Chapter 7: Scarlett

"Bee?" Confusion clouded my mind as I stared at the boy, trying to decide if this was a joke or not, but before he could reply, the cook, came to with a basket full of ingredients.

"I am Bantu, the head maid and just like Bee said, we are all at your service too."

My thoughts left the strange new boy and I smiled at Bantu. I collected the basket from him and resumed cooking. More maids joined us and together, we made the food even faster. Not just chicken soup was made, other delicacies like potato puree, baked rice and so many types of salad was done.

At the end, we had a table full of food. It was truly a feast.

They were all giggling to themselves and for a second their joy made me forget about my ordeal. I became more concerned with seeing them happy. I was still lost in their picture they were painting before me when Bantu's voice pulled me out of it.

"My queen, this is a lot. The entire palace can't eat it all. What do we do?"

I moved away from the counter and smiled at him, but before I could speak, Bee beat me to it with his bubbling spirit: "We can always pack them and store in the cooling room. I am sure no one would mind eating chicken soup and some extra rice tomorrow. The guards won't mind." He suggested but I shook my head, I had an even better plan.

"Do you think the people outside would mind eating this?" I asked as I approached the baskets and trays of food.

"No ma'am, they will be thrilled. How many queens have done this for us?" one of the maids asked and other chorused, supporting her opinion, which only added to my conviction.

I clapped my hands and beamed at all of them. "Then, we shall share this food with them. Bring plastic plates," I suddenly requested and as they were brought to the counter, I took the lead and started dishing them out into plates.

Somebody started playing music somewhere and I was sure more than half the palace could hear us. Their excitement was surprising as I knew there was always food in the store -from the look of it-yet they seemed so happy to eat this. Was it just because I joined them or was there an order for them not to eat or touch it?

Looking at them, I didn't want to ask a question that would ruin the moment, rather, I made a mental note to question them later. I packed more than half of the food and placed them in baskets, then handed them to Bee. 

"Take this to the people outside the palace. I am sure we have some of them that are hungry or just low on food. Come on."

His face lit up with excitement and some other people volunteered to help with the task.

As they were leaving, I spread my arms and turned to Bantu; "We can then eat the rest."

The kitchen erupted with roars of excitement as everyone started taking out their potions to eat. They didn't even have to thank me; I saw it in their eyes. The shock and appreciation as they ate to their fill. But all the joy came to a standstill as the door burst open.

"What is going on here?" Asher's dark voice suddenly filled the kitchen. He stepped in and I saw Luciano and Stella behind him.

A negative aura filled the entire space as everyone froze in fear not knowing what to do as Asher came towards me with fire in his eyes. But I wasn't moved. I was prepared for everything.

The room was so silent, even a pin dropped could be heard and the closer he got, my heart started racing but I refused to be intimidated. We were in public, I had already won his people's heart over, whatever he did now, was going to play against him. All I had to do was the act the victim.

As he got closer, he grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me towards him with rage in his eyes, he growled: "I asked you a question, Scarlett. What the hell is going on here?"

The room went even more silent, and I held back. The eviler he portrayed in front of his people, the better it was going to be for me, I thought. But the silence was suddenly broken, as Stella fell to the ground and cried out.

"My king, I told her to stay in her room, but she refused to listen to me."

As her voice echoed in the heavy bubble of negativity that had filled the kitchen and I couldn't help but turn an arched brow to her. She had her head bowed and even though I couldn't remember her telling me this, I decided to let it go. She was probably too scared to even face Asher and this wasn't her fault, so she had to lie.

"Shut up, Stella! I didn't ask for your opinion." Asher growled and I saw Stella visibly shivering under the intensity of his aura.

"Asher, can we please talk in private. You are scaring your people-" I tried to whisper to him but his hold on me tightened and I was forced to swallow back my words at the pain.

"Do not tell me what to do!" He growled, but I didn't flinch. He was only ruining his own image which was good for me.

His eyes moved over my face like fire, almost like he needed them to burn me, but I stayed strong. As if that triggered him, he dropped my hand and returned his focus to the rest of the kitchen.

