To Betray The Alpha King

Present-

The Penitentiary Dungeon.

*Whip*

" Speak you filth! Why did you kill them!" *

Whip*

" Spit it out! What made you murder those innocents? "

* Whip*

" Confess you piece of shit!"

* Whip*

The interrogator roars, putting in all his force and the wolfsbane-laded whip recoils the hundredth time, after connecting with the convict's skin.

"Shit. "

Dropping from his hand, the whip settles on the floor of the dungeon. It's metal studs dripping with fresh blood.The interrogator breathes laboriously. Staring down at the fresh blisters covering his palms.

He grits his teeth to look at the body swaying from the chains suspended on the ceiling. The black hood covering the convict's head aspirates near the person's lips. Signifying that the person was still conscious. Breathing.

Damn it. What is this person made of?

Steel?

He groans under his breath to wonder. He has tortured and executed thousands of people before. Serving the court makes one do it daily. But he had never met someone like this one before.

21 days of continuous torture.

18 days without food.

48 hours without even a single drop of water.

A thousand cuts and bruises, countless broken bones. Pool of blood at his feet, dripping to form a pool under him.

Yet. No screams. No pleas. No words, let alone a confession of his sins. Any other werewolf would have been long dead. But not this one.

The Phoenix.

The alias made sense now. Every time he comes back, this person seems to have risen from the ashes. The desire to rip that black hood and reveal the most wanted prisoner's identity was strong. But the interrogator was not a fool to go against the council's order. The words in it were clear.

'No one was allowed to see his face. The torture was constricted to his arms, back, legs, and feet. No physical contact. No pain suppressants. '

The words were rather surprising. No convict ever got special orders like this. There were no restrictions on their powers to draw out information until this one.

Cleaning the sweat lining his forehead, he stares at the hundred seeping red cuts on the person's back. It looked like a red painting on a canvas despite the low lighting in the room.

From the little that was visible, Phoenix's body frame was rather too flimsy. The interrogator expected him to be a man with a strong bulky build. But he was again wrong. The mysteries surrounding this man still remain unanswered.

" Any change of mind?"

He asks to only get silence in reply. Picking up the whip, he twists it around his palm again to yield in the air.

* Whip*

Not even a flinch. Nothing. Pin drop silence.

" Aghh!" Aggravated, he gets ready to hit again when a crass voice grunts from behind. Making his hand to stop mid-air.

" Enough."

The interrogator turns around and his eyes widen in shock realizing who stood there. Dropping his head in a bow, he stutters.

" Your Highness"

A huge 6'3 inch man stood at the threshold of the dungeon. His aura alone is powerful enough to make the strongest of men bow in front of him.

The King of the Kings.

The Alpha of all Alpha's.

Zachary King.

He was the only living ascended of the true pure-blood Royals. The one who can yield extraordinary power. Those blue eyes stay fixated on the figure hanging from the ceiling. Not bothering to even look at the interrogator who looked like he can piss his pants any second.

" I wasn't aware you would be...be visiting him ..your highness."

The disgust laced with the word 'him' hung in the air. Phoenix wasn't a hero for the people. Rather he was considered to be the worst kind of evil to have ever walked on earth. Him getting caught and killed was sure to be celebrated as a festival by the people. The victory of good over evil.

" Get out."

The king's gruff voice had the interrogator jumping on his feet. Within the next 5 seconds. He was gone. Closing the door behind.

The sound of blood drops falling from Phoenix's toe into the pool of blood under him. Was the only sound audible.

Minutes pass.

No one moved.

Phoenix's heavy restricted breathe under the black hood, relaxed to a soft inhale and exhale. Walking around the hanging body, like a predator circling its wounded prey. The King's heavy footsteps echo in the room. Stopping in front of Phoenix. He stares at his limp body with an indecipherable look in his eyes.

" I hope your stay is comfortable here. "

" I am afraid I couldn't make any last-minute arrangements of wolfsbane or silver as torture means.

" Werewolf rights have been a prerogative issue in the council recently."

The tied body suddenly goes stiff, as recognition floods in. And then it squirms, wriggling in the chains. Thrashing desperately like a fish out of water.

" Shhh relax. We don't want you losing any more blood now, do we? "

Leaning in closer, the king whiffs the person's neck to speak darkly.

" I want you conscious and breathing. Your innocent eyes are fixed on mine when the rope is pulled and life drains out of your eyes slowly yet painfully tomorrow. "

With this, he yanks up the dark hood making a cascade of brown hair to tumble down in waves. Red, tear-strained brown eyes looked back at him. And for a second the world stood still.

Something flashes in his eyes, but it is gone as fast as a bolt of thunder in the dark sky. His fists clench and his features harden into something colder than ice.

