Adrik paced the breadth and length of his study impatiently, huffing as he did so. “Where is she? Where are they? Why aren’t they here yet?”
Adrik’s right hand man Chad, sat on a 1990 classic grey chair and motioned for him to do the same. “Calm down Adrik. I’m sure they’ll be here any minute from now. She’s too weak for them not to be able to handle”
“This wouldn’t be the first time that they’re disappointing me. Sometimes I wonder if I should have just gotten myself more suitable persons to handle the work for me”
He sat on the edge of the chair, the ring on his forefinger impatiently hitting against the table in front of him. His eyes flew to the clock on the wall and trailed out back to the window. One could easily see that his patience had run thin. What if those idiots failed to deliver the job as promised?
Getting that woman would mean killing two birds with a stone. His grand plan will finally work as he will have the special child immediately after he is born. The bonus point? He gets to see Lucian suffer with the absence of the woman he cares about.
Yes, Lucian can have every other person fooled, but not him. This woman… What was her name again? Is it Amaranthine? He knew that Lucian would seek out to look for her, especially when he suspects that she might be carrying his heir. Oh, precious love.
The thought of that made him cackle suddenly, drawing a disturbed glance from Chad. What- Do they all think he needs help? There’s no denying it. He does! Until he rids Lucian of his title and every other thing he holds dear, he will not have peace. But Amara is just the beginning of his headlock with his greatest rival.
“Alpha Adrik, they are here” Chad’s voice permeated through his raging thoughts. He stood, his eyes wild and crazed.
“Well, what are they waiting for? Where is the girl?”
“They’re in the dungeon”
“Dungeon huh? Perfect choice of space”
He walked out of his room, his strides long and impatient; his whole body vibrating with the fact that this mission has been utterly successful and he now has the one thing that will make Lucian suffer and perhaps give into his demands.
He pushed the door open and came face to face with Amara, all wide eyed, scared and shaking.
“Well, well, who do we have here?”
He walked closer to the folded mess on the floor of the dungeon and slowly came down to her height. Taking a proper look, he noticed that there were no scratches or wounds on her body. Of course, a glass porcelain delivered to Lucian’s doorstep which he started to treasure. It is unfortunate that she will no longer be treated as glass here.
“Please… please let me go. I’m innocent”, Amara cracked out.
The guards and the other people in the room froze at the utterance. Adrik isn’t a man that you plead with. He tells you to do or say something, and you’re to do it without complaint. At that point, they were all sure that Amara would be dead in the next minute.
Adrik gave a coy smile and shook his head. “You’re innocent?”
Amara frantically nodded, hoping that she might somehow get through to this man as the others were like bricks. So hard to penetrate. “Please, I was just going to see a friend before I was taken by your men. I have never hurt anybody in my life.”
“You want me to let you go?”
“Yes. I will be eternally grateful to you”
Adrik stood straight and sighed. He gestured to the guards at the door to open the gates and let her out. Amara couldn’t believe how easy it was to convince him.
“You can leave my dear. I am so sorry to have brought you here. My men must have made a terrible mistake with the person who they’re supposed to capture. And you must forgive me, I never prey on innocent people. You’re free to go”
“Really?” She asked
“Accept my apologies again” Adrik replied and stood, moving out of her way.
Amara shakily got up to her feet, and looked around slowly. She saw the man beside Adrik, whom she assumed is his beta, shaking his head at her, probably telling her not to leave. But it has been given to her on a platter of gold. So why not? This might be her only opportunity to leave here for good.
She took a step forward, then another. She looked back at Adrik and saw him giving her the go ahead. Well, trash it. She decided to make a run for it. She wasn’t even past four of the fifteen guards in the dungeon when she felt her hair being yanked back. Next thing she saw was herself thrown against the rough wall.
She groaned in pain, holding her head up against her palm. Before she could get through processing the pain, she was yanked roughly to her knees and a large scruffy palm connected with her throat. She struggled against the hand, unable to breathe well.
“Now listen well. I don’t care who is innocent or not. Your stupid master has something that I want and he has refused to let me have it. You are just one of my unlimited plans. You will stay here and you will suffer together with that thing he has planted in your belly. Pray that he grants me my desire early enough because once you push that thing in your belly out, I will have no use for you. And you know what I do with useless things? I dispose of them. You should get that into your useless brain”.
Adrik pushed her down to the wall when he was done talking. Amara gasped for a much needed oxygen and looked up at the man in fear. Now she knows that running away has been a terrible mistake.
“Lock her up until I decide what best to do with her”
I'm trying to see if I can start updating chapters daily but work has been so tedious. Baby steps right? What do you think about Adrik? Leave me a comment if you read this chapter. Love you all. Mwah.
