Chapter 16: Ryker Confesses
1052 Words
Ryker's POV
I’ve always displayed specific characteristics, wearing the mask of the Alpha with great personality, calm, collected, and the one in charge, displaying unbreakable features. But tonight, just sitting a few inches from Lucy, that mask suddenly developed wings and started slipping. The weight I carried in me of the things I needed to tell her was beginning to weigh me down greatly, and this time, it was either I face it or it crushes me.
She glanced in my direction with those wide eyes, and I could dictate hope and fear in there, not having the slightest idea of the storm awaiting her. It surprised me how I cared so much that I detested myself as the messenger carrying the storm.
“Lucy,” I started, my voice very low, surprising even me. I haven't talked in a low tone for a long time now. “There’s something vital that you need to know about. I want to bring it to your notice; it's something very dangerous.”
She frowned, arching her brows as she tried to make meaning from what I just said. “When you said dangerous, what exactly does that mean?”
I took a deep breath, totally speechless. The words for conveying the message felt like knives in my throat, but unfortunately, the truth that must see the light of day lay hidden in them.
“There are many enemies, and they are people who did research and found out you don't really belong here; you are nothing like us."
Her eyes curiously searched mine for answers, but she was still confused. “Not like you; what meaning do I make from this?”
“No, that's not what I mean,” I said slowly. “You’re human while we are wolves.”
Lucy blinked, unable to comprehend what I was actually saying. Trying to understand. “Human, what does that even have to do with my safety? I am yet to understand why that is happening now. When I was mated to you, you said that I was part of the Pack already.”
“You are by mating,” I said, but that wasn't how she viewed it. “But that mating alone was part of what made it more dangerous.”
She swallowed an invisible lump, giving the feeling that she was doing her best to fight off something that was rising inside her. I hated it so much that those plotting my downfall had to drag her into their power game. Hated it even more that she wasn't safe here anymore, which has given her no sense of belonging.
I looked down to see her tightening fingers furiously into fists.
According to my plan, it wasn't supposed to escalate and get to this point.
After everything I had set in place to make her stay comfortable, even to the point of outsmarting the wise Council, marrying Selene, my first wife before I hit forty, an act done in a bit to traditionally secure the Alpha position, and granting my father's wish, I thought that I could defend her, overcome anything if I could pull such out.
But Selene and Vick, in their grudge, had the rules for the game changed in their favor.
Beautiful Selene, my ex-wife, my ladder to the throne, and a venomous snake who, in her quest to remain in control, had married my own brother, Vick, an act to regain her lost position. They planned to wipe off joy from my face.
Together, they gathered their energy and formed a dark force, ensuring the twisting went in their favor.
And now, of all they should know about, they had discovered the truth about Lucy.
“You don't have the slightest idea of the length they could go just to eliminate you from their midst if the news gets to the council that you are human." I tried warning her, though it was more like war. "To them, you would be nothing but an outsider, and that would present you as vulnerable and a weakling.
Lucy’s jaw clenched, but I could see a different thing in her eyes, more like defiance.
“They think because I don't shift like them, but with the characteristics of humans, or that I’m human, that alone made me nothing,” she asked quietly, “but that's nothing like me.”
“No, you are not weak,” I agreed. “You’re way stronger than any other that I have met, though they might not understand now, but will definitely do."
I wanted to feed myself with the belief that things would go my way in the end. That pack politics, including the betrayals from my closest family members, and even if blood would be shed, none of that would be in vain but would give me victory.
But that wasn't as it appeared lately; the truth was darker.
Selene, for all I know, wasn’t just a bittered ex-wife holding more grudges than she could handle anymore. She was a terrible weapon, well-strategized and sharpened, and had many years of hatred and jealousy. Vick, who was older than me by birth, wasn’t just my older brother anymore. He had turned into a conspirator, extremely hungry for power, and would do everything possible to get his goal, even when it had to do with tearing the pack down. He wouldn't mind so far it would lead to him wearing the crown
And in all of these, I was the primary target.
All they ever wanted was a means to get me out.
And firstly, they decided how to get Lucy out, who currently holds the key to my future, even without knowing it.
I glanced in her direction again, my heart pounding and threatening to escape my chest.
“Why didn’t you find a way to get all this information to me sooner?” she asked, her voice trembling a little. “Why wait till this moment?”
Because the truth is bitter, even to be compared to poison, and to protect you and what's mine, I had kept bottled up till the appointed time, which is now.
“We need to get you ready immediately,” I said. “Because they won't spare you, they are coming for us. For you, to destroy you!
- Writer