"And you!" he growled, heading to the counter where Bantu stood like a lone plant in a dessert not knowing which direction to sway to. "You let her come into my kitchen. Cook for my people and give it to them! Did you for once think that it could have been poisoned?"

My brows furrowed at his petty thoughts, and I was going to defend myself when a crashing sound shook the whole kitchen.

"I do not want any of you eating what she makes! I do not even want her near this kitchen or anywhere near my people!" he hissed, kicking off the rest of the food that survived his first ambush.

I was shocked by his brutal action, but I wasn't surprised. He had lost his mind. He was becoming desperate, and it was a pity he wasn't even seeing it.

Bantu, just like Stella, suddenly fell to the ground and everyone else except Luciano and me, joined him. "Forgive me my king... It would never happen again. Please," Bantu whispered, his voice shaking with fear.

As if that little act appeased Asher, he returned his gaze to me, ignoring the maids: "And you!" he hissed as he came to me.

I didn't speak. I didn't move. I just stood there, waiting for him to reach me. And when he eventually did, he grabbed my arm again but this time, he pulled me out of the kitchen, his breath fuming like a mad wolf as he charged for my room.

He kicked the door open and threw my body roughly to the ground.

"I thought I made it clear to you that your purpose was to give me a damn child, Scarlett! What did you think you were doing outside with my people?" He snarled his finger pointing dangerously at me.

I slowly pulled myself to my feet, dusted my dress and faced him: "If I am to stay in this room until I give you a child, then it means my work here is more of a breeder and not a queen-"

"You are not my queen!" He hissed, cutting off my words before they could even leave my lips. "A child of Talon can never be my queen."

Hearing him say it again, tore my heart all over again but I stood my ground.

"Then I am afraid your evil plan would be ruined even before it even begins, Asher. Because you arranged with my family. You married me as your mate, luna and queen."

Each word I spat out made his face turn bright red and I could almost smell the lava of anger growing through him. But I didn't stop.

"For a man hungry for revenge, you are not very smart. If you insist on reducing me to nothing more than a breeder, then the news would travel faster than you think, and my brother will find out about it-"

The words were barely out of my mouth when he roughly came towards me and pushed me to the wall with all his might: "How dare you speak back to me, Scarlett? Who do you think you are?"

My back was burning but so was my heart.

"I am Lycan Princess and until my last breath I won't let you make mockery of our kind."

His eyes glowed, twisting even darker as the words left my mouth. Time froze and I saw his hand raise to hit me as he yelled my name.

Chapter 8: Asher

As my hand descended on her, my wolf stopped me, only adding to my irritation.

I tried to force myself to go through with it, ignoring the innocence on her face and the way my heart was rejecting my action. I wanted to prove not just to her but to myself that I didn't care about her. I was only concerned with the lands her family stole from me. That was what mattered but try as I may, my hand refused to land on her cheek.

I pushed my wolf aside and forced my willpower to take control. This time, my fingers moved, and I prepared myself to finally hit her...

"My king!" Luciano's annoying voice suddenly filled the room, cutting off my newfound strength to hit Scarlett.

My hand instantly fisted and I turned all my rage to him. "What is it? Don't you know how to knock? What do you want?"

He bowed his head, keeping his eyes away from me but didn't back away as I had hoped. He stepped closer and raised his hand, his eyes shining with determination. Some of my anger reduced as I figured, that whatever couldn't wait, had to be serious.

"My king, the mission... it wasn't successful. We have a problem."

My eyes narrowed at him and a deep thirst for blood filled me. The frustration I had towards Scarlett vanished as the situation swirled in my head causing fresh rage to join my already chaotic emotions. I wanted to blurt out my anger at Luciano, but I held myself back. I didn't want Scarlett to listen to the details.

"Come with me." I snarled instead, as I moved away from Scarlett.

My fists were already folded as we marched down to my study and the second the door opened, I stepped in, and I turned to him. "Now how the fuck did those fools mess up the mission?"

"Their old beta happened to be there, and they countered the attack. Some of the men got caught, that's why I came to you, so we can think of an extraction plan."

