The Darkness Again

Angelique’s POV

I’d be damned to allow it.

I spent most of my life being hated. But looked down on?

I never allowed it to happen. Not even Mother looked down on me, so this short man wouldn’t be an exception.

Even on my knees, I met his eyes with my chin raised.

The tavern always smelled of old ale, sweat. 

The stench never failed to burn the ajr in my throat. But it was nothing compared to the stench of Kross’s presence. 

Everything about him was unsightly. From his stubby fingers, his too-tight collar and that smug grin that made me want to vomit.

Right on his ugly face.

“Y’know, your mother, Nica, she wasn’t very helpful.”

The short bastard took a step forward. His shoes clicked like he was proud of the sound.

It’d be the first time in years I’d seen anyone wear a suit. But the outfit on his half-heighted body was so ridiculous, I snickered.

“You needed help finding me? A lie.”

He wasn’t tall enough to tower over me. Yet his dirty brows knitted like he thought it’d make him look menacing.

He seemed more of a fool really. 

“You’re so close to the ground, why didn’t you dig a hole?”

My ears picked up the angered groans of his two henchmen before his hand even twitched.

Then my ears rang.

Kross struck me. Hard. 

My head whipped to the side, hair falling across my eyes like a curtain. 

The room spun for a second and his dirty face blurred into a smear of nothing.

Thank goddess, I didn’t see his face for a few seconds.

“This mouth of yours!” Kross barked, reaching for my hair.

His short fingers didn’t even graze my scalp, but he still managed to yank it so hard I saw black dots. 

His stinking breath brushed against my nose. My scalp burned like fire.

“I’ve done so much for it!” Kross laughed, showing his stained teeth.

My skin crawled.

“Like what?” I found myself muttering through laboured breaths. 

The sting on my cheek deepened, but something inside me refused to break.

The need to save my pups.

Funny how they were kidnapped on the same day this bastard showed up.

“You kidnapped my pups!” It wasn’t a question. It was a curse.

“You did!” I screamed, every word shaking with the fury I barely held together.

Kross’s hold on my hair loosened. His eyes darted around like a trapped rat’s before he huffed out a bitter laugh.

“Pups?” He spat the word like poison.

“You allowed another man to touch you? My property?”

His shout cracked the air. He shook in rage so much his chest rose and fell fast like he’d burst at any second.

Did I care? No. I didn’t.

“I paid millions for you! I spent billions searching for you. But you… you’re tainted!”

His small hand lashed out again and again, my vision blurred. The slap hit like stone, and I hit the floor.

My lips parted, and blood seeped in. 

For the second time in what felt like ages,I tasted metal. It was warm, bitter, alive.

I coughed, and a tear slipped down my cheek.

“No…” My voice broke, and I clenched my fists so hard my nails cut into my palms.

But it was useless. My babies were gone. I’d be gone too. Kross would drag me deeper into the darkness where no light reached.

“Ah!” I cried out as boots thundered toward me.

“Take her! We’re leaving!” Kross’s voice barked, and the steps stopped.

I shut my eyes tight as I waited. 

I waited for the hands of his henchmen. They'd grab me, pull me up by the hair, take me to hell in a second. 

In some seconds. In a minute. In some minutes. But it never happened. 

Confused at the silence. I opened my eyes slowly. 

My tears still hit the floor but they mixed with something thicker.

Drops of blood.

“Oh goddess!” My heart slammed against my ribs as I scrambled backward.

The two men who’d stood above me were now sprawled on the ground, headless. Blood spurted from their necks in ugly fountains, soaking the filthy planks beneath them.

Goosebumps rode up my skin from both the sight, and the cold air. 

The gust of wind pumped the stench of blood into my nostrils but with something else. 

Something familiar. 

My nostrils flared for a moment then I heard these words

“I hate noise.” That voice? The coldness, and arrogance in them?

I knew it. It was unmistakable. Unforgettable.

Then my head whipped around so fast it almost came off my neck. 

But my soul nearly left my body as I saw Kross. 

For once, he was tall but he was dangling in midair. 

His legs kicked weakly and his ingers clawed at the massive hand around his throat. 

His screams were choked into gasps from both the hand and him:

Malakai Phantom.

His name alone used to make my blood burn. But now as he stood before me again, my blood froze.

The Alpha King’s shadow swallowed the light. 

His golden eyes glowed like twin suns burning through smoke. 

Like I remembered, his expression was cold and unreadable. That darn smirk the same one that haunted me for years sat pretty on his face. 

Kross looked smaller than usual. More pathetic. And for once, I couldn’t even hate it.

“Ugh!” His big eyes got bigger as Malakai’s fingers tightened. 

Then his whimper blended with the cracks of bones before a crash. 

I flinched once Malakai tossed him across the bar. Kross hit the floor hard enough to make the room tremble.

Silence returned. But my breath shaky breaths kept it company. 

I couldn't look away. I was caught and frozen between fear and… something else.

Until thuds filtered into my ears. I faced up only for someone to loom easily over me. 

His golden eyes stared down at me like dust on his shoe.

Then, with a flicker of his hand, a rain happened. It was the type I experienced just once.

The type I hated; a money rain.

Despite

the numerous papers falling on me, I kept staring at him. Yet his small smirk was far more unsettling.

"That should settle your bills, right, sweetheart?"