MALIA’S POV
I must have fallen asleep again even though I had desperately tried to stay awake. Victoria had been forcing some sort of liquid down my throat for reasons best known to her and it had been making me fall asleep. I had vaguely overheard Ryder speaking to Zade. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that he should not fall for their trap but I knew that even if the Moon Goddess wanted to save him and prevent him from taking the bait, he was still going to find a way to come and save me. For the first time, my wolf hoped he wouldn’t come. We were well aware that Ryder just wanted to kill him and claim his pack for himself.
I lost count of the number of times I had wept because of Ryder’s betrayal. Never in my life have I felt so used and totally stupid.
I wondered if Penelope had noticed my suspicious disappearance. And even if she did and discovered that Ryder was behind it, I doubted she would be able to do anything about it. He could easily threaten her with the lives of her kids and get her to remain silent.
This was the best time for these so-called powers that I had as a witch to surface. I struggled against the supernatural silver chains that had me bound to the chair but my efforts were useless.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t sleeping beauty trying to set herself free,” Victoria said as she walked into the room. I scowled at her and she giggled.
“If looks could kill, I’d be dead by now but unfortunately for you and fortunately for me, they are harmless and utterly useless.”
I kept on scowling at her while she regarded me with interest. “I must confess that this colour you dyed your hair looks really good on you.”
“Burn in hell,” I spat out and she laughed.
“I actually like you, you know? I just had to do what I had to do. After this is over, we could even be best friends. Imagine being the best friend of the Luna of the two combined great packs,” she said with a smile.
“You are being delusional. That is never going to happen. Has it never even occurred to you that Ryder might just be using you and is going to dump your sorry ass or worse kill you after all this is over?” I queried.
She threw back her head and burst out laughing. “Oh sweetheart, what makes you think that I also don’t want to kill Ryder after all of this?” She returned.
“It wouldn’t be a terrible idea to rule the two great packs all by myself. I wouldn’t have to share that power with anyone and I would be the greatest queen ever. The first Alpha female who is also a witch.”
I scoffed. “You two deserve each other,” I said with disgust.
She sat on the bed in front of me and gave me a sweet smile. “Do you really think I am going to kill Ryder?” She asked in an amused tone. “He is my mate,” she revealed and I couldn’t help the gasp of surprise that slipped through my lips.
Of course, every werewolf was supposed to have a mate and I had never asked about Ryder’s. I guess I had just assumed that he was yet to meet her.
“Don’t look so surprised. You were right when you said we deserved each other. The Moon Goddess made us the most perfect match in my own opinion. We are both ruthless, ambitious, passionate and intelligent. Together, we are unstoppable.”
I scoffed. “You forgot to add thieves and scoundrels,” I replied.
Her eyes immediately turned icy cold and she got up from the bed to stand in front of me. I had to raise my head a little to see her face.
“Do not take my niceness for weakness, Malia. The only reason I am not cutting you up with that butcher’s knife over there is because I like you a little and I understand that it is not your fault what Zander did. But if you try to run that smart mouth of yours one more time, I am going to forget all of that and I am going to start with your tongue.”
The thought of being cut up was honestly scary but I was not going to give her the satisfaction of showing it. I scowled at her in defiance and she gave me a smirk before returning to the bed and sitting on it.
“What did Zade do anyway?” I asked. I didn’t buy the bullshit that Ryder had told me about Zade killing his father and conspiring with his mother and the elders of the pack to kick him out.
She scoffed before she answered. “Your sweet, darling Zade is not as sweet as you think he is. Did you know that he killed his dad because he was planning to name Ryder as heir to the throne and worked with his mom and the elders of his pack to kick Ryder out of the pack? My mate is the rightful owner of the thrown of the Silver Crescent Pack.”
“Even if he is an illegitimate child? Have you ever even heard Zade’s side of the story? What if your mate is lying to you?” I queried.
“Ryder has never and will never lie to me. We are practically best friends and do not keep things from each other,” she replied.