~Amara~A loud, impatient knock disrupted my reading. It wasn’t Lucian. He knocked twice, always with a soft hesitation. This knock was louder, firmer, and more demanding. I stood slowly, heart stuttering. My steps were cautious as I approached the door. A part of me already knew who it was.When I opened it, I was not disappointed. Maya stood there, her arms crossed, her face a mask of mock-concern and artificial warmth. Her eyes, though, told a different story."Can we talk?" she asked, her voice gentle enough to fool anyone but me.I stepped back, leaving the door open without a word.She entered like a queen into a court she believed she still ruled, taking slow, deliberate steps, letting her gaze sweep the small cabin as if she was measuring it for decay."Lucian’s not here," I said, arms crossed defensively."I know," she answered, turning toward me. "That’s why I came."I raised an eyebrow. "That’s very convenient."Maya smiled and her eyes dropped onto the open journal on my b
~Lucian~I stood in front of the wolf house, my senses attuned to the activities around me. The air was crisp, the kind that bit into your skin like a warning. Birds chirped overhead, but even their songs couldn’t silence the distress that I’d felt all through the night.I closed my eyes and reached through my mind-link. “Marcus,” I called in my mind.Silence. I inhaled slowly, and tried again. “Marcus. I need to speak with you. It’s urgent. Can you hear me?”The bond remained mute. I tried to push deeper, reaching across the pack connection that had once never failed me. The sensation was like knocking against a sealed door. There was no opening or presence. Just empty air.Damn it.I opened my eyes, exhaling roughly. A chill crawled up the back of my neck, not from the cold, but the sense that something wasn’t aligning. Marcus had never failed to respond, especially not to a direct mind-link.Was he dead? No, there was no way he was dead. I would have felt the snap of the bond if h
~Amara~I couldn’t sleep. Even though I’d promised Lucian I’d rest, my eyes wouldn’t stay shut. The ache in my back, the way my belly tightened every few minutes, it was more than physical discomfort. It was this feeling. This deep, growing tug in my gut that something wasn’t right.I turned on my side, my hand resting on the swell of my belly. “We’re so close, little one,” I whispered. “Mama just needs to figure this out. Then we can go home.”An idea suddenly came to me and I sat up slowly, grabbing a nearby jacket from the chair. The house was quiet. I knew Lucian had gone to speak with Maya. He didn’t say it outright, but I saw it in his eyes. He didn’t want to believe what I told him. he wanted to find out for himself.The restlessness that I had was because I knew how manipulative Maya could be, and seeing how bad the whole thing was hurting Lucian, he could just decide to turn back on the truth just to make the pain go away. I needed to know what was going on with that conversa
~Lucian~I knew what I had to do the moment Amara showed me that paper with the mark drawn on the page. The shape. The pattern. The same mark I had once thought a tribal tattoo when I saw it on Maya, back when we were just falling in love. I never questioned it. She told me it was nothing and that it was only a symbol of her family. I never thought to ask more. But now? Now I couldn’t ignore it. Not after everything Amara had been through. Not after how I’d let her down again and again.My heart twisted with the knowledge that Maya had probably lied to me from the first time that we met. I couldn’t imagine how I could have been such a fool for her, believing every little thing that came from her. But I was going to confront her about it. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but I needed to see that mark again, to be sure that it was the same one with Adrik.I waited until the next evening before I could see her. Maya was outside, sitting beneath the same tree I always found
~Amara~ I lay in bed with my hand on my belly, counting the rhythmic thump of my baby's tiny feet against my ribs. It was comforting. Reassuring. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep. Lucian had left the room a while ago. He thought I was resting. But the moment he shut the door behind him, my mind ignited into a storm of thoughts I could no longer suppress. I couldn’t stop thinking of Maya and what her mission could possibly be. No matter what anyone else says, I strongly believed that there was no way a dead person could have come back to life. Lucian said he had held her lifeless body in his arms. She was his first mate, so he could have noticed if there was any sign of life in her, but he didn’t. A sigh escaped my lips as I turned over again on my side. What could possibly be Maya’s plan? Her name alone made my stomach twist. This wasn’t from jealousy anymore, but unease. Something about her return didn’t sit right with me. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the memo
~Lucian~ The promise I made still echoed in my ears long after Amara and I walked away from that stream. Her words kept on playing over and over in my head, and they wouldn’t stop no matter how much I tried. It was as if that was the punishment I was receiving for daring to sideline her all this while. I hated how many times I’d made her feel like second best. She never was. Not once. And now, with her due date crawling closer, I realized how badly I needed to set everything right. I walked beside her in silence, sneaking glances at her every few steps. She held her belly protectively, the baby growing inside her reminding me that this was also a piece of us; proof that we had built something real out of all this chaos. “I meant what I said, Lucian,” Amara suddenly said. “I’ll help you figure this out. But after that, I need to go home.” “I know,” I replied, my throat tightening. “And I’ll take you home, Amara. I swear on everything I have left.” She gave me a tired look but nodde