67__Treachery

It had been a week since the accident.

Cyrus hadn’t slept a wink for the past three days and neither did he want to.

He moved around like the walking dead, his heart heavy in his chest, his mind unable to think of anything other than how likely it was that they were dead.

He’d sent people and they’d reported to him that Raiden and Natalia had left Gadon for Zaire the same day they’d arrived. Three days ago, those same informants had also brought Cyrus the shattered parts of the carriage that had been found floating in the river of a deep valley miles away from Zaire.

He stared at them now as they sat atop his office table, the only evidence that the horrific accident truly had taken place. He hadn’t shown them to anyone, hadn’t told anybody what was happening. In his own mind, he was still struggling to figure it out.

What the hell would he do? He should have stopped her. He should have stopped Evelynn while he’d had the chance.

He’d known for the longest time that, deep inside, he didn’t truly want Raiden dead and he’d known she was serious about it. He should have stopped her when he’d had the chance.

Now it was too late.

With trembling hands, Cyrus gripped his hair, staring at the gnarled chunks of metal on his table. Tears blurred his vision.

Evelynn. Evelynn, Evelynn, that *bitch*!

Oh, God, what had he done?! What had he done, letting her go as far as she had? He’d let her fool him into thinking she had his best interests at heart! He’d let her take away from him the only person Cyrus had ever adored.

His brother. Cyrus had lost his brother.

And Evelynn had caused it.

With a guttural groan, he pulled harshly at his hair, wanting to scream until his throat was raw.

He could barely breathe as he shut his eyes tight, but still, he wanted to break everything in sight. He wanted to set fire to his castle and watch it burn to the ground.

But what use was it?

What use would it be to burn the castle now that his brother was dead?!

A harsh exhale parted his lips. What was the point of anything?

There was nothing left to do. Nothing except facing the one thing that he’d always allowed to beat him.

He’d kill Evelynn.

Shoving back his chair, he stalked out of the office, face pale with sunken eyes and dry lips. He wanted her dead and he would do it himself!

Cyrus didn’t stop to reason at all. He marched across the grounds and didn’t stop until he’d entered the main castle.

He paused, coming face to face with Nicki and Milana as they skipped happily down the main stairs.

They jerked to a halt at the sight of him, frowning in concern.

“What’s happened to you?” asked Nicki. “You look awful.”

“Are you unwell?” added Milana.

Lowering his gaze, Cyrus ignored them, stalking into the house. They didn’t know anything. He hadn’t let them know yet.

“Where are you going?” Nicki asked.

He spun around to face her. “Where’s Evelynn?”

Nicki raised a brow. “The Alphas have gathered in Raiden’s den. I believe she’s there with them.”

Those words made his flesh go cold. With a curse, Cyrus turned and rushed off.

She’d gathered the Alphas? The Alphas of Zaire?! How dare she? And how dare they?! The Alphas weren’t to gather in Raiden’s den unless summoned by the Alpha King himself!

Cyrus wanted to destroy the traitorous lot, bind them together and toss them into a fire. Evelynn had set her diabolical plans in motion and had included those Alphas and they’d been idiotic enough to actually gather, to actually listen to her!

Bastards. His vision blurred as he walked, his heart aching in his chest. His brother hadn’t even been buried yet… how could they betray Raiden already?

Furious, Cyrus barged into the den, shoving the doors open and letting them slam closed.

What he saw shocked him to his core.

Raiden’s throne, Evelynn seated on it.

“Ah,” she said, lowering her wine glass. “Here he comes. Welcome, my partner in arms, to this wondrous occasion.”

Glaring flames at her, Cyrus took slow steps into the room.

What. The. *Hell*. Was she doing?!

The Alphas all looked at him and when Cyrus could finally look at them, his anger tripled. They were *all* in attendance. The traitorous bastards.

“What the fuck is going on here?” he demanded.

Alpha Brian leaned forward, meeting Cyrus’s glare with one of his own. “Maybe you can tell us that, Beta.”

“What the fuck are you doing on Raiden’s throne?” Cyrus asked quietly, lethally. “Get up, Evelynn. Right now.”

She didn’t get up. In fact, she picked up her wine glass once more, staring at him with those cold, blue eyes over the rim as she took a sip.

“Stop with the theatrics,” said Brian bluntly. “We know everything.”

“Do you realize,” began Alpha Arroe, looking more serious than Cyrus had ever seen in his life. “…that this is a conspiracy against the Alpha King and his throne?”

