CHAPTER 6

Rhea POV

I opened my eyes slowly and carefully, feeling as if my heart was about to burst from my chest. I was really scared, but nothing actually happened. I was standing right there in Killian's arms as he hugged me tightly.

What the hell just happened? What's going on? I thought the bomb was going to explode any minute now. Nothing happened. Could this actually mean something? Or is it because Killian had held me close to him and so tightly? No, this can't be happening, I pondered as I hadn’t even regained my consciousness fully. It felt as if I was going to die in just a split second.

Then, all of a sudden and out of nowhere, Lucien burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that it felt as if tears were going to come out of his eyes. I was shocked as everybody looked in his direction.

What could make him start laughing like this in such a situation?

“Why are you laughing? This is not funny! Any minute, I could have died! Both Killian, we could have died, and we are here laughing sarcastically. What's the meaning of this?” I shouted at him. He looked at Killian and me, then stepped a bit closer and looked directly into Killian's eyes.

“So this is what it takes to make you scared? This is what it takes to make a so-called Alpha actually scared of his whole being? I thought you weren't scared of anything because you are the so-called Alpha. So you can actually be scared? Do you even see the expression on your face just some minutes ago? Did you see how scared you were? I thought you were the fearless Alpha, and you weren't scared of anything. But look what I just did. Just a slight trick I played on you, and you looked as if you were going to give everything up. It looked as if you were scared of dying. It was just a trick I played on you. I wanted to see how strong and fearless you were. But unfortunately for you, you actually disappointed me. I never knew you could be so easily swayed like this. With just a slight trick,” Lucien said.

I looked around, and everybody looked shocked. They were both shocked and scared. They had thought Killian and I were actually going to explode together. But now, with what Lucien had said, a shocked expression was showing on their faces as nobody could understand what he was saying. Even I stood there dumbfounded.

Was this actually a trick? But what was that glowing light? What was beeping inside my body? It actually felt real. It felt as if I was just going to die some minutes ago. What could actually have happened?

I looked at Lucien and gave him a questioning look.

“What the hell are you saying, Lucien? What the hell did you just do? What did you mean by what you just said right now? What kind of trick is that?” I asked him as I immediately held Killian, who was about to go in his direction.

Then he looked me in the eye and stayed put. Suddenly, Lucien spoke out again.

“Yes, Rhea, it was actually a trick. There is no time bomb in your body, and there is nothing of that sort. Do you think I would have been calm if there was a time bomb in your body? Never. I would have never done something like that to you. I only actually did it to scare off these brothers. I wanted to see what kind of Alpha Killian was. I wanted to see if he was strong enough to face death. But no, he was already scared at the last minute. He was scared for his life, as if he was going to die any minute from those few seconds. It felt as if life had been drawn out of his body. The expression on his face exhibited more than fear. He was really scared for his life. And that was what I actually wanted to achieve. I wanted to scare him. I wanted him to feel what it means to be scared since he always claims to be the fearless Alpha,” Lucien said to me.

I looked at him, shaking my head.

“What did you just do, Lucien? Did you even know how scared I was? Did you even stop to think about how I would feel? It felt as if I was going to die of shock even before the bomb exploded. What if something bad had actually happened to me before the bomb exploded?” I shouted at him, and he just looked at me and shook his head.

“You don't need to say any of those things. None of those things happened. There was no bomb in your body. Nothing of that sort would have happened to you. I would not let anything bad happen to you,” he said to me as I stood there dumbfounded.

Everybody was speechless, shocked by what Lucien was saying. Then, all of a sudden, Malachi walked right in front of us and stood before Lucien. He did not utter a word, nor did he say anything as he looked him deep in the eye.

Then, in the blink of an eye, before anybody could say anything, or before Lucien could approach him, he punched him right in the face. As Lucien fell to the ground, Malachi pounced on him and kept giving him blow after blow on his face until his nose started bleeding, including his mouth.

Malachi did not stop; he kept punching him until he was satisfied, until Roger came and pulled him away.

“That’s enough, brother.”

Then Lucien stood up gently, wiping off the blood flowing from his nose to his mouth as he laughed again.

“Why are you all so angry? Do you think I would have actually killed her? Never! Then what the hell was that? What was glowing in her  body?”