It suddenly occurred to me that she must have had this vengeance in mind when she first started dating Zade. She had never loved him.
She suddenly smiled coyly and I arched an eyebrow. “But truth be told, I did enjoy having sex with your mate. He is surprisingly sweet and gentle, unlike most male werewolves. I enjoyed every bit of it. But of course, no man does it better than my mate and I am sure you can testify to that because you have been privileged to be in his bed.”
I mentally rolled my eyes. Was she really making us talk about which one of our mates is better in bed?
“You can’t be serious right now,” I murmured with disgust.
She smiled at me again. “Oh, come on. Don’t be such a prude. Let’s talk about it. I’m sure you must have preferred Ryder’s hard and rough ways in bed to your mate’s gentle ways. You do not have to deny it. Don’t worry, I am not going to judge you.”
My expression was one of disgust. “There is something seriously wrong with you. I have zero doubt about it,” I replied and she burst out laughing.
Her phone rang and her eyes lit up as she saw who it was.
She brought the phone to her ear. “Alright. I’ll be right there,” she said before putting down the phone.
She beamed at me. “Guess who has decided to join us.”
My eyes widened in fear and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I knew exactly who it would be. Zade.
“I love reunions. But unfortunately, he is going to die after you see him. I just wanted him to say his goodbyes before Ryder kills him. It’s fair enough right?”
I growled at her in anger and she blew me a kiss before leaving the room.
There was nothing I could do but scream helplessly, hoping that somebody would hear me and come to help. Where were all those bodyguards when you needed them anyway?
I waited in fear for them to arrive, knowing that my mate was soon going to die. I tried struggling against the chains again and screamed in frustration when they didn’t magically break.
I decided to try what Penelope had asked me to do in the library the other day, with the books. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I pictured the chains wrapped around me and tried to see them breaking. I tried until my head started to hurt.
I cursed the Moon Goddess for making me a witch when she wouldn’t even let me use my powers.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door swung open and Ryder entered the room, carrying an unconscious Zade that was flung over his shoulder. Victoria entered right after him.
“What did you do to him?” I yelled at them.
Ryder dropped Zade carelessly to the ground and looked at me with disgust. “I thought I asked you to tape her mouth close,” he said to Victoria.
She sighed. “I don’t know why I just like her. I felt it wouldn’t be too nice of me to do that to her,” she replied.
“You two are monsters,” I cried out.
Victoria slapped me so hard that I saw stars.
“Finally. Sweet silence,” she said before plopping down on the bed.
Ryder came to join her and to my annoyance, they started to make out in front of me.
“Do you think she would like to join us?” Victoria asked and Ryder snorted.
“I’m very sure she wouldn’t. She’s really frigid in bed and very dry down there,” he replied and his mate burst out laughing.
His words stung hard and I forced the tears back. I was never going to give him the power to make me cry again.
They continued with their make-out session and I nearly threw up in disgust as Victoria moaned with wild abandon in his arms. I just hoped that they didn’t start to take off their clothes and have sex in front of me.
I looked at the side Zade was lying on and I frowned in concern. Why hadn’t he woken up? Or was he dead already? I listened intently and I could hear the faint beating of his heart.
I closed my eyes and prayed for a miracle.
They flew open as I heard a faint sound from outside.
Ryder and Victoria stopped making out immediately and I guessed that they had heard it too.
They both walked quietly out of the room.
After a few minutes, the door burst open and a very strange-looking Tommy came in. I would have laughed at the funny disguise if not that the situation we were in was pretty serious.
He came to me first and I told him to go save Zade first instead. I winced as he slapped his Alpha awake and got him to sit up. He looked disoriented.
His eyes widened immediately he saw me and he hurried towards me. He and Tommy tried to get the chains off me but to no avail.
“I told you that they were enchanted,” I said to them and Zade sighed in frustration.
“You two should save yourselves. They do not mean to kill me. It is Zade that they want. They want to take over his Pack.”
