"What?" Zach spat, pushing me further behind him and Liam so the two were covering me. "What the hell did you just say?"
"I needed to remove anyone from her life that could protect her. If she hated him, she would never go anywhere near him," he explained with a wicked glint in his eye, then turned to me. "Apparently, I underestimated your ability to forgive."
"Hang on a second, anyone who protects me?" My grip tightened on Zach's hand and I instinctively stepped a little closer to him and Liam. His words sent a pit to my stomach, an intense ache that churned at the thought of him 'removing' the people I care about.
Rick grinned at my question. "Anyone, although somehow the two of you managed to escape the cell before I could ensure you were left unprotected," he grumbled. Suddenly, it clicked. How did I not figure out sooner that it was him who locked Liam and I away underground, the guy was clearly a nutcase.
"You wanted my brother dead?" Zach growled, taking a threatening step towards Rick.
He simply shot him a blank look. "What are you talking about, I tried to kill you," he stated nonchalantly and I froze, my heartbeat increasing rapidly.
He wanted Zach dead.
"Why did you lock me underground with Liam then? So you could attack my boyfriend while we weren't around?" I snapped and his forehead creased in confusion.
"Liam? No, no you were locked underground with Zach," he growled. "God, my guys can't do anything right."
"It wasn't supposed to be me?" Liam asked, holding me close to him.
"They told me she was in your arms when they found you knocked out," Rick snarled to himself. I remembered falling into Liam just as my vision clouded until all I could see was an abyss of black.
"How would I have died when it was Ella who you stabbed?" Zach scoffed, shaking his head. Yet another piece of information slipped into place... the note I had found when I had first woken.
"You didn't get the note either?" He groaned, confirming my theory. The note instructed us to kill the other so we would be free. I assume he intended for me to kill Zach for my own survival - which would never happen.
Before anyone could question the note, I asked. "Why do you want me unprotected?" That was the main question playing on my mind. What did he want with me? What was so important he had to go to such extreme measures to ensure I was alone and unprotected.
He shrugged. "I need you to work for me and I can't have anyone standing in the way. It was easy to combine removing your friends from your life while simultaneously making you hate my brother and I knew your boyfriend would give his life to save you, leaving you all alone."
"Work for you?" Liam asked before I could, glancing to me momentarily before turning his focus back to Rick.
"Let me tell you a little bit about your history Ella." He grinned and I folded my arms, nodding for him to continue. "Well... the most important thing you need to know is that you are a descendant of the original werewolf."
"Original werewolf?" Zach frowned.
"The first ever werewolf, bitten by a wolf and turned at the full moon. Once he made his first transformation, anyone he bit would become a werewolf too so he decided to create himself a family."
I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure out where he was going with it while he continued. "Eventually, he met a werewolf girlfriend and had kids. And then they had kids and then they had kids and the werewolf community grew and grew into a huge species."
"What the hell has this got to do with Ella?" Liam barked, clearly fed up with story time.
"Ella is a descendant of that original werewolf, which means she has the ability to turn humans into werewolves."
I completely froze. His words seemed to float around in my mind, not really sticking and my grip on Zach's hand tightened until his skin turned white - and still I couldn't let go.
"She can what?" Liam asked somewhere in the distance, his voice barely a whisper over the screaming in my head.
"Turn humans. And so could her mother." I suddenly snapped back to real life at the mention of my mother. "So I introduced her to my brother, knowing he couldn't resist her beauty. That way, she was close by and protected but my brother trusted me enough to be around her so when I needed her, she would be easy to take away.
"And then the bitch ran. But my dear brother had been smart enough to get her pregnant which meant the baby would also be able to turn humans. So when it was convenient, I killed her."
"Wait a second," I blurted, outraged by his nonchalant outlook on the situation but choosing to ignore it momentarily. "You want me to turn humans?"
"Exactly. You will build me an army of werewolves until the entire human race has turned and are bowing at my feet," he explained and my jaw fell open.
"I will not," I refused. There was no way I would help feed his power.
"You don't really have a choice." He grinned straight back at me and the butterflies in my stomach stirred.
"I dare you to try and take her! I dare you," Zach snarled, towering over the man on his knees with orange eyes and pointed claws.
"Not yet, but I will come back for her," he assured my boyfriend who let out a roaring growl.
"Not when you're dead you won't," Dean scoffed, putting pressure between Ricks shoulder blade and twisting his arm so he spine jarred.
"Let me go little brother," Rick ordered, his voice tight from the pain.
"Not a chance." Dean laugher menacingly and I watched as a smirk crossed Ricks lips.
I frowned as Dean only increased the pain he was feeling. What could he possibly be smirking at? His deep, never ending green eyes stared straight at me with a twinkle of mischief lighting up the otherwise dull orbs.
A sudden grunt from my left made me snap my head around and I gasped at the sight. "Liam?" I took a step forward but halted when one of the three wolves cornering him turned to me.
I growled at him in a warning but he simply puffed out his chest and stared me down. I watched as Liams skin tore apart and blood pooled from the scratches the claws of the other two wolves made.
It suddenly hit me that Zach wasn't doing anything to prevent his brother from bleeding out on the floor and I hesitantly turned to see an identical situation with him.
One of the three wolves blocked me from protecting him while the other two clawed and battered him. Tears gathered in my eyes as I saw the bright red blood smear his soft fur, utterly helpless.
"Let me go, or they die," Rick threatened and I had to force myself to hold in my sob.
I knew I could fight the wolves off, I could probably take on three of them, but I would have to choose which of them to save. I had a feeling if I helped the one and fought off their attackers, the other would suffer more.
And I didn't want to lose either of them.
"Dean let him go!" I yelled frantically, watching Ricks spine pop and then the skin on his face fade to a deathly white as Deans hands clasped around his neck.
"Dean!" I called, seeing more and more blood pool around the two brothers. All I could do was watch as the two guys bled and yelped while the life was squeezed out of Rick.
"I'm sorry Ella, he killed her. I can't let him go for that," he explained and tears formed in my eyes. I hated asking him to do this, I knew he wanted revenge as badly as I did and I had a feeling he wanted to protect me from Rick aswell; but I couldn't let my family die.
A whimper sounded and I saw how much blood was oozing out of Zach while they attacked his beautiful face.
"Dean please," I begged him as a tear rolled down my cheek. "Please."
After another never ending moment of being ignored, I tried again. "Dad, please let him go." Another tear trickled down my cheek as his face softened and his gaze flickered between me and the brother he hated so much.
I could see the conflict in his eyes but Zach and Liam were yelping in pain and I had no idea what to do, Dean was taking too long to think.
So, on instinct, I turned into my wolf, bigger and stronger than any of the attacking wolves, and I pounced. I charged at the nearest one who was about to lunge onto Zach.
I successfully pinned him to the ground but not before a swipe of his paw split the skin on my face. "Ok." Dean suddenly grunted from above me and I watched as he released his brother and tossed him aside.