Seventeen (Edited)
It was a long drive to get to wherever they've taken me. We were in the car for five hours and I couldn't say whether they did that to confuse me or our destination was actually that far. Did it even really matter now?
I'm sitting in the cell from Smith's vision but, thankfully, I can rest easy knowing I'm the only one in any true danger. My mind isn't connected with Caden's and Colton's but Zara has a connection with their wolves that I'm thankful for. We may not be able to communicate but at least we can tell if they're alive. I wish it didn't work the other way around because with the small connection we do have they'll know when the King decides to kill me. At least, I'm assuming he wants to kill me. I'm a threat to his throne and that probably doesn't settle well with him. He purposely didn't have any kids or get married so he could rule all by himself.
In the werewolf community, King Julian is a joke. Everybody hates him and curses his name. He raised taxes for all packs just so he could continue to live in opulence. All he does is spend, spend, spend; even our werewolf guard, which was a force to be reckoned with, is a total nightmare now. The Ring of Wolves lets him do whatever he wants because King Julian lets them do whatever they want. It's a disgusting and vicious cycle that hurts us all.
"Cassia Blackwell. Please approach the door, hands in front of you and head down," a gruff voice says through the brown wooden door. I rise from my spot on the hard dirt ground and find a weird kind of happiness with finally interacting with a person (even if he is one of the bad guys). It's just been me and these four gray stone walls for I couldn't tell you how long. There's no windows in my little prison so one couldn't be sure how many days or nights have passed. I only know that it feels amazing to have the chance to be let out of here.
Quickly doing what the man says, the door is thrown open and silver chains are once again shackled to my wrists. I hiss at the silver to skin contact but the pain is soon numb. My wrists are already messed up from having these chains on them during the drive and it's a small win to see that they don't bother me as much. I hope it's normal for something very painful to go numb but I know in the back of my head that I have permanent damage.
"Walk." The guy yanks on the chains and I stumble forward on my weak legs. One thing they haven't given me much of is food. A guard came in with broth and some stale bread awhile ago but I couldn't be exactly sure about the time frame on it. All I know is that my stomach is constantly gurgling at me and it's gotten to the point of pain. Every time a rat skittered by Zara wanted to shift and eat it but I told her that was stooping way too low. If I get out of this mess I don't want to add eating a freaking rat to the list of things I had to do to survive.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by a door in front of me opening and we come face to face with a beautiful and ornate hallway that belongs in a fairy tale movie. Walking down this lavish hallway makes me feel extremely self conscious about my dirty and, thankfully, no longer nude (these people had some decency and gave me a T-shirt and shorts) figure- like I'm ruining the plush carpet by simply stepping on it.
The guard pulls me through the beautifully decorated palace and we finally stop in front of some mahogany double doors that look heavier than an elephant. "Do not speak unless spoken to and keep your eyes cast downward, got it?" I nod my head and he rakes his knuckles across the door three times. It swings open with a loud whoosh and a huge library is revealed to us; thousands upon thousands of books lining every inch of the ginormous room.
"Do you like my collection? It has been many years in the making. I haven't actually read any of them, of course. But they still look marvelous!" A man sitting behind a big wooden desk claps his hands together happily. My first thought is what a waste of money these are if he doesn't read them; my second thought is that there is only one person who would do that-
"Julian," I growl with enough hatred that I'm surprised it even came out of my mouth. Disregarding the rules I was given before coming in, I lift my eyes and glare straight into his black soulless orbs. Further inspection reveals that this poor excuse for a King is sadly my biologcal father. His brown mane of hair hangs loosely around his gruff face casually touching his shoulders with a jewel encrusted crown atop his head, his nose, if it hadn't been broken, looks exactly like mine, and with distate I realize that my father was not only a handsome man when he was younger, but still is.
"Cassia or, would a more fitting title be, daughter?" He smirks and it takes everything in me to not rush at him and slap it right off his stupid face.
"You are not my father. My dad was an amazing man who died loyally and with honor," I spew at him. Julian is the scum of the earth and deserves to be treated as such- blood relative or not.
The monster before me flicks his hand at the guard and I'm confused until I feel a hard fist splitting across my face. The blow has me sprawled on the floor and I can taste blood which I quickly spit onto the fancy carpet, hoping with all my might that it stains. For some reason I decide to laugh as I shakily get back up on my feet. Am I going crazy? Probably. Do I care? Nope.
"Do you always have your men do your dirty work for you? You made this problem, why don't you come take care of it yourself?" I challenge in my lunacy. This man is such a coward and I want him to see it.
"A tempting offer, sweetheart. But I have other plans for you. You see, you have some seriously annoying mates. For three days you've been missing and they already have a whole fucking army ready to storm my damn castle! With that being said, you're going to be a good little girl and reassure your mates that not only are you fine, but you also came here on your own free will. Y'know, daddy issues and all that shit."
I spit on the carpet once again to clear some left over blood away then smirk at Julian, causing him to falter a bit at how much I must have looked like him. "And I would help you why?" I hope my mates do come because they'll tear his ass apart!
"Because if you don't they will be the first I kill. Let me lay it out for you, Cassia; I don't have enough royal wolves to defeat your mates and their army. You know what I do have, though? Enough wolves to have your two mates captured with the snap of my fingers. I could put out the order right now that their goal is not to fight, but to bring your two sorry ass mates to me. From there I will bring them into the room of my liking, pick out my favorite pure silver sword, and slice their heads clean off in front of you. If I'm being honest, either plan is ideal for me since I win in each situation. So, by all means, Cassia- don't do what I tell you."
"Fuck you," I fire at him with as much hatred as I can muster.
"I take it that means option A?" Julian chuckles and I hold myself back from not going rampage. "Clean her up within an hour, I want to get this done and over with." With that last comment I'm taken out of his sight by the chains connected to my wrists. When the door closes behind me the severity of the situation crashes into me and I suddenly feel like Atlas trying to hold the weight of the world.
What are we going to do? I whimper to Zara in utter defeat.
As he says. A world without them is a world I do not want to be apart of, she replies and then fades back into my soul. Awesome, a load of help she is. I guess being a goddess's wolf isn't as cool and problem solving as I thought it would be.
A few minutes later I'm pushed into a room with the instructions to make myself look presentable; no bruises, scrubbed clean, and long sleeves to hide my wrists. This situation could not get any worse... unless, of course, Julian goes back on his word and kills Colton and Caden anyway. That's definitely something he would do and another worry I have to add to my list.
It takes half an hour to become fully presentable to the point where my mates won't be suspicious. As if they won't be already?
A knock comes from the door and I tell whomever it is to come in. "Good evening, princess. Are you decent?" A man who looks to be in his mid forties strides in with his eyes cast to the floor.
"Uh, yeah. Are you here to take me to my mates?" I ask as I stand up from the bed.
"Well, not exactly. My name is Clyde Delarosa and I'm here to help."
I look at him in confusion, afraid I've heard him wrong. "Help? Help me?"
"Yes, you. Me and many other people believe it is time to stop Julian's reign of terror and you are just the one to stop it. You're the only one in the world with a true right to the throne and he is such a horrible dictator. Julian must be stopped!" Clyde says with such passion that I'm already half way convinced.
"So you're willing to help my mates and I?" A spark of hope ignites in my heart that this man may be our salvation.
"With everything in my power, princess. Hurry, let me tell you my plan..."
(A/N: *smirks evilly* Enjoy!)