“I guess I am not that smart.”
His hand twitched, a sign that he wanted to slap Zuri again, but he refrained himself from doing so. “Pull yourself together, this is not the right time to be a brat.”
Alpha Roland pulled a chair and sat down. It took him a while to compose himself, while Zuri was standing in front of him.
“Tell me, what do you learn about Xaden’s movements? Is there something suspicious?”
“Father, I have been under house arrest, how could I go around investigating?” Zuri then added. “There is nothing suspicious as far as I know.” Her voice was sweet.
“Excuses!” Roland lashed out and Zuri knew it was a sign for her to keep quiet, as he was going to go on with his yapping.
This conversation was so much different from the one that she had with Khaos. She missed those long conversations with him. She missed being heard…
And as usual, Zuri put on a blank face. She trained her eyes on her father, but in actuality, she didn’t see anything. She was too numb to be scared.
‘Shout back! Why do you let him talk so much?’
‘Cut his tongue and he couldn’t talk anymore.”
Zuri’s claws elongated and Roland was too busy reeling with anger to realize that. And gradually, the voices in her head got louder than her father’s barks.
“I ASKED YOU WHY YOU ARE IN THIS ROOM!!”
Roland stood up and this startled Zuri, as she missed his question and he had to repeat it four times. “Separate bedrooms.”
He was not happy to hear this. “Why?”
Zuri then told him everything that had happened, but unsurprisingly, her father sided with Xaden. Again. Of course, because he did the same thing to her mother.
“You should be grateful that he wanted to teach you.” He scoffed angrily. His face turned red. “If you, as a woman, couldn’t satisfy your man in bed and couldn’t even bear his children, what would be the use of you?”
“That’s it. Fight back. Show him who you really are! He couldn’t step on you all the time!’
This could be a good sign or a bad sign, because Zuri started to follow the voices in her head, as she snapped at her father.
“River Creek pack’s wealth came from me. I doubled the wealth of the pack and made it the richest pack in this kingdom. I am the mastermind behind your business deal.” Zuri used the term that Khaos had used on her and she could feel the corners of her lips tugging upward. “And you say that I am a disappointment, because I couldn’t satisfy Xaden in bed?” She narrowed her eyes on her father. “Probably, he was the one, who couldn’t satisfy me, just like how you couldn’t satisfy mother.”
A harsh slap. A punch to the face and when Zuri fell to the ground, a harsh kick landed on her stomach. Great. If she had a miscarriage, he couldn’t blame it on her.
Profanities flew out of Roland’s mouth, but Zuri was not done yet. The past week was too peaceful, too serene and heartwarming, something really foreign to her.
But now this pain was something she was familiar with, a feeling that she could associate to, which also pushed her to provoke Roland further.
“You brought all of your harlots to the bed and made my mother watch your depravity.” Zuri lifted her head, an eerie chuckle escaped her lips. “Without the money that you gave them, I doubt they even want to see you naked.”
That was it, Zuri asked for it. Roland punched her, kicked her, while she was laughing maniacally. Every punch and kick only made her laugh even louder.
“You’re crazy! I know you are crazy! You must be an evil spawn!”
“Imagine those women looking in disgust when they saw the wrinkly thing between your
legs.”
“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU CRAZY BITCH!”
The threat didn’t work, because Zuri was still laughing hysterically. She was too numb to feel
the pain.
This was the first time Roland found himself completely losing it. His claws emerged and he was ready to rip her heart out of her chest.
Anger blinded him and Zuri’s taunts only fueled it further.
The fact that Zuri knew she was tempting death didn’t deter her. Feeling this pain, instead of numbness, was not bad either.
Eerie laughter still came out of her lips and when she saw her father’s claws emerge, she looked him in the eyes. She felt fury radiate off of him in waves and remembered the father that she once had in the past. The father that braided her hair. The father that took care of her. Someone that deserved the title.
She wondered; when did it start changing? Was it when she was nine that he discovered her talent? She was not sure, but now it didn’t matter anymore.
His body exuded killing intent and he was going to kill his only daughter for real if it was not for her mother. Karina shifted into her wolf when she saw what Roland was going to do to Zuri. The beast lunged at him in time to claw his arm and snarl at him, forcing him to back away.
And that was the last thing that Zuri remembered.
She had been spiraling, her emotions hit rock bottom or as high as the sky, thinking she was invincible and smart enough to get herself out of trouble. Any trouble.
***
“Alpha Roland and Alpha Xaden have been in contact with the Great Lunar Kingdom.” Caiden sat across from Khaos. “Our people said that Alpha Roland has been funding Alpha Xaden’s activities and apparently, his latest activity before he was sent to Mount Eve was to seek the rogues and meet with their leaders. What do you think they are doing?”
Rogues.
They were shifters without a territory, usually found in large groups, moving from one place to another and most of them would take any dirty jobs for money. Mercenary work being the most common one.
“They are gathering warriors,” Khaos said.
“For what?”
Khaos went to the window and stared at the blue sky. His mind drifted to that night in the carriage, but he answered Caiden’s curious question with one simple word.
“Coup.”
Caiden’s brows hit his hairline. “So, Alpha Roland has been funding this movement?” Caiden checked on the report again. “I thought they were in a good relationship.” They had this suspicion ever since the union between Zuri and Alpha Xaden happened, but the new evidence was the solid proof of that.
“The palace is always a bloody place.” Khaos’ gray eyes turned slightly darker.
“Will you tell King Dacre about it?”
Khaos gave some thought to it. “Let them play their own game.” He didn’t care who sat on the throne of the Celeste Kingdom, at least, not now. His own plan was still in motion too.
Silence descended in the study room, as the sun started to set. The wind was rather humid, indicating summer was around the corner.
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