It felt as if I got electrocuted as the cold water hit my body.
A stinging sensation irritated my ear, making me quickly remove the now ruined earpiece from my ears.
I turned towards where Lucian was to find him staring at me. He was about a meter away.
His hair moved gracefully between the water and the dim light that descended from the moon glistened across his face and made his eyes sparkle.
My oxygen supply was decreasing by the second so I motioned for Lucian that we should resurface.
He seemed to have snapped out of the trance he was in, and without a response, he closed the distance between us so we were only mere centimetres apart.
His eyes were moving to every corner of my face as if memorising every detail. It didn't cross my mind that this was the first time he saw my face since we met and it was very unusual for a werewolf not to know what his mate looked like.
His hand slowly reached up and so very gently cupped my cheek, his eyes never leaving mine.
Lucian's face contorted to that of confusion before grabbing my hand and pulling me with him as he swam through the water.
If it wasn't for our werewolf high tolerance, I would've been unconscious by now from the lack of air.
Soon enough, and after we made sure that we were a safe distance away from the ship, we resurfaced.
I sucked in a deep breath, filling my aching lungs with much needed air.
I heard Lucian do the same as his head popped up from under the water.
We swam to the shore, our body energy drained and tired as we breathed heavily.
"I-I knew I've seen that red hair somewhere before." Lucian said between breaths making me look at him.
I was on both my hands and knees while he was pulling his body towards a rock so that he would lay against.
"You're April Fields, aren't you?" He stated more than asked. His voice sounded very confident that I was April but still needed my confirmation.
I stared down into his eyes for a moment before nodding my head, not trusting my voice.
I was a little afraid, to be honest, and I don't know what he might think when he realises that all this is just for mere revenge.
Revenge isn't the answer to anything, I know that for sure, but I couldn't direct my anger towards anything else and it's not like I'll go weave some baskets and sew some pillows to get my mind off my parents' assassination.
I was angry, weak, and the guilt was eating me up alive.
I hated that I just stood there, watching as everything unfolded in front of me. I hated that I couldn't help my parents, couldn't even aim a small kick or even a scratch. I felt pathetic and useless.
"Can I know what your story is now?" Lucian asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
His voice sounded nearer than before and when I looked up, he sure enough was right in front of me.
I sat up straighter so we were both sitting Indian style and looked into his eyes.
They didn't hold any kind of disgust or disappointment. They were gentle and had an emotion that I always thought would only be a memory to me.
Right then and there I decided that it was time. It was time for him to know everything like how he should. And with a deep breath to calm my nerves, I opened my mouth and started from the very beginning.
Lucian listened to me intently and never interrupted, not even once and for that I was grateful. He would only growl occasionally when I mention how Uncle Adam treated me along with the rest of my pack members.
"And that's when I met you." I finished releasing a breath out.
I gasped in shock when all of a sudden Lucian pulled me to him and embraced my body between his arms.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered into my ear as he ran his hand down my wet hair.
"It's not your fault. None of it is." I replied back as I wrapped my arms around his torso like my life depended on it while I buried my face into his chest. I think that I was directing my words more towards myself and not to him.
"S-so you're not going to judge me about wanting revenge? Are you still going to accept me like this?" I asked hesitantly as I pulled away after what felt like forever.
Lucian smiled gently before leaning over and leaving a chaste kiss on my forehead.
"I'd never judge you April. I've told you this before, but it seems like I'll have to say it again." He replied as he tucked a stray hair behind my ear. "I'll always be on your side no matter what. It's true that revenge won't solve anything and won't bring your parents back, but it seems that we got ourselves involved in something bigger than just revenge. So how about we change that intention of yours into wanting to stop the corruption in our society?" He suggested.
"But my vow about killing everyone involved in my parents' assassination still holds." I stated with determination. That was my goal from the very beginning so if, while we stop the corruption, come across the ones responsible the most, I won't hesitate to take their lives.
"And I won't have it any other way." Lucian said with a shake of his head and a small smile gracing his lips.
"So I guess we did all this for nothing after all, huh?" I said with a small chuckle after a couple seconds of silence.
Lucian understood that I meant what happened back on the ship and a smirk broke onto his lips which made me furrow my eyebrows at him in confusion.
He reached his hands to his back and I noticed that he lifted his shirt slightly before retrieving his hands back to his front, a black Python with a wooden grip lying proudly on his palm.
I looked at the revolver in his hand with wide eyes before turning them to my mate, who was grinning sheepishly at me.
An out of character squeal escaped my lips and I jumped into Lucian's arms.
His chest vibrated as he chuckled at my actions.
--
A knock on the door echoed throughout the whole office, snapping the king out of his trance.
"Come in." He ordered, his eyes still looking out the window.
The door creaked open and the familiar scent of the royal beta, and guards combined with a mixture of sweat and blood filled the air.
The king scrunched up his nose before speaking.
"Did the ship sail?" He asked, his voice radiating power and authority.
The beta hesitated and the king was able to smell the nervousness roll off of him in waves. Not only from him but from the other men in the room as well.
"Er...y-you see, your highness, we've...uh...we've faced a problem." The beta stuttered after a couple seconds of utter silence.
"And what exactly could that problem be?" The king asked as he got up from his place on the armchair and march towards the beta, who was hardly able to swallow his own spit.
"Your son and some other girl warrior attacked my men." The beta answered.
