Chapter 46 ∣  To Be Hunted

-Evicka

"I wouldn't be running your mouths," Chase glowers as we remained bound, his eyes traveling between the two of us. He then turned to Rainier and asked, "How did you capture them?"

Rainier shook his head and stated, "They surrender."

"Why?" His eyes darted back and locked on Lucca, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Lucca didn't even glance at me as he continued our charade, "We want peace. Hasn't there been enough blood spilled on both sides for us all to come to some kind of understanding?"

"Yours hasn't nearly suffered enough," Chase glanced at a few of his men standing alongside the walls of the room, starting to make their way toward us. When his eyes averted back to us he stated, "I told you through the messenger I sent a while back...if you want peace, I want your son's head on a silver platter in front of me. However," he noted while Rainier appeared to be uneasy at his sudden change in stance, "you condoned his actions, wiping his slate clean all because 'he changed'. How does that account for his previous actions? There are still consequences to them that apparently none of you quite understand."

I sighed, "Why can't you see it as giving him a second chance...after all," it was my turn to help ease this plan into action, "it was his father's fault that drove him to become the person he was. You're willing to blame an innocent..."

Lucca turned his head and narrowed his eyes on me, "For what he did to you...siphoning your blood magic and almost costing you your life...he is no son of mine."

Thank you love...

The mere mention of my blood magic no longer remains as a part of me reminded the wolves that I am just like any other pureblood. How wrong their thoughts must be, drawing them all into a false sense of security as we continued to bicker back and forth as if we actually meant it. It was time we got Lucca out of here without me having to worry about protecting him and myself during our escape.

We have outstayed the welcome and we now know who Chase is, the people he surrounds himself with, and where to find him. Their blood remaining keen to our senses through their permeable skin, the smell remaining and lingering with us, so we'd have another chance to attack and end their lives in the future. The conversation continued to spiral downward; Chase's only satisfaction would come from the death of Maverick.

I snarled at Lucca, "You should have loved him...you should have guided him like a father is meant to! Now we're in this situation because of you! Not because of Maverick!"

"Oh, shut up! You act like we only have one child!" Lucca bit back, the two who were restraining us were having a hard time keeping us in place, "Lucette's life was in danger as well! There is no way she would have been able to fight off Maverick if he turned on her which he did to others of the coven! Are you forgetting the incident with Arlynn?"

Back and forth we went, a new look crossing Chase's face at the strong sides we took. It was only when it appeared, we were about to tear each other's heads off that he asked, "If your son were to die, would you care?"

"Yes," I immediately exclaimed...

...while Lucca's response was, "He's not my son, so why would I care?"

An evil glint reflected in Chase's eyes; a dubious look cast across Rainier's face as he continued to watch the two of us.

"I have a proposition," Chase raised his hand and the man restraining Lucca immediately let go. Lucca shrugged off the way his hands felt being tied behind his back for so long however, at least he wasn't being held as well now. Chase motioned for Lucca to step forward, my eyes shifting from the two of them and falling on Rainier. The mixed emotions in his eyes were quite hard to understand where his loyalties lied and if they were slowly shifting during the span of our conversation.

Lucca arched a brow at the way Chase proposed this deal, "If I allow you to leave, you will bring me your son and I'll kill him before his mother, letting her see the true monster he is."

Rainier's muscles tensed and it was then that I understood that he was slowly beginning to question the sanity that this Alpha and King held. Lucca replied smoothly, "I think we have a deal..."

"Good," Chase motioned toward Rainier and he took the few steps toward Lucca before pausing briefly behind him. Holding his wrists, he unlocked the shackles that bound his arms behind his back. The moment he was free, he stretched and thanked Rainier. Rainier said nothing, continuing to watch the scene play out before him in a way I'm sure he wasn't expecting. Even I wasn't expecting us to do this, but as Lucca had decided to come along, plans change, and we make the most of what we have.

Chase reached out his hand, Lucca hesitating for a moment before clasping his own and shaking it. The Alpha King stated, "Maybe we can get along," his eyes lifted from Lucca and narrowed on me, "from one King to another, it's best to keep your Queen in her place, reigning beside you instead of for or over you."

