Chapter 81 Revenge
ZORA
He grinned, "That's me. Surprise."
"Ho... how?!"
"Stop making me repeat myself!! My family saved me when you did nothing but watch your lover kill me!"
"Ryker is not‐"
"Uh...uh," he wriggled a finger at me, "not another word from you."
"So what now? You're just going to kill him for revenge, too? Is that why you teamed up with Scarlett?"
"Worry about yourself first. Your death is going to be painful. Besides, with Ryker, I'm merely killing two birds with a stone and having my honor intact."
I scoffed, "You don't have any honor left, Lucas. Free me, and let's settle this amicably."
He laughed as if I had just said the funniest thing ever.
My teeth clenched in anger.
I glared daggers at him, straining against the chains as they dug into my wrists. "You won’t get away with this, Lucas. You think tying me up and threatening me makes you strong? It makes you a coward.”
His smile widened, cruel and pleased. “Oh, I don’t need strength, Zora. I just need bait.”
What ever happened to the man I was going to marry?
My chest tightened in fury.
"Bait?" I spat, "What the hell are you on about now?"
Lucas leaned closer, "You know exactly who I mean. He’ll come charging after you, reckless as ever. And when he does...." He tilted her head, a pleased sigh escaping his lips, "I’ll finally get what I want."
"So you're going to make my children orphans?"
He cluck his tongue, "Maybe if you accept your fate without resisting, I might bring them over and make them slaves in the palace while I wipe Courtney's memory and send her to another pack as a gift."
I growled.
The rage I felt was stronger than the fear I earlier felt.
Now I just want to kill him all over. He should have freaking stayed dead!
"Touch them, and I swear I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands." I snarled at him.
Lucas only laughed, the sound taunting to my ears.
Deep inside, dread curled in my stomach. If Ryker really came for me, he was walking straight into a trap.
And I couldn’t warn him.
I know Ryker. There's no way in hell he is leaving me here.
"I'll leave you to your thoughts and your friends."
I narrowed my eyes at him, "What friends?"
"In darkness." He winked and went for the door.
"I was going to come back for you. I was doing everything to come back to you asshole!!!"
He paused and turned back to me, "Still wouldn't have changed the outcome. I would have brought you back here and dealt with Ryker, too, for humiliating me at the wedding."
"You knew I was a wolf all this time." I murmured.
"I'm surprised you didn't know we are from the same species. By the way, it's so easy to manipulate you and your weak wolf."
I scoffed, " If Ryker hadn't stopped the wedding, what would have happened?"
"Would have married you, brought you here, make it seem like you unalived yourself and I would have taken care of your children with Courtney, maybe even marry her to make you happy. All Ryker did was delay inevitable."
Tears burned bright in my eyes.
He opened the door, "In case you are wondering why your wolf is so weak and can't even talk to you, here's your answer. I did it. How? The tea I served you for the six or seven years we were together was poisoned to harm only her. I had to eliminate a threat while keeping you alive."
He slammed the door, and everywhere became pitch-black.
A loud, angry, and painful scream erupted from my throat.
I'm going to rip him apart. I'm going to kill him!!!
My chest heaved with anger, my breaths coming in short.
I focused again. All I need is a spark of energy to get rid of these chains.
Nothing was there.
I took a deep and focused on Semya.
Maybe if I can summon her, she'd be able to help.
Nothing.
Nothing
Nothing was working!!
I slumped on the floor.
I'm just as useless.
My wolf is most probably gone, and it's because of me.
Lucas was right. I'm so easy to manipulate.
The monsters came for me then.
I can't remember the last time I was in a pitch-black room.
Darkness.
That's all that surrounded me.
It's where the monsters strive in. It's the only place they can come for me.
I know, they are just a figment of my imagination, but at the same time, they are so real.
It's why I hated the darkness.
I always had.
But in here, locked in this room, I realized hate wasn’t strong enough.
Fear, -bone-deep, primal fear - was curling up my spine.
It's just shadows, Zora.
Just shadows, they can't hurt you, -me
Nothing is here, I kept reminding myself.
Then came a sound.
Like a scrape, almost like it was taunting me.
My breath hitched.
My heart thrummed so hard against my ribs I thought it would break out.
I turned my head toward the noise, but the dark swallowed everything.
