P.S. Goal: 20 Comments & 20 Votes
"WHO THE FUCK does he think he is?!"
It was the next day, a Sunday morning as Lyla, Venus, and an angered Liam conversed in the family room over brunch. After coming home, the previous day to her parents that held a sobbing Lyla in their arms, Liam stayed over for the night as him, and she remained awake until the break of dawn. Whether it was in silence or Liam shaking in anger and pain, neither of them slept, both in need of each other's company.
Now in the family room they sat with their brunch prepared by Penelope who said along with them, as well as Cedric as they listened to Liam's screams of frustration. He described it as his skin being melted off by wolfsbane from the separation from Daeva. He was in pain, mentally and physically. He had just found his mate, only for her to be ripped away.
Lyla felt his pain as Romulus' words cut a hole in her heart. She kept hearing them replay over and over in her head, him degrading her and letting her be known she'd never be his equal. Already breaking his promise, he held his position over her like a toy to a cat, teasing her place in the world as if she'd never had a chance to voice her opinion.
But just like him, she broke her promise to hurt him, even though she regretted it deep within her soul. Romulus had made her promise never to call him Alpha again, but he pushed her and tore her down, sending her to do the one thing she knew that would cause him an aching pain in his heart. And it worked.
In the midst of Liam's words of anger, Penelope watched his fists clench and unclench numerous times before tossing him a pillow she didn't care for that he quickly grabbed and ripped into two. "Thanks, Mrs. Darcy."
"Anytime." She winked as she sipped on the second cup of her morning coffee.
After ripping the pillow in two, Liam dropped to the floor with a thud, pulling his legs up to his chest as he leaned his head on them for support. "It's killing me...Why? Why? I just fucking found her."
Lyla felt his pain in her heart as she looked on, quickly standing up and placing herself sat down next to her best friend, wrapping her arms around his side. Liam needed his mate, but Lyla was there to fill the role in some way of giving him comfort. He knew she understood better than anyone. She watched it all, and she fought for him. Just like how he did for her.
"Only time will tell what they decide to do," Cedric announced as he folded his newspaper and tossed it onto the coffee table. "I don't want to be the negative Nancy here, but she came as a trespasser, and even though she protected Lyla, I think she knew what she was doing. Her right doesn't cancel her wrong, but it should mean something."
Even though the truth hurt, Liam knew he was right. Even then, he wished mercy could have been shed on his mate. It had taken Liam nineteen years to find her, and as soon as he did, she was ripped away from his grasp. He couldn't even hold her. Kiss her. Love her. Never given a chance, only having to listen to her deafening screams as she pleaded for her mate.
It echoed in his mind, causing pain in himself and his wolf. They craved her, yet nothing could be done. She was underneath the palace with the best supervision to keep her locked up for Goddess knows how long. There was no time limit on keeping her in the depths of darkness that encased her in a living hell. She was there until her innocence was proven.
With her head on Liam's shoulder, she secretly wished it was Romulus besides her. After the other day, he didn't come after her, or show up to sleep with her in his arms. Or to kiss her good night. He stayed away, and maybe that was a good thing, but it didn't stop the pain in her chest from increasing every second.
Yearning for his touch, Lyla let out a depressed sigh before diverting her attention back to the conversation amongst the room. "He can't hurt her; I won't let him."
"No offense, Ly, but what makes you think that? I still can't get over what he said to you, and he hasn't even apologized to you yet." Venus confessed.
"He should know that if he hurts her, he'll be hurting me. Liam has done so much for him and I, how can he not do the same for him? Or at least me?"
"He's an Alpha, Lyla." Cedric inputted. "You could have been killed, simple as that. His wolf is going to rule over anything that comes to harming or even threatening you. She could have asked for entry, but she didn't. I'm sorry to be so blunt about your mate, Liam, but it we're going to discuss this we need to think of it logically. And I'm not defending the Alpha by any means because no man should ever talk to my daughter like that, but try to see it from his end."
Silence fell upon the room as everyone soaked in Cedric's words, his words of wisdom over the situation at hand. He was right. Lyla's safety will forever be Romulus' number one priority, something she didn't question nor doubt. But, she still thought he would have respect over what she wanted and asked for. She understood, but she didn't accept the situation in the slightest.
Daeva had come in as a trespasser with the other wolves that were turned to ashes as soon as they were pronounced dead. Daeva was now the only voice they had to find information from, their single resource as to why she came here in the first place. With the other wolves dead, and also due to the fact she protected Lyla for reasons no one knew why she was the best source of information they could ever get.
