however, instead of leading me toward the direction of the dungeon, he guided me to the elevator and pressed the button that would take us to the first floor.
Confusion washed over me. Why were we headed to the first floor?
When we arrived at the first floor, we continued walking. But my puzzled mind did not allow me to take note of anything more than the direction of the different turns we were taking.
From the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of the blonde woman from the trial. She stared at us with clear confusion in her expression.
We passed two guards before we finally reached a room. Kael led me inside then released my hand.
“Don't move,” he ordered, then stormed out of the room and shut the door behind him.