Chapter 41: Chapter 41

[Lucien’s POV]

It was evening, and the sun had begun to set, slowly making the once blue sky turn red. The people were still at the Palace of their Alpha. As for me, I was walking through the empty streets of the Crescent Pack when something caught my attention.

I walked towards it, and gave a small smirk. Tyler Jefferson had implemented his words already. It was a notice instructing members of the Pack to report either Celeste or I or even both of us if they came across us. According to the notice, we were great enemies of the Pack and the reward for reporting us was 500 pieces of silver, and the punishment for being associated with either of us was death.

I was surprised that he had remembered my face and Celeste’s face very well for him to be able to give a detailed description of us to his painters as sketches of both of us had been placed next to the notice.

“Are you Lucien O’Hara by any chance?” a husky voice asked.

I looked beside me, and that was when I saw the guard, Ryle, who I had compelled just two or three days ago.

“Yes, I am,” I replied.

“Wow. These sketches don’t do any justice to you,” he commented.

“I agree with you. So, what’s next? Are you going to report me to your Alpha King?” I inquired.

“Why should I? An enemy of Alpha Tyler is a friend of mine. He has wrecked havoc for several years in the Crescent Pack, and for all I know, you might have not even done anything to him. Perhaps, he wants to find you and kill you because he’s taller than you or for some other irrelevant reason,” he said with a shrug.

I chuckled. “You’re a funny one,” I said.

“I know this is probably the first time we’re meeting, but why do I feel like I’ve heard you say that to me before?” he asked.

I just smiled, then looked directly into his eyes. “Remember me, Ryle Clarkson,” I said to him, and just like that, his head snapped and the memory that had been taken away from him was restored permanently.

“Wait… you’re… you’re the one who told me the Luna had been kidnapped, and somehow, I started believing that I saved her life. Wait, does this mean it was all a lie and I lied to the Alpha King? What if he finds out? My family and I are doomed,” he said, as he started panicking.

“He already found out, Ryle,” I said.

“What? He… he found out?” Ryle asked, as his shoulders drooped.

“Yes, he did. He has ordered the execution of your family members, and as for Nivera, she didn’t get to be the Luna. He killed her without hesitating,” I explained, with a straight face.

“No, that can’t be true. I need to get back to the Palace. He can kill me, but let him spare my family members. They’ve done nothing wrong to him. I was deceived, they shouldn’t take the fall for something that was clearly not their fault,” he said, as tears clouded his vision.

“Do you think the Alpha doesn’t know that?” Celeste asked from behind us all of a sudden.

We both turned, and even in that crucial moment, I could see the sparks fly once his eyes met hers, and even though it was the wrong time to do so, a smile tugged at my lips.

“Who… who are you?” he asked, once he got a hold of himself again.

“She’s my friend,” I responded.

“You shouldn’t waste your precious time in begging the Alpha King, Ryle. You should rather focus on trying to save your own life,” Celeste told him.

“No, my family… if I don’t go now, they’ll all die. I have to try at least,” he said, and attempted to leave.

I dragged him back by the collar. “Hey, do you have a death wish or something?” I asked in a hostile voice.

“Let me go,” he yelled, slapping my hand away. He was red with anger and his jaw tightened. “This is all your fault… all your fault. If only you had not done whatever it is that you did to me, I wouldn’t have lied to the Alpha King and my family wouldn’t have had to die,” he yelled angrily.

“If I had not compelled you, you wouldn’t have found Nivera in the first place and your family would still have been put to death,” I retorted.

“No, that’s not true! I had a choice then. If I had died, my family would have lived, but now, they are all going to die because of you,” he screamed at me.

“Do you really think the Alpha would have spared the lives of your family members if you had chosen to die? Do you?” I yelled back at him.

He swallowed hard, and didn’t say anything.

I moved closer to him. “Look. I was only trying to help…”

He cut in. “And how well did that go? My mother, father and two siblings are going to lose their lives. How about the Omega? She’s dead, so what help did you grant us?” he retorted.

