"He did what?" Alexander's father said enraged.
"He went to Insofar." said Aren, kind of scared of the Alpha's anger right now. Before coming in, Aren and Christian debated on who would tell him the news. The news of his son running off to be the heroine of the story. His father was in no way pleased.
"For what exactly?" That vein that usually pops out of his forehead when he's angry is now on display for the whole room to see.
Christian let's out a huge gulp and continues talking, "To get Quinneth back, she-." He suddenly pauses, scared to go on.
"Continue on Christian, I'm not mad at you, but my son."
Once he feels comfortable Christian continues on, "Quinneth gave herself over to Yount, and Alexander wanted to bring her back before she makes a mistake. In the process, he got taken by the guards."
"Ladies and gentlemen, my son, the hero. Henry, what should we do?" Henry, the beta of the pack stands up. He's the only one that is never scared of the Alpha, no matter how angry or loud he gets. This is something he did not pass on to Christian.
"This is a serious situation; Alexander is your only child and the only heir to this pack. This rescue is very important, I say we devise a plan before entering into Insofar." Aren and Christian were both enraged from this.
"Devise a plan? We can't just sit on our laurels around a map creating a plan. We need to move in now, take charge now." This is the loudest Christian has been this night, he wasn't afraid at all to stand up to his father. Alexander was his best friend from birth, they had been through everything together. From shifting into wolves, school and mates. There was no way he was going to wait around for a plan, and neither was Aren.
"We WILL devise a plan. I'm the Beta, and in charge of kidnapping situations when you have the title then you can make decisions since you don't sit down pup."
"I agree with your father Christian." says Charles, the Gamma. "You and my daughter storming into Insofar with Alexander was obviously a bad idea, something we will not be repeating the 2nd time around." He looks towards his daughter, a disappointing look on his face. Aren was always his favorite child. Arpa left before he could really have a close relationship with her, and Aora was more interesting in makeup and boys than learning fighting and strategy, but not Aren.
Aren was tough and strong. She never backed down from a challenge, and always was looking for way to prove herself. He loved his three daughters equally, but Aren is the one he got along well with. The one thing he always taught her was to have a plan. She could have gotten herself killed, and he would have been heartbroken.
"I- I'm sorry Ba." Aren said quietly to her father on the side.
"Deshka, I'm disappointed in you. I'm equally disappointed in you, Christian and Alexander. You could have been killed, then what?" She could see the hurt in this eye, the way she has pained her father.
"I know, but I had to help Alexander, it's what friends do for each other. He would have done the same for me if it was my mate."
All he does is pull his second daughter in a hug, and rubs her head. Aren hesitantly wraps her arms around him, he rarely hugs her it's never something they do. Their relationship is more serious rather than emotional.
"Don't ever do anything like that again, if you died my title would be left to Aora. Can you imagine Keaorah being a gamma?" Honestly, Aren couldn't. She loves her sister, so very much, but her sister would be the worst gamma on the planet. She loathes fighting and strategy, unlike her though. Originally, the position was supposed to go to the eldest, which is her sister Harper.
Harper, aka Arpa, got married to her mate, the Royal Beta to the King. Aren wasn't the least disappointed, she'd always wanted to be the gamma, she felt her sisters never deserved the title. Not that she wouldn't have been a good gamma, but because she didn't take the job serious enough.
"I won't Ba, I promise." She gives him a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Let's get back to the group." Once they walk back over, they see all the others surrounding a map, each department talks to each other figuring out how they will help each other.
"We should call on our neighbors. Alpha Nyxus and the Dark moon pack." Aren tells the group, her father gives her a sweet smile.
"Great idea Aren!" Henry says to her. The confidence she once lacked is now coming back to her.
As hours go on, and people come in and out the room, they finally come up with a plan.
Alexander's P.O.V.-
After a few tries of yelling to someone to let me out of his batting cage, I slump against the wall in defeat. It's been four hours since I've been in here and I can't take it anymore. What is going on out there? What are they going to do to me? How is Quinn coping with all of this, and did Aren and Christian get away?
