53. This Is Revenge.

Narrator’s POV.

Daphne stood in front of the wide oak door of the Ranger Mansion, she was contemplating whether or not it would be okay to burden her friend with all her problems. Should she just go for it or should she just turn back?

No, she had made up her mind, her friend would be angry with her if she did not come to her. With a heavy sigh, Daphne fisted her hand and knocked firmly on the large double doors, completely forgetting about the existence of a doorbell.

A few seconds later, the door swung open and Fiona walked out, a very uncomfortable smile on her face, uncomfortable for Daphne. “Fiona hi”, Daphne greeted,

“What are you doing here?”, Fiona’s voice sounded snarky and rude, a contrast to how she usually sounded. Daphne was sincerely confused, but she did not want to ponder on it for too long.

“You would never believe what happened”, Daphne was hysteric, she seriously needed somebody to rant to, her best option was Fiona,

“I am sure I cannot”, Fiona said sarcastically which made Daphne pause for a second,

“Can I come in?”, she asked, trying to see past Fiona who was guarding the door.

“No, I do not want you in my home”, Fiona had a mean scowl on her face which perplexed Daphne. Was Fiona also seeing Emilia instead of Daphne?

“Fiona, it is me, Daphne”, Daphne stated, hoping she could convince her friend that she was in fact herself,

“I know”, Fiona shrugged, with a sinister smile on her face.

“Why are you behaving like this?”, Daphne whispered quietly, tears breaming her eyes, she did not understand what was happening. Why was Fiona behaving like a remake of Emilia?

“This is revenge”, Fiona started off, “You! You stole my cousin’s mate and even went ahead to kill my uncle”, she pointed an accusing finger at Daphne,

“You are Alpha Roland’s niece?”, as it turned out, she had not done her homework properly; if only she had done it well and finished it, she would have been able to link Luna Fiona Ranger to the Roland family. How could she be so blind?

Dwayne’s warning came crashing down on her, he had told her not to trust Fiona. Did that mean that he knew she was somehow related to alpha Roland?

“Yes, I am, my late uncle and cousin sent me after you. I was only your friend to spy on you”, she revealed, “I cannot believe that you would think that I actually liked you. All the lunas hated you, what made you think I would be any different?”, her harsh words made Daphne’s eyes water, “Look at you, you are not fit to be the luna queen, but I know my cousin is and she would do a damn good job at filling your place”, she finished in a snarky yet satisfied tone,

“The alpha king thinks Emilia is me, how is this possible?”, she had come to terms with the fact that she had no friend in Fiona to begin with, all she wanted to know now was how Dwayne was seeing her as a totally different person.

“Get of my land before I call security. Who even let you in?”, Fiona gave her the stink eye, dodging the question Daphne just asked her, “I do not ever want to see you here again”, she ordered.

Daphne was in shock for the hundredth time that day, she could not believe how much of a fool she was. How could she let Emilia and Fiona play her like she was their own personal pawn? Another piece to their game?

“I cannot believe I let you do this to me. He told me not to trust you, but I did; that was all on me”, Daphne voiced out,

“Well, you should have listened to him”, Fiona spat before slamming the door shut in her face.

Now, she knew how it felt to be betrayed by someone you cared deeply for, how it felt to be treated like a fool by someone you thought was your friend, how it felt when someone you trusted was secretly stabbing you with tiny pins in the back and you were completely nonchalant and oblivious to it all.

Was this how the alpha king had felt when he found out that Henry, his head guard had betrayed his trust?

Was his hurt overshadowing his anger? Was he in severe pain, like his heart had been punctured multiple times by a knife dipped in ash wood and wolfsbane?

That was exactly how she felt; maybe it was because her whole entire world had only just crashed down on top of her. She had no home, no money, no clothes and a fucking baby on the way. His baby, the rightful heir to the throne, the first-born child of the alpha king.

~0~

It had been three days, three days since she had found out about her pregnancy, three days since she had been kicked out of the castle, three days since she had found out that her one friend was not her friend at all.

The last three days had been hectic for her, going from place to place hoping no one saw her. She had gone three day without any food but yet, she still managed to vomit every morning due to her pregnancy.

She was hungry, extremely hungry; she had never been in such a position as this before, just walking aimless to nowhere. She knew no one would dare to take her in, afraid that the alpha king would just decide to pop up at her doorstep and demand to have her back.

“You there!”, she stopped dead in her tracks, her arms wrapping around her stomach as she went into a protective mode. “What are you doing on Vampire territory?”, the man came out of the forest with three other men,

“Vampire Territory?”, Daphne was bewildered, how did she not realize that she had left werewolf territory behind?