I spoke mostly to Tommy because I knew that Zade was not going to listen to me.
“Let’s go, Zade,” he said to his Alpha.
My mate looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “Even if they didn’t mean to kill her before, they are going to do it out of spite if I escape. I think we should just carry her with the chair,” he said.
“Don’t be stubborn, Zade. You do not have to worry about me. I am going to be okay.”
He continued talking to his Beta as though I hadn’t said a word.
“Do you know the way that Victoria and Ryder took?” He asked. “There should be another way to get out of here.”
“I think there is. But we have to leave now. Since Victoria is a witch and has powers, I don’t think the soldiers will be able to distract them for too long before she and Ryder kill them all.
Zade’s eyes suddenly became cold. “Why are the soldiers here?” He queried. “I thought you agreed that it was just going to be the two of us. Or weren’t you listening when I told you that he said he was going to hurt Malia if I didn’t come here alone?”
I rolled my eyes. “Now is not the time for this. If you keep on staying here and scowling at your Beta only for Ryder and Victoria to return and meet you here, your soldiers’ lives are going to be in vain.”
Zade grunted in frustration before lifting the chair with me on it, off the ground.
We made it outside the house and took off in the opposite direction of where Ryder and Victoria had gone.
We had barely run for ten minutes when I heard Victoria’s voice right behind us.
“Not so fast, Knights.”
We kept on running but after a few seconds, we were all lifted in the air and landed on the ground.
She used her powers to paralyze my mate and his beta so that they couldn’t move.
“Now where were we?” She asked with a smile as she came to stand in front of us.
Soon afterwards, Ryder joined us and used the heel of his boot to step hard on Zade’s ribs.
I screamed as I heard the sickening sounds of his ribs breaking and begged Ryder to stop.
He paused for a moment. “Your soldiers are going to be mine Zade,” he said.
I frowned. “You didn’t kill them?”
He smiled at me. “No, Love. Victoria just immobilized them. If I am going to be the greatest Alpha of all, apart from having a very powerful witch by my side, I’m also going to need a great army. If I combined Zade’s highly skilled soldiers with mine, I am going to be unstoppable.”
Victoria cleared her throat and he amended. “We are going to be unstoppable.”
His gaze went back to Zade on the ground and he grinned. “Finally, I am going to get what is rightfully mine,” he said to him and raised his leg to resume stepping hard on my mate’s ribs.
“Please let him go ” I begged with tears streaming down my face. “You are going to kill him.”
Victoria giggled. “Oh honey, don’t be silly. You know quite well that what Ryder is doing is not going to kill him. He’s going to heal.”
Her smile slowly became evil. “But if I cast the spell to take away his wolf, he is surely going to die.”
My eyes widened as she began to cast a spell on my mate. I screamed for her to stop but of course, she didn’t.
She smiled at Ryder when she was done. “Darling, he is all yours now,” she said and handed him a sword I hadn’t realized had been with her.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” he replied as he took the sword from her. “But I’d like to really pummel him with my fists and my boots before I plunge the sword into his heart.
He resumed hitting him and Victoria just stood there laughing and enjoying the show. I could see that my mate, because his wolf had been taken away, was not healing anymore and the life was quickly dying out of his eyes. I had to save him. There was no way I could just watch him die.
Ryder raised the sword and I was filled with white-hot rage. I felt every nerve cell of my body spark wildly and I screamed with the heat and force of it all. It sounded scary even to me.
I saw both Ryder’s and Victoria’s eyes widen in shock as they looked at me.
The chains broke effortlessly as I changed into my wolf. I felt power like I had never felt before.
I went after the witch first as she tried to use her magic against me but I was an Alfea witch, the strongest of them all.
I grew even more angry when Ryder plunged the sword into my side and nearly killed him on the spot.
I vaguely registered how wonderful it felt to be both wolf and witch. And how amazing it was for your enemies to be at your mercy.