The prison look similar to the ones we have at the pack. Cement floors with cracks, a hard bed and rusty jail bars. Mines is near the far wall, it's just me and a few others. Being in here is quite depressing, so I think to other matters.
I remember Quinneth's arms clutching onto me, her lips still linger on mine, even if it was four hours ago. The thought of her maybe being in trouble and me being off limits to help her makes me feel. . .weak. I'm her mate, the one that's supposed to protect her and I'm trapped in this dog cage. Now, it's her trying to save me that's why she came here. There's always some way to change fate, we could have been able to change it if she gave me the time.
While in here, I've been trying to contact her, anyone for that matter. Since I'm out of range, I can't get into the pack's channels. Also, I've tried to channel Quinn, send her some type of message but I'm rather weak. Also, if the person you're trying to contact has a lot on their mind, it's hard to get something through. I'm trapped down here, she might be overthinking, which she does all the time.
My mind wonders to my two bestfriends. Did they get away? Did they deliver my message? They are the toughest people I know, but Insofar guards are tougher. What if the sons and daughters so Sylo was sent out their to take control? That could of been the last time I saw my bestfriends, ever.
I suddenly hear the old, rustic door opens up. In walks a small girl, she looks all of 15. In her hand she's rolling down a cart, it's got food trays on it. Thank God, it's been hours since I've been able to eat something. As she gives the prisoners their trays, she comes over to me. She takes the tray from the cart and slides it over to me. She stays down to the ground a little longer than she did with the other prisoners.
"Try the meat loaf, it's rather good today." says the girl. She stressed the word meatloaf; I didn't know exactly what she meant until she left. They didn't give me any silverware, since they think, we might try to kill them, or ourselves.
Eating the, rather good, meatloaf I sense something weird in my mouth. Taking the weird item out, I see that it's a rolled-up paper. A message.
Opening it up, I notice that it's Quinneth's handwriting. Looking up, I see the girl give me a warm smile and walk out the door.
Alexander,
I hope you got this message; I just want to tell you that I love you and I'm alright. I'm sure you're a bit angry with me for leaving you, but I had to. When Yount killed Irene, he threatened my grandpa and you. I don't want to do this, trust me, but I can't let innocent people die because of what I am. Just. . .stay hopeful and alive. Don't try to be the hero.
Sincerely, your mate.
I don't have enough time to digest the letter because in walks the last two people on this planet I would rather see. Yount and his wife, Stella.
"What do you guys want?" I really don't feel like seeing them, or talking to them.
"My wife and I just wanted to see if you were accommodating. We try so much to take care of our. . .prisoners." I take in his person. He's wearing a thick turtle neck sweater and some black jeans. Next to him is Stella, she's wearing a long dress with her hair gliding down her back.
"Your wife? Aren't you still married to Tura, the Queen?" Stella leaves Yount leaning against the wall and walks closer to my cage.
"You will show me some respect, don't think I won't kill you, your useless to us." I can see the fury in her eyes.
"Sorry. . .wouldn't want to make the concubine angry." That was the last straw, she opens up the cell and punches me square in the face. Blood starts to form in my mouth, I spit it out on the dirty cement ground, it can take it.
"I should kill you for what you did to my Sashi. Maybe after were done with your mate, we'll gut her like a fish and hang her up for the whole world to see." She's close to my face, you can talk about me, I don't mind. But the moment she mentioned Quinneth, that's off limits. You don't EVER talk ill about an Alpha's mate.
My hands clutch around her neck, she chokes under my strong grip. "Don't EVER put her name in your mouth, I'll ring your neck." Before I could choke the life out of her, the King rips her away of me. He smacks me across the face, guess I'm the piñata of the day.
