4

Kiara immediately jumped off her bed and ran out of her room. The scream she heard sounded oddly familiar, almost like her mum. She took the stairs 4 at a time, running to the direction the screaming came from. Once she made it to the dining room, she met eyes with Gaytor and Kristen. Gaytor had a sinister smile on his face, Kristen looked scared, and Kiara's brows scrunched in confusion, but that quickly morphed into fear when she caught her parents sprawled out on the floor, stiff. She staggered backwards in fear, her eyes and mouth wide open as she tried to make sense of the scene.  

"Mum, Dad..." She called out and tried to make her way over to them but was immediately pulled back by Kristen, whose grip was insanely tight and hard on her, nothing like the hold of a lover and her heart dropped as suspicion clouded her mind. "Did you do this?" Gaytor's smile widened, and he walked over to Alpha Reid's chair at the table and occupied it. "I always knew this chair was comfortable." "You bastard! How dare you!? How dare you!? This is treachery, you can and will be beheaded for this!" He stared at her with a stoic look on his face before he burst out into laughter. "Do you know what has your parents lying like wood on the floor like this?" He raised a brow and cocked his head to the side, "wolfsbane," he whispered and Kiara's blood ran cold. That was the worst way to end a werewolf's life. It would have been so much better if they just used silver, but they went out of their way to acquire wolfsbae, and that realization killed something in Kiara. Her bloodshot eyes found Kristen's and he immediately looked away, "you were in on this?" "He wasn't just in, he was the executor and as he has ended the previous Alpha's life, he is the new alpha so you must treat him with respect." "Over my dead body! Alpha Reid has a child and I am the next Alpha, that is the law. " Just as soon as the word left her mouth, she felt a knife smelling violently of wolfsbane pressed against her neck and she winced in pain. " Be very careful what you wish for, Kiara." Kristen whispered and a teardrop rolled down her eyes. "Kristen is the new Alpha, and I am the Alpha's father. If you disagree, the knife will go through your neck and just like them..." he pointed to her parents' corpse, "You'll be gone." "I..." " You are only allowed to speak when I'm done!" He said, slamming his hand on his desk, and Kiara's bottom lip quivered as she tried to hold in all she had to say. "Out of respect for the mate bond, Kristen is willing to keep you but under a few conditions; 1. You relegate your right as the next in line to him, he won't be the alpha consort but the Alpha. 2. You are going to accept Tanya as the first wife and her baby as the next heir. If you don't accept these conditions, you will be made a rogue and sent out of this pack" " Tanya is pregnant?" She mumbled and Kristen pressed the knife deeper against her throat and she gasped in pain. " You are only meant to say yes or no to the conditions." Silence reigned for a few seconds and Kiara's eyes lingered on her parents' corpses and she breathed out a weak humorless laugh. " Like I said before, over my dead body." " Alright then," Gaytor slapped the handles of the chair and stood up, " I have already requested the immediate audience of the pack members, and given the noises I can hear from out there, I believe they are here already. Let's go." He walked out, leaving Kristen and Kiara to follow behind her. " How could you do this?" She asked once Gaytor walked out, "you were meant to love and protect me, how could you?!" Kristen's grip on her tightened and he grinded his teeth as he forced the words out, "life doesn't always go the way we plan. I am not sorry for what has happened, it was you or me." She kept quiet for a little while before she took a deep breath and nodded. " Alright, before you take me out to be chewed up by your father I have a request, please let me hold my parents one last time." " I'm sorry, Kiara but I can't honour that request. Their system is flooded with wolfsbane and contact with them is going to be fatal." " Then, let me at least have something to remember them by, there's a locket my mum keeps in her pocket always. The wolfsbane does not affect clothing. Let me take that at least." He thought for a moment and then nodded. " Alright, but I'm going to be holding onto you the entire time." She sniffled and nodded. "Thank you.' He grabbed her hand even more tightly then pushed her gently to the corpse, "if you try anything funny, the knife is going to cut deep and you will drop dead." She nodded and gently reached into her mum's pocket and dragged out the locket. Tears pooled in her eyes, and she took one last lingering look at her parents before she was dragged out by Kristen. Outside the house, the compound was filled with the pack members muttering amongst themselves while Gaytor stood tall and proud before them. "Here she is, woman of the moment," he pointed at Kiara who was being pushed outside and a drop dead silence engulfed the people. "Alpha Reid and Luna Camila are dead, and this girl right here, with the wolfsbane pressed against her neck, killed her parents out of greed, and she has sworn to spread it around the pack should she be disobeyed during her reign." A collective gasp filled the hall, and Kiara shook her head at the gullibility of her people. "It is a miracle that we walked in on her when we did, and that is why I have requested an audience with you all immediately, so we can decide what we do with her." "Off with her head!" Everyone chroused at the same time and a fake pity coated Gaytor's face. "Alpha Reid and Luna Camila would not want that fate for their daughter no matter what she has done, and they were too good for us to not honour their request. I suggest we strip her off her title and send her out of the pack, she will be made a rogue." Everyone erupted into cheers and Gaytor turned to her, his practiced pity still covering his face. "By the agreement of the people and my authority as one of the leaders of this pack, Kiara Sorde, you are hereby stripped off of your title as next in line, and rejected as part of Lupus pack. You are hereby declared a rogue." "Agreed!" "And I Kristen Reed reject you, Kiara Sorde, as my mate" A body numbing pain from the rejection and seperation from her pack curled in the pit of Kiara's stomach and unable to bear the pain, she fell to her knees and passed out. Just as she collapsed, Tanya ran in crying and screaming. The beta, his family including Chloe have all been killed by wolfsbane..