Chapter 111 : Heir

AJAX.

Fear shoots up my throat like bile. I want to yell at her to stop, but I have to pretend that I see nothing so that no one can spot her immediately.

But then it’s hopeless. She already shot a guard. The bullet flies right into his chest and he topples over, bleeding. The other guards all jump in shock, ready to find the shooter, but Livia is surprisingly quick. She crawls up the stairs with no sound whatsoever, slinging the gun on her back like a bag. I watch out of the corner of my eye as she gets to the mezzanine level of the house, positioning herself behind the column supporting the second floor.

And with that, she cocks the gun and starts to shoot the guards downstairs.

Glorious is the only way I can describe it. Her accuracy surprises me, but what shocks me is the fact that the guards are dumb enough not to know what’s happening. They don’t even try to hide. They just look up as though to find her and basically present themselves as easy targets.

That’s what Livia makes out of them. One by one they go down. She doesn’t hit them fatally, but it seems that the bullets are made of this strange thing, because they all collapse in pain and later on pass out.

Yelena and Jonathan have caught up to what’s happening. Now they’re both looking around. But before they can find out what’s going on, it’s over.

All the guards are down, passed out or dead.

Livia finally emerges from behind the column, wiping sweat from her face and still loading the gun with more bullets. Her hair is tied back into a ponytail and she’s wearing a pink satin sleep set that must belong to Yelena. There’s a look of disgust on her face, but that eases when she sees us looking at her.

“Um, me doing that was okay, right?” she asks as though just now realizing that she took down all of them.

A smile creeps up my face despite the situation. But something else bubbles in my chest when I meet her eyes.

“No one’s complaining,” I tell her. “But we really need to be free of these.”

“Right,” she mutters, running down the stairs again and fiddling with the chains.

For some reason, she’s able to break them as though they’re made of straw and not silver. She just snaps at them without feeling pain or burns like the rest of us. That’s when it occurs to me that these are formulated specifically for Werewolves.

“Cured silver,” Yelena says as though reading my mind, flexing her arms and legs once Livia sets her free. “My father helped the Alpha Supreme invent these. Laced with potions not only on top but alloyed in the actual metal itself. It doesn’t cause any pain to Humans.”

“Well, we’re lucky to have a Human here then,” I mutter, trying to act normal as Livia kneels in front of me and frees me. I face her at last. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” She smiles and puts a hand on my chest. “I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t save me.”

Her touch lands on me like a soft gust of wind on a summer day. Soft and comforting and just… good. Suddenly my heart is erratic. I find myself unable to speak. I can only smile back at her, and Yelena watches me with a curious gaze.

Livia finishes her job, freeing the Beta and his wife. Yelena immediately comes to their aid, and as soon as they’re free, they start to wake up, still groaning in pain. Jonathan rushes to help them when they try to wake up, but he hesitates when he sees me watching him.

“I’m sorry,” he finally breaks, and tears run down his cheeks. “He would have killed my mother. He would have killed my family. I had to do it. I’m so sorry….”

My chest aches for him, but there is no forgiveness yet. I don’t think it’s the time for us to explore that yet either, not when things are still like this.

Livia waits for my command, and I nod at all of them, a plan forming in my head.

“Jonathan, I need you to make this right,” I tell him, later on addressing everyone. “I need all of you to stick together and protect each other, especially Livia. She saved our lives, and now you’re going to save each other. Jonathan, drive them as close as possible to Human borders. Beta Jackson, I need you to communicate with the Betas and possibly Alphas that you know you can trust. They need to know what’s going on. We need to stop all of this, because I have a feeling it’s about to get much worse.”

Beta Jackson looks at me. “And what about you?”

“I’m going to meet my father.”

* * *

I thought I would get smothered and killed the moment I showed up to our mansion, but I’m not. The guards don’t seem to know that I should be tied down and dying somewhere. I just walk straight in like I usually do, like I did for the past years. Through the front door. Looking at people. Looking at the paintings. Looking for my father.

The house is empty, quiet. I face the stairs, ready to confront my father in his study, but then I catch a glimpse of him walking down the stairs in a crisp suit with a drink in his hand, as though this is just a casual day.

Father barely looks at me. He just takes a sip of his drink. It’s as though I’m not bloody and marked in front of him. As though it’s not his other son that did that.

“Ajax,” he says in a calm tone. “I didn’t expect to see you here so soon.”

“Because you tried to have me killed?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I told Draco to keep you contained, but I suppose he goes overboard from time to time. Nevertheless, I know what you did. Or tried to do. I know you tried to have the Beta oppose me and my plans.”

Good. He doesn’t know about Livia. He doesn’t know what’s happening right now.

Father continues to go down the stairs and faces me at last. He holds me by the shoulders and gives me a smile. “Come with me, son. I have a proposition for you.”

With that, he takes me to the basement of the house, the place where the old Alphas kept their most hated prisoners. It smells of rot and metal and despair. My heart is in my ears and I’m so tempted to just attack him from behind while he’s pretending to be a father to me, but I know that I could never beat him. Not alone.

“I know you’ve seen Draco lately,” he says as we continue to weave through the smaller cells. I have been here before, and I know that there’s a bigger cavern in the distance. I can hear someone panting in there. “And I know you know he’s not in the best condition. But I need an heir. I need a legacy. I would pass it on to you, but then again, I don’t know how strong you really are. And where your loyalty really lies. I will find out right now.”

We reach the end of the long hallway into the cavern, and the answer rings loud.

Bound in long chains by his arms and legs is Theo. Many weapons are plastered against the wall. There are two sets of armors in the corner.

One for each of us.

“Theodore is also my son, a possible heir,” Father continues, smiling. “And trust me, he’s going to fight for good odds. The outcome will tell me who my heir is.”