I'm going to enjoy ramming a blood spear through that cold heart of yours...or maybe I won't be able to because there's nothing there to stab!

You are no King, and thus, why I no longer regard him as such.

I growled lowly; my muscles tensed when Rainier turned his gaze on me. Trying to remain calm while Lucca finishes his chat with Chase by stating, "Oh don't worry. I plan on taking your advice the second I deliver my son to you and we settle this score between our species."

"Be on your way," Chase nodded in the direction of the door, allowing for Lucca to walk freely while I would be kept here as an incentive and his captive until Lucca returned with Maverick. All I needed was for Lucca to get far enough away that he wouldn't become collateral damage should things get out of hand.

Lucca's gaze met with mine as he passed by me, a long look that I knew held such an empathetic and sincere I'm sorry look. It's a good thing we're playing pretend otherwise his ass would have been grass by the time we got out of here. When nothing more was to be said, Lucca, leaving my sights as he traveled back up through the tunnels, counting the time it would have taken for us to get here and hoping it would be plenty of time for him to get far enough away before I began my own escape.

The only problem we now have...

...the second I escape, I'm sure Chase is going to put two and two together, realizing that this was all a facade and come after us full-force for betraying the small alliance he had just formed with Lucca. There will be no peace after I leave. The only reason he would know we were lying...the remaining fact about my blood magic.

"Why do you care so much about Alpha Declan and Alpha Hendrix's deaths?" I questioned him while remaining near Rainier, wondering the exact reason why as it appears almost personal at this point.

"I'm their King," Chase replied very coldly, the glare I received made me just as angry.

"That's nice," I retorted while stepping toward him, that was...until I was pulled right back to the place I stood moments prior, "coven leaders die all the time and you don't see us taking a personal vendetta against the one who did it."

Chase paused for a moment after it appeared, he was about to speak. I caught him off guard by my statement, his thoughts wandering for a few minutes before he finally admitted, "Alpha Declan was my wife's son," oh...my heart skipped a beat when I see where this is going, "when she died, I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to him...yet your son killed him and now I want his blood as payment."

"You do know then that your son captured my son's beloved? What did you think he was going to do? Stand down?" I lashed out, the family ties that bound this man to a promise of a dead woman is beyond me...nothing we do can change the passage of time.

"After your son killed Alpha Declan's mate," Chase spat back at me with just as much venom. I have a feeling; we'll never find peace now...knowing that this is personal...it's a lost cause. He noted, "He saw it fitting the same price I ask of you...blood for blood."

"Blood..." my voice trailed off, exhaling as I knew it was time for me to make my grand escape. With my hands bound behind my back, I scratched my thumbnail against my forefinger, slicing it in the process and allowing the drops of blood to fall freely. Their senses were just as heightened as my own and it would be a matter of seconds before they smelt my fresh blood.

Delicately and hardly making any motion, I morphed the blood, allowing it to flow through the lock of my shackles. Once it was filled, I heard Chase question, "Smell that?"

Rainier's eyes immediately locked with my own and a very sad smile made its way onto my lips. I genuinely care for him and to see him being dragged into this family affair was hard to watch...even though his mate was killed, it didn't have to be that way if choices were made differently.

The way Chase talks about blood for blood...then Eris got revenge for the death of her previous self by killing Hendrix, their debt collected, and sealed between one another. Although...Rainier is truly the one to blame for her death and that's something Maverick will take personally with him...

The moment I snapped my fingers, Rainier's hands instantly fell behind his back while he grasped the handles of his chain sickles. The blood expanded exponentially fast and with such strength that the force broke the lock and allowed the shackles to fall away from my wrists. The man behind me hardly saw it coming when I lashed out and grasped his arm, dragging him forward and sinking my fangs into his shoulder. I bit harder, the blood pouring from the gaping wound while Chase was blocked back and out of my sight by the rest of his pack.

Everyone stepped forward, most already beginning their shift into wolf form while Rainier held his chain sickles at his sides. I released my fangs from the man's shoulder, blood pouring down my chin and the front of my clothes as the pool collected on the floor. Rainier yelled at the wolves with caution, "Stop!"