" Zach...Listen to me just once..please.. "

Her pale chapped lips struggled to whisper and it snapped something in him. His strong hands wrap around her tender neck like a viper's grip. And her already pale face turns ashen.

" Your Highness. Address me as your highness filth!"

His growl reverberates in the entire dungeon room and she closes her eyes. Unable to see the hatred simmering in them. A tear drop streams down her closed eyes and his eyes narrow down on them. Her sobs rock her bound body and he leans in closer. His hot breath fans her sunken cheeks.

" Shsss don't cry dewdrop. These crocodile tears are of no use now."

When she refused to stop crying. He lifts his hand to cup her wobbling chin softly. Her body leans in closer to his touch despite the state it was in.

"Let me enlighten you on a fact. "

His lips press on her tears and her body freezes.

" Do you know why I named you as dewdrop?"

Another kiss is planted higher than the earlier one. Trailing the path of her tears, painting her cheeks. And then another and another.

" When I first saw you, your purity resembled that of a fresh dew drop early in the morning. "

Kiss. " A symbol of innocence."

He kisses her closed eyelids making her body tremble.

" Naivity...."

Kiss

"..and beauty. "

She was gasping for air, struggling to speak something when he beat her to it. Her thudding heart was audible in her ears.

" But how wrong I was..."

His callous hands cupping her face sneakingly snaked up into her locks, and then suddenly he tugged on her locks brutally, sending a searing pain to her scalp.

" Aghh!"

" Behind this innocent face is an immoral sinful bitch who murderer innocents for money. "

His lips nest on her shoulder blade and he nibbles it roughly.

" A bloody gold digger who can go to any extent to get power and fame. "

Nibble.

" A backstabber who can betray and fool someone like me into believing that she was his mate."

Bite.

" A whor* who can open her legs for anyo-"

" Zach!" She roars, thrashing in the chains and he tugs her head back to have his nose touch her chin. A wicked smirk lingered on his lips as he looked into her shocked teary eyes.

" What? It's the truth dewdr-"

" I never intended for this to happen, Zach! Just listen to me once!Please!"

Who would have thought that the great Phoenix would beg someone, but then Zachary King wasn't just anyone? If there was one man who she wanted to believe in her? It was him.

And she wouldn't give a damn about what the world thought about her.

He deserves this explanation. Hell, he deserves way more, but this is all she had to give to him right now. Words. And nothing else.

" I may have lied to you but all that we felt wasn't a lie Zach. I loved you...hell, I still love you dammit! "

His grip loosened on her hair, he wanted to believe her. To just take her in his arms, away from this dark place, and bring her home.

To sleep with her body cuddled to his chest.

To stare at her beautiful face all night like he used to earlier. But alas. It was all a lie. The fact can't be ignored that she betrayed him and lied to him straight for 6 damn months. That she wasn't his real mate and just an imposter. That she was the Phoenix.

" This is all a trap, Zach! Trust me! Emerald is lying to you! She may be your mate but she -"

Eirene's words die down as a searing pain hits her thigh and she looks into Zachary's cold eyes in disbelief. He has rooted a knife into her thigh.

" Another word against my mate and the next target will be your heart, dewdrop. "

He seethes each word while twisting the knife. A sinister look has replaced his eyes.

From punishing anyone who even dared to talk to his dewdrop in a loud tone, it has come down to this.

It hurts. It breaks her. He didn't even resemble the shadow of the man who she fell in love with in the last 6 months. But who was to blame for this?

Her mouth stays open, head falls back but no scream escapes her lips. Taking in deep breaths, she tries to bear with this wound like countless others on her body but somehow this one hurts ten times worse.

Maybe because it was given to her by the very man who she loved. Blood streams down her thigh like water in a river and a sudden jerk hits her body. Zachary sees her lips turning more pale if possible.

" You...will regret this..."

Her voice comes out ice cold, nothing like the plea of mercy before. That softness in those brown orbs cracks to show a hint of the most deadly murderer under them.

And Zach feels the aura around her shift.

What hundreds of whips and countless broken bones couldn't do, his one stab did it.

What foreign hands couldn't break, a lover's betrayal disintegrated her soul into countless pieces.

Gasping.

She managed to stare into his cold eyes. And he rubs his thumb on her chapped lips to whisper.

" Oh trust me dewdrop. The only thing that I will ever regret is falling in love with a betrayer like you. "

" The only repent I will ever have will be touching and fuc*ing someone so ugly from the inside like you. "

He made her feel like filth. Yet her features don't crack this time. Giving him a soft smile, she was ready to surrender to the darkness. If this was his will, why would she stop him? Her last words lingered in the air.

