Sold to the Alpha With Silver Eyes - Chapter 55: Chapter 55

*Dev*
Leoni and Topher terrorize the mind link, battering it with a ferocity that nearly distracts me from what I am doing. One thought of Eden out there with some asshole, though, is enough to set me straight. Hesitation wins out, only for a moment as I reach out through the mind link, allowing the two friends to break through.
–We will go for you–Topher’s voice rings out instantly and I smirk to myself. I expected no different from these two. Loyal until the end.
–Fuck that, we are coming with you–Leoni growls in next and I can’t help but bark out a laugh.
It will gut them when I leave. Crossing this line for me means I have broken a direct order and my crown must be set down.
–Serve the next king as best as you can. The only way I can leave this place and not feel regret is knowing you both will be here trying to help drive it in the right direction.--
There is no time for them to respond as I step over the pack line and renounce my hold on this pack. My chest physically aches, causing me to stumble and take a knee in order to better help me catch my breath.
The blood in my veins still bleeds the same, the weight of my name still withstanding the break. But the title that was rightfully mine…I can feel it flicker away and die inside me. The hope that I would lead after my uncle and finish what my father started faded away.
The second I am able to gather my thoughts, I force myself to stand and turn, heading into the woods in a jog. I slip both arms through my bag, knowing that traveling in lycan form would be a mistake. I would be able to catch up to her easier, but I need to be alert, more vigilant than sprinting in a random direction.
I need to be slower, methodical and observant if I want to find the direction I need to head in. Her scent is already gone, which means I need to start by investigating vegetation, and the best place to start is two miles to the west, where I spotted the fool who had been stalking her all along.
It doesn’t take me long to make my way there, finding the tree where a semi familiar scent hits my nose. It is faint, but there despite the time frame of their departure, meaning this person had been here for far too long. I press my lips together and curse under my breath, frustrated with myself.
I should have come out here when I knew she was being stalked. It was foolish to think they wouldn’t try to take her or even try to speak with her. Sure, I have reasons for why I didn’t check, but now they feel stupid and useless. This could have been completely avoidable.
The grass behind a large tree is matted down, worn out enough that the dirt is showing, and I can see where the perpetrator spent their time in wolf form. They do not smell of a rogue, more of a lost wolf, one who never denounced their pack but disappeared from it. A ghost, or perhaps a rebel. It doesn’t matter.
The more I search the area, the more apparent it is that they did nothing to hide which direction they went, unless it is a trick and they are trying to distract me. But that would mean he had the ability to not only have the forethought, but also have the strength to drag her away and try to cover their tracks.
No, this is not some smart trick. This is his desperation to escape with my most precious treasure. I squat down, stealing a blade of grass cut down by the body of the individual and close my eyes, letting my lycan take over the smell.
I can feel his power ripple through my back, making me shudder with excitement before a grin finds my lips and I jump off, running after the faint scent. Thank goodness there has been no rain to wash away what little scent lingers in the air for this asshole. It doesn’t take long for me, though, to catch a different scent that stops me in my tracks, my nose lifting to the sky as I try to determine which direction it has come from.
Orange blossoms dance across my nostrils, making my fingers twitch and my lycan whine. My brows knit together as I try to figure out why her scent would linger in the air now, not before…and lead me in a different direction.
I spin, looking around, trying to determine which way I should go, continue following the one who was stalking her, or drift off after the scent I know in my bones is her. My lycan knows which way he wants to go, but that doesn’t mean it is the wise decision.
There is a creak in the distance, a breaking of a thick branch and I freeze, dropping into attack mode as I zero in on the sound. I turn my ears toward it, focusing on sounds only when I hear a faint cracking again, food steps, creeping away from the branch but hitting foliage on the way through it.
“Shit,” I whisper to myself, deciding to go with my gut and lycan as I turn to the left and sprint away.
I rub up against the trees as I move past, making sure that whoever is in the woods can find me after I lay my trap. If it is Leoni or Topher, they won’t be sneaking after me. Which means either the enemy left someone to wait for me or my uncle sent someone after me.
Both of which means I want to be on top of them, not the other way around. I travel heavy footed, stomping down with each step, intentionally knocking more grass than I need to direct them toward me. Then I slink up a tree and move several trees away and up into the leaves, where they can’t see me easily.
And I wait.
Whoever they are, they move slowly but with intention. A large dark cloak floating behind the head shielded in a hood. They move unnaturally. Like a being floating among the earth, just hovering over the ground and never touching.
My interest is piqued. My lycan, however, grows annoyed with their fluid movements, jealous of their elegance. They move on, passing us, their covered head swinging side to side. I wonder if they can scent me or not, so I wait for them to pass me for more than half an hour and then I make my way down and stalk them at a distance.
