Chapter 56
ELARA’S POV
It required a week, a week of an exhausting trek to arrive at Kael’s Lycan domain. His palace, formerly a symbol of power and structure, had become a foreboding tribute to Ryker’s oppression. The instant we passed through the entrances, I sensed something was gravely amiss. The typical lively vitality of the pack had vanished, supplanted by an oppressive quiet broken by the sporadic cry of terror.
“Oh, no,” I inhaled sharply, my respiration snagged in my chest as I surveyed the devastated terrain. This wasn’t the pack I recognized, the pack I’d grown to cherish. “What’s going on here?” The known aromas of dread and hopelessness lingered thickly in the atmosphere, a somber evidence of Ryker’s rule.
Next to me, Kael’s rage was evident, a physical warmth that emanated from him in surges. He compressed my hand, his hold secure and without further speech, he surged through the palace entrances. Sentries attempted to halt us, their warnings fading into faltering regrets the second their gazes locked with Kael’s scorching wrath. He was an unstoppable element, his fury a tempest that no punk sentry could endure.
The throne room was stark in contrast. Elaborate engravings and luxurious textiles were contrasted against the somber expressions of Ryker’s followers, their gazes flitting anxiously about the space, their terror obvious. Ryker himself occupied the throne, a hideous mockery of regal posture, his grin a frigid proof of his brutality.
He stood when Kael and I arrived, with Clara following us. Ryker’s expression dropped, he rose from the throne, both hands in his pockets as he advanced toward us. He halted mere feet distant, his gaze dwelling on me with a grin that was as revolting as it was conceited. Clara, at my rear, quivered, her frame almost quaking with fright. She concealed herself behind me, her tiny shape trembling lightly.
I inhaled deeply, striving to calm myself, readying for whatever clash awaited.
“Oh dear brother,” Ryker intoned, the mockery oozing from his tone like sheer poison. “I had pondered where you’d strayed to. Went to fetch your beloved? That’s insane..” He faded out, his stare shifted to me, “What a shame though. You abandoned the throne vacant for too long over a simple female.”
“What do you believe you’re accomplishing, Ryker?” Kael’s tone sliced through the tense environment, his words infused with anger. “This is my realm! How dare you breach my territory and torture my subjects!”
“Torture?” Ryker lifted a flawlessly shaped brow. “Oh, my, how exaggerated. I simply performed what needed doing.” His expression stiffened, his humor vanished now overtaken by something icy and disturbing. He advanced a step nearer, and Kael’s clasp on my hand firmed. “Shall I refresh your memory once more? You deserted your valued pack to chase your cherished infatuation, and now you fault me for claiming what’s justly mine?”
Kael huffed, “What’s yours?” He inquired in a tone laced with scorn. “You couldn’t even confront me directly, could you? You simply waited until I was beyond view, even dispatching killers to slay me. Is that it, Ryker? Is that how you seize your authority? Via timidity and slaughter?”
Ryker gulped, his gaze flickered. I observed as his meticulously built poise started to fracture. He parted his lips to respond, but Kael halted him. “Resign, Ryker. I’ve come back, I do not desire to harm you but I will if you compel me to.”
Ryker erupted into chuckles, a rough, scraping noise that triggered a chill along my back. “Or what? Will you halt me? Too unfortunate, I wish you had perished there. You erred returning. I and my followers-”
“Your followers?” Kael cut in, his gaze scanned the throne room settling on each sentry. My gaze trailed, I saw as their gazes averted, their coerced devotion to Ryker collapsing beneath his scrutiny. “I struggle to perceive how these are your followers. You intimidated them, occupied my throne by coercion and still possess the audacity to label yourself King? More like a weakling.”
Ryker growled and edged nearer to us. “One more phrase from you and-”
“Kael!” A female tone pierced the strain. I pivoted to behold Seraphina, Kael’s spouse, my previous closest companion. She paused a few feet from my position, bewilderment clear on her traits, her gaze flitted to and fro between Kael and me. The second our gazes connected, she stiffened, the kindness in her features promptly supplanted by frosty detachment, chillier than before.
“Kael…what’s occurring? Why is she present?” Seraphina inquired, her stare yet locked on me.
“Depart.” Kael stated without even looking her direction. His gaze remained centered on Ryker.
“What?!” She screeched as her gaze expanded in skepticism.
Kael’s skull whipped toward her, his gaze aflame with wrath. “Depart, before I compel you.” The implicit warning lingered heavily in the atmosphere, like a vow of aggression.
Even I trembled with terror. I had never witnessed Kael this furious prior. I observed as Seraphina gulped deeply, her features a veil of astonished disloyalty.
“I understand then,” she replied, her tears now streaming. “It was eternally due to her. You damn deceiver!” She shouted before withdrawing from the throne room. Kael, conversely, didn’t appear fazed, he redirected his focus onto Ryker.
The spectacle unfolding in my view rendered me airless, my pulse thumped fiercely against my chest. I sensed a surge of vertigo sweep over me.
“Elara,” Kael summoned gently as he pivoted to confront me. He loosened his hold on my hand and nudged me and Clara aside. “Remain there.”
Before I could even comprehend what had transpired. A robust limb encircled my rear, also Clara’s, bolstering us upright. I pivoted to behold Kael’s beta. A sincere grin carved on his mouth.
“Can’t believe I’m uttering this, but I’m pleased you’re returned.” He stated in a subdued tone, but clear enough to be perceived.
Abruptly thunder boomed, not merely from the heavens but inside the palace too. The very atmosphere sizzled with a sinister vigor, a change in the environment that indicated something perilous was imminent. From the edge of my vision, I spotted Kael and Ryker commence to transform, their shapes undulating with the change into their lupine shapes, their sinews contracting and enlarging beneath their garments.
“Remain here,” Kael’s beta cautioned with a resolute tone. He locked his gaze on the pair of shifting Lycans before vanishing from the throne room. I seized Clara’s hand, drawing her behind a massive hanging, concealing in the gloom as the conflict ignited.
The clash between the siblings was savage, a maelstrom of pelt and talons, roars and snarls resounding through the throne room. Clara and I crouched low, shielding our ears with our hands. For once, I’d never viewed Kael in complete shape and this wasn’t his complete shape. The lad I once recognized was now an adult. Ryker battled with a frantic viciousness, driven by aspiration and a hunger for vengeance. Kael battled with a restrained wrath, his each action exact, blows designed to overpower not slay.
Ultimately, Kael secured the advantage. With an ultimate, skeleton-shaking snap, he immobilized Ryker to the floor, compelling him to kneel before him.
Ryker snarled, his gaze gleaming with wrath and shame, his wolf withdrew leaving him in his mortal shape.
“Anyone who defies me will endure the identical destiny as him,” Kael’s tone thundered. His stare scanned the encircling sentries. “Exile. Set down your arms and yield.”
The sentries appeared hesitant, their expressions revealing their internal conflict. Kael clenched his jaw. “Set down your arms or endure the identical destiny.” He reiterated, his tone a threatening rumble.
Right then, the entrances flew ajar and additional sentries surged into the space. This occasion, their loyalty was evident. They aligned with Kael. They encircled Ryker’s followers, their arms ready.
Gradually, the sentries dropped their arms, their resistance dissolving into terror.
Sentries hauled Ryker off, his oaths resounding in the abruptly silent space.
“I’ll return!” He shouted. “And this time your valued blood healer will bear the repercussions! I’ll ensure you won’t manage to rescue her and then nobody will manage to rescue you either!”