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.

Chapter 10: Scarlett

My hands were sweaty and each second that passed without Asher in the room, felt like the world was crumbling outside. I paced in the room, reevaluating my decision over and over.

"I should tell Axel," I whispered as I stopped. But then I shook my head.

Telling Axel would be a disaster and if there was one thing Asher was right about, it was the fact that we couldn't stand his forces. They would win and our kingdom would become theirs.

But even greater than that, such a scandal would mean forever creating a sea between us. There wouldn't ever be a hope for us; for our love.

"Oh Scarlett," I winced as I slapped a hand to my forehead. I was being delusional.

Asher was sick and he never loved me. He said it himself, yet somehow, even my subconscious continued to defend him at the cost of my kingdom.

My heart hardened and I decided to put an end to this. I would tell my brother and together, we would think of the best way to deal with Asher.

As my mind made up, I turned to the door and pulled it open, but I came face to face with Asher; with Nathan's gruff voice echoing behind him.

"King Asher... is everything okay?" He asked again and from the look on Asher's face, I knew that his reply could get him caught, if I didn't do anything.

Before my brain could even process what I could do, I took Asher's hands in mine.

"Babe, did you find it? Goddess, please, I am dying..." I groaned, faking a weak expression.

His angered eyes understood what I was doing and in a matter of seconds, he fell into character as well. "I couldn't find any of the maids to help me... I am afraid we will have to wait till morning... can you manage?"

Nathan had gotten close to us at this point, and I saw his brows move in confusion. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, no. Actually, I was looking around for the maids. Scarlett has a terrible cramp and I... I just didn't know what to do and I didn't want to wake Violet..." Asher lied, and I feigned pain, clutching his hands as my life depended on it.

Nathan's confused state, quickly turned into concern as he took my free hand and checked my body temperature. "I should call the doctor. How bad is it?" he gently as he checked my eyes.

Then he turned to Asher, "The maids are all off duty. You should have called me... Let's get her to the clinic-"

"No, that won't be necessary!" Asher and I exclaimed at the same time, earning a strange glare from Nathan.

"I mean... I don't need a doctor. It's quite late. If I can get something hot... I should make it in the morning. It's not so bad." I quickly added, hoping to clear the awkward air our chorused answer had created.

Nathan took a minute to move his eyes over us, before finally nodding to me, then he gave Asher a bow. "If you are sure that's all you need, then I'll send someone to get it to you in a couple of minutes."

"Thank you so much," Asher whispered, his voice flooded with such relief, that I was certain whatever doubt Nathan could have had got washed away.

"Sure," Nathan replied, and Asher helped me into the room.

He purposefully left the door open, knowing that Nathan would probably still be watching. Asher gently placed me on the bed and pulled the blanket up to my chest, then his eyes paused over my face.

His stare was so intent, that my heart skipped a beat. I wanted to be strong.

I kept singing in my head that this was all a game, but my wolf couldn't tell the difference as I felt goosebumps appear on my skin when his fingers brushed away stray strands of hair from my face.

His eyes looked so sincere, so innocent, it was hard convincing my wolf that this was all a lie. That the man we were forever tied to, was a man driven by a sickening thirst for revenge on misplaced reasons.

I was still lost in my thoughts when the door abruptly closed, and his sweet face morphed into darkness. He peeled his fingers away from my face and growled.

"You did well, princess. Continue like this and maybe, your dear brother might get an easier punishment."

Irritated, I wanted to move away from him, but his large arms kept me pinned on the bed.

"You have nowhere to run, princess. Remember, you belong to me now..."

Tears of anger pricked the corners of my eyes and I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to tell him that I didn't belong to him and that I would ruin his plans, but I also knew that saying all that would be useless.

My chaotic thoughts came to a sudden end, as a knock echoed on our door. Asher got away from the bed and pulled it open.

The guard bowed. "My lord Nathan asked that I had this to Princess Scarlett," he said, and Asher took it from him.

"You have done well... I will handle it from here. Thank you."

The man bowed again, and I could only guess what was going on in his head. Asher was so good at pretending that no one would even imagine him as a monster with such a beaming smile.

Yet as soon as the door closed, his true color showed. He practically dumped the tray carelessly on the drawer and pulled out his phone, before disappearing to the balcony to probably speak to his people.

It wasn't long before the emergency alarm rang out. The guards must have discovered the rebels dead, and I could only hope that Nathan wouldn't connect any of it to Asher.

I was going to ignore everything and force myself to sleep but the alarm only grew louder. I got off the bed and walked to the windows, only to see the firefighters rolling out hoses.

A frown settled on my face as I realized that a part of the castle was on fire.

Fear and panic flooded my system and without thinking, I grabbed my robe, tied it around myself, and ran out of the room.

"Scarlett?" I heard Asher yell behind me, but I wasn't about to stay on a comfortable bed when innocent people might be in trouble because of me.

I ran out of the building, watching wide-eyed at the flames that licked the lower sides.

"Oh, dear goddess," I whimpered, with my hand clamped against my mouth.

This was all my fault. I directed Asher to the dungeon, thinking he only wanted to kill the rebels, but he had other wicked intentions, even to innocent people.

My breathing started coming in fast as I took in the scene. The men ran around to put out the fire and the others tried to save whatever they could from it. Wounded slaves cried as the men helped them out of the flames. I could even see a few lifeless bodies and my heart broke totally.

I did this... I could have stopped it, but I didn't. I let my stupid emotions interfere and Asher had his way.

Anger, pain, guilt, remorse; everything rolled out of me, and my initial determination returned. I had to put an end to this. 

I moved my eyes around the scene and luckily, I saw my brother and Uncle Greg, instructing the men on the side and my heart cracked. I had to tell them. I couldn't keep hiding this.

I began to run in their direction, ready to tell them everything I knew and let the consequences deal with itself. At least I would forgive myself for putting so many people through pain.

My heart rammed as I ran breathlessly towards them, but I barely got close when I crashed into Asher's massive chest.

"Where do you think you are going?" He hissed into my face as he grabbed me roughly by the arm.

My heart tore in anger and I pushed him away -Or tried to but he gripped me even tighter and pulled me away from the chaos to a corner, slapping my back to the wall as his large frame caged me.

"Let me go, Asher. Hmm... Get away from me. You are a monster. How could you do this?" I whimpered as my helplessness shook me like the rumble of a shattered house under a second wave of an earthquake.

"Don't be silly, Scarlett. Was I supposed to get permission from you? Huh?"

His eyes burned with emotions so evil, I couldn't even look through them. His presence disgusted me. I couldn't believe that his quest would drive him this far.

"Why did you burn it? Why didn't you just kill your rebels and leave the rest of the building alone?"

His grin spread and he leaned closer to me, his scent overshadowing my senses. "I own this entire place, Scarlett. Whatever I decide to do to them is none of your business, is that clear?"

"I hate you, Asher. I hate you with every cell in my body!" I seethed through my teeth, but his grin only grew wider.

"We both know that you are lying..." His fingers moved to my chest, slowly making their way over my breasts, searching for my nipple. "Your whole body can't survive without me."