He is the Bad Wolf

DO NOT MENTION HIS NAME

This morning Sia woke up feeling positively evil. When she went downstairs to the dining hall, most of the wolves stepped aside so she could pass, even though there was more than enough room in the hallways of the huge house. Most likely they felt the power bubbling up inside her, some shot her dismayed glances, others seemed to fear her but there was only a small handful that despite everything still looked at her as if she were a delicious piece of meat. She didn't bother going to line to get a tray and her breakfast, as soon as she saw Silver and Caden sitting at the usual table she stomped over and sat down by flopping down.

“Morning, sunshine!” Silver said with a flourish. He had half an apple in his mouth and even then, he somehow managed not to choke on it as he spoke. “You’re looking fresh and happy!”

Caden took a sip of his coffee looking at her over the rim of the mug. There was no food in front of him, he sometimes skipped breakfast because he claimed that he functioned perfectly fine with a cup of coffee a day and little food. Sia didn't know much about the wolves' diet, they most likely preferred meat. She preferred to kill all of them right now ... except this pair. “Are all wolves garbage? A waste of space on earth?” she spat unable to keep the venom from her voice. She was too angry, too bitter. Too much of everything. The thought of staying alive and seeing Gideon in her dreams made her nauseous. “Are there any decent wolves left?”

The two men shared a look and then focused on her. “Someone here do anything-say anything to you?” Caden asked, she didn't miss the slight threat that wove into each uttered word.

She shook her head no as she stole a piece of hash brown from Silver’s tray.

“By all means, Sabrina, do tell what’s bugging you.” Silver leaned in closer to her side.

“Who the hell is Sabrina?”

“Just spit it out!” Silver urged her elbowing her arm. "Who should I go and knock their teeth out for giving you a hard time?"

"Rather than knock his teeth out, Gideon should go through the same thing I went through five hundred years ago. How I loathe him." She muttered under her breath. Suddenly the entire dining room fell silent. The noise of the cutlery stopped; the wolves suddenly stopped talking. Sia dared to look around her and realized that all heads in the dining room turned in the direction of the table the trio was at.

Caden quickly got to his feet and took control of the strange situation that Sia's words had caused. "What are you all looking at? Who gave you permission to stick your nose where it doesn't belong?" He barked out. "If you don't want to end up in The Pit I advise you to go back to what you were doing." in the blink of an eye they all resumed their conversations as if nothing had happened. Powerful energy radiated from Caden, his posture evoking obedience and submission, perhaps just a hint of fear. The only one who didn't seem to be afraid of him was Silver, who didn't seem to be very happy either.

“You can’t speak of him so carefree.” Silver growled as Caden walked around the table and stopped behind her, she felt his fingers curl over her shoulders provoking a shiver to run up her spine. “He’s the Voldemort of our kind.”

“Who is Voldemort? Is he related to Sabrina?” She sighed exasperated. Sometimes Silver made no sense.

“Let’s not discuss it here, shall we?” Caden said calmly but Sia wasn't stupid, she felt the vibrations coming from him, a suppressed growl that threatened to come out if they didn't leave the dining room soon - away from prying eyes. The trio soon left the house and trotted deep into the labyrinth where no one would hear them. “What’s with you today?”

"With me? With you! With all of you who act like Gideon is scary." she scoffed. Sia leaned against the wall made of bush behind her, surprisingly not collapsing under her weight. "Why the secrecy? Why can't we talk civilly in there and why everyone looked at us so weird?"

“Is not that simple.” It was the first time she’d ever seen Silver so serious, he almost seemed to be a completely different person before her eyes.

“Make it simple.” She snapped. “Or I will go back in there, climb up a table and dance while I scream his name at the top of my lungs.”

“We would love to see you dance.” Now the old Silver was back.

Sia gave him the finger, something she had never done before, and it felt like ... good. So, she did it again but this time she used both hands. "Enough, already!" Caden took her hands in his and lowered them to her sides. "Behave." Sia reeled back as if he had slapped her. But who did this rabid wolf think he was to demand good behavior from her? To prove her point, she commanded light sparks of electricity from her hands. They weren't powerful enough to hurt him, but they were powerful enough to push him back and keep his distance.

“I am not a child.” She glowered at both males who took a cautionary step back. “Explain.” She wouldn’t hurt them; however, a little bit of fear didn’t seem like a bad idea.

"Gideon became a difficult wolf to control after he began to gain territory. Either you joined him, or you were exiled," Silver's voice was clipped as he spoke. "And that's if you were lucky enough to earn his mercy. I met him fifty years ago in Paris." then a bitter laugh accompanied his story, "at that time I was the leader of my pack, I was the strongest, the wisest. The best ... but Gideon surpassed me. He appeared out of nowhere to challenge me for leadership, by then he had already built a huge army of wolves. I was stupid and cocky. "Silver turned then, turning his back on Sia. Both hands holding his hair into fists. "He took everything from me."

“You’re lying.” She muttered. The Gideon she knew would do no such thing. But it was Gideon himself who had killed her despite claiming to love her.

“Am I?” Silver growled. The color of his eyes was so red now. Two cherries had exploded into his sockets. “Is he?” he pointed at Caden who remained silent and rather stoic during Silver’s tale. “Are all of those males back in the house lying, Sia?”

“Gideon challenged them all?” That’s impossible. He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t be this cruel to his own kind.

“Oh yes. All those males you see in there are here because of Gideon’s thirst for power and greedy heart. We would have all rotted in a sewer if it hadn’t been for The Countess.”

Sia understood in that moment that the role of the Countess went far beyond common understanding. All these men were loyal to this woman because it was she who gave them a new purpose, a new future. A chance to be more than they ever were. So Sia said simply, “She’s your Alpha.” When Caden slowly nodded, Sia realized that there must be more than loyalty to the relationship she had with the wolves and especially Caden.

“Now that you know a little bit, would you care to share?” Caden asked in a quiet tone.

“A little bit?” she frowned, “That’s not all of it? There’s more to know about Gideon?”

Silver chuckled; his seriousness flipped off. “Oh yes, s**t-ton of more to tell but we need to know what’s bugging you now.”

“I saw Gideon last night.”