My eyes begged for shape, for light, for something.
Nothing came.
"It's your mind playing tricks on you!" I told myself, maybe if I said it out loud, it would ease the fear.
As if to make mockery of me, I felt something like a breath on my shoulder.
Whatever it was was too freaking close.
I froze, my nails digging hard into my palms.
"It’s in your head," I whispered to myself. "You’re just imagining things. You’re alone."
The feeling came again.
My eyes were a bright hue of purple.
I was scared.
The feeling came again.
My throat tightened. I pressed back against the wall, trying to anchor myself to something that was real.
They called for me.
Stretching their spiny fingers.
I can make them out now, I can see their faceless faces.
My stomach lurched.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head even more vigorously. "You’re not real. You’re not -"
The whisper came again, clearer this time.
Calling my name,
"Zora...."
I bit back a scream, my heart beating so violently I thought I’d black out.
Every instinct screamed at me to fight, but the chains rattled when I tried.
I was helpless.
I felt vulnerable and exposed.
This was my nightmare.
Something brushed against my ankle lightly, almost teasing.
I kicked wildly at the dark.
Soft laughter reached my ears, mocking.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but that made it worse.
I told myself monsters weren’t real, just nightmares.
But right now, in this choking black, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
I drew my knees up to my chest and did the only thing I could do, pray.
"Mother, are you there? Can you hear me?" I whispered softly, praying my voice reached the moon goddess.
It's what Semya told me to address her by, mother.
I continued, "Please, if you can hear me, I need your help."
I wish this was all a bad dream.
Lucas? A wolf? That wouldn’t have crossed my mind in a million years.
Tears streamed down my face as I focused on praying, tuning out the monsters, which was pretty much hard.
"Help me, please. Give me the strength. I don't want to die, please. Help me save Ryker, help me save my family, help me break these chains, bestow me with your powr, you can even lend me a little bit, I don't mind. Just help me out here, please, Mother. Please."
My body racked with sobs.
There was nothing, no response from her.
I gave up hope,
I'm just as useless.
"Zora?" A small voice called with.
Time stopped still.
I was scared to call out her name.
"I- Ivan? You're awake?" I gasped out.
"What did I miss?" She replied.
"Goddess!!" I cried in relief.
My wolf is here.
My wolf is awake.
My vision became clearer.
The dark wasn't much of a huge threat anymore.
I wasn't scared.
"Why are we here?" Ivan asked.
"I'm chained. I can't leave, and I can't use my powers. these are suppressants."
"Are you sure?"
I focused again, to prove to her that it wasn't possible, and instead, I saw it.
The spark I so desperately need.
"I must warn you, though. If you use it, you're going to be weak, more like drained for a while, and I don't know how long."
"Will it affect you?"
"No, Zora, I'm here. Not weak to dissappear on you."
I smiled for the first time since I got here and concentrated.
The moon goddess heard me!
A warm feeling emanated from my chest, followed by a large burst of light.
The chains broke to pieces.
I can see my silver threads once more.
I fell to the floor though, like Ivan said, I felt drained.
The door opened, and the girl from earlier entered.
I urged my threads to attack, render her unmovable, but they weren't moving or making attempt to. I was too weak to move them.
"My, my. What do we have here? Lucas was right. You really are powerful. You don't have to do too much, your mate is almost here."
Ryker is on his way?
The girl picked me up as if I weighed nothing and placed me on her shoulder, walking out of the room.
I was thrown on the floor, near a fire in an open space.
"Tie her up" Lucas commanded.
The girl scoffed, "It's not necessary. She already broke our most powerful chains. Tying her up won't help in any way."
I sat up with a groan, holding my head.
They were five in numbers, the girl, Lucas, another boy and who I'm thinking should be their parents.
Scarlett was seated on a log of tree few meters and opposite me.
She was grinning at me.
"It's almost time!" She announced, winking at me.
Lucas grabbed me by the throat and had a knife to my neck.
He was apprehensive and on the edge.
He had his parent flank him closely in protection.
My wolf purred.
He is afraid of Ryker, of my mate.
I got a whiff of his scent before the sudden surge of wind and a blur.
Ryker is here.
"Let her go," Ryker growled his claws in the girl's back, definitely on her heart. Same with the boy. "If not, they die."