"My son?" The king asked in surprise to which the beta only nodded.
"They killed many of our men and during the fight, they managed to break most of our......goods." The beta explained.
The king growled in anger. "How can you allow this to happen? We just lost a four-million-dollar shipment!" He bellowed. "How did they even know about the shipment?"
"I don't know, really." The beta sighed.
"Then who would?" The king snapped, his eyes turning pitch black as he tried to control his wolf.
"Your son!" The beta snapped back. "I already told you before that we shouldn't do this, that there are many other ways, but you just won't listen. And now your son is onto something for sure!" He didn't realise that his voice had gone up a notch and that he was actually snapping at his king.
Unlike other alphas and betas, those two weren't the best of friends, if any at all.
The men who stood behind the beta had their eyes widened in surprise and feared extremely for the beta's life.
"Uh...What he means is, alpha," the third in command stepped in, trying to ease the tension and save his friend's life. "Is that maybe we should just try to be more secretive and prove to the prince that he is just running after fog."
The king didn't switch his attention to his third whatsoever and kept his angry eyes on his beta as he stepped closer to him so they were only mere inches apart.
"I dare you to try and disrespect me again." The king sneered in the beta's face.
"It's not about disrespecting, I'm just trying to make you think clearly." The beta replied. "What you're doing is-" His words were cut short as a sickening crack sounded all around.
A couple of gasps were heard as the king removed his hands from around his beta's head, making his dead body fall limp to the ground.
Fear struck into the men's hearts like a lightning bolt and even the third in command took a cautious step back.
He gulped audibly as the king turned towards him with cold, dead eyes.
"Congratulations on your promotion. Now, I need good news, or you too won't be amongst the living anymore."
"Uh...I-I...uh..." the third stuttered as he still hadn't recovered from the shock.
"Answer me!" The king growled loudly, shaking the whole room, if not the whole castle up.
"While fighting the girl, one of our men was able to snatch away her mask, and even though it only lasted a second, I was able see her face." The third spoke quickly.
"And who is that girl that my men call as the Black Rose?" The king asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"She's a Fields sir. April Fields."
And that's when all hell broke loose!
--
April When we arrived back to the cottage, only Freya was still sitting in her place.
"Where's Hugh?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows.
My voice made her look up at me, and as soon as her eyes met my face, a loud gasp escaped her lips.
"R-Rose, you...you..." She stuttered in disbelief as she stood up from her place and trotted towards us.
"Yeah..." I trailed off as I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Okay, not time for this now." Lucian said as he placed his hands on my shoulders and led me to the couch. I was thankful to him for saving me from too many questions.
Our clothes had already dried on our way back, so we didn't worry about getting the couch wet.
Lucian made me sit down, offering me a small smile of his to which I replied with one of my own.
He didn't sit though and got out the revolver to inspect it.
"So, Freya, what do you guys think is wrong with these weapons?" He asked as he held it between his fingers and aimed towards the bathroom door, just in time as Hugh opened it and stepped out.
"Woah dude!" Hugh said as he raised his hands up in surrender. "I know we didn't start off on the right foot but I'm still of great help."
"Oh yeah?" Lucian taunted with a raised eyebrow. "And what makes you so useful?" He asked.
I chuckled softly at them. Boys.
"Wait. Is that one of the weapons that was on the ship?" Hugh asked with a raised eyebrow. He put his hands down and crossed them against his chest.
Lucian placed the gun down and walked up to Hugh before smacking him on the head with it.
"Took you long enough, idiot." Lucian joked with a smirk making Hugh growl.
A yawn escaped my lips as all my energy was drained from my body.
"I'm going home." I muttered as the two boys continued bickering with each other.
"Wait! Aren't you going to listen to what we have?" Hugh asked as he pointed his thumb towards Freya.
"Can't we do it tomorrow? I'm really tired." I groaned out.
"Yeah let's do it tomorrow." Lucian agreed since he too looked very tired.
Hugh sighed before nodding. "Fine."
After the several goodbyes and hugs, we were all on our way back home.
Lucian wanted to take me back, but I denied his request since I already had Hugh with me and he had to take Freya back.
I groaned out tiredly as I opened my bedroom door and flopped onto my mattress.
It took me a while to gather much energy to get up to take a shower and change before going to sleep.
A weird scent wafted into my nose as soon as I stepped foot into the room, but I didn't really give it much thought. However, as the minutes passed by, I was starting to get more irritated with it.
I followed the scent which led me straight to where I keep my clothes.
I scrunched up my face in confusion and slowly opened the box where I keep some of my clothes only to jump back in fright and a surprised scream to leave my throat.
My heartbeats were frantic, and I couldn't get my breathing back to normal.
I tried as much as possible to calm myself down before crawling towards the box since my knees where shaking and my legs were too weak to support my body.
I took in a deep breath before looking again inside.
There, on my clothes, laid a human head. It belonged to a male and had his eyes opened wide along with his mouth.
There was a folded paper right next to his head and with shaky hands, I reached out for it.
Opening the note, I read, How did you like your gift April? Surprising right? Well, this is nothing compared to what we can do to you if you didn't get your nose out of people's business. Didn't your parents teach you that it was rude? Oh right, they're dead!
Get it in that head of yours April. We know who you are, and it would be better for you and everyone around you if you returned to being just a slave.
My eyes went back to the head on my clothes and slowly, I started recognising him.
He was the beta. The royal beta.