"Watch yourself son." He readjusts his shirt, then locks the cell. "I can see where your mate gets her gumption from. Let me tell you something, Quinneth will do her duty and wake up The First power. If you, or your pack, tries to stop her I'll kill you all. I'm not like my brothers; I don't show mercy on anyone."
"Aren't you showing me mercy for choking your wife?"
He ignores me. "Don't try and be the hero, Alexander." They walk away, not without Stella giving me another evil eye.
Quinneths P.O.V-
My fingers tap against my thighs as I pace the room back and forth. The fire in the fireplace glows heavenly around the room. Shining brightly on the rich gold bed and golden chairs. This room looks like it was designed by someone from the Victorian era.
My servant, Lia, whom I don't like calling my servant, snuck a letter down to the prisons to give to Alexander. It was a risky mission, Lia told me so. I needed Alexander to know that I was ok, and don't try to do anything rash. I don't want to see him dead, his body being on display for everyone to see.
Lia was frightened at first to do my dirty business, but once I talked her into it, she caved. She stuffed the note inside of the meatloaf, I saw her do it. Once she left the room, I started pacing around, anxious to hear of the news. Did she get in trouble? Is she dead? Are they on their way here to punish me?
Behind me I hear my bedroom door open. Wow, MY bedroom door am I getting too comfortable here? In walks Lia, from her demeaner she's pretty afraid. Quickly, she shuts the door and walks over to me.
"Did you- did you get the message in the prison?" I find my hands holding onto hers, looking all over her face for a hint of triumph.
"I did." My heart jumps in my chest.
"Did you see him read it." That's when her face starts to falter, oh god.
"I- I gave him the tray, and stressed the word meatloaf so he'll get the hint. Before I left out, I saw him give me a smile. I don't know if it indicated that he read the message or not." My hands let go of hers.
"Why didn't you wait! Wait until you knew he read the message!" I see her body start to cower at me raising my voice. I didn't mean to yell at her, but I need to know for sure that he read the message.
"I couldn't, the King and Stella were coming in the prison. If I was standing around, they would have seen something was the matter." My mind drifts away from the message to Yount and Stella. What were they doing down there? Probably to get information out of Alexander, or to hurt him. He did kill some of their pack members, and the heir to the Insofar Kingdom.
"Did you hear what they said to Alexander?"
"When I was down the hall, I heard yelling and groaning." That is not good. And I can't channel Alexander, guess it was a one-time thing. So much is swarming in my mind that I can't focus. I wish he would have just stayed away and let me do this, but no, he had to go and be the hero.
I find my body becoming weak, with seeing this, Lia helped me sit down on the chest in front of the bed.
"Are you alright? Do you need some water?" Her eyes fill with worry. I'm surprised she wants to help me; I did just yell at her no more than 2 minutes ago. I don't deserve kindness from her, kindness from no one at all.
"I'm fine. . .thank you. I just want to be alone." She gives me a warm and walks towards the door. Before she's out the door, I call her back.
"Lia?" She looks back at me.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
The Next Day. . .
"Listen carefully, the spell is, "pepeo u pepeo prah u prah uskrsni moje sestre ovim žrtvama koje moraš". Piper says to me.
Currently we are in the big ballroom rehearsing the spell. Piper is helping me say the words correctly. The spell to resurrect them is an ancient Bosnian spell made by them, for them. The only person in the world that can activate the spell is me, the magic for this spell is special, which I have. The words are all weird looking, and the spelling of the words make no sense.
I try my best to recite the words just as she said them, but they came out all butchered. "Pepo u pepo pah u pah uresnsky mobe sestri ove zrathrum koje mores." I look over to Piper, her hands droop down to the ground. I huff out in anger.
"Maybe you got the wrong person, I can't pronounce any of this. Can't I just say it in English?"
"No, you cannot say it in English, and you need to get this and get it fast!" Her voice spills with urgency. "Now, let's go again."
"I can't Piper, it's too difficult." I walk away from the podium and sit on the stairs. We've been at this for 2 hours now, and to no avail. In a couple of days, we'll be doing the spell, and I'm afraid I'm going to fail.
