Giovanni

Chapter 48

Giovanni Ellis:

I leave the room making sure Thora is still okay before I close the door. I had to get out of there because her trust in me was suffocating. I lied to her. Tonight I will wait for her to fall asleep before I go to turn myself in. When they show up at the borders it will be me and my surrender.

I will not have anybody dying on my watch and I refuse to be there when it happens. If I turn myself in then my chances of killing Alpha West double. I don't know what I'm going to do about Santiago but I'll just have to figure that out.

"Giovanni!" I hear Rayan yell from behind me. I turn to look in his direction and see him running at me. I back away on instinct before he stops short and slows his run to a brisk walk. "We found something at the border."

"What is it?"

Rayan reaches in his pocket and pulls out a golden locket. I instantly recognize it as my mother's. I snatch it from Rayan and open it up expecting to see pictures of my mother and father but instead, I see a picture of Thora. A picture of her sleeping. "It was hanging from a tree in no man's land. A few feet away from our border. No one saw it being placed."

"Fuck!" I yell shoving the necklace back at him. "He's playing with me."

"Hey," Rayan says shoving the necklace in his pocket. "We are going to win this." He reassures.

"Not without casualties," I grumble and continue walking down to where all the warriors are.

"Every war has casualties," Rayan says grimly.

I stop and look at him. "And what if one of those casualties is you?"

"I'll lay down my life for my kingdom and my family. No doubt about it and so will everyone else here."

"You shouldn't have to, Rayan."

He shrugs "maybe not but this is what I've been taught since I could talk."

I look around at the men and women meant to fight with us. "You are all scared. I can feel it in the air."

"And you don't think the other side isn't?" Rayan asks crossing his arms. "We never thought anyone would be stupid enough to challenge us but when you're hungry for power I guess you'll do anything."

"Alpha Weston certainly is a greedy man."

Rayan laughs. "He would crumble in your position. I'm proud that you haven't I mean the people may not have believed in you then but now they do. I've been talking to a lot of the warriors and they are impressed with what you've done with the time constraint."

I look at him and then back to the people. My people. The people I am giving myself up to defend. They are ready to lay down their lives for me. "Really?"

"Yeah," he chuckles. "A lot of them just tolerated you for a job's sake but the amount of respect for you these past couple days has grown. Giovanni, you've done a lot."

"I've tried," I say back watching as the warriors' practice. They spar and move around the space all eager and ready.

"You have," he says "even though the people have been nothing but rude to you and have attempted to kill you, you have decided to do them all a favor. Evacuate and send them away for their safety. Showed them that the safety of their loved ones is first priority." He looks around the room. "I'm proud of you."

I look at him. Why does he sound like he's talking to me for the last time? Why does he anticipate his own death? "Rayan?"

"Hmm?"