Chapter 183: Payback

Chapter 183: Payback
Thorne’s POV

BRAWL DAY SEVEN.

If I were to put how I feel in this moment into words, I doubt I would have the word to describe it. But the closest way, is that it feels like revisiting a dark room in your mind where you once lost everything and finally getting the chance to make peace with it, even though you won’t get what you lost back. 

I breathe through my nostrils as I stand in the quiet and tense field with my guards, waiting for our opponents to arrive. My warriors have reduced considerably, but apart from the real loss of their lives, it doesn’t make me worry for the army as we are still strong and can still hold our own perfectly well. 

This would be the first time in decades that I would be setting my eyes on Rhyder of Raventhorn, and I am beyond eager for the tine to come when he would be standing right in front of me, or better still, beneath me and completely at my mercy. 

I marvel at the thought and it fills me with pure bliss. I wonder, will he beg for his life when my teeth or claw is inches away from his neck, of when I am biting through his bones. I wonder if he would cry out. But even without wondering, I already know that his wails would be music to my ears. 
    “You sure are getting the fattest bone today, patient dog”. Vander whispers from beside me, his lighter brown wolf coat glistening in the moonlight and swaying in the wind. 

I shrug off his joke, shaking my head but I have to commend his ability to make a joke about a moment this tense. It had to be a superpower indeed. 

“Don’t gloat just yet.” I scold him, even though that is exactly what I have been doing all this while. Gloating.

“Whatever. You know his head is yours anyway.”

It sure is. I turn my head slightly to watch him. He looks particularly spiked about tonight. I won’t admit it to him but it does take some weight off my shoulders. “What is for you tonight then?”

“Me?”  He echoes, looking forward and shifting on his paws, shaking his tail. “It was supposed to be the head of his army. Randall. The bastard that convinced him to do half the stupid shit he did in the past. But I heard of his passing a while ago so I’m not here particularly for anyone. I just would love to see you take his head. I hope I get to kick it when you cut it off.”  He laughs and I shake my head. 

“Yea, Randall died in my dungeons.”  I tell him and he snaps his head towards me in shock. 

“What? You managed to capture him? That bastard was impossible to catch.”
   “He actually showed up on my lands by himself. With intel for me about Rhyder that he was going to trade to be kept alive.”

“That’s… pretty sad.”

“Yea. I heard Rhyder’s clan was a mess around that time. But in the end the old wolf died on a random night in his cell.”

“What a way to end such a riveting lifestyle.”  Vander comments, shaking his head. 

Just then, the sounds of the wind grows louder, followed by the sounds of hooting and howling as Rhyder and his opponents make their way over to us. 

Just before they pour into the field, I turn to stare at the line of trees at the back of the woods, where Nyra had decided she wanted to stay so she could watch the fight unfold. I told her it was possible only if she gave me her word that she would stay put and not endanger herself by coming out. 

Taking my eyes forward again, I watch with both bated breath and adrenaline as Rhyders soldiers charge towards mine with so much enthusiasm. As though they are certain they would come out unscathed. Too bad, they may be just as delusional as their silly Alpha.

“Let’s get this over with shall we?”  Vander calls out next to me and we both break into a sprint, joining the rest of our guards as the fight begins in full swing. As usual, the sounds of bones breaking and cracking, and blood spilling and wolves growling fill the air, but at this point, this violence is taking a deep settling into my soul, to the point where it is beginning to feel like a part of me. 

I tear off the limbs of the guards in front of me in seconds, then tear off some more before deciding that I have had enough of this. I use my eyes to scan the woods, in search of a particular wolf. It may have been so long, but I remember his coat like the palm of my hand. I have simply imagined tearing it off one too many times. 

Rhyder is standing in the middle of his army, settled on his haunches, staring at me. He hasn’t moved an inch since the beginning of this fight and has remained on his side of the field ever since. 
There is no running away now, unfortunately. 

I am still studying him, his eyes glued to mine when all of a sudden, his lips start to curl up. In a sly, conniving and devilish smile that is somehow peculiar to just him. 
I flash him a smile of my own because I am glad he knows exactly what this is. 

Payback day.