" I don't.....regret loving you Zach...I never will. These last 6 months...were the best period...of my life. "

" Th...ank you for it. "

Zach's grip loosens on her hair, her words root a dagger into his chest. And he feels a strange feeling hit his insides.

Those eyes.

He wanted her to scream profanities at him. To curse at him and hate him. To tell him everything they had was her plan, a mere lie. Yet not this.

" Shut your bullshit. I won't-"

His words die down when he sees another teardrop fall down her eyes. And then another and another.

" It's fine if you don't want to hear...me out. Maybe I don't deserve it. But..I have a dying wish. "

Her lips quivered but she continued to speak. Not ready to give up before letting this out.

" Tomorrow after they kill me...I want you to touch me one last time...I want.....I want you....to be the one to lower my dead body into the coffin...your touch is the last touch I want to remember... Zach"

The knife rooted in his chest twists, filling him with a strange feeling of dread. His hands holding her drop down beside him.

" I want you to forget I ever came into your life."

" I want you to move on. Yet to not trust people easily. Especially Emerald. "

" Behind the cold and just King Facade is a boy who cares too deeply for those he loves. And I...I was among those lucky ones to have seen that side of you. "

"You..you are a great man...Zach. A great King. Not everyone deserves you. "

" I never did. "

" Yet....I...still loved you."

" Forgive me...if possible. "

These being her last words, she closes her eyes on him. Giving up to the heaviness in her head. Her head lolled back as one last teardrop slipped her chin to fall on his shirt.

He doesn't move. Starting at her pale lifeless face. He was lost into oblivion.

Minutes pass. He doesn't move.

Her front continues to press into his chest. He could hear her thudding heart slowing. He could see her blood draining out of her body. Yet he did nothing.

Crouching down to pick up the black hood. He gets up to softly run his fingers through her silky brown hair.

Wrapping them around his palm.

He is taken down the memory lane. He tied her hair into a bun every night as she sat in front of the mirror and looked at him through the reflection.

" Will you do my hair every night, Zach?"

" And why is that dewdrop?"

" It's just that your touch...I haven't felt anything like this before. "

" Like what?"

" Cared, taken care of, loved. With your soft fingers in my hair and my eyes closed. I feel like I am in heaven. "

" I don't have to die to visit it. Even though I affirm I will be burned in hell rather than heaven. Still-"

" Shhhh"

Zach presses his palm on her lips to silence her and she open her eyes to look at him in confusion.

" Never. I repeat never talk about dying dewdrop. Till I am breathing no harm can even touch you, let alone hurt you. "

Zachary snaps back to reality and his fingers running through her long hair stop.

A lump gets clogged in his throat. Gulping it down. He twists her hair to tie them above her head into a bun.

Looking at her closed eyes one last time, he lowers the black hood on her face. To stop just above her lips.

His fingers gripping the black cloth tremble. He was in a dilemma. Before he could stop himself. He wraps his hand behind her lolled head for support and crashes his lips on hers.

They were cold, lifeless and unresponsive. They didn't taste like strawberries anymore. But he didn't seem to care.

This was his last chance to feel this again.

To touch the woman he fell in love with for the first time in his life.

She lied.

She betrayed.

She broke his heart into a million pieces. Yet he couldn't stop himself.

He had fallen for her hard, without any mate bond. Without any sparks or lust blinding his wolf.

He had fallen for that woman who spent day and night to heal his favorite horse when the doctors said they couldn't. For the woman who waited for him at the dining table overnight, starving just because she wanted them to eat together.

For that woman, who packed all his warrior's food, cooking for everyone the whole day till her feet had blisters.

For the smile that lighted up when she helped someone else. He had fallen in love with the soul of Eirene Winters.

And for these few seconds, he didn't care if she was the heartless cold hearted murderer called Phoenix.

" Goodbye, dewdrop. "

Pulling back from her and ripping a part of his soul along with it. He finally lets the black cloth drop on her face. Turning around he leaves her bloody unconscious form hanging from the ceiling. Slamming the door shut after him.

. .

Phoenix has been captured. But his or her identity will forever stay a mystery for the general public. No one except Zach and the council knew she was the very girl the Alpha King made his wife and Luna 6 months ago.

No one knew she was Eirene Waters, the Luna who captured thousands of hearts with her kindness.

They say good and evil are opposites. But then how could a woman be both?

It's either that everything good she did was a sham or rather no one was ever able to truly understand why Phoenix became what she was today.

A murder, a face of evil, a destroyed of families. The most wanted criminal.

Phoenix was bound to be executed tomorrow. And no one could stop it. Not even him.