My eyes widened as the rage grew inside of me. "What?" I hissed. "An extraction? For those fools?" I growled moving my eyes over his body.

Luciano lowered his head again. "My king, it is true that we employed real rogues and some outsiders and insiders, who wished to earn some good cash..."

"What does this have to do with the current conversation?"

Luciano cleared his throat and began again. "My concern is with the insiders. They know a few details that might link back to us. If they torture them, they will speak. We can't afford to have them talk."

Fuck.

"Damn it," I growled. "An extraction is out of question. What if there was no safe zone?"

"But what do we do then? We can't just sit here and hope that no one questions them. That's not true at all."

I started pacing. This was bad. That old Greg was very thorough. He wasn't going to stop until he got names from those fools. If they mentioned our names, the plan was done.

"You will have to go there," I suddenly said, and Luciano's eyes widened. "I need all of them dead before that old fool gets a chance to question them. Since there is no extraction, they will definitely be an execution."

Luciano's eyes hardened as he finally understood what I was trying to say. He slapped his fisted arm to his chest and bowed. "That will be done... but we just need to have a good reason to send me there-"

My fists landed on the table. Hard.

Shutting out his silly whines; "Do I need to do everything for you?"

"No, my king. I was just- I don't want us to make any mistake."

My eyes narrowed down at him and from the way he was fidgeting, he was going to fail. "Fine. I'll go alone." There were enough failures already, the last thing I needed was for him to also get caught trying to fucking kill the rogues. That would be sick.

"Prepare the vehicles, we leave immediately." A plan on how I was going to slip my way into their palace and kill those men was already forming in my head and I just needed one person to help solidify it, Scarlett.

I walked out of my office and went back to her room. I kicked the door open and met her sitting on the vanity chair, watching her reflection. As I stepped in, I expected her to flinch, but she barely even moved.

Almost like she didn't even notice my presence.

"Prepare yourself. We are going to your brother, and you need to make them believe that you have missed them," I growled with a deep voice of authority.

I was certain my instructions had been heard by her and I was turning to leave when her voice tore through the air of silence that originally occupied the room.

"What if I don't want to leave?"

My legs stopped, my skin began to crawl, and irritation built within me as I turned to her. "Are you daring to defile me, Scarlett?"

She turned away from the mirror in front of her and stared at me. "I asked a simple question-"

"Then the answer to that is no. There is no room for your overpampered opinion. We are leaving in thirty minutes and that's final." I didn't wait for her to give another response, I walked out of the room, banging the door shut.

I packed a few changes of clothes for myself before heading to the parking lot, where Luciano had already spoken to the drivers, yet both he and them hung aimlessly around in groups, discussing in hushed tones when they should be checking the vehicles.

Even when they saw me approaching, they simply bowed and Luciano started coming towards me, the drivers did nothing to move to their cars.

"My king," He began, and I glared at him. "The drivers think that it would be safe if we travel tomorrow instead. The winds are very strong on the highway in the evenings. We might meet up with a storm."

"Luciano," I growled, and he raised his eyes to meet mine. "Come here..."

He didn't hesitate and that was his mistake. As soon as he got close enough, I grabbed him by the neck and slapped him against the back of the closest car to me.

"Do you think a damned storm will mean anything when they get the truth out of those rogues?" I hissed, baring my teeth at him. "Do you know how much we would be losing?"

He shook his head, unable to utter any meaningful word as I applied pressure on his windpipes.

"I am going there, and I am going there now. I don't care if there is a bloody sandstorm. We are leaving now!"

I withdrew my hand, and he hurriedly went to pass the new information to the pale-stricken drivers. Surely, they must have known that if it were one of them, I wouldn't have thought twice before breaking them into two like dried twigs. Luciano was only lucky that I still liked him, and his duties were still relevant.

The drivers instantly jumped into their respective vehicles and started the engines. I went down to mine and the door was instantly opened for me to step in.

I was about to get impatient when the door opened again, and Scarlett finally joined me.

"Let's move out." I growled to the driver and the vehicle came to life.