“Yes, vampire territory”, the eyes of the men shimmered red and their blood sucking fangs was on full display every time they talked,

“I am incredibly sorry”, she apologized, “I will head back to the werewolf territory”, she was about to turn around and leave, but in the speed of lighting, the man was in front of her, grabbing her arm,

“Where do you think you are going?”, he asked her with a dangerous smirk on his face, “You are our prisoner now”, he declared and Daphne started to panic; she could not be held hostage, especially not by blood thirsty vampires!

“What? No! You cannot do that to me”, she tried to struggle out of the man’s hold but he was just to strong for her weakening body. Without the acknowledgement of her mate, she had started to feel weak and powerless. Also, she had not eaten in days,

“The Vampire Lord will definitely like this one”, another one smirked at her with his yellowing teeth, “Maybe we should sell her to him for a good price”, he suggested and the others agreed,

“I heard werewolves are crazy in bed”, one of the men said, grabbing her face in his cold hands.

“Too bad you would not be finding out”, the first man slapped the other man’s hand away from her face, making Daphne eternally grateful, “Do not touch her like that, we plan on selling her to the Vampire Lord”, he scolded,

“She is not even pure! Can you not smell that she is mated, probably by an alpha?”, yellow teeth said, Daphne could not agree more with the man this time.

“Well then, Lunas should learn not to stray far from home”, the boss man said and ordered the others to hold unto Daphne’s other arm. She did not even have the energy to fight them off, the only thing she could do was think of how dead she was going to be when the Vampire Lord sees her.

The last time they met, he made his distaste for her potty mouth very obvious. She always knew that her mouth was bound to kill her one day, she just did not expect it to be so soon or early.

They came to the large gates of the castle, a guard spotting them immediately, “State your business”, he demanded,

The head of the men rolled his eyes at the guard, “We found this werewolf on our territory, we want to make a deal with the vampire lord”, he said. The guard nodded and opened the gate,

“Very well”, he let them in and they dragged a weak Daphne along with them. The guard escorted them into the castle and took them into the throne room, “Your highness, these men have come to you with an offering. A werewolf woman”.

The men push Daphne to her knees and they raise up her falling head. The familiar face of the alpha king’s mate almost makes the lord want to scream at them to let go of her. The way they had their hands all over her was very dangerous and he knew it.

“Go. Leave your details with the guards, your compensation shall be given to in due time”, the men nodded and left with the guards. “Excuse us”, he said to the guards that stood around the room, they did what they were asked, leaving Daphne alone with a man who could possibly kill her. He stood up from his throne and walked slowly towards her tired body, “Well, well, well, as I live and breathe…”,

“Can we please skip the chit chat and get to the killing?”, her mouth was still as sharp as the last time he met her, he was not at all disappointed,

“Kill you? So, Dwayne can hang my head on the wall with his other collections? No thanks”, the vampire lord said making Daphne want to cry once again,

“Well, Eric, I really do not think he would care that much”, she said sadly, bending her head down. He squatted in front of her and raised up her head.

“What happened?”, he asked softly, all his cockiness pushed behind,

“I honestly do not know”, she sobbed, “One day we were good and okay but now, I really have no idea. He was with another woman calling her me. I am so confused at the moment”, she rambled on as tears fell from her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her in a friendly, comforting manner, “It is going to be okay”, he whispered in her ear. He could not help but notice that something was off about her body, she was different from the last time he met her, “Are you pregnant?”, he moved away from her, giving her a little space,

“Yes”, she nodded, wiping her tears with the sleeves of her now dirty jacket,

“Does he…”, he could not finish his sentence, not wanting to pry into something that did not concern him.

“No”, she shook her head, “He kicked me out before I could tell him”, she started to sob again as she recalled the events of that day, how could one day be so eventfully painful?

“That asshole”, he muttered referring to Dwayne, “But, I know he would come around. We have been friends for over two hundred years, although we never like to show it, we really care about each other, he is just a big dick”, he had managed to make Daphne laugh, “I will let you stay in my territory, there is a small shed there where you can stay until you get back on your feet. I really wish for you to stay here but my people are not really big fans of werewolves; they especially do not like the alpha king, so his mate staying here is a concoction for disaster”,

“Thank you, Eric. You really do not have to do this for me”, Daphne smiled tearfully at him. She could not believe how nice he had treated her, what happed to the vampire lord she had met the last time?

“I do, it is my duty as your mate’s friend”, he said, “I know I acted like a jerk the last time we met, but it was only because I like getting under his skin”, he shrugged, standing up and bringing Daphne with him, “You should really eat, deer blood?”, he offered, knowing fully well she could not take such,

“I will have to pass on that”,

“I will ask someone who knows how to make an actual meal to whip something up for you”, he said before leaving her in the room.