I looked up at the sky, and realised I shouldn’t still be there. “Celeste, take him with you and talk sense into him. Help him understand that I am not the enemy, Tyler Jefferson is,” I stated, and turned to leave.

“Where are you going to?” he inquired.

“You’ll see,” I said, and like a flash of lightning, I disappeared from his sight and teleported to the evil forest where Nivera’s corpse had been thrown.

It was easy to locate her corpse. All the jewelleries and fancy things she had had on were stripped from her and she hadn’t even been buried properly, but just left in the middle of the forest in an old tattered robe, waiting for the birds of the air to feast on her.

My blood boiled with anger and I clenched my fists tightly, wanting to avenge her death. For what he did to her, Alpha Tyler would surely pay, I vowed.

I then bent low a bit and touched her cheek. She was cold and her heart had ceased beating for several hours. I was scared… really scared. What if I had been wrong? What if she was indeed gone? What if I really needed to break down and start crying? What if I needed to wait for a millennium to see her lovely face again?

It was as though ages had passed, but there was still no sign of her awakening.

My hands began to tremble as they ran all over her body. “Nivera, Nivera. Are you gone for real or are you playing tricks on me?” I was beginning to get really afraid.

My heart thumped loudly, and night had already fallen upon us. I began to shake her body aggressively. What was the problem? Was she having difficulty being revived because she was an Omega or something? I didn’t get it. By that time, she should have already been awake.

“Nivera, wake up, please,” I said as tears began to fall from my eyes.

I had truly thought she would wake up, but it seemed to me that she was truly gone. When she had been attacked and nearly lost her life, I had fed her my blood and she had been revived. According to the way things ordinarily were, a werewolf who dies with a vampire’s blood in their system would be brought back to life as a hybrid. I had assumed that would happen and as a result, I had let down my guard, but now, I could see how wrong I was.

“Nivera, please,” I said faintly, as I began to sob loudly, still shaking her body, but there was no sign of life in her and her body only grew colder.

Like a maniac, I stood up, hurriedly wiping the tears from my face. “The whole of Crescent Pack will pay! No one would be left alive. They condemned the only woman I had ever loved and killed her. I would rain terror upon them!” I yelled. Then slowly, I looked back at her face. “I would come back to give you a proper burial once I am done with them,” I said, trying my best not to give in to tears.

I turned around to leave and execute my plan, when suddenly, I heard Nivera coughing behind me. I turned back to see her slowly sitting up and yawning loudly.

“Nivera,” I called.

She looked at me, and after several moments of unspoken words, she said, “Lucien.”

I ran back to her excitedly, and having crouched before her, I hugged her tightly in my arms.

Taking me by surprise, she pushed me away and started running her hands all over my body in a frantic search of something. She finally stopped when she got to my back pocket and quickly took out the juice box in it, but in actuality, it contained fresh blood.

She didn’t hesitate to tear it up and drink it all up immediately while panting hard. “This is the best thing I’ve ever had. I want more, Lucien. Give me more!” she demanded.

I fought back tears. It was the life Eloise had greatly feared; the life of being satisfied with the blood of others, and because of me, she would have to keep on living like this for the rest of eternity.

“Are you listening to me, Lucien? I want more,” she said, licking the last drop of blood she could find in the juice box. Her eyes and tongue were red, and her fangs sprouted as blood dripped from her mouth.

“Yeah, let’s go home. I’ll give you more,” I said, and when she smiled at me, it wasn’t the sweet cheerful smile she usually had on. It was the smile of a greedy bloodsucking demon who would do anything to just get its full satisfaction.

I had always loved her because she was so innocent and pure, and she balanced my dark and evil self which I hated showing. However, for the first time, I was terrified of her as I realised that she was no longer the woman I had spent four hundred years longing for, and from then onwards, I began to wonder if saving her life had actually been worth it.