Chapter 24: Chapter Twenty-Three: Unmatchable

Sapphire Nightborne

I woke up feeling like death, my head was pounding as if someone had been going at it with a hammer. I got out of the small cot I was on before realising that I had yet again been stripped down, but this time with slightly more clothing. At least I was out of that god awful dress. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and winced in discomfort as my fingers caught against the dried blood my hair was caked in.

I felt someone watching me before turning around to see Damien, flanked by two guards, standing right in front of me. However, the only thing that could truly protect him was the thick slab of glass that separated the two of us. I punched the glass expecting it to fall apart and shatter, but nothing happened, I had not been able to even put a crack in it. In fact, my hands burned by merely touching it.

“I wouldn’t bother, sweetheart, the glass had been coated with a layer of silver so I would not waste my energy and time?”

“You bastard!”

That coward, he could not even face me one-to-one, but instead had to have one of his minions poison me with silver. And now here he was, smiling smugly at me like a cat that had gotten all the cream. A frustrated scream left my lips, I began to pace up and down the room, running my hands through my caked hair without a care of some left my scalp.

“I have to thank you, my darling. I never quite believed in the power that Lycans were rumoured to possess but today, you proved me wrong. You, have made me a believer in your legends.”

He smiled as he showed me the scar where he had cut his hand during the ceremony, I looked at the matching one on my palm before scowling. It sickened me that my power was now coursing through his very being, and would remain there forever.

“It is like having an adrenaline rush all the time, my senses are always on the alert and my reflexes are faster than ever. I had to grit my teeth and slog for years to build up my power, and now with you... I can take whatever I want, whenever I want. It is hard to believe, for me at least, that so much power was just kept in one person... and she was content to be a dog for others.”

He winked at me before continuing.

“A person like you does not deserve a gift such as this one, it made it so that you are as powerful or even more powerful than most of the Alphas right now, and what do you do with it? You use your abilities to guard and protect an Alpha and his pack that could not care less whether you died doing so. You could have usurped his position a long time ago but no, you watched from the side-lines as he took credit for the battles that you won for your pack.”

How dare he, I reigned in my emotions before letting my face fall into a blank expression.

“Then who pray tell me deserves such power? You? Don’t make me laugh. A coward like you could not even take such power without the use of lies and deception.”

I scoffed before I continued, his smug expression falling with each word I said.

“Let us go through some of your greatest achievements, and I use that term generously. You slaughter the old, injured and young just because you can… you tortured a girl just because of your unresolved daddy issues… you deliver the parts of your enemies to their families just to show your power, and the most cowardly thing of all, you send your pack to the front lines of battle while you stay far away watching. You force them to lay their lies down for you when you would not even consider doing the same for a second. So tell me, why would a coward like you deserve such power.”

I smiled as his face turned into an ugly sneer. The truth hurts, doesn’t it Damien? I started to once again pace up and down in the small room I was given. I did not feel any anger, but I wanted my words to hurt because if I could not be outside hitting him with my fists, my words were my next best weapons I had. After all, my father said that even if our claws and fangs failed us, our words would not. He continued to keep silent which made me want to explode.

“Let me tell you, dearest, why I deserve this power. I don’t parade my ability, like you do now, and use it to lord over people as I believe that it does not make me superior to them, I was just born different and that is all. I don’t care if I am side-lined while someone like Ryder takes the credit because I as well as my pack know who truly won the battle. I don't need the glory as long as I know that the people who swore to protect, so that no one has to set the loved ones pyre's aflame. True, I could have usurped his position at any time I wanted and would have most probably won but I didn’t, you know why? Because I simply don’t want to be Alpha, I don’t crave the recognition that you do. I don’t need to be the centre of attention like you and especially unlike you, I don’t crave the love of every single person on Earth which I know you do even though you deny it, because deep down you crave it. You are still the scared little boy whose mommy hurt him because she ran away, so, he decided to become the big scary Alpha so that no one could hurt him again. Let me give some advice, Damien. Grow up and live. Life never treats us fairly, but we have to suck it up and move on as the world will not wait for us to wallow in our little pity party.”

With that last sentence I banged my fist against the glass panel and watched as it trembled beneath my touch, the shocked look on their face was priceless as the glass splintered with spider web-like cracks appearing. Looks of horror masked their faces as more cracks appeared just a push from my finger. My hand started to smoke and blister due to the silver but I masked my pain, this was nothing compared to what I was going to do to them. I felt the familiar rush and smiled.

“Just because I hold back does not mean I am weak.”

The guards and Damien moved back as I gave the glass panel one last punch causing it to completely shatter. I jumped through the hole and into the room where they were in, both guards swung at me at the same time, but I easily grabbed their hands and twisted them. They howled like babies as I let their hands go before grabbing both their throats and crushing their windpipe simultaneously, they fell to the floor like sandbags as I released my grip on their throats.

Damien, the coward, ran to the door to try and call for help but not before I grabbed his leg, pulling him down so he fell to the ground.

"You said you deserved my power, use it against me!"

He kicked me in the face causing me to falter, giving him time to get to his feet. He raised his leg and brought it down upon my skull, I just managed to roll away and gain my bearings. A punch came my way which I blocked with both my arms, he was indeed stronger than before. My footing became unstable as he rained hell on me, I took advantage of his blind focus on hitting me to look for a weak spot. I took the time he used to pull back his punches to go under and upwards to land one right under his chin, bringing him to his knees. I swung my leg under his hunched form , knocking him flat on his back.

I took his disorientation as a blessing and straddled his chest before raising a clawed hand, he screamed as I brought it down again and again on his chest, blood sprayed against my face, but that did not stop me. I had become the thing my pack tried to suppress, he tried to push me off but I did not budge.

This was it, this was the end, I would finally avenge my family as well as all those that Damien had wronged. I lifted my hand ready to deliver the killing blow, Damien pleaded with me to stop so that we could start over, but they fell on deaf ears, now he would finally experience what all those people felt during those last moments before their lives were taken.

“The Moon Goddess must be cruel to make you my mate.”

His eyes widened at the familiar phrase before I let out a how of triumph. I brought my hand down, everything I had been through in the forsaken place would be worth it in a second. It barely scraped his neck before Damien disappeared from underneath me.

The familiar smell of honeysuckle filled my nose as I looked down at the lush grass that I was kneeling on, it was stained with the blood dripping off my clawed hand which was still raised to deal the killing blow, it had been an inch away from Damien’s neck. I let out a scream as I brought my claws down onto the Earth, dirt spraying everywhere. A faint breeze blew against my matted hair causing it to part from my face. I took a deep breath and I growled as I registered the scent that came with the wind, it increased in intensity as I looked up. Of all the times she could have picked she chose now, there are things I could forget, but this was not one of them.

“Hello, Child.”