Chapter 5 5
Ash’s pov
I stood away from them, silent as I watched them huddle over the oak table scattered with maps and blood red wax sealed letters.
The fire crackled noisily in the room throwing golden light over their sullen, twisted looks.
Goddess knows I would rather be anywhere but here. Anywhere with Lena. Not here.
Dread fills ne when I Remembered Lena wasn't even here. Like a coward, I watched her get claimed and taken right before me.
“We know our uncle. He's dangerous,” Riven sneered. “But arrogant. He's enthralled by her but he gets bored very quickly. We'll take her back easily enough with the right negotiations.”
Kael snorted, grumpy still after having his ego bruised earlier by the Lycan. “We should have done it at the ceremony. The bastard took her right from under our noses and we did nothing.”
“Except you. And what happened?” Riven smirked to his words at which Kael growled.
“Okay I'm not about to witness the cause of another fight. He's bound to have received the letter now. We just have to wait.” Godric snapped.
I clenched my jaw. My hands curled into fists at my sides.
They weren't even bothered about her. Her safety. Her wellbeing. The fact that she wasn't even conscious when she was taken. They just wanted her back. Their possession, they see her as a tool in their bloody fueds and politics.
But I was sure Lena was more than that to them. Else, why would they try something daring as to threaten the Lycan.
I tried not to picture Lena.
Not with him.
Not marked by the Lycan who had stared down centuries of Alphas and torn through armies like they were paper.
I didn't want to imagine her .. used and
flushed and soft and trembling beneath his large frame.
I swallowed the burning in my throat.
She had come to me first. She had trusted me and what did I do?
Used her, betrayed her just like her father. I was no better.
I don't blame her for hating me and for doing what she did. I just wished she knew I was looking out for her. I would never in a million years want to ever see her hurt. She knew that.
Now she was gone.
“We attack from the eastern flank,” Godric explained sharply. “He won’t expect it if we align with the witches to hold his borders. We can get to her before then.”
I stepped forward. “Tresspassing into his territory isn't the problem. How exactly do you plan on taking her from him?”
Riven snorted. “You think the bond will stop us. We take her and claim here right there whether she likes it or not, we break the bond.”
Kael grinned, his vile smile sending chills down my spine. “Or kill the bastard and let the grief do the work for us”
I backed away, looking between them, horror twisting in my gut. She's not better off with these monsters either. Lena was never safe with anyone. I should have eloped with her the moment I had the chance.
“Lena is not a pawn. And have you forgotten the reason this union would have taken place? The war against the shifters is much more important than having to fight ourselves. The Lycan is important in helping us in this war no less and…”
“You're only good for being a pretty-faced Servant playing soldier. What would you know about wars?” Riven’s lips curled in amusement and I gritted my teeth, noting the mocking tone.
“Soft hearts are for dead wolves,” Kael looked me dead in the eyes as he spat. “Go chase your tail, mutt.”
I stepped forward without thinking. Fury brimming in me like wild fire, power surged through my limbs.
Godric’s voice cut through the air like steel, reeling my wolf in before I shifted. “Stand down, Ash.”
My body stilled in attention to the order and I backed away, seething.
Suddenly, as if on cue, the Beta burst into the room.
His strides were long and urgent as he rushed forward, breathless, eyes wide.
In his arms was a large box, sealed and Drapped in a golden ribbon.
“From the Lycan. Just arrived.” He explained as he set it before us.
Silence ensued.
Riven's smugness seemed to dissipate into thin air, Kael burned with visible anger but the horror was evident on his face. Even Godric looked wary.
Everyone in the room remembered what had happened the last time the Lycan had sent a similar boxed gift to an Alpha. His daughter's head. Pale and severed. Apparently she had angered him and he had returned the farvor by returning ‘her’ to her father.
Unable to wait, I moved, my heart pounding in my rib cage as I took the box, pulling the ribbbon before revealing the inside.
It wasn't a head.
Or any body part whatsoever.
But it was worse.
A white table cloth. Folded. Neatly, yet the obvious crimson stain stared back at me in a mocking glance.
Lena.
He's claimed her. Fully, completely.
As I stared at the cloth, my vision darknened, tunneling. I felt rage, I felt sick all at once.
The room blurred. I wasn't exactly keen on hearing the voices that rose in the room but fury roared through my chest like an earthquake.
The Lycan had taken her. I knew she'd never do it willingly.
And now he dared flaunt it to our face. Like she was a trophy he had conquered.
I turned, teeth clenched so hard my jaw popped as I walked out, burning.
If it's a war he wants, we'll give him one. I will kill the Lycan with my barehands.