What I was about to do was risky, but it had to be done. I had to just make sure that Scarlett could be trusted enough to act her part well.

So, as we got closer, hours later, I took her hand, surprising her. Her wide eyes stared back at me, and I could almost read the questions that moved through them.

"Dear Scarlett, I wanted to remind you of something," I whispered, bringing her hand to my lips. "Your brother's army is weak. An attack, offensive or defensive, no matter the tactic your dear uncle Greg and his son apply, can never measure up to what I have..."

She made to pull her hand out of my hold as her initial surprise faded but I held it back forcefully.

"My trained soldiers are not as stupid as those rogues. We would have them annihilated in minutes. Maybe the battle will be fierce for I know the great house of silly Talon would not go down without a fight, but that fight will be futile, my love." My free hand, caressed her cheeks, loving the rage that was slowly building on her face, slowly wiping away the confidence she carried through the journey.

I brought her hand to my lips once again and as they made contact; she threw a broken stare at me. I smiled. "Good. I believe we are now on the same page my love. Welcome back home..."

Chapter 9: Asher

As the vehicles came to a stop, I pulled on my emotional mask and forced a large smile on my face as I saw Axel himself head out to welcome us.

"Axelo, my charming brother-in-law in both ways," I teased, forcing myself not to show the hate in my heart at his laughter.

I just had to be patient for soon, I would only listen to him cry in jail as everything got taken away from him too.

"Asher, you will never change, will you?" He replied as he carelessly wrapped his arms around me in a hug.

I could have easily plunged my small silver knife into him but that would be too easy for him. Such death would be a luxury for what he had done to me.

"How was the trip?" He added as we pulled apart. Again, I forced on my smile, even if my cheeks were starting to hurt.

"It was amazing. The storm is still in the sky. It might be upon tonight. We were lucky..." My words trailed as the corners of my eyes caught Scarlett stepping down from the vehicle.

Her expression was cold, and I feared she would foolishly throw away my plan as she came closer.

"Brother," she whispered falling into his arms.

My eyes narrowed as I watched her carefully. She wouldn't dare act stupid. She knew what was at risk. I came to stand by her, and I was going to remind her of our deal when Violet and the rest of their family joined us.

"Asher, Scarlett!" Violet exclaimed, coming to give us warm hugs. "I have missed you both so much!"

Her smile was the only thing that tickled the anger in my heart to a lower level and this time I didn't have to force my emotions. "I have missed you too."

Violet turned her eyes to Axel, and she frowned. "Why have you kept them out here?"

Axel opened his mouth to respond but before the words could leave his mouth, Violet pulled Scarlett by the hand and started leading her inside. "Please, the food will get cold. Everyone is waiting!"

I scoffed at their pathetic display of affection but nevertheless, followed them into the house. They had prepared a feast in our honor and maybe I could have enjoyed it more if they were all slaves serving me, but they weren't. I had to endure the torture of seeing their happiness as they shared stories and memories.

"Uncle Greg, how did you handle the rogue attack?" Scarlett suddenly let out and my heart skipped a beat as the entire table turned to stare at her.

The old man turned to Axel and his son, Nathan. I could tell they were sharing silent information concerning her question. After what felt like forever, his son cleared his throat.

"Scarlett, we haven't sent out an official declaration of the attack yet. How did you know about it?" He asked and my heart tightened as it dawned on me where she had heard it from.

It was from me. She must have eavesdropped on my conversation with Luciano and now her big mouth was going to place me under their suspect radar.

"Oh," she exclaimed, pushing her hair back awkwardly; "I heard about it, and I was so worried. Did we have any casualty?"

"We did but thankfully, it was nothing that we couldn't handle," Nathan replied, beaming at her.

I stared at them for a second longer than necessary as I tried to understand if they were just dumb or trying to push the conversation along. There was no way they wouldn't suspect something.

But, as the conversation moved on, I realized that I had given the Talons more credit than I should have. They were all dumb and stupid -which was actually a good thing for me.

It meant that I could get to the rebels they caught and end their misery without them suspecting a thing. The only problem now was finding out where they were kept.