They didn't want to hear it as Chase's command was much more threatening when he glowered, "Kill her!"

Bad move...

Rainier was the only one who knew...no one else seeing what I'd done to the lock and assuming perhaps the undiluted silver wasn't strong enough. My eyes immediately shifted to a black rose when the wolves launched themselves at me, my words cautioning Rainier, "Stay back."

A shiver traveled down his spine and it appeared as if he were frozen in place. It wasn't of his choice though, my connection strong to my blood magic as I manipulated the blood within his veins, forcing his limbs to lock up. I didn't want to hurt him if I didn't have to, knowing I very well couldn't kill everyone here as others were already being alerted from the surface.

I threw my hands down beside me with my palms flat, feeling the connection to the man's blood now staining the ground. I twisted my wrists, lifting the blood from the floor and allowing it to float around my body. It twisted and turned, encasing itself around my limbs as the wolves quickly pulled back at the sight of something unimaginable to them.

Chase was no longer in the room, my eyes drifting and noticing he'd somehow managed to be taken out of the dangerous situation escalating by the second. Just as I figured...the coward he truly is.

"Let me walk out or I'll kill you all," my voice carried out over the growling and snapping of jaws however, they just didn't want to listen and I could see the horror in Rainier's eyes reflect for all of them that were ignoring one key detail...I had the advantage this time around and their deaths would be justice for Kenzie.

The second they launched themselves at me once again, a smirk played on my lips, raising my right hand and watching as a cord of blood broke free from around my lower body and sharpened at the end. Controlling and guiding the weapon, I sent it flying through limbs, a leg of one wolf, piercing next through the stomach of another, a shoulder caught of the next and continuing until the ones closest to me were entangled in a bloody mess, the cord pulling tight.

Those behind the lines of the front wolves stilled their movements, some backing away while letting out low pitched whines. Rainier was still helpless, a wave of anger rising in his eyes at what I was doing...but I think he was more upset that it appeared that I was toying with him, keeping him in one place while those around him would soon fall.

My eyes trailed over the ones I'd captured, taking a few steps back toward the tunnel in which we had been led down. My voice was dangerous when I stated, "Don't follow me and you're friends bound by my blood won't die," this was more directed to Rainier as he knew my words were not an idle threat.

In the next second, I gave the connection up between Rainier and I, his motor functions returning to normal. A few more steps away and a wolf that wasn't entrapped by my blood edged forward. He growled and glared at me; my eyes focused on him.

"No!" Rainier warned him, the wolf setting its sights on him before immediately turning back to me and lunging with full force.

"What a pity," I sighed, my thumb and middle finger brushing against each other as I snapped them together. The sound was loud, but not in comparison to the screams of the loved ones who witnessed the deaths of many in a matter of a split second. Their bodies fell to the floor, body parts severed and dropped where they once stood.

The wolf howled angrily; Rainier's eyes widened at what he'd witnessed. I took this moment to gather the blood around me, using it as a wall of protection while I sprinted through the switchback tunnels until I finally made it out into the open.

Once out in the open, I could hear them close on my heels. Morphing the blood around me, I focused on a disk, my eyes leaving the preparation for my escape as those who followed me closed the distance. Pushing off the ground and landing on the disk, I lifted quickly into the air and flew, darting behind nearby trees covered in snow, the mountains causing a drastic drop in their field of view.

I met up with the rest of the coven leaders, Lucca's relief made me smile the moment I landed. It would be a while for us all to return from where we came from, our next move not planned as of yet.

"We'll send out the orders when we return," Maverick had mentioned to the leaders, "we need to plan accordingly as Alpha King Chase will no longer take refuge here."

And so, it was decided...traveling back over the course of another week. However, the moment we returned, Arlynn was already at the gates, her eyes wide with complete shock and fear.

"Arlynn?" Maverick questioned her.

Her voice was almost nonexistent when she stated, "We received word from a nearby coven," her voice trailed off, "there's two full werewolf packs and hunters heading in this direction...they've already killed four covens..."

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To Seduce a Mortal by K. A. Young and Laisha C. Gardner

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