It’s not until Eden’s scent grows stronger that I find a small area, grass pressed down in two areas and a tiny spot where heat had singed away any sight of nature.
This has to be where they stayed, at least for a small time. When I look over to my left, I see the figure in the hood standing with its back to me and I move toward it, my hands at my side and ready for a fight should I need to defend myself.
“Why are you following me?” I ask, watching as its shoulders jump and it whips around.
“You shouldn’t have left the pack.” Nate’s voice surprises me as he reaches up and pushes his hood away.
“Me?” I snort, laughing at him, relief surging through me as my shoulders drop and I look at him. “You are the future king. Why are you the one chasing after me?”
Nate frowns and drags his hand down his face. The first time in a long time I see conflict in his eyes. He looks wracked with guilt as he glances away and drops to the ground, gracefully taking a seat.
“I don’t want to be the fucking king.” He mutters, “Everything is a mess now. I knew you shouldn’t have gone on the last mission. I should have stopped you.”
I blink at him, knowing now he has two sides to him, one I have never seen before the dungeon the night I killed Paxton. Is this another facade? A way to lull me into a false sense of calm and then pounce or try to lure me somewhere with the ‘you know me’ shit.
“It is done, and you need to go back. I have already renounced the pack, given up my claim on the throne.” I tell him and he growls in his chest.
“You are a fucking fool, Dev.” He hisses at me, shaking his head. “For being so wise and set up to be a leader, you miss so much that you should see.”
“You mean how you have multiple personalities?” I ask, arching a brow. “I heard you with Paxton in the dungeon, Nate. So forgive me if I don’t trust a fucking thing you say.”
He looks exhausted, leaning back on the palms of his hands and dropping his head back as he inhales. He doesn’t say anything, only the bugs and owls speaking in the silence between us.
“There are things you will never understand.” He whispers before he stands and dusts himself off. “Why we were never close, or why I can never be the King.”
“We were never close because you are a spoiled, pompous asshole who loves the title of prince but loathes the responsibility that comes with it.” I bite out at him and his eyes grow wild.
“You saw what you were supposed to see, you know nothing. I protected you!” He roars.
“Me? You protected me. From what?” I scoff, walking over and shoving him roughly.
“From what?”
“From me!” He screams, his voice morphing into something feral and dark before he shifts, his lycan growing, bones creaking and breaking as I watch him become something I have never seen. His eyes are red and raw looking, his nails dripping with his own blood as he snorts and steps into me.
I have seen his lycan before, but not like this, not anything near this rabid or angry. When I look up at him, meeting his eyes, I can see that he fights for control but there is no winning for him, he is locked out, his lycan winning and I wonder…how the hell did this happen?
He swipes out his claw, catching me off guard as he hits me directly in the side. My ribs crunch against his strength, the air wheezing from me as I fly to the side and force myself to jump up quickly.
I don’t have time to even process what the hell is going on, how we went from a somewhat civil conversation to this, but I throw my bag aside and shift. Catching the next attempt at a hit with my massive clawed hand.
He rears back, trying to break free, his legs flying up as he hits me square in the chest, sending me flying into a tree. Nate is lost. Any semblance of the happy, goofy cousin replaced by the cold urge to annihilate me.
He lunches forward, teeth barred, searching for any flesh he can find as I roll away and jump on his back. My claws swipe at his side, bones crunching under the weight of each hit, but he doesn’t even flinch or cry out in pain. Instead, he grabs my arm across his neck and lifts it to his mouth, taking a massive bite.
I wince, trying to yank free, but he tears away, taking a chunk of me with him as I stumble back. My lips curl in rage and my lycan forces me out, no longer allowing me to be in control of actions as I am forced to watch as we tear into Nate’s shoulder and return the favor of flesh being ripped away bit by bit.
Each strike or bit is met with another, the fight toe to toe as I struggle to keep my lycan from striking deadly blows. It isn’t until I howl out in pain, my femur snapping clean into as I yank his arm out of socket that my lycan relinquishes the fight and all the pain to me.
I have nothing left, no control or strength as I shift into my human form, looking over to see Nate has done the same, his eyes wide as he gasps for air and I fall to the side, meeting his gaze. Neither of us can find the resolve to speak, only breath and try to focus on remaining alive after the most bizarre attack I have ever experienced.
I can feel the rate at which my blow leaves my body, each second getting colder and colder, each wound hurting less and I grow tired, unable to keep my eyes open any longer before I pass out, still trying to understand the chaos that just happened and by whose hands it was dealt.