I puked on the floor for the second time when flashes of what just happened to Doyle passed my mind once again.
I was in deep shock and my mind wasn't clear. The man just burst like a bubble, right in front of my eyes.
His blood was covering my whole body and bits of his body tissue laid all around.
"Oh Lord." I groaned when I felt myself wanting to puke again.
The sound of someone opening the cell door had me trying to hide how shaky I was.
Doyle's blood flooded my sense of smell so I couldn't identify a specific scent, but I had my doubts about who came inside.
"I guess you still haven't recovered yet." Kristoff stated smugly.
I kept my eyes on my bloody lap, not wanting to see his face just yet. Or maybe it was that I didn't want him to see mine.
Kristoff said nothing for a moment, and I thought that I'd finally got a break from his irritating voice when, suddenly, a bucket of cold water was dropped on me, making me gasp in surprise and at how cold the damn water was.
That made me look up and growl at him angrily.
I had to be thankful though since it woke me up a little and partially got me out of my state of shock.
"I see you're with us now." Kristoff smirked.
"Why did you do it? Why kill him?" I questioned sternly with genuine curiosity.
Kristoff shrugged his shoulders. "Simple. He was a rat, and everyone knows how much we hate rats."
I furrowed my eyebrows at him in confusion, signalling for him to elaborate.
He rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. "Seriously woman."
I raised my eyebrow at him and said nothing.
"Well, if it wasn't for him, then you would've never gotten that folder from the train station and my business wouldn't have been jeopardised." He explained like you would to a kid with the hand gestures and all. "Did I really have to spell it out to you?"
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"But why would he let me know about it when he too was involved in all of it, including my parents' death?" I asked.
"What?!" Kristoff gaped with amusement before he burst into a fit of laughter. "You really thought that he was involved? Who's the idiot that told you such a thing?" He asked between laughter.
"Doyle was nothing but a pawn in my hands that I used to get what I wanted." He revealed after his laughing session ceased down. "Ah! Maybe he was caught up in it since he was the one to clean up after whatever mess I do but he was never aware of what was actually going on."
"You're very pathetic you know that?" I spat out at him.
My words didn't sit well with him as he growled at me before grabbing my throat in a tight grip and raising my face so that I met his level.
I struggled for breath but hid it under a calm face.
"At the very beginning I was amused by your courage but now, I hate it." He snarled at me.
I spat on his face which angered him even more.
I knew I was digging my own grave right now, but seriously, things had already gotten this far, I couldn't back away now. And I definitely can't show any weakness.
Kristoff let go of my throat only for his fist to collide with my jaw, snapping my head to the other side.
Blood collected in my mouth, so I spat it on the floor before looking back at Kristoff's pitch-black eyes.
I smirked at him before spitting some more blood on the already bloody and dirty floor.
"Was that cotton candy that you used to hit me with?" I asked, knowing very well that I was pushing his buttons to the limit.
"Oh no, the cotton candy is still in my pocket." And that was when the sound of metal chains resounded through the whole cell when he reached for the bag that he had with him.
I'm not gonna lie and say that I wasn't scared about the amount of pain that I'd receive, but again, I refused to show any emotion.
"Well, since you are very dear to my heart April, I'll give you the privilege to choose. Either the white candy or the pink." He said, using my own sarcasm against me. He held two chains in both hands, and I suspected that one was silver coated while the other wasn't. Or maybe both were silver coated for all I know.
"I know what you're thinking, and no, only one is silver coated." Kristoff said, answering my question.
Either ways, I'm getting hurt, but one chain will weaken me and eventually kill me while the other won't.
"Hurry up!" Kristoff growled at me but it unfazed me. I had to outsmart him and try to save myself one way or another.
I watched his hands closely, trying to figure out which was the silver coated one, but he was holding both the same way with bare hands.
The silver coated one would burn his hands and he wouldn't have been holding it so easily but ten it clicked.
