Chapter 18: The Void Is Feeding

Alpha Ashton's POV

“You tricked me!”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. But you made your first mistake when you relaxed.”

“That’s because I was confident that I would win and I would have won if you hadn’t done that,” I said as the air flattened and became livelier.

In front of others and everyone else, we were at war with each other because we never looked each other in the eye.

Only when we were alone did we shed all pretenses.

“Sometimes, I think you let me win so you can collect more favours later.”

He chuckled and stubbed the butt of his stick into the ground.

“Maybe,” I shrugged and crossed my leg.

Of course, that wasn’t the case. I was so desperate to win the staring contest I had forgotten the main motive in the beginning.

Why would I lose intentionally? It wasn’t in my nature.

But admitting it would be a much bigger loss.

“Don’t get distracted by a goal because it’s flashier. The main determinant of your wins and losses are always innate. Don’t give in just because you think you will win…”

“Count your wins first…” I finished the sentence from my head because of how many times I’ve heard him say it.

“You say this all the time. I get nightmares about it,” I said as I swerved my chair to the left, then right.

“Yet you keep making the same mistakes, every time.”

“That’s because you keep coming up with a new trick every time. What was with that twitching of your eye again? I thought your eye trauma was acting up.”

“Because you know of your enemy’s weakness doesn’t mean you can always use it against them.”

“You’re saying…” I leaned in, knowing fully well that whatever brought Beta Samra to my quarters on this cold evening had absolutely nothing to do with just winning a staring contest or dropping centuries-old adages.

“When your enemy’s weakness is exposed to you, don’t be too quick to attack the bull’s eye…” He stroked his grey beard as he said.

“Why not?” I straightened up again, unable to relax.

“It was you who taught me to always strike when it’s hot,” I said, recounting the adage he had left for me after my second loss years ago.

This uncle of mine had taught me a lot more than any of my parents bothered to in all the years that they have been alive.

“Not like this. Because your enemy’s weakness is also your weakness. They are expecting you to strike when it’s exposed…”

“Okay,” I nodded and took a deep breath as I swerved my chair to look up at the security camera in my room.

I wasn’t about to do this back and forth with this old man knowing he would just keep spurting out contradictory things.

My patience was waning and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to forgive him for interrupting what I was doing earlier.

“Old man, just tell me what you want so we can get this over with quickly,” I said and he chuckled.

“Your patience… Sometimes, you remind me of her,” he said with a look of reminiscing in his eyes.

Of course, I knew who she was, but I wasn’t about to listen to him talk about a love he never got to keep.

So I kept quiet for a full minute until he came back to the present with an announcement I wasn’t ready to hear.

“The council is calling for an emergency meeting this midnight. More issues have risen at the border and—”

“Those old fuckers!! Will they just die already instead of making stupid excuses to get me off the throne?” I cursed aloud, not caring that the man in front of me was four times my age and would very much consider my actions rude and disrespectful.

“They serve their purpose well, and are only looking after the clan’s well-being,” Beta Samra tried to say in a soothing tone, but I knew better.

“I know that Kylanor has been bribing who he can bribe and threatening who he can threaten. There is no one in that damn council on my side. They all want to pull me out of the throne.”

“That’s because…” he started to talk but paused and looked away.

We both knew he was going to mention how I used fear to rule.

At the same time, we both also knew that it was the most effective. It’s what our forefathers used.

At least until people started to get soft and the rivalry made them think they had any rights at all to stand against the Alpha!

“I sent a group to the border. Why are they lying about another emergency…”

“They aren’t lying, Alpha Ashton,” Beta Samra calling my name with the title meant something serious.

I turned to face him.

“Don’t tell me…” he nodded solemnly before adding… “Yes. They all went missing.”

“Damn it! Those witches!” I said through gritted teeth, doing my best to avoid an outrage or outburst that would gain the attention of the guards outside and cause the spread of gossip.

No matter how many got punished, they still always found a way to leak what was going on on the inside — and that’s why I found it very difficult to trust anyone.

“But the former batch returned. Half of them delirious and the other half dead.”

“What?” My eyes widened… the witches never returned their experiments, except…

“Except it’s happening again,” he completed the sentence with the words in my mind and every pore in my skin was covered in goosebumps.

As if I was dumped in a time machine, the whole setting changed up and I was back in that dimly lit cave, the blood of my father and favorite uncle dripping through my hands after I’d ripped their hearts out and slashed their throats.

“No… No!”

The heaviness in my chest. The banging in my head.

The sound of their final heartbeats in my hands before the light went off in their eyes.

That smile and small thank you they’d both said before their lives got snuffed out of their chests.

“No…”

“No!”

“I…”

“Ashton?” Someone was calling my name, it sounded like a distant echo.

So far, everything else was dark but I knew I needed to reach the source of the sound.

I needed to leave this void.

“Alpha Ashton?” I felt a tap on my shoulder that jerked me out of the darkness that had started to eat me up.

I could still feel it crawling up my skin and filling my core.

The dark in the corners of my eyes cleared as I turned around to take note of my surroundings.

Beta Samra stood hunched back, his cane broken in half and discarded around the—

“It’s midnight. The council is waiting,” someone announced from the outside as I sat up and brushed my hand through my hair.

I shivered from all the sweat that had soaked my clothes and rose to my feet.

If it’s midnight, then I was out for three hours.

The void was getting longer. Dangerous. But there was no cure.

Or maybe there was — but I would be exposing my weakness if I pursued it.

“Let’s go.” I took my staff and wore my cloak, while he magically fixed his cane.

A heavy silence hung in the air as the door was pushed open and I stepped aside.

Yes, only me.

This was because Beta Samra was never here.

Or maybe he was…

Until I plucked his heart out of his chest.