CLAIMED

43

"Hello, rowdy pup." The silver wolf acknowledges Leah with a smile. He's very happy that the princess somehow managed to survive the purge of the royal family of the White Clover Pack two thousand years ago and that she is alive and well. He just regrets that he wasn't around at that time. Maybe things would have turned out much differently.

"It's really you, Silvio." Leah could barely find her voice upon seeing the familiar face seated within a cell inside the dungeon. She even had tears in her eyes. "I don't understand. You are supposed to be dead."

A few years before the coup de tau in the White Clover pack, Grand Commander Silvio (titled Silver Wolf) and those under him were found guilty of conspiring with the other four top packs to take out the royal family.

Unfortunately, it was during the purge that the royal family learned that Silvio was wrongly accused by those traitorous commanders and their underlings, who now pose as royals of the White Clover pack. And by then, it was too late.

Ok, moving back to the topic. So due to the severity of the crime, Silvio and those who followed him were banished to the uninhabitable realm known as the Zone of Desolation by Leah's father.

"Oh, don't sound too excited to see your master." Silvio got up from the floor and reached out a hand to caress Leah's cheeks.

"Of course, I am happy that you are alive. It's just that I was told that anyone who enters the inescapable Zone of Desolation dies an agonizing death. So how?"

"Indeed. That wretched place lives up to its name." Just thinking about that atmosphere of pain and death and all the horrible experiences he went through there makes Silvio greatly uneasy. He also has nightmares about that horrible place every night, despite being freed from there over a month ago. "I've lost count of the times that I almost kicked the bucket." Fortunately, he met the love of his life there. Not only did she help him and his underlings survive in that hostile environment, but she busted them out too. "But enough about that. I'm here to help you fight against the top packs."

"How?" Leah didn't press the matter any further, since he didn't want to get into much detail. Silvio is alive. That's all that matters. "I'm afraid that even with the two of us here, we can't hope to stop the enemies from destroying this pack." She knew it was harsh to say that in front of the pups, but it is the truth.

"Who said it would only be us?" Silvio retorted.

"What do you mean?" Leah arched a brow.

"I'm not the only one who managed to break out of that hellish place. Many of my toughest warriors survived too. Afterwards, we went back to pack to clear our names. We were hoping that your father would accept us back into the pack. But we got ambushed. Those illegitimate royalties tried to kill us. We managed to escape, of course. It was after we learned about the purge war and swore to take down those traitors, even if it meant death. But a few days ago I heard rurmors of a surviving member of the royal family and rushed here as quick as I could. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was my most hard-headed pupil."

"My head is not hard," Leah sulked. "You are just a crappy martial arts teacher."

"If you weren't pregnant, I would teach you a lesson for calling your master crappy."

"You know?" Leah was somewhat surprised, despite her purple ears being an obvious sign of her being pregnant. That's still weird to her.

"Your ears are purple," Silvio replied. "The same as when your mother was pregnant with you. And speaking of your mother, did she tell you about her bloodline?" He figures the reveal of her mother's true identity was a major factor for the purge that took place back then.

"No." Leah replied with a hint of sadness in her voice as she recalled memories of her deceased mother. "But Nathaniel told me recently."

"I see, so that old cockroach didn't die in the purge after all." Silvio scoffed.

"No, he's very much alive and shameless as ever."

"I presume the old bastard is not too excited about your current conditions. He didn't take it well either when your father got your mother pregnant. He even tried to assassinate the supreme a few times." But Silvio knows that if Nathaniel truly wanted the supreme dead, he would have died back then. That man is a monster, which is why it surprised him when he heard of his death. He can't help but be curious how they managed to take down that beast.

This assassination attempt happens before Leah's birth, so obviously she is clueless about what he was talking about. However, she didn't put it past Nathaniel. The guy was obsessed with her mother. But he wasn't able to have her, and so he decided to move on to Leah the second she reached the age of maturity. He's an oddball.

"Well, he did try to kill the pup too," Leah said nonchalantly. "But I think he's taking it well. Maybe. I think so. I just hope he doesn't turn the pup into a toad like he did Ashier."

"What?" Kazan panicked. Nathaniel is an ancient elemental beast, after all. And if the bastard wishes to squash him like a bug, there is nothing he can do about it. "What do you mean by turning me into a toad?"

"Ashier was this brilliant young Lycan who had a crush on Leah. And when the jealous Nathaniel got news of this, he turned the guy into a toad and squashed him until he decided to give up on the princess." Silvio said, and this made Kazan even more uneasy. The poor kid was even sweating.

"Don't worry, pup. Nathaniel wouldn't dare do such a thing. I think." Leah teased her mate.

"You think!" Kazan felt like the ground under his feet had magically turned into quicksand.

Ezekiel was finding their squabbling amusing. He concluded that Leah and Silvio were teasing Kazan. Well, he hoped so. Still, it was funny seeing his sovereign acting goofy.

"I'm sure Nathaniel won't turn you into a toad. Ten percent sure."

"Ten percent!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, pup. Didn't Nathaniel save your life that time?"

"Yeah, that's before the guy tried to kill me," Kazan replied.

"Did I really?" Nathaniel popped up like a ghost behind Kazan, and the poor pup's soul almost fled his body.