Chapter 2 MISSION AND HATRED

ANOKAI'S POV.

"Leave us." He said, his eyes still on me.

The guards exited the room, leaving me, him, and Aurelia inside.

"Don't touch that filth, Ethan-

"Leave, Aurelia." He cut her off.

"Bu..but..

He removed his hand, walking away from me and towards Aurelia before putting his mouth on hers, kissing her passionately right in front of me.

"I have to do this alone, babe. Don't worry. She can't do anything to me. She's not that stupid to try anything, okay?"

That seemed to appease Aurelia as she placed a kiss on his cheek, her eyes meeting mine and shooting daggers right at me, "We'll meet again, sister. And I'll repay you for this." She spat, touching the line on her face.

She closed the door as she exited, leaving Ethan to turn to me and the air in the room to go stale.

I looked at him as if wanting my eyes to pierce through him.

He is alive.

Ethan, the man I thought I had killed, labored over, spent three years in prison for, was alive, together with my sister.

My heartbeat increased as he walked towards me again and stopped, his eyes roaming my face like he was searching for something.

He smiled, "I've missed you, my feisty Anokai. I've missed you so much."

He leaned close, touching my forehead with his and nudging it.

Rage swelled within me. I pulled away immediately, disgust and pain etching my features, "How dare you touch me?"

"Relax, Anokai. I brought..

"You brought...!" I cut him off, a scoff escaping my lips. "You brought? Three years in that cell and you've been alive? You left me there! You left me to rot, to suffer, to be tortured every single day, and you've been living!"

He rolled his eyes like I was a child saying nonsense, "You tried to kill me. Get over..

"You cheated on me!" I yelled out, my voice filling the room.

For three years, I had tried not to think about his betrayal because I had killed him in the process. But now...

The weight of everything crushed down on my chest, constricting my lungs, my veins.

"You cheated on me with my sister. You insulted me, called me a fool. We were mates, destined by the goddess. We had a bond, and you knew the horror I faced at home, and you still decided to cheat. You picked her over me like everyone."

Tears laced my eyes, threatening to fall out anytime soon.

"Why?"

"Was I not worth anything that you decided to show me more of how worthless I was?"

My lips parted in shock as he replied, a tear sliding down my cheeks,

"Yes."

I stared at him in disbelief as he scoffed, a low rumble of laughter escaping his lips, "Look at yourself, Anokai. You can't read. Your family doesn't want you. You're worse than an omega on the street. And what? What?"

"You were expecting to be my Luna?"

This time he laughed more than before, the sound of it sinking my heart below and below my stomach,

"I was never going to mate with you. You're nothing. The only reason I've released you from your chambers is to atone for the careless mistake of trying to kill me."

He grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look at him with tear-stained eyes, "Refuse me or say anything stupid, and I'll kill your sister and entire family. I don't care for them. Just like I don't for you."

"Deny me, and I'll put you back in that cell. This time with no food, no water. I'll ask them to torture you every minute of the day, drive you insane and wild, and let you rot till your last day."

My heart clutched within my chest. I wanted to laugh. To scoff. To do something, anything to let the pain out.

Family? My family? The same one that had disowned me the moment they heard what I did without even listening? The same one that didn't care for me for three years, even after knowing they were alive?

I didn't have a family.

I didn't have anyone.

I was a fool, just like I was three years ago. A plague. A curse.

No wonder my father hated me.

He continued, "Do you remember the Shadowcrest brothers?"

He didn't even let me speak, "of course you should remember them. I used to read everything to you since you can't read."

"The council wants a King, Anokai. And I want to be King." He started, his eyes boring into mine lazily.

"But the Shadowcrest brothers are in my way, and I want you to destroy them for me. For years, no one has been able to figure out their secret, what makes their heart pump, what makes their pack flourish above every other one." He paused, "but not anymore. Because you'll find out for me."

My eyes widened as I shook my head, "No. You won't do that to me. No.."

The Shadowcrest brothers were nothing out of a novel. Or even out of the real world, either.

They were evil, merciless, cruel, wicked. Any word one can find that means devil.

They killed as they wanted. Ate as they wanted.

They were devils in our clothing. Monsters in the werewolf world.

No one, not a single soul who has ever broken into their pack, has come out alive.

It was a death sentence, merciless and quick.

For years, every alpha has wanted their power, to get a taste of whatever they had and make it theirs, but all of them have always been killed.

To hear about them gave me chills, not to mention being near them, to be sent to them.

"They don't accept anybody into their pack. How do you expect me to do that?" I asked, tears dropping from my eyes.

"Don't worry, my beloved."

He walked away from me to his table, picking up a paper, "In the three years that you've been in the cell, the brothers have opened their pack up only to women. It seems their women are no longer enough to sate their hunger. But none of these women have made it back alive."

My heart sank further, "You're sending me to die."

"You're already dead, Anokai." He turned back, the words leaving his mouth casually.

"You leave in two weeks. And I want you to survive, or else your life here will be done. Maybe if you survive, I'll make you my Luna. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

I eyed him with disgust. How had I ever liked him? How does Aurelia like him?

"I'll rather die than belong to you."

He was in front of me in no minute, his hand gripping my jaw forcefully, "I don't care how you do it. Use your body, your soul, anything. That's all you have. Make sure you learn them. Make sure they like you. Let them fall in love with you. When you're dumb, people like you. Be dumb. Be stupid. I want them destroyed."

He dropped his hand and brought out a handkerchief, cleaning his hand with it as if he had just touched dirt. When his eyes snapped to mine again, it wasn't the eyes I was used to.

It was pitch red, an alpha's eyes, "do not test me, Anokai. If you don't succeed, I'll reveal you to them, and I'll make sure they hunt you like sport. You remember how they hunt, right?"

I remembered. Because when he used to tell me, his eyes would gleam with excitement. Back then, I had thought it was nothing.

But now I could see it clearly. Because he was like them,

Mad and evil. With no care in the world.

"Take her out!" He yelled as the door opened.

But I will succeed. I have to.

Not because of my family. I had no family.

Not because I cared who would become the alpha king.

Or because of any stupid secret.

I refuse to be his pawn, his plaything, something at his beck and call.

And I also refuse to let him live.

My life won't be a novel like the other girls who would let the man go after treating them horribly.

I'll succeed, and I'll come back to kill him. I'll make sure to tear his bones from his body this time.

Even if it means the brothers killing me first.

Even if it means facing whatever horrors with them.

I'll face them, and I'll come back to kill you, Ethan Silvermoon.

I promise myself that.