"So, Asher, how long will you be spending here?" Axel's voice filled the room, and I pulled out of my thoughts to meet his stare.

Honestly, I wished I never came because seeing his face alone, disgusted me but I had to be here for my mission to be a success.

"We have a lot of things to do back home but since my mate..." I paused, taking her hand for extra effect, "-She was missing her family a lot, that's why I decided to take a few days off work and bring her to you. So, we have about three to four days."

My eyes found hers and with the brightest smile I could muster, I asked. "Is that okay with you, my love?"

She blinked with eyes roaming with confusion, letting the milliseconds fill like long hours before she smiled and nodded. "Four days... is beautiful. Thank you."

"Aww, you are both so cute! I can't wait to see what your child will look like!" Violet beamed and I couldn't help but reflect her expression.

"I can't wait either..." I mumbled and Scarlett shuddered, beside me, knowing exactly what getting that child would mean.

The rest of her family were in the dark as they giggled excitedly as the meal went on.

The meal finally came to an end, and we were shown to our room. The peace and quiet was something I needed badly to be able to think of my next move, which I had to do tonight.

I was certain that the rebels were being tortured for answers. The sooner I got to them, the better. I couldn't wait and risk them spilling names that could incriminate me.

"They are in the old dungeon," Scarlett suddenly blurted out.

I snapped my head to where she sat on the vanity chair and narrowed my eyes, wondering what nonsense she spoke of now.

"The rogues." She dropped the brush she was holding and turned to me this time. "Didn't you bring me here so that you can kill them?"

My heart froze and took long strides to where she sat, pulling her roughly by the arm. "What game are you playing with me, princess?" I growled but she remained unfazed.

"I understand that my brother's army cannot win over yours. It would be best if they never found out that you sent those people..."

As her words sank into my head, I dropped her arm, and a million thoughts raced down my head. I wondered if she was just stupid, or she was blinded by some magical hope that this would change me...

"You should go. Everyone is asleep and security rounds will be in the next hour." She picked up her brush again and resumed running it through her hair. "You should go now."

Her voice was unreadable. I couldn't tell what she hid behind those green eyes. But I wasn't about to let this opportunity pass.

I grabbed my silver blade and headed out of the room.

She said I had one hour, but I didn't trust her. I waited around the corridor for almost forty minutes just to confirm that her brother and his betas, were not about to track me down there.

After I had confirmed that no one was indeed coming, I headed to the place. It was the same stinking hole they had kept Violet's parents. Normal criminals were not kept here, anyone who was thrown here, was certain to never see the light of day.

There was just a single guard at the door, and it didn't take me a lot of work to put him out. It was tempting not to kill him, but I controlled myself. He was just a wolf unfortunate enough to be led by Axel Talon. It wasn't his fault.

I moved restricted his airflow and hit his sensitive spot hard enough for him to fall asleep, then I slipped into the room. There were about eight men chained to the floor and I knew that if I delayed in the act, one of them was bound to raise an alarm to notify the palace that they were being murdered.

So, I summoned my wolf and tapped into my Lycan abilities. In seconds, my speed became a blur and in less than a minute, I had slaughtered all of them with my blade.

Then for extra measure to make sure that there were no traces of my presence left, I took the burning torch by the wall and placed it on their clothes.

The fire caught it after a while and it gently began to lick its way upward, feeding itself to get even stronger.

I checked my watch and saw that I still had ten minutes before the security round. A grin spread on my face as a sickening thought filled me.

If only they could delay for a while, then I could be assured that a good portion of their castle, would get burned.

Satisfied with my work, I slipped out of the slowly burning dungeon and quietly returned to the upper floor where our room was.

As I walked, I was beginning to hear the echoing sounds of boots in the castle, and I guessed the guards were doing their rounds now.

Thankfully, I had already reached the finished line. My hand was already stretching to pull the door open when a gruff voice filled the corridor behind me. And my heart dropped as I recognized them.

It was Nathan, old Greg's son.

"King Asher... What are you doing out here?"

Shit.