Chapter 197

"Reyana. Please. Don't go. You can go another time. Please," Randall had to bring down his ego and plead. He couldn't afford to lose her. He felt like if she ever left with Novak, he'd lose her forever.

Seeing the look on Randall's face touched a part of her heart she never knew was still alive. Reyana thought all that was left in her heart for Randall was pure hate. But now she was wrong.

"I want to spend some time with my family. At least, you owe me that," Reyana said calmly.

"You will. But not just yet. I need you around, Reyana. The pack needs you. Please, don't go." Randall pleaded.

She was conflicted. Randall was speaking to her heart.

"Novak. I'd send her over in a few days. But for now, I really do need her around," he said in a calmer tone, surprising everyone around, including Novak.

"Maya won't be happy with this. Besides, you brought us to this point. I've tried to see her for days, but you prevented it." Alpha Novak protested, but his anger was subsiding.

"You wouldn't blame me. I was trying to protect her. I promise to send her over in a few days." Alpha Rabdall assured.

Reyana saw the calmness in everyone. It would be wrong of her to keep insisting on leaving with her brother. But she had a condition.

"I'll stay back on one condition," she said, turning to face Randall.

"Anything." Randall quickly responded.

"Let's talk inside, then." She said, giving Randall a side-eye.

***

THE GREEN OASIS

"The Master has arrived! What do we do? What do we tell him?" Odessa asked Shota in panic.

Everyone had been in a panic since Reyana left. The group sent to the Blood Crescent pack returned with positive news - Reyana is at the Blood Crescent pack, but Alpha Randall refused to admit it.

Even if he admits it, they couldn't just stroll in there and ask that Reyana be returned to them.

"We tell him the truth. Reyana left on her own," Shota replied. "The barrier was broken, but no one had stepped foot into the Oasis. We would have been informed. You know that."

"But what if... What if he decides to punish us? He left her in our care, Shota." Odessa said, almost breathless.

"He won't. That's why we need to meet him now before he finds out the wrong way," Shota said, leading them out of her chamber.

By the time they got outside, Master Rashka was already approaching the fortress. His warriors, the Ashkais, the Feyd'ur, and his carefully crafted army were assembled in the open field, with dark energy emanating from them.

They were fortified for the battle ahead. It was time for Rashka to take over that which truly belonged to him. That which his so-called brother stole from him.

Rashka noticed the look on everyone's face, and he knew instantly that something was amiss. He stopped when he saw Shota and Odessa walking towards him, trying to plaster a fake smile on their faces.

"Greetings, Master Rashka," they both echoed in unison.

Rashka did not acknowledge their greeting. His eyes, cold and piercing, scanned their faces, reading the fear and guilt they struggled to hide.

"What is happening here?" he demanded. "Why are you trying so hard to fake being fine?"

Odessa's heart pounded in her chest, her mind racing for an answer. Shota stepped forward with her face ashen.

"Where is she?" Rashka asked, his voice promising an impending storm.

Shota and Odessa exchanged a nervous glance before turning back to Rashka. "Reyana..." She began, her voice steady but strained, "She has escaped from the Green Oasis."

Rashka's eyes narrowed, the dark storm within him intensifying. Though his expression remained stoic, an almost imperceptible shift in his demeanor sent a wave of dread through them.

He stepped forward, his gaze boring into Shota. "Escaped?" he repeated, his voice laced with ice. "How dare you lose her?"

Fear gripped Odessa as she felt the full weight of Rashka's wrath. "We don't know how she disappeared, Master. The guards claim no one entered or left the fortress."

"Then, how did she escape? And how did you know it was an escape?" Rashka's voice was a cold whisper.

Shota swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. "The barrier was broken, but no one from outside stepped into the Oasis. Reyana left on her own. We... we would have been informed otherwise because the intrusion alarm was never set off."

Rashka's gaze sharpened, "Who were the guards on duty when Reyana escaped?" he asked, each word laced with an icy calm that belied the rage boiling beneath.

Rashka's anger was like a tangible force, a living, breathing entity that seemed to engulf everyone gathered there. "Bring them,' he commanded in a cold, metallic voice.

The guards were summoned. Five of them. They were already pale with fear. They already knew their fate from the very day Reyana went missing.

"Where were you when Reyana went missing?" Rashka asked.

They fell to their knees. No one had the courage to speak.

"Master Rashka, we beg for your forgiveness," one guard managed to say, his voice cracking. "We were... we were patrolling the outer perimeter. We never saw her leave. Please, we beg you."

Rashka's lips curled into a semblance of a smile, a dark, cruel thing that sent shivers down the spines of everyone present. "Bring your hands to me," he ordered calmly.

The guards hesitated; they knew what it meant but obeyed either way. Death was inevitable at this point. They extended their trembling hands towards their Master.

Rashka took the first guard's hand, his grip firm yet deceptively gentle. He raised it to his lips and planted a kiss on the back of the hand. The guard's eyes widened in horror as he felt the cold, deathly energy seep into his skin.

A chilling silence descended upon everyone as the guard's body convulsed violently. A scream tore through his throat as he fell to the ground, lifeless.

Odessa covered her mouth, preventing a gasp from escaping. She had witnessed how Rashka carried out his judgment, but it seemed new to her each time.

Fear gripped the remaining guards, their knees buckling as they begged for mercy. Rashka turned to the second guard, his eyes cold and calculating, repeating the ritual on him and the other three guards.

Each kiss was a death sentence, delivered with a chilling calmness that spoke of his dark nature. He was a man of few emotions, but his wrath was lethal, exacted with a terrifying precision.

The sight of his power, raw and unfiltered, was a terrifying spectacle. No one dared to speak.

Rashka finally turned his gaze back to the rest of his warriors, his expression unreadable. "Let this be a lesson to all of you," he began, "Failure to protect what is mine will not be tolerated."

He turned to Shota and Odessa, his eyes burning with a cold fury. "You have failed me. And for that, you will pay."