Chapter 33 My knights in shining armors
Sera’s POV
The door opened abruptly, I didn't move an inch, I pretended like I was still weak from the poison earlier.
Four enforcers stepped into my cell, faces hard. One of them held a syringe already uncapped. I smelled it before I saw it.
Wolfsbane.
“Hold her,” one said. “Elder Rowan wants another dose administered immediately.”
“No,” I said quietly.
They laughed hard, mocking my situation. When the first hand grabbed my arm, instinct took over.
I twisted, using his weight against him, slamming him into the bars. The second rushed me. I drove my elbow into his throat and felt him drop. The third reached for the syringe. I caught his wrist, snapped it back, and shoved him hard into the wall.
He didn’t get back up.
The fourth tried to run. But I let him go, at least he was wise enough to back up.
When it was over, three bodies lay still on the stone floor. Then Rowan arrived.
He took in the scene slowly, eyes cold, jaw tight with anger.
“You forced this,” he said.
They restrained me this time with six enforcers and iron cuffs. The syringe plunged into my neck before I could fight again.
The pain was immediate, it suffocated me.
I heard Rowan’s voice as darkness closed in.
“That dose,” he said calmly, “would kill a normal wolf.”
Then everything went black. When I woke up, the pain never really stopped.
It became worse for me even when I stopped moving, even when I stopped thinking. It sat beneath my skin. I didn't regret killing those enforcers earlier on, in my attempt to escape.
I lay on the cold stone floor, staring at the wall in front of me. Someone had carved into it once. Three lines crossed by a circle. The mark glowed faintly now as I looked at it mocking me.
“You’re still awake.”
I turned my head slowly. A guard stood outside the cell, his weapon tucked under his arm. By his looks, I could tell he was young. His eyes wouldn’t quite meet mine.
“How long have I been here?” I asked.
He hesitated. “Long enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He swallowed. “Over a day.”
My chest tightened. “Where is Rowan? Is he too scared to face me?”
“Quite the opposite actually, he fixed a meeting with the council. They’re… discussing you.”
I let out a quiet laugh that hurt my ribs. “That bad, huh.”
He frowned. “You don’t seem scared.”
“I am,” I said honestly. “I’m just tired of showing it.”
The guard shifted, uncomfortably. “You shouldn’t talk so much. The suppressant reacts to every movement.”
“Then why are you still standing here?” I asked softly.
His jaw tightened. “Because you’re not as threatening as they said you’d be.”
That surprised me. “I have heard that before,”
“That you were unstable and dangerous,” He glanced at the bodies down the corridor, still covered with dark cloths from earlier enforcement rotations. “That you’d already killed people.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “I haven’t killed anyone, I only tried to defend myself.”
“That’s the problem.” he muttered.
Before I could respond, pain flared suddenly in my chest. I gasped, clutching at my shirt as my knees buckled.
“Hey—” the guard stepped closer. “Don’t….don’t panic.”
“I’m not,” I hissed. “It is this stupid poison.”
“Then stop pushing,” he urged.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
Because something inside me was screaming.
The bond stirred again.
I focused on it, ignoring the warning burn beneath my skin. I reached out, pushing past the fog and past the pain.
It was Caden, again.
“Sera.”
His voice hit me so hard I cried out, collapsing against the wall.
“Caden, listen, I said quickly. I don’t have much time.”
“They shielded the place. But it is underground. The council enforcement holding." I admitted.
Damien’s presence joined the link moments later.
“You broke through a layered suppressant. Impressive.” he said.
I managed a weak smile. “Don’t compliment me yet. I might pass out.”
Caden asked again. “Are you hurt?”
I am drugged and weak, but I'm alive, not for long,” I swallowed hard.
The guard outside my cell was staring now, pale and shaken. “Are you okay?
I ignored him.
“There’s a symbol on the wall, I said into the bond. Three lines crossed by a circle. It glows when guards pass.”
Damien went silent for a beat.
“That’s an old council sigil,” he said. “Pre-Alpha territories.”
“There’s water nearby,” I continued, words tumbling out faster. “And the west wall smells like earth and ash. Like something burned there a long time ago.”
My vision blurred.
“Caden, I don’t know if that’s enough.”
“It is,” he said fiercely. “You did great. Stay with me.”
The pain exploded then, the connection ripped away violently. I screamed in pain as the world tilted.
I barely registered the sound of boots pounding down the corridor before darkness swallowed me whole.
I woke up as the noise dragged me back. There was shouting and some metal crashing. The sound of something heavy hitting a stone.
I groaned, my head throbbing as I forced my eyes open.
Firelight flickered wildly now, brighter than before. The iron bars of my cell were bent outward, twisted like they’d been torn apart by sheer force.
My heart slammed into my ribs.
“What—”
I pushed myself upright slowly, dread pooling in my stomach.
Bodies littered the corridor.
Guards and enforcers. Some slumped against the walls, others sprawled on the floor in dark, unmoving heaps. Blood streaked the stone, thick and fresh.
“Oh goddess,” I whispered.
I recognized the feeling instantly. Caden and Damien were here.
My hands shook as I wrapped my arms around myself. “I didn’t mean—”
Footsteps approached.
Two figures stepped into view through the chaos.
Caden reached me first, dropping to his knees, his hands hovering like he was afraid to touch me.
“You’re safe,” he said hoarsely. “You’re safe.”
Behind him, Damien surveyed the bodies, his expression grim.
“This isn’t over,” he said quietly.
I looked back at the bodies. “No, it’ll only get worse.”
They both turned to me. “Sera,” Damien started.
“I caused this,” I said shakily.
Caden shook his head. “They did this, Sera.”
“But I lit the fuse,” I replied.
I had unknowingly started a war.