I smirked up at him. "I choose the silver coated one." I said with confidence.
"Oh, you do?" Kristoff asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes. Both will hurt the same amount, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose." I shrugged.
"And if you were so mighty why choose the silver coated one?" He asked as he dropped the chain in his left hand and twirled the other around the right.
"To show you that I'm way stronger than you and that compared to me you're nothing but an annoying pebble." I answered with another shrug.
Kristoff growled at me for the umpteenth time before charging at me and swinging the chain in his hand making it collide diagonally across my trunk.
I winced slightly from the pain but thankfully and just like I hoped, the silver didn't affect me.
I've noticed how bloody Kristoff's right hand is which acted as a coat that protected him against the silver and since my whole body was covered in Doyle's blood then ultimately, I was protected against the silver too. The blows of the chain will hurt but the silver won't. I chose the silver chain to make him believe that I had some kind of powers where even silver doesn't affect me. This way, I'll have some advantage against his confusion.
Kristoff's shocked face confirmed that he didn't know about this which made me even more smug.
I smirked up at him again. "I thought you were using the silver coated one."
He looked confused for a second before growling and reaching for the other chain.
Another whip to my shoulder, hurting immensely and definitely leaving a mark but again, no reaction to silver.
Kristoff growled loudly in frustration.
"It doesn't matter!" He yelled before swaying the silver chain at me again, hitting my chest and earning himself a crack.
As he was about to sway for the fourth time, loud alarms echoed in the air around us.
Kristoff growled for the zillionth time in frustration before leaving me and running out the cell.
I let out a breath that I had kept in and finally let a traitor tear escape my eyes.
I was still shaky from the Doyle incident and now my whole body was screaming at me in pain. I've contained it in very well according to me at least and I want nothing but for it to be over.
I was silently thanking whoever started that alarm in my head over and over for I don't know how long Kristoff would've gone.
And for the first time I cried in my head for help.
----
Lucian As expected, as soon as the alarm went off, the guards and everyone in the castle were running everywhere like mad men. That of course, until they saw the serpents and that's when all the real chaos started.
Everyone was running around while the guards were approaching us.
"Lucian!" I heard Freya called as she ran to me with a panicked expression on her face.
"Freya! What are you doing here? You must leave right now!" I ordered.
"No Lucian! Listen to me! April is missing, ever since the attack on her pack she's gone missing, we can't find her!" She informed me with a worried filled expression and that's when my I recalled my father's words in my head.
"I'll let you out when everything is settled and your little girlfriend is out of the way."
I growled loudly at the reminder of him hurting April.
"Leave now Freya. Go to Hugh and-"
My words were cut short when Freya shook her head. "He and Gabrielle disappeared too when we were searching for April." She informed.
He words angered me more and I tried my best to control myself and hope that my father didn't take then as well.
"Just go hide!" I growled. Freya didn't waste another second before nodding and running off to hide.
I was about to go to search for my father when the royal guards hurried to stand in front of the serpents and I, blocking our way.
They growled at the serpents and the serpents hissed in return.
No one dared to make a move first, both sides wanting to save themselves from death.
Soon, my father made an appearance as he stood in front of his men.
"Lucian." He snarled angrily at me. "What are you doing son? You're teaming up with the enemy!"
"Where's April?" I asked, ignoring what he said.
He growled at the mention of her name. "Why do you care so much about her? She ruined everything! She's our enemy too!"
"No she's not!" I growled back at him. "She's my mate, while you my father, you've gone mad ever since mom died."
"Don't mention her." He snarled at me angrily.
"But you know, it's my fault for not realising it earlier." I continued.
"All I want is for us werewolves to live in peace, not in fear of those disgusting creatures." He said as he pointed at the serpents behind me.
That made them hiss at him causing the guards to growl in response.
"And you want to achieve that by killing innocent people?" I asked in disbelief.
"For great outcomes, things must be sacrificed." Was his reply.