But it didn't make the situation any simpler.
"What if they kill her?" Liam said, his voice shaking as tears threatened to spill over.
Instead of pain, Lyla fumed with anger, immediately standing up and stomping her foot on the ground. "An eye for an eye."
"What?" Venus said giving Lyla a peculiar look.
"Liam helped me. It's time for me to help him."
And so a plan began.
❖❖❖
Once again as the clock had struck midnight, Lyla stood on the palace grounds with wolfsbane running through her blood, concealing her scent. It was the same time as the night prior where the guards were switching their rounds, and no one would be around to watch the future Luna sneak through their palms.
She knew her path in which she must take, following her instincts to the Alpha's office where the hopefully unlocked doors awaited. Her feet padded softly against the soft ground, still wet from the rain storm the day prior. She prayed to the Moon Goddess in her mind that Romulus wouldn't be there, and thankfully as she hid behind a bush, those prayers had been answered.
The room was fully lit up with the chandelier that hung in the office, no one in sight, only a room full of books with no Alpha to tend to them. She let out a sigh of relief before running to the doors, the coast clear as her hands wrapped themselves around the door knobs, turning them clockwise, and realizing they were unlocked.
Lyla did a silent cheer in her head as she snuck her way in, closing the door quietly behind her as she came inside completely, letting out a sigh of relief. Once inside, she planned in her head of where to go next, remembering the tour Emory had given her a day prior coming to her advantage.
The castle was oddly quiet, too quiet for Lyla's liking as she stuck her head outside of the office door, looking left and right seeing that the coast was clear.
But what followed the silence was a scream, so deadly and violent that it shook the crystal chandeliers that hung in the high ceilings. Shouts of fury followed it, as well as the heavy footsteps running to the third floor where the screams had come from, to protect a princess.
A princess perfectly okay, and having no problem sneaking around the Alpha in charge.
Emory.
Cheering to herself, Lyla ran. She ran down the long corridor that she remembered from the night of the ball, finding the staircase Emory told Lyla to take to find the prisons that rested below the palace. She waited in the shadows until the prison guards ran up the stairs, oblivious to Lyla who stayed still until they were in the ballroom, out of her sight.
She quickly departed down the stairs, skipping stairs as she went until she found the doors that opened into the prison, pushing it open as her body pressed against the wooden frame. The mahogany door opened with a loud squeak, as Lyla pushed it open, running further into the darkening prisons the deeper she went.
Lyla could hear the yells and moans of the prisoners inside, all shouting for attention as she came sauntering into were the cells rested. Lined for a hundred feet were prison bars laced with wolfsbane, making it impossible for the dozen trespassers that stood inside to get out. If they were to touch anything, their skin would melt off in seconds, benefiting Lyla's safety for the time being.
She held her breath as she walked, her eyes scanning over the cells that encased the prisoners, their eyes glaring at the human in hunger. She kept her back pressed against the walls, walking sideways, keeping her eyes locked on the people in front of her. Never take your eye off the enemy, even if they aren't the enemy. Never take your eyes off of them.
"Is that the next meal?" One moaned as a pair of golden orbs glared at her.
It was a man, his eyes burning holes into Lyla's skin as his mouth salivated. She watched as he stared her down, not afraid but slightly on edge as his hunger made her skin crawl. Lyla knew they couldn't shift with wolfsbane in their system which they were injected with daily, from what Emory had told her. It was a safety precaution, but also a way to get information. Torture.
"Come here pretty lady, I haven't eaten for days." He said to her as he let a growl emit from his mouth. "You look fucking delicious."
Lyla said nothing, instead moving forward and whispering a single word. "Daeva."
A groan echoed in the cells, then a cough. And then again, it repeated, causing Lyla to follow the sound as her suspicions grew. It continued, the coughs and the groans before Lyla found the cell it was coming from, her eyes trying to see past the darkness that flooded this room.
Suddenly, a pair of light green eyes flashed themselves at Lyla, causing her to let out a sigh of relief as she quickly fumbled a couple of keys in her hands, rushing to open the metal doors. Finding the right key, Lyla pushed it into the keyhole, unlocking the door before stumbling inside to grab a shaking Daeva.
