NALEDI’S POV
I walked out of the darned office with Ezra in tow.
The atmosphere of the house was different. Maybe it was the fact that there weren’t any more guards lurking around the hallway and monitoring my every move.
Or the fact that I had been freed from the wristband that hindered my werewolf abilities. In fact, I was looking forward to having a timely run in the woods to fully stretch my beast that have been locked up for a while now.
We got outside and I could see some Cosa Nostra guards, pushing some Yakuza men out of the building in cuffs. I couldn’t help but notice the dirty looks they threw my way when they saw me.
I didn’t blame them though, I betrayed them, and that so publicly. No matter what I did, it would never wash the fact that I was a fucking traitor. Nor would it wash the fact that I was the daughter of an evil man.
Things were better off this way.
“Naledi!” I heard a feminine voice and I was pushed back in a hug. “How have you been?”
“Korah?” She looked so excited, it was fucking contagious.
“I just roasted the hell out of Draken’s store and made him watch! He literally coughed up blood as I roasted the fucking place till it was reduced to a pile of ashes.”
It was hard not to smile when she was so fucking elated.
“The women are also outside. I can’t believe you actually did it. They are safe and sound. Come see!” I was dragged by Korah, who immediately led me outside the building, where women in their hundreds were pooled, eating with smiles on their faces.
I felt like crying. One of the women saw me, the one they once tried to rape and it was surprising when she engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Her voice was shaky like she was about to cry, But I knew it was the good kind. “You don’t need to thank me.” I said after the hug, “Believe me, I did the barest minimum. It would have all gone to shit if I didn’t have these superheroes on my team.”
I pointed to the sibling duo behind me. “I promise they are the real gems.”
We shared a laugh and I let her go, looking around the estate that was now taken over by the Cosa Nostra. It was new territory. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I let the night wind blow through my hair, and for the first time ever, I let myself breathe and felt the stress from years of pain and anger float away with the wind.
“Draken is on a rampage. Would you like to do the honours or should I?” Ezra suddenly asked from behind me.
I turned around and noticed they had been watching me for some time now. “As much as I’d like to kill him for everything he’s done, I don’t think tonight is the night for it,” I muttered under my breath.
Korah shrugs, “I agree. As much as I want to kill him, I don’t want to ruin the night.”
Ezra chuckled. “Don’t you think it’s a bit too late for that? Seeing we have managed to almost kill him a total of nine times in his cells.”
Korah looked like a deer in headlights and I felt confused.
“I think we are due for a trip to the cells,” Ezra said and without a word, began his journey towards the prison.
I chatted with Korah all the way until we got to the storehouse. The air felt restrictive and was clouded by the stench of burnt stone. Not to talk of the blackness of the place that used to house the workers and goods of the Yakuza.
Korah ate and left no crumbs. I felt a wave of pride as I took in the damage.
Before I could comment on the job well done, a loud growl of pain hit my ears, shaking the floor beneath me. What the hell was that? I turned around and Korah spotted the same look of confusion, which told me everything I had experienced was real.
“Ooof! They are getting to the good part. We need to hurry!” Ezra spoke excitedly and before we could get a word of question out, he held me and Korah by the wrist and just like that, we appeared in the dark hallways of the deepest part of the dungeons.
A terrible stench of rotten flesh hit me and I almost puked out my stomach’s content. It seemed like everything was heightened and the more we went further inside, the worse I felt.
“Ignore the atmosphere. Sometimes, we witches like to torture in the most unpleasant manner. Since the spell was made for Draken, you would not feel the intensity of the effects, but if you keep your head level, you’ll pull through.”
I looked at the duo walking ahead of me, looking everything other than miserable, which was all I could feel at the moment. Why were they not affected by whatever spell that rocked this shithole?
“We cast the spell to be against werewolves. Yakuza werewolves to be particular.” Ezra answered my silent question. “The Yakuza created this part of the dungeon to hold the gifted community against their will and force them to do their bidding.”
“One of the most powerful nature’s servants was made to cast the spell to seal her kind from being able to leave when brought in. It weakened the witch’s powers and basically made them a slave to whoever commands the place.”
“Draken?” I asked.
“I wish it were more simple than that. This whole banshee has been going on way before I was born. A couple of good people were made to die in captivity because not only did the confinement weaken their powers, but it slowly ate at their mental state and overall will to live.”
I could hardly process the meaning of his words, and he seemed to catch on to that because he immediately said, “According to my research, the first sect that started the trafficking business was not the Roger pack.”
I sucked in a deep breath and he continued.
“Although the Roger pack started the human side of things, the Yakuza’s were long in the business before them, except they exploited mainly the gifted. Witches and warlocks.”
“I’d like to think they were scared of them and afterwards, exploited them for their personal benefits. I could imagine what an advantage it would be to have people who can change the laws of nature, and tweak it to whatever they chose.”
“Overtime, they spread the news that they were extinct, hunted after every gifted year after year, generation after generation. It hindered the growth of the race and made us slaves.”
“Right now, Draken will have to pay for the sins of his lineage, and I believe it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.”
Another loud growl made its way to my ears, this time around, it was louder, more powerful and