Chapter Sixty

"What?” Callan asked.

But Sophia’s expression told Nikolai that she remembered. She looked like death had visited her.

She began to shake her head.

He cut her off. “You owe me,” Nikolai snapped. “And as the Luna of the Black Tide pack, you are within your rights to provide what I am requesting.”

“What is he talking about, Sophia?” Callan asked, the growing rage in his tone evident.

“I don't… I…”

And Nikolai felt horrible for doing this to her, for putting her on the spot like this but he shoved his guilt away. It was either this or have Natalie remain in Emerald pack and he chose the former, repercussions be damned.

“Sophia?” Callan called.

“I promised him something in exchange for offering up his army to fight alongside my pack.”

Callan’s expression turned monstrous. “You struck a deal with him? Despite the fact that you flouted my rule by leaving here when I brought you for your own safety, you went on and struck a deal with someone you barely knew. All for you to still fall into Alexander’s trap?”

“I was desperate, okay?” she screamed right back at Callan. “What else would you have had me do?”

“Stay put as I’d said. I almost lost you because you chose to defy me, Sophia, because you chose to not trust me and you did as you pleased.”

Nikolai could tell there were still unresolved issues from the previous year between Sophia and Callan, but that was none of his business; he didn't have time to stand around and listen to them bicker about it.

“I couldn't stand back knowing my family was about to get attacked. What else would you have had me do?”

“Communicate to me!” Callan yelled. “I would have liked it if you had checked with me first, informed me, and not struck a deal with Nikolai. Do you know what that singular act you’d done in the past cost you and is now yet again about to cost? You want me to sacrifice my men for this fool’s mission? To put my pack members at risk because of the drift this will cause between my pack and other packs? Do you realize the consequences, Sophia?”

“Yes, I do! I do very well, I am not stupid thank you very much. Do you think I do not wish to go back and change things? My sister died, Callan. I couldn't stand the thought of any other family member of mine dying because of me and so I did what I could at that time and I don't regret standing up and fighting for them.”

Nikolai noticed Sophia’s breathing was labored and her cheeks were flushed in anger, but Callan wasn't backing down.

“I was going to take care of it…”

“And I was sick of you taking care of everything for me! I wanted to do something, I wanted to do something to help my family without fully depending on you.”

“And how did that end?”

She gasped. “Callan…”

“I will not be offering Nikolai my army!” Callan swore, pointing a finger at Nikolai. “I won't put my subjects into a mess like this, you are on your own. Nikolai, ask Sophia for anything else.”

“That is all I need,” Nikolai answered calmly.

“Fuck you!” Callan said and stormed out leaving Sophia and Nikolai.

She turned to him, her lips trembling, tears welling up in her eyes. “I know she's my sister and I appreciate the intensity of your emotions for her, Nikolai…”

“Tonight. I expect preparations for your army to join mine to begin tonight and that is final.”

And he walked out on her with the nagging panic that Natalie hadn't responded to him yet and he was still shut out from their mate bond.

Blood will be spilled if anyone harmed a hair on her body… It was an oath.

****

The first stroke that landed on my back was painful enough to elicit a guttural sound from me and then the next and the one after that until I lost count and my head was fuzzy and I was barely conscious.

I had woken up to chaos in the building but it was too dark for me to figure out anything. Sometime during the night, the light from the lamps in this section had gone off or someone had put them off, I couldn't tell which had happened but all I know is at some point, I'd been plunged into darkness —nothing I wasn't used to.

The chaos finally reached my corner and when they came with lanterns, I was shocked when one of the warriors grabbed the door by its hinges and yanked it off.

“Come with us!” the taller one barked.

I looked him up and down and the thought of how easy it would be for me to kill him flashed through my mind. It wouldn't require me to break a sweat and the four men would be dead but then what next would follow? I wasn't attempting to escape, I was giving Warren a chance to go ahead with the rest of his plans, a chance to err, and besides, attempting to escape here would be foolish on my part. It would prove what they wanted to believe and worsen things so no, I wasn't going to harm anyone, at least not yet.

But these bastards seemed to be calling for it when I was dragged to the open field where the werewolf council members were seated and I was tossed out in front of them.

One of the men who’d broken into my cell stepped forward and said. “We found the door to her cell broken. My men and I believed she was attempting to flee.”

The information took a while to sink in but when it did, my head snapped up in shock, and right at that moment, I knew I was doomed and it made me question everything else.

Was the head of the werewolf council in cohort with Warren and Elena or was this him making good use of an opportunity to properly express his undisguised hate for Nikolai?

I was to be whipped as punishment for attempting to escape.

I fought to rein my wolf in when the whip hit me. I knew we would both get hurt if I were to switch to my wolf form. The shirt tore from my back at some point but I was too far past any sense of shame, the pain wrecking me completely, the stench of my own blood overriding my senses.

“That is enough!” the head of the council said, standing up.

He approached me, his eyes still holding the same expression of bitterness. His hand rested on my jaw and he pressed his fingers into my skin forcing me to look up at him.

“In my pack, we believe in equality. Over here, you are not an Alpha, you are not the daughter of an Alpha, and especially not the mate of an Alpha. In here, you are a prisoner and you shall be treated as a prisoner.”

His finger dug deeper into my skin until I winced. “Do you understand me, prisoner?”

I eyed him with the same disgust he looked at me before I spat on him. The saliva from my mouth trailed down his nose down his mouth and nothing else in my life gave me such intense joy.

“I'm going to kill you,” I swore to him.