"Never took you for a failure." She smirks at me.
"I'm not a failure, just realistic."
Next to me I see Piper sitting down. I see something on her face that I've never seen before, sincerity.
"Look Quinn, you need to do this and do it right. The King has been waiting years to find a Zastitnik, desperately. A couple year ago he actually found one, but it didn't go to plan. Now he has you." She leans closer to me; I can smell the strawberry scent in her ginger hair. "He's like Sasha, they won't hesitate to kill you. He WILL kill Alexander; he WILL kill your grandfather and that red-head friend of yours. Do this, and you'll be scot free."
Is it just me or is this a different Piper? A Piper who is trying to warn me of the dangers of messing this up, the dangers that the people I love could face. From the couple of weeks that I've known her she's been cold and reserved. It's always her doing her duty.
There's a change in her, a softer side to her. When in the car a couple days ago, I wondered why she was the way she was. That there was no hope for her, but I guess there is.
"It's just- with Alexander being in god knows what condition, it's hard for me to focus."
"He's fine." I look her over, how does she know that? "I've heard through the vines that he was alive and is mustering through. It was said that he was a little beat up." Beat up?
"Who hurt him?" My blood starts to boil. The thought of someone hurting him made me want to hurt someone else.
"Stella and the King. He got on their bad side." Sounds like Alexander, at least he isn't trying to be the hero.
"Oh, Alexander." Is all I said about the matter.
"Now that you know he's alright. Are you ready to get back to it?" I give her a nod.
"Ok, let's start from the top." Reading the spell in my head I can't even get past the first word. It's spelled out in the book p-e-p-e-o. I don't know if it's pronounced 'pepo' or 'pepeu'. "How do you say the first word.
"It's like pepe but add an o on the end."
"Ok, pepeo u pepeo prah u prah." She smiles at me, letting me know I got it right. "Yay, what does all this mean anyways?"
She shrugs her shoulders, "No idea."
"Don't you speak Bosnian? How do you not know what it means?"
"This is old Bosnian, it hasn't been used in over 300 years. The language has developed over the centuries. It's something about ashes and dust, and I think sacrifice but that's it."
"Sacrifice?"
"Look, I'm not so sure it's not my first language. Don't worry about what the words mean, just make sure you know how to say it."
We continue on for another hour. I get the first part of the spell correct, but the word 'žrtvama' is what I'm having a hard time saying. But Piper said we could come back before nightfall to continue on.
As we walk down the hall back to my room, I spark up a conversation with her. When she was nice me in the room, it made me feel that I could ask her questions without her feeling like she was going to hit me.
"Umm in the room back there you said there used to be another Zastitnik and something went wrong. What happened?"
We turn a corner, her hands cradle inside of her jacket pocket. "A couple of years ago, there were whispers of a Zastitnik living in Australia. The King took it as what it was. . .whispers and rumors. Until someone brought the girl to him, and showed she indeed was a Zastitnik. He was elated, they got the girl ready for the ritual, and then the spell failed."
"What happened?"
"In order for the spell to work the Zastitnik needs to be pure." Pure?
"Pure like they don't do bad things and have a clear conscience?" She looks at me like I'm a child, the look of how innocent you must be.
"No. Pure like you have to be a virgin to do the spell, and also pure of heart."
"A virgin? Nobody asked if I was one, how did you guys know?"
"We can tell, your jittery and Alexander seems like the type of guy that would wait until you guys wedding night." She isn't wrong, a couple days ago we had a conversation about that, about when the first time for us would be.
He wanted to wait until we were married, mostly because when we did it, he would have to mark me. Letting everyone know that I was his mate and he said our bond would be stronger. Also, since he's marking me, I need to me mentally ready for it. Once I'm marked, they is no turning back, the mark cannot be undone. He wants to make sure that I definitely want to be with him forever, which I do.
"So, I'm the perfect candidate then."
"You are."
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