Emily’s POV
“I told you he did not care enough for you to come get you.” The quiet torture chamber erupted with the sound of Xavier’s voice.
My nights of hell began when I was moved from the pink bedroom to the basement.
“Alexander hasn’t even left his office to go search for you. He is allegedly busy getting ready for this weekend’s Luna Ceremony. It seems like he thinks you have run away.”
Xavier motioned for the two rogue guards to leave, and they hurried toward the door to leave.
They appeared relieved that they were no longer required to keep an eye on me.
“He will come,” I muttered under my breath. “He is not going to leave me here. I know he wouldn’t.”
“Are you certain?” He taunted, taking hold of my chin and forcing me to raise my head to meet his gaze.
I had no fight left in me. For the past three days, I have been hanging from the silver chains coming from the roof.
I was mentally and emotionally spent, hungry, and dehydrated. My body ached at places I never knew existed, and sometimes I wanted to give in to the darkness and never wake up.
More times than I could count, the unbearable pain had caused me to black out. When I finally woke up, the pain only got worse.
I internally whimpered, trying my best not to show how much I was hurting.
Willow was in equal pain as I was due to the wolfsbane doses keeping her at bay, preventing my back and injuries from healing properly. She couldn’t even move to tell Ghost where we were.
Despite the challenges, I felt proud of myself for being able to prevent my pain from spilling over into the bond. Alex did not have to be aware of the extent of my suffering.
“Why are you treating me like this?” I whispered, breathless. Some of my ribs were broken the previous night.
Xavier must have been waiting for me to ask the question. With a twinkle in his eyes, he released me, moved away, and softly drew one of the guard stools nearer.
“Because I can,” was his straightforward response as he settled into the stool.
“This isn’t some game, Xavier,” I sneered through the pain. “I am familiar with you. Everything you do has a purpose. Unlike me, who has always been erratic.”
Xavier’s eyes grew cold, and he pursed his lips into a horrible smile. I kind of wish I had not challenged him. That expression in his eyes was one I recognized; he was going to hurt me until my body gave in and I blacked out.
“I promised the goddess I would take revenge,” he said instead.
“Revenge?” I asked. “I have not done anything to you; on the contrary, I obeyed and followed every command you gave me.”
“Not you, against her!” With a violent outburst, he leaped to his feet, grabbed the stool, and smashed it into the wall. “She favors you, not me!” he roared.
I winced. Xavier had never lost control of himself like that before.
“This situation never would have gotten out of control if she had just given in and given me an equal opportunity to be her mate.”
What was he talking about?
What did it have to do with me?
Was he in love with my mother or something?
I brushed the idea from my mind. It did not make any sense at all.
“Against whom?” I pushed the query past my lips.
“The Goddess!” Xavier sneered.
What?
Was he in love with her?
Was his goal in doing all of this to spite her? Why me?
“I did everything in the book to show her I was the most suitable Lycan to be mated to, and what did she do in return?”
What on earth was he talking about? He was no f*cking Lycan! He doesn’t deserve to be one!
“She cursed me,” he roared, extending his claws and coming at me. He dug them into my side.
I let out a painful hiss. I could feel blood seeping out of my side-that was going to leave a nasty scar.
Xavier pulled his claws back and grabbed my chin, his nails cutting into my skin.
“She turned me into the monster I am today,” he spat.
Xavier took a deep breath, released me, and wiped my blood from his hands in disgust.
“She transformed you into a regular werewolf, didn’t she?” I asked, my vision blurring from the blood loss. Again, I was on the verge of blacking out.
“Can you imagine how insulting that was?” He asked.
“No,” I whispered, trying to raise my head to look at him.
“Now I am giving her a show so that she knows how much damage I can still do.”
There was so much hate in Xavier’s eyes that I almost felt sorry for him.
“Can you even begin to imagine the extent of destruction I have caused in the past century?” He asked, sitting down again.
I tried not to move my head, trying to save what little energy I still had.
“I destroyed Angelica’s pack,” Xavier declared. “With these two hands, I killed her parents. They never saw it coming.”
Xavier rose and went to the table, retrieved some silver torture tools, and set them back down. He picked up the next tool and proceeded to examine, test, and store it in the same manner. It had become a habit of his to look at and play with each one until he found the one he wanted to use.
He turned to glance over his shoulder.
“You should have seen their faces,” he said, with excitement shining in his eyes, but the coldness remained. “It was priceless. The betrayal was carved out in their faces.”
“How did you manage to join the pack?” I forced the words over my lips.
I was curious about how he managed to win Axel and Angelica over to his cause.
“Have you realized that the dynamics within a werewolf pack differ significantly from those within a Lycan pack?” he inquired.
I was able to give a headshake.
“I thought so,” he said. “When it is their innate right, Lycan females are permitted to hold positions of rank. Werewolves don’t. They only acknowledge men for ranked positions.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. That was a little unjust, but why did Xavier recognize and rank me so highly? Was this a bunch of bullshit, or was he attempting to alter their customs?
“The previous royal beta solely had daughters who were unfit to hold the beta role,” Xavier added, his lips twisted into a mocking smile. “To keep his beta status within the pack, the eldest daughter’s father arranged for her to have a chosen mate. I came upon the poor, chosen soul by accident. I killed him, forged his transfer papers, and took his position. No one knew what he looked like, and no one asked questions when I arrived. They welcomed me with arms wide open.”
And in return, you murder them in cold blood. I mentally scoffed.
“What method did you use to eliminate the Royal Pair?” I asked.
“That was easy,” Xavier said. “I arranged an attack from outside.”
“You used the rogues?” I uttered a shocked whisper. It was evident that Xavier was the one who planned each of the rogue attacks.
“Well, yes,” he said. “They are my loyal subjects. I was able to break the Alpha apart from the pack while they brought the pack to its knees. You should have seen the look on his face when he eventually figured out that I blindsided him. It was priceless, I tell you.”
“How does Axel fit into this whole thing?” I asked with a slur. I had trouble speaking. It was difficult to focus due to the blood loss.
With a sigh, Xavier rolled his eyes at me and began to explain.
“I killed his father’s fated mate,” he said. “It was by accident.”
I looked up at Xavier. It did not make any sense at all. Nothing was an accident when it got to Xavier.
“You must be curious about what I mean when I say that,” he asked, with another breath trailing off his lips.
I remained silent, and Xavier assumed that I wanted to know.
“Well,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “I suppose I can reveal the long-kept secret to you. You wouldn’t be able to spill any of this. It appears that your time has run out.”
I lowered my head, no longer able to meet his gaze.
“I thought she was Alpha Cole’s mate,” he uttered. “But things turned out nicely in the end; it worked in my favor.”
“Favor?” I whispered, furrowing my eyebrows.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “I found Tom to be quite interesting after he was banished from his pack. He introduced me to these silver toys of mine. We enjoyed our time together until he discovered that I was the reason behind his mate’s murder.”
“You killed him?” I asked.
“And framed him for the royal werewolf pair’s death,” he said proudly. “Now that all that is in the open, how about we put you to sleep?”
Xavier stalked closer with a vile grin plastered on his lips, but before he could reach me, a ruckus in the hallway cut him short.
“What the f*ck is that all about?” he growled, heading toward the door.
The next second, all hell broke loose.
****