"Those 'things' are living beings. Men and women who are someone's mate, daughter and son!" I snapped.
"It doesn't matter!" My father yelled back. "If they cause trouble then they need to go."
"This needs to stop." I murmured more to myself but it's not a surprise that everyone heard due to their heightened senses.
"And you think you'll be the one stopping me? You and those?" He asked, gesturing towards the little number of serpents that I had behind me. True we were outnumbered but I'm not backing down.
"And us." A familiar voice that I missed so much said, making us all look in her direction.
In a matter of seconds I was standing in front of April, just as her shaky legs failed to support her body any longer.
I wrapped my arms securely around her waist, preventing her body from touching the floor.
As my eyes went over her body and face, I couldn't help the surge of anger that burned inside of me.
She was covered in bruises and her whole body was drenched in semi-dried blood.
My eyes instantly found my father's shocked ones, knowing for sure that he was the one who did this.
"You're dead!" I growled at him angrily and was about to charge at him when I felt April touch my cheek ever so softly making me turn my head to her direction.
My gaze softened once it met hers.
"Don't." She whispered out weakly. "He's still your father Lucian."
"Not anymore!" I growled.
"Mark me." She said, her on impulse words surprising me.
"Mark you? Now?" I gaped at her in shock.
She nodded her head weakly. "It'll give me the strength that I need and help me heal quickly." She replied.
"No!" I refused, knowing quite well what she needed the strength for. She was planning on fighting along, in that state of hers.
"April, let's go." I heard Hugh order, realising just now that he was standing there along with Gabrielle and a man whom I've yet to know.
"Yes April. Listen to Hugh and leave." I agreed before handing her over to Hugh who held her tightly but as I turned to face my father once again, I suddenly felt sharp canines pierce my neck from behind.
The pleasant electric shock that ran down my spine made me sure on who was the one biting me.
Soon enough, April retracted her canines and licked the blood that dropped before stepping away.
In an instant, I was facing her and digging my own canines into her neck, marking her as mine forever, same as she did to me.
She knew that if she marked me then I wouldn't be able to control my wolf into not marking her in return. That little minx.
"I guess I should be more alert around you baby." I said when I retracted my canines.
She pulled back at me and smirked. "I get what I want." She shrugged, life and newly found energy making their way into her eyes once again.
I heard Hugh sigh, and as I looked at him, I saw him shaking his head.
"Was that disgusting or what?" My father spat, snapping us out of our little moment.
We all turned to look at him, April being the first to smirk at him.
"Jealous?" She asked smugly.
"For God's sakes April!" My father snapped. "Can't you shut up for once!"
"Nope." Came April's reply as she popped the 'p'.
Their bickering never failed to entertain us. My father was like the bully who can't win the nerd who doesn't give a damn.
"You might think that you have your friends here on your side, but you're still outnumbered." My father stated as a matter of factly.
"Like I care." April replied with narrowed eyes. "You've already seen first hand how strong I am. Even silver didn't affect me." She shrugged with pride.
I turned my head to look at her in confusion.
She looked up at me and mouthed that she'll explain later.
"But what I don't get though is why you're doing all this?" She returned her attention back to my father and asked the question we all were dying to know the answer too.
"Wasn't it obvious?" My father asked back. "Wipe clean the whole existence if those disgusting serpents. Can't you see? I'm protecting our kind, so that we can live in peace! The question now is, why are you on their side?"
"That wasn't my goal at first, but when I learned about your dirty plan, I couldn't help but want to kill two birds with one stone." April replied and I felt the anger rising inside of her.
'Calm down baby.' I said through our mind link and I instantly felt her relax a little.
"Oh! You're avenging your parents, aren't you?" My father stated more than asked with a smirk. "What? You vowed something like killing everyone involved? They're not worth it" He scoffed.
Without warning, the anger inside of April shot up to the sky and she was charging towards my father, initiating the fight.