A Prequel [Book 8] in Her Destiny Series ||| ❝His family was blinded by greed and he lost everything in the crossfire.❞
▫▫▫▫ ▫▫▫▫
Everyone knew his family was a twisted one, they slaughtered packs for power. He was trapped, unable to escape t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When the guard came again, he had already been waiting.
He knew it was the silver-eyed man because his footsteps were always lighter, warier, and exact. As if slipping through unseen. He had spent enough time counting their paces from one end of the hall to the other. It had only been a day but after eating three solid meals, he felt his senses sharpening. His ears prickled with every noise, his nose inhaling every scent.
He wanted blood and he would get it.
Crouched in the middle of his cell, he rose when the guard stopped on the other side of the bars. For a moment, they said nothing to each other. He examined the man. He noted the tense muscles, the twitching pinky finger, and the narrowing silver eyes.
"You aren't a guard." Those words slipped from his lips like icy water.
The man was unmoving, "No."
He contemplated his next words. They were both guarded, still studying each other, and he couldn't ruin his only chance at getting out of here. He could have an ally if he was wise--that much he had concluded from the guard bringing him unpoisoned food so he could regain some strength. He licked his dry lips, "You want to escape..." He paused.
Silver eyes flitted sideways for a moment. He was right.
"And you need me," He concluded.
A breath passed between them.
"I knew there was more to you than this," the man gestured vaguely to the pitiful state of his residence for the past eight months.
Another pause and the tension between them slowly eased. Muscles relaxed, expressions unfroze, and they started making progress from the first words ever spoken.
"You're an Alpha." He decided to say.
"Alpha bloodline," the man corrected, "I forfeited the title and the pack when I couldn't justify banishing the weak for the greater good."
He found himself scoffing, "The council is fucked up."
"Indeed," silver eyes glowed something fierce, "But I have made a mistake, as the next Alpha has quite literally lost his mind."
"This is your pack," He connected the dots.
"Was," the man sounded irritated now, "Not anymore but I am bound here."
"Yeah," He thought of his own situation a few months ago, "Feels like hell, doesn't it?"
The man grunted, "It might be the price I have to pay, and that is fine, but I want to get my family out of here. They do not deserve to suffer because of me."
His jaw clenched. He was very familiar with that feeling. However, he also knew that it was impossible to get others out unscathed. His mate flared up in his mind but he pushed the memory back. He returned his attention to the man, did he know there would be death? There were always casualties in messed-up situations.
When neither of them said anything, he stepped closer to the bars, closer to the man. He could feel the presence of an Alpha. Perhaps even a true Alpha. He knew those were rare. They would selflessly sacrifice everything to protect the ones they loved. And even strangers who were innocent. A true Alpha had the biggest heart and the strongest bite.
"Let me out." He demanded.
Silver eyes flashed, the man withdrew beneath a mask of control, "No. It is not the right time."
"I can help you," He said, lowly, "Nobody has to suffer anymore."
"Trust me," the man said, eyes beginning to wander as if their time had come to an end, "I have a plan and you will know."
He clenched his jaw as he watched the man leave in the blink of an eye. Those last words echoed in his mind. Trust? He laughed to himself. He trusted no one. Still, he had grown quite good at catching true intentions, and the man only spoke truth. Albeit, there were things unsaid and held beneath the surface, but he would find out. When he finally decided to put his mind to something, he was surprised by what he could achieve.
He figured it was safe to say this strange, silver-eyed man was some sort of ally. Someone with good intention and it had been a long time since he had met anyone like that. Everyone always had hidden motives, a way to use someone else to reach the top first, and he was sick of the leeches of society, but he figured he had found someone doing the right thing. Or at least he hoped.
After a few moments of dead silence, he resigned to his corner of the cell. Only this time, he didn't tip his head back and ignore the world. He sat and focused on the movement of the guards and pack members above. He began tracking their patterns because when he finally did get out of this cell, he wouldn't hold back. The blood of the evil would be spilled and he would protect all the innocent. That was his vow, even to the strangers in this world, because not everyone was the same.
Not everyone was like his father.
He licked his teeth at the thought of the bastard. Imprisoned for god knows how long, he had a lot of time to think. He wondered if Braxton was laying in his grave or if he had the unfortunate luck to continue to destroy packs. He hated that thought. He hated that he was so powerless to stop the evil from happening, and he had even helped accelerate the poison by being too weak to make his own decision.
No longer would he be a pawn.
Once again, silver eyes filled his mind. He found himself feeling a sort of mutual connection with the man. Their situations weren't all that different. They both had their hands tied at one point. Maybe that's what had drawn them to speak to each other.
He would be willing to gamble that the Norman Alpha was using the man's family against him. Just like his twisted family. Still, the man was trying, and that was admirable. Unlike him, the man wasn't a coward.
Still, he had hate in his heart for what had been done to him. Little did he know that blood would not satisfy the agony. It wouldn't soothe his scarred soul. An eye for an eye and the whole world would go blind. His thoughts rested heavily on the thirst for revenge on his family. He wanted to slaughter all of them. And without even realizing it, that became his motive.
It takes a monster to destroy a monster.
※ ※ ※
We're on a slippery slope, my friends.
But wow, that detail-loaded conversation came out a lot better than I was expecting. Do we have any guesses about who the silver-eyed man is?
Also, I was rereading the last few chapters to make sure I'm staying on track...and damn, I'm unconsciously slipping into these characters again. Joel took eight months to mentally come back from the pain, and so did I. Geez, I really gotta stop doing that.