Cyrus glared at him. “So you’re well aware of what you’ve done?”

Eroz narrowed his purple eyes to slits. “What *we’ve* done?” Slowly, he pushed his chair back and stood. “Are you playing game with us? You and that bitch over there have conspired to seize Raiden’s throne. Did you really think we’d let it happen?!”

Staring at him, Cyrus started to realize how confused everybody was. “Wait… what—”

“Falsely using the Alpha King’s name to gather us here was bad enough,” said Brian, glaring at Evelynn. “But having gathered us here, sitting on the sacred throne of the Alpha King to utter total bullshit…”

“You’ve dug your grave, woman,” completed Arroe.

Eroz marched to the door, pausing before Cyrus to give him a filthy look. “This. This is why a Beta should be kept in fucking line.” The cold words made Cyrus lower his gaze, a sudden weight of shame bearing down on him at the sound of the words he’d heard so often in the past. “When Raiden returns from Gadon,” continued Eroz. “…prepare to die. I don’t give a fuck if you’re his brother.”

With that, he bumped roughly into Cyrus’ shoulder and marched to the doors.

Cyrus was dumbfounded. What was going on? He raised his gaze as the other alphas began to stand. Evelynn hadn’t told them Raiden was dead, they thought he was still in Gadon. Instead, she’d told them that she and Cyrus were planning to overthrow Raiden. She’d framed him.

Eroz furiously pulled open the doors to leave. He jerked to a halt, stopping in the doorway when he found his path blocked. “What… what the hell are *you* doing here?”

The other Alphas looked at the door and Cyrus saw them all freeze, sharing looks of disbelief and puzzlement.

When he turned around to look, he understood what had caused it.

The big figure in the doorway tilted its head, expressionless eyes staring in at all of them. “Pardon my intrusion,” murmured the gravelly voice.

Brian stepped forward beside Eroz, frowning. “Shadow. What are you doing here?”

Shadow raised his gaze past all of them, uninterested in their domineering glares or the egos he’d bruised with his presence. The presence of a fallen alpha amongst true alphas was always frowned upon.

Too bad, Shadow didn’t give a fuck. He had a mess to fix.

When his gaze found her, he focused on her, watching her face go pale. “I only came to keep a certain wildcat in order. Evie. Let’s go.”

************

Devil massaged the back of his neck as he left the last room for tonight, having read about thirty bedtime stories in total.

Running his orphanage was a tiring job, but it made him happier than anything else. It came with painful memories, but all Devil could do was move on, keep living, leave the pain in the past.

The kids were all asleep now, he could finally go to his wing of the castle.

He’d wanted to, all day, he’d been dying to, but had restrained himself.

What was the point? It did nothing but make him angry and getting angry was something that Shadow had told him to avoid, at all costs.

This week's events were enough to make Devil’s eyes roll back from rage, but he’d managed to keep his head on straight. He hadn’t blacked out, he hadn’t smashed anything, he hadn’t even needed to lock himself away so the kids didn’t see him having an episode.

He’d controlled himself perfectly and of his own strength. A smile curved his mouth. He was very proud of himself, to say the least. It didn’t matter that there was no cure for them or that they were considered fallen alphas, if he and Shadow could only develop the ability to control the mindless fury that possessed them as a result of their illness, Devil would be more than proud of the both of them.

When he entered his wing, he stood against the staircase banister and looked down at the living room downstairs. Did he go down there first, or here?

Thinking here was more urgent, he turned around and walked to the upstairs rooms first.

Reaching the bedroom door, Shadow took a moment to breathe and compose himself. He would stop himself from thinking of the past. He would stop himself from remembering the injustice he’d faced. Him and Shadow.

If he could only do that, this would go well and they’d go back to their normal lives.

With a nod, he reached out, gripped the handle and swung the door open. Devil immediately halted.

He frowned. The bed before him was empty, the cover tossed back and the white sheets stained with drops of blood.

That was odd. Puzzled, he stepped into the room and then halted for a second time.

He turned to his right and, looking at the dresser by the wall, understood why the bed had been empty.

Keeping his hands awkwardly at his side, Devil looked at the man sitting at the dresser, noting that the bandages wrapped around his bare back had become soaked through with blood. He would change those, but for now, he had to talk to him. Devil cleared his throat. “You’re… awake.”

It took a moment and the man didn’t even turn around, but soon, his reflection in the mirror looked at Devil. A pair of exhausted silver eyes stared deeply at him through the mirror. “Natalia… where is she?”