Chapter 57
The lycan grew anxious. They smelled my mom’s blood and started to move closer. Zane probably kept them hungry all the time, only allowing them to eat just enough to stay alive. That way, when he ordered them to hunt they would do so willingly.
“Where are the Adlet?” Zane asked in a demanding tone. “Don’t lie or I’ll finish slitting her throat, and feed her to them.” He pointed to the lycan.
My mom whimpered quietly. The painful look on her face was tearing my heart out, but the truth was I didn’t know where any of them were.
I could see movement out of the corner of my eye. William was inching his way closer to Zane. My eyes never wavered from Zane’s or he would have seen me look away and known something was up.
“Don’t tell him anything, Gen,” my mom shouted, then winced when he pressed harder on the knife.
“Stop! Leave her alone and I’ll tell you,” I lied.
Zane ran his fingers through my mom’s blood, then released her. He straightened up and glanced in my direction while licking the blood off of each finger, savoring every drop. “Mmm...,” he said. “Delicious.” He had purposely done that to keep the lycan riled up just in case he needed them to attack in a hurry. “I’m waiting, Genevieve, and you’ll find I am not a patient man,” he said, ominously.
“I don’t know where Joshua and James are, but Luna and Joseph each went in different tunnels and never came back.” It wasn’t a complete lie. The truth was I had no idea where they were. I actually thought they had been captured when they didn’t catch up.
Zane grew increasingly angry. “Do you think this is a game?”
“I swear I don’t know where they are.” My heart ached and I felt defeated when I heard my mom crying. “Please…just let my mom and aunt go free and I’ll do whatever you want,” I pleaded.
My mom was screaming in the background, begging him not to hurt me, but he wasn’t listening.
A series of intense growls followed by thunderous footsteps streamed from inside the tunnel. It caught everyone off guard, including me, when Luna, Joseph, and the twins exploded out of the tunnel.
The lycan snapped their heads toward Luna and her brothers. My heart rose excitedly, but quickly fell when I saw the look on Zane’s face. He wasn’t surprised at all. He must have known they were close, but how?
I just wanted to get my mom and aunt away from him, so I could kill him. I glanced at William and he smiled warmly at me. It was at that exact moment I knew for sure everything he had told me earlier was the truth. Even though we were still in danger I couldn’t help but feel happy when I thought about William.
“Let my mom and my aunt go, and I’ll let you walk out of here. You have my word,” I said, ready to attack. William had managed to get behind Zane without being noticed and was just about to reach my mom.
“Zane! Look out behind you!”
My head snapped to where the words of betrayal had came from. My chest tightened, and I couldn’t breathe. Nausea spread through me and I wanted to puke.
I peered at my mom and my heart ached seeing the look on her face. She stared at her sister and her eyes were filled with shocked and hurt tears. I glanced over at William. His jaw had dropped and he was shaking his head in disbelief.
“Aunt Bev, what are you doing?” I asked bewildered. “William was trying to save my mom, not hurt her.”
“I know exactly what William was about to do. I tried to tell Zane that William was playing him for a fool, but he wouldn’t listen. We’ve worked too long and too hard to lose it all now.” Aunt Bev walked over and stood next to Zane, looping her arm through his, and he leaned down and kissed her passionately. “Zane will kill you and marry Camilla. Then he will rule the throne.”
“You’re willing to lose everything so Zane can be with my mom?” I still couldn’t wrap my head around what Aunt Bev thought she was going to accomplish by helping that monster to marry my mom.
“You foolish little girl. After they marry-”
Zane cut her off. “Quiet, Beverly,” He snapped. “Don’t tell her anything.”
She narrowed her eyes at Zane. “She thinks this world revolves around her. Well, I want her to know everything before we kill her,” she shouted at him never taking her eyes off of me. “As I was saying, after he marries Camilla and accepts the throne as King, your mother will have an accident, leaving me to rule alongside the man I love.”
I eyed her severely for a moment, then I remembered what I had read in the old book I found inside the piano bench, and I burst out laughing. “You stupid bitch,” I said ominously. “You can never rule with him. She is blood he isn’t. if anything happened to her he would lose all rights to the throne.”
Bev furrowed her brows. “You’re lying!” She shouted, then turned to Zane. “She’s lying isn’t she?”
Zane didn’t even look at her. He just stared at me with narrow eyes, like he was wondering how I knew, and then he flashed an evil smile.
“You should have read the book before stashing it inside your piano bench, and then you would know. It’s all there in black and white,” I said disdainfully.
When Zane didn’t refute it, she started to cry and became angry. “You lied to me? What about us? What about our plans to travel abroad…see the world?” She waited for him to say something, but he just shoved her away. “You bastard,” she screamed and slapped him hard across the face. “I hope you rot in hell,” she spat.
I saw his knife blade glint in the light, but by then it was too late. He quickly brought the blade down, stabbing her in the stomach, and shoving her to the floor with the heel of his boot.
I was in shock and couldn’t see or hear anything around me. I just stared at my aunt lying on the dirt floor bleeding to death. Zane moved in front of me wielding his knife in the air. I knew he was going to stab me next but I still couldn’t move. William grabbed him from behind, slinging him clear across the room.
“Genevieve!” William shouted at me, and I slowly turned to face him. “I love you,” he said warmly, and I started to come back to my senses when I heard a thunderous noise booming from behind me and turned toward the tunnel.
I nearly freaked when the biggest most beautiful silver furred Adlet I’d ever seen came thundering from inside the tunnel. It stood at least a foot taller than Luna and the boys, and had deep red eyes that reminded me of the color of blood. It was the leader of the Adlet warriors. It was…chief Okpik.
Zane’s eyes widened and his face paled a little when he saw him. He hurried to his feet when the lycan seemed to cower in the Chief’s presence. Zane had to command them repeatedly to attack.
I was momentarily awestruck watching the chief in action, the way he was tearing through three and four lycan at one time…and winning. Luna and her brothers also fought more aggressively. I figured it was because he was there and they wanted to make him proud.
The lycan were extremely malnourished and weak, but they greatly outnumbered us. Some of them were so puny, their necks broke easily. Joshua and James guarded the tunnel’s entrance to keep more lycan from getting through.
I thought that Aunt Bev was dead until I saw her move. A lycan also spotted her and had started easing his way over to her. I saw it lunge and grabbed its tail, yanking it backward just before it ripped her face. I grabbed it around the throat and snapped its neck, then tore its head off.
“Gen…help your mom,” Aunt Bev stammered as her eyes slowly closed. I heard her heart beat grow very faint and knew she was fading. Even after everything she had said and done I still loved her enough that I didn’t want her to die before we could get her some help.
When I looked around for my mom she wasn’t there and Zane had vanished, too. I scanned the room frantically, but I couldn’t find neither one of them. I suddenly remembered when I had seen the bookcase earlier it was cracked open. How did I miss that?
I didn’t want William to know I was going after Zane. I looked around the room, not even Luna needed help
, and the lycan had already started retreating, at least the ones that were lucky enough to get past Joshua and James.
I eased over to the bookcase and pushed. It was on a spring lever and popped open when I released it. I scanned the room and found William eyeing me. He would just have to forgive me for lying. “William! Luna needs your help,” I shouted the lie pointing behind him. As soon as he turned away, I bolted, quickly disappearing through the hidden door.