That was why when Zuri regained her consciousness and opened her eyes, the first thing that she felt was the pain on her wrists and ankles.
She opened her eyes and found that she was being tied to the bed posts with her arms and legs tied with silver chains that burned her skin and rendered her unable to shift into her beast.
“Khaos?”
His name was the first thing that came to her mind. She was in pain and she needed him to come and comfort her. She needed help and he was the only person that she could think about.
“Khaos, help… Help me…” she sobbed, because the silver hurt her so much. “Help me, please… help… I am in pain, it’s hurt… Khaos.”
Zuri was crying. She had gotten used with her father’s needle and even though she hated it with passion, she could endure it because the pain was something that she expected. That was why when Ezra reached his pocket, it triggered her.
However, the pain from the silver was something else differently and the burn was eating her. Her skin that came in contact with the silver had turned red and some spot had bled.
“It’s hurt… Khaos, please…”
She could smell his scent, but it was very faint, she assumed Khaos was there when she was unconscious and refused to see her again after what she had done to Ezra and Caiden.
Zuri apologized.
Zuri cried.
Zuri begged.
She didn’t dare to move her body, because it would only double the pain. She kept calling him, but she was alone in this room. She cried her heart out to the point she passed out, thinking no one could hear her, thinking that she was alone and nobody would come to her rescue, not even Khaos.
But, the fact was; Khaos was there the whole time. He was standing right behind the closed door, listening to her pleas with straight face. His expression didn’t betray the turmoil that he had inside.
“Alpha,” Gayle called him, he was fidgeting because despite the alpha didn’t say anything, you could feel the killing intent that exuded from him and it was so rare for Khaos to be like this. “Caiden and Ezra are fine. The healer has checked on them. Ezra needs to rest for a few days, but he will be fine and Caiden has healed now.”
He reported what happened.
“Alpha, I think there must be something that triggered her. She used to have a good control over herself even when we were training. She will be quick to tone down her bloodthirst instinct.” Gayle tried to voice out his opinion.
“Stay here. Take some warriors to stand guard and do not allow anyone to enter the room without my permission.” His voice was dark and cold, just like the winter out there.
“Yes, alpha.” Gayle didn’t talk much. He was not there when everything happened, but he heard about it after.
The day was almost end and when the night came, it would be the time when the ritual was going to happen.
However, with Zuri’s current condition, restraining her with silver chain was already a big compromise on Khaos’s part.
Right now, he was heading toward Caiden’s room, where Bryden was there, talking about what happened.
“Why Zuri was there in the woods with your father?” Khaos asked straight to the point.
The question startled Caiden and Bryden, both of them immediately stood up, as the alpha entered the room. His eyes fixed on his gamma, who avoided his gaze because he felt guilty.
“Why she was there with your father?” Khaos repeated the question, he approached the two of them and Bryden could sense this wouldn’t end well for Caiden. The gamma had confessed everything to him and no matter how you saw it, Caiden was in the wrong.
“Khaos, calm down,” Bryden said, he put himself between Caiden and the alpha. “You need to understand the situation.”
“Answer me, gamma.”
You would know the anger that Khaos held back when he called Caiden with his title instead of his name, putting a distance between them and this made Caiden flinched.
The tension grew stronger inside the room.
“I am sorry, I am wrong,” Caiden admitted his mistake, he knelt down, showing his submission.
“Your apology didn’t answer my question,” Khaos stated coldly. He shoved Bryden to the side. The gamma was within his arm reach now.
“I…” Caiden couldn’t tell him the truth because it meant he would sell out his father. He knew that he was in the wrong. He also didn’t have any idea what his father said to Zuri to trigger her, but he couldn’t put his father in the wrath of the lycan.
Knowing that, it was Bryden, who answered Khaos’s question.
“Ezra asked him to bring Zuri to him.”
‘Asking’ was a nice word to put in, because the right word was; Ezra had pressured Caiden to bring Zuri without the alpha’s knowledge to him, because he wanted to have a private conversation with her and the gamma thought what harm could happen from a simple conversation?
“Khaos, you need to understand that Ezra is still his father.”
“If he listened to his father more than he listened to his alpha, probably he needs to step down from his position,” Khaos said darkly and he meant it.
He didn’t need someone, who would defy his order blatantly. The position of beta and gamma were not a position that you could take lightly. You devoted your life to your alpha, your loyalty was on your alpha only, not to your family. Bryden and Caiden should have known this.
“Khaos, this is only a mishap of judgement.” It was Bryden again, who tried to calm the alpha down, while Caiden lowered his head. “Please, can we talk about this later? He is still distraught because his father almost died.”
Once again, Khaos ignored Bryden. His question was directed to his gamma. “What your father said to Zuri that triggered her?”
“I don’t know,” Caiden replied in small voice. “My father told me to walk away, so I didn’t hear their conversation, but I was nearby when he mindlinked me frantically. I could feel the pain through the bond and I know there was something wrong.”
Caiden told him everything that he knew.
The relationship between Caiden and his father were not a smooth sailing. Both Khaos and Bryden knew how much Ezra put pressure and expectation on Caiden, since he was the first born.
He had to be the good example for his twin brothers, he had to be a great gamma, who helped the alpha and even often Ezra would tell him that he should sacrifice himself for the revival of the old dynasty if it was what required of him. The irony…
“You will step down from your position as the gamma, Caiden and go back to Greywolf pack.”
“Khaos!” Bryden was shocked when he heard the punishment. Demoting Caiden was too much. This punishment was too impulsive. “Khaos, Zuri almost killed him too! You need to put that into consideration!”
Khaos shifted his attention to Bryden for the first time. His sharp gaze made the beta took a step back.
“I don’t need a gamma, whose loyalty is not with me. What he has done was an act of betrayal.”
“Khaos, you need to understand his position.”
“You can step down from your position too if you don’t understand this.”
The statement shut Bryden up very quick. He should know better not to test the alpha’s limit, especially at moment like this, but the word left his mouth before he could stop it.
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