"Wha-wha...wha- "
"Shh...you need to trust me. Don't question anything, just listen to me." Lyla whispered as she stared into Daeva's lifeless eyes, then scanning over her frame still dressed in the sweatshirt she had given her the day prior. "Come on; we need to go."
Grabbing Daeva by her forearms, she lifted her with all the strength she had before walking her through the prisons where people shouted at them for help. They all wanted the same as Daeva, to be rescued by the human who dragged her out with all her might as Liam's mate fell like a dead weight on her side.
Going back the way she came, Lyla dragged Daeva's practically lifeless form up the stairs. As she brought her up, another scream echoed within the palace walls, stemming from Emory yet again as before the wolves had found her the first time, she ran to the other side of the palace to give them a chase.
As that was the last bit of time Lyla would be given to rescue Daeva, she sped up her pace as they finished going up the stairs, huffing for air as they tried to move faster through the long corridor to Romulus' office, which to Lyla's luck, was still clear. She sighed with relief as she pushed Daeva through the door, then following closely behind before locking the door behind her and grabbing Daeva yet again.
"We need to hurry up, we don't have much time."
"Bu-but won't they track you?" Daeva whispered
"Not with wolfsbane in both of us," Lyla confirmed as Daeva nodded her head timidly.
As Lyla opened the doors that led to the forest, she took Daeva with her as they both crouched down to the floor, scanning their surroundings.
"Why are you helping me?" Daeva questioned as she sniffed the air for any bystanders, giving Lyla the clear before running forward and to the dense, black forest.
Lyla ran having Daeva's hand in her own, lugging behind as the wolfsbane in her system only hindered her strength and speed, and refused her from shifting. She didn't answer Daeva's question right away, her mind only focusing on getting them deeper into the forest and past the royal grounds where they would be free from the Alpha's wrath, for now that is.
"You are the air Liam has been waiting to breathe. He would sacrifice his life for mine if given the fight to do so, so I am doing the same. He is my protector, but my best friend, and he's been there for me since I could remember, and now it is time for me to return the favor." Lyla announced as they finally were off royal grounds, falling to the ground with a thud as she gasped for air, all energy depleting from her tiny form.
"You're...you're the Luna?" Daeva asked in bewilderment as she dropped to the floor, quickly bowing her head in submission. "Oh my Goddess, I'm so sorry, Luna. Please, forgive me for what I've do- "
"I'm not your Luna, yet." Lyla smiled gently as she took deep breaths to slow her heart down as a chuckle escaped her lips. "And please, call me Lyla. You are family now."
Daeva smiled in gratitude, unable to contain her emotions as she crashed herself against Lyla, giving her a hug to express how thankful she was. Daeva couldn't hold the tears that left her eyes that matched the forest, her emotions flooding over the brink of no return as she thanked the woman she would pray to call her Luna.
"Thank you so much. I promise you I mean no harm. I was forced here." Daeva explained as she pulled away, her head hanging in shame.
"I know I can trust you after what you did for me. Romulus...he's the one we need to get passed. But with me around, I promise I'll do my best to protect you. You're my best friend's mate, and he did the same for me with bringing me to Romulus." Lyla explained as she held Daeva's hands in her own before standing on her feet, pulling her with her. "But, we need to get going. They're going to see that you're gone soon enough and we can't be anywhere close for them to figure that out."
Nodding her head in agreement, Daeva spoke. "Where to, Luna?"
She had called Lyla the Luna yet again, and for some reason, it brought pride upon herself. She felt proud for what she had done, doing the right thing, the hero in the shadows know her actions came from her heart, and from the mercy she possessed. She was forever going to be the voice of reason, the humanity in decisions being made, just like how Romulus said.
And whether he liked it or not, she was going to make sure her voice was heard, especially tonight. This was her mini-rebellion.
"We need to head east, and Liam will meet us outside of the restaurants at the mall. We're going to my home where you'll be safe. I won't let anyone harm you, I give you my Luna oath."
Her first Luna oath.
❖❖❖
Our future Luna Lyla stepping up the place and rescuing Daeva! I felt really proud writing this chapter because it showed the power Lyla truly has within herself. She has power against the Alpha, our little Romulus, that she needs to use more often, thats for sure. So, what did you think? Further impressions on Lyla? What about her plan to save Daeva? What about a certain princess helping Lyla out with the rescue plan? OR, how do you think Romulus will react if he finds out? Sound off in the comments and let me know what you think! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I loved writing it!
-MesmerizingSoul
P.S. Goal: 20 Comments & 20 Votes