Blood Ties

44

No one knows of this place, every other dungeon in my pack is a recent design made for the werewolves in my pack. The amount of decaying metal and how deep the dungeons descend into the earth will hide other scents. No one will sense him unless they try to find him. But, Cadence, this place isn't made to imprison him, once he wakes up, he'll be able to leave."

Cadence didn't want to confine him, she wanted a haven for him as the war stormed through the pack. This was only temporary and she fully intended in returning to this place, to free him.

She didn't settle for goodbye as they slipped back upstairs to the woods.

Lycus slammed the door shut and scattered dirt, muck and dead leaves across the rustic door to cover every square inch of it.

"Can you smell him down there?" Cadence questioned.

Lycus shook his head. "If I try, I can. But I mainly smell the soil around us and the faintest scent of him. Old books and cereal. He must've been reading recently." He mused distantly and rose back to his height, turning to Cadence.

His brows furrowed as he took Cadence in, he could probably smell the ever-growing fear that rolled off her in waves. But she could hardly feel it inside of her, there was too much energy forcing out any lingering emotion that dared hinder her.

"You're scared for him." Lycus reasoned.

Cadence scowled and turned on her heel, strolling back to where they came from. Lycus chuckled from behind her and stalked to her side.

"I don't know — I feel many emotions at once when I'm around the hybrid."

"I know what you mean," Lycus sighed. "A mate will mark you, Cadence, heart and soul."

Coming from an Alpha that never showed care in the world for another woman before Accalia, Cadence had to hand a fragment of belief to him.

"Are you ... angry with me?" Cadence asked slowly, trying to trust her words that led them both here in the first place.

"I wanted to kill you,"

Cadence wasn't surprised by that, a laugh peeling out of her at his brutal honesty.

"But I didn't want to deal with my mate's wrath ... and I didn't want this to be a burden on you. You did this to ensure his safety, I know that."

"But will he?" Cadence couldn't stop her voice from trembling with wonder.

"With you, there's no measure of what Rexton will know. He adores you, Cadence, no matter what." Lycus muttered.

Cadence didn't know adoration, love, or affection from another — someone that wanted to bond through emotions she could not return.

How could Cadence feel an emotion she wasn't acquainted with?

She did not want it, not now, not ever.

The Beta flanked by their sides and her face was stricken with seriousness. Her eyes were gold and she was shackled in armour even with sprouted claws and canines. Half wolf and half woman.

"What's the news?" Alpha demanded.

"The Jacian pack have made it over to your brother's pack, Lycus, there were no reports other than that," Tala informed, her voice deeper than usual — animalistic.

Lycus's closed his eyes, breathing through his mouth as his face battled with worry.

"Anything else?" Lycus cooed in question.

"There are Roan fighters on their way here now and Alpha, some patrollers could smell other scents on the other side of the border. They're coming."

"They're already here," Lycus growled and sent a deliberate look to Tala. "Hunters are coming, let them in without question and Tala, tell the wolves vampires walk among us — they should know exactly what our enemies are."