Chapter 107

Chapter 107

My magic felt as though it were straining to re-emerge within my flesh; the aftermath of my abilities left me feeling frightfully foreign. I was familiar with weakness, but this was not it. My skin burned like ice and fire, my bones felt like lead trekking through mud, and there was a high-pitched screeching in my ears that permeated every secret part of me.

Despite my struggle and weak legs from mistreatment, Morgan persisted in dragging me through the pack house. However, the more I was hauled within the facility, the more I realized there were more serious issues at hand.

The pack house was deadly quiet, and as I searched for any signs of life, the hollowness of it sent shivers down my spine. But it was empty. The emptiness of the room tore at me as I staggered behind the beta, his rage and anguish reflected in his unwavering gait and contributing to the somber aroma that enveloped the now-desolate location.

I was hardly paying attention when Morgan arrived at his destination, pushing open a set of thick oak doors and shoving me into a room that was significantly bigger than the cell I had been living in for the previous week.

It was essentially an assembly room, with the exception of the chandeliers that fell from the ceiling and the alcove at the head of the room that held two ornate seats on a raised platform.

It was all so apparent to me that my heart skipped a beat.

I had spent weeks coming and going from this pack home at my leisure, and I had mostly gotten to know the area by the locations he led me. I was positive that we were in the throne chamber, even though he hadn't brought me here before.

The one and only reason I had been sent here was because of one thing.

"Where is everyone?" I turned around to face the beta once more in the room, asking, "Where is everyone?" I was half expecting my mate to be sitting in front of me now, staring down at me and pressuring me into making a decision so that everyone could move on as soon as possible. Instead, silence greeted me.

Morgan silently studied me, keeping a tight eye on me.

I could only speculate as to what was going through his mind; he had stated plainly in my cell earlier that he hated me, yet the man who put strategy and logic above all else seemed perplexed by the nonsensical manner in which I was acting.

I was not using my magic to counter his raw force, even though it completely outclassed it. His wrath and conflict were visible to me in his stare. Despite his hostility, I detested the way Morgan stared at me, fully aware that on the day the truth was revealed, I had both saved and completely destroyed his pack.

"I didn't intend to—

Before I could say anything more, Vera stormed into the room.

Vera sat down next to me, her head held high against the burly beta she had grown to know. "The only way I'm leaving her side again is if you knock me the fuck out, and I don't think you have the capabilities," she declared.

Her hand closed around my forearm as the beta male snarled at her blatant disregard, indicating that her remarks were deliberate. I met Morgan's eyes again, and he was still staring down at me. His jaw clinched so tightly that I thought the bone could break.

Two fighters moved on either side of him a short while thereafter.

Morgan yelled, "Don't let them out of your sight," as the doors slammed behind him.

The warriors stared down at the two of us, their massive figures protecting the only way out. They did not move. I was the Alpha King's enemy now, not his mate, and they would not hesitate to harm me if I did anything they disapproved of.

I let my eyes drop down to the floor and inhaled deeply.

It was a cage once more, but at least I had company this time.

When I did not try to speak, Vera stepped closer to the warriors, reflecting their stern expressions.

"It's convenient that he locked us in a room without any windows, don't you think?" She turned to face me, telling me about the previous time I had escaped their ruler without even trying to hide her wicked intentions. "Do you believe that your magical abilities could get us out of here?" Even with her knight in shining armor, I knew she meant well by her remarks, but I also realized that the fear that flickered in the experienced warrior's eyes was unfounded.

It was precisely when I felt like a fraud in my own skin that I didn't want people to be terrified of me.

"I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I need to see this through to the end," I muttered as the bitter expression left her eyes.

"To what end?" Vera spoke angrily. "To the end that will have me watch him as he kills you, to the end that will have me crying over your dead body?" My stomach turned over from the sorrow in her words, and I was unable to look at her because I knew that what she was saying would be true.

All of this was only a matter of time.

"If that is what he wants, then I will not fight him on it."

I winced as she took a stride in my direction. My body had returned to its distrusting ways, even though I knew she wouldn't hurt me. The preceding several days had brought up old traumas and old reflexes.

"Kylie, you shouldn't have to suffer because of your mother's transgressions. I gave her a headshake.

"I betrayed, tricked, and lied to him. This is the only solution I can think of to make up for all the ways I've wronged him." I understood that, even though my voice broke and I felt like he was losing interest in me.

My mother harmed me, but not all parents try to ruin their kids.

If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that it was impossible to love someone who had destroyed your life, and I had damaged Derrick's in too many ways to name. Derrick was grieving, mourning them, and lamenting the loss of love that resulted from our mate bond.

"You've lied to me too; you deceived me for almost a decade—you've barely known each other for a month, which doesn't give him the right to act the way that he is." Although she was correct, their situations weren't the same. First and foremost, I'd never done anything to hurt her either. Her parents had perished in a strange accident, but I knew that she wouldn't treat me with the same decency that she was treating me with now if I had informed her that their deaths were my responsibility.

"I will not be leaving, Vera. You cannot separate me from my destiny or my position in it." She gave a frustrated huff and raised her hands in the air before turning to walk across the room.