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."

Chapter 11: Scarlett

Tears filled my eyes and as much as my body wanted Asher to keep touching me, I couldn't let him continue- not after he destroyed my home.

Summoning courage, I pushed his hands away and walked away without saying a word. I went straight to our room and locked myself in the bathroom. The last thing I needed was for him to return and begin another emotional torture on me.

In the bathroom, I turned on the shower and hugged my knees on the floor as I tried to carefully think about my life. I couldn't continue defending him.

My wolf was not in her right mind. I couldn't trust her judgement.

I had to deal with Asher. End his plans before they became unmanageable. I also had to find a way to warn my brother. He had to be ready because if my plans didn't work, war was going to be the final solution-

"Princess?" Asher's voice suddenly filtered through the bathroom, and I jumped out of my thoughts. "Are you taking a shower for me?"

My teeth tightened and I turned off the water above me as I glared at the door- and as if on cue, it began to rattle as Asher tried opening it from the outside.

"Oh, you locked yourself in there?" He snickered; his voice heavy with rage. "Fine, I will wait for you to step out. You can't sleep in there, can you?"

I had no intention of sleeping in the bathroom, but his question gave me the idea.

I got up from the floor and dried myself with the towel hanging over the drawers. Then I moved myself to the bathtub and curled into it. I didn't think I would sleep so easily but almost as soon as I closed my eyes, my mind went unconscious.

The next time my eyes opened, there was a faint silver line in the sky as morning slowly drifted into the city and there was also noise. I rubbed sleep off my eyes and strained my ears to listen to the sound clearly.

"I don't know what madness you have going on in your head, but I need to use the damned bathroom, Scarlett! Open this door or I'll break it!" Asher growled, rattling the door roughly.

Knowing that morning was here already, there was nothing he could do to me. With that in mind, I slowly got out of the bathtub, rubbing the numbness from the cold off my hands as I walked to the door. I unlocked it and Asher pushed me out of the way as he rushed to the toilet seat.

-Thankfully, I crashed safely against the door and not the tiled floors.

I grabbed a hold of myself and returned to the room, ignoring his groans. I quickly walked to the wardrobe and picked out a dress. I was in the process of wearing it when his strong grip roughly pulled me away into his chest.

"What do you think you are doing?" He growled, glaring down at me.

I only glared back at him, refusing to give him an answer- and that was my mistake. In a blink of an eye, he pushed me to the wall and held my throat, pressing down on my windpipe.

Panic seeped into me, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets as I took hold of his hands around my neck. "A- Asher!" I cried out but the evil grin on his face only grew larger.

"What did you think, you could insult me; keep away from me for the whole night and get away with it? Huh?"

"Asher- Please... You are- hurting me..." I winced as my lungs burned with lack of air.

Rather than reduce the pressure, Asher increased it. "You always make so much noise about being a Lycan Princess..." he whispered, and horror settled in the pit of my stomach as I feared what would come next.

"Now... let's see how strong you are, princess..."

He lifted me off the ground and squeezed even harder. I began to choke as my wolf fought violently to get even a single drop of air while our mate squeezed our life force out.

I didn't think he could do it. I thought this was just a punishment but as he raised me off the ground, I feared that Asher might have lost his mind. He was going to kill me.

"Asher- Please... stop-" I managed to wince out again, but he only cocked his head to the side, and I saw it in his eyes. I was going to die.

Dark circles started appearing in my vision as my life force started to trickle out of me but just when I thought this was the end, a sharp knock at the door jerked him back to his senses.

He dropped me to the ground instantly as if my neck had burned him. His eyes were wide with an emotion I couldn't define as I coughed and struggled to take in air.

"Scarlett? Asher?" The mumbled sounds came from the door and Asher released a frustrated sigh before walking towards it.

As soon as he unlocked the door, I recognized the voice as Nathan's.

"Scarlett- King Asher," he said, his voice clearly filled with confusion.

I knew that if he saw me on the floor, he was going to cause trouble, so despite the pain I felt, I pulled myself off the floor and moved away from the door.

"Did you need something, Nathan?" Asher asked him as the awkward silence went on.

"Oh, hmm- yes, the king called for a meeting concerning the attack yesterday and he wanted you and Scarlett to join us..."

"That's fine but the problem is, my mate and I planned on returning today...but we will surely try to attend the meeting. What happened was truly horrible..." Asher replied, and my eyes almost left their sockets as I glared at his back.

"Right, it was. I will send the guards to escort you once the bell rings... What about the princess?"

Asher turned his evil eyes at me before returning them to Nathan and with a smile in his voice, he said; "She is very sore from all the trouble I gave her last night... you can't even imagine..."

"Oh, I see..." Nathan trailed off and I could tell he wasn't convinced by that half-baked lie but in the end, there was nothing he could do. "I shall leave now."

"Sure." Asher mumbled and as soon as the door closed, he returned his focus to me. "You heard your brother's dog. We have a meeting to attend. Get ready and put on your best face."

"Nathan is not a dog," I hissed under my breath, glaring deeply at him, wishing my eyes would produce flames that could burn him.

Asher laughed. "Say whatever you want. That boy would always be a dog to Axelo." He walked into the bathroom, "Get ready before I step out."

I couldn't even cry. I just sniffled away the pain settling in my chest and slowly moved back to the wardrobe. My neck was sore, and I didn't even want to see what it looked like. I just wanted to get over with everything.

The dress I planned to wear turned out to have tiny hands that could expose the condition of my burning neck, so I picked something with a turtleneck and longer sleeves. I was in the middle of fixing my hair when Asher returned to the room.

"Not, bad... smart princess," he mocked as he dressed up too.

It was choking being in the room with him and thankfully the bell rang signalling the commencement of the meeting. Without waiting for him, I walked out of the room.

Surprisingly, the guards and Nathan were there, waiting for us. And finding out that I was leaving my mate with a frown wasn't a good sign.

Quickly, I wiped away the frown from my face and forced a smile; "Nathan... good morning."

He threw a glance at the closed door behind me and pulled me by the arm to a corner, away from the guards. "Scarlett, what is going on?" He threw his head back once more to check if anyone was coming, "Is he hurting you?"

My heart flipped and, in an instant, tears filled my eyes. I opened my mouth, but words failed me. How was I supposed to tell him the truth?

"Scarlett, I saw you on the floor this morning and it had nothing to do with sex... what is Asher doing to you? Tell me... please..." Nathan insisted.

"I- He is-"

"My love!" Asher's voice suddenly filled the corridor, and I quickly pursed my lips, wiping away my tears. His hand grabbed my free hand while Nathan held on to the other.

Nathan didn't speak but his eyes remained on me, from the aura hovering around him, I knew that one word from me and there was going to be trouble. He would disregard Asher's position and they were going to fight.

"A- aren't we late for the meeting?" I managed to let out through my teeth before pulling myself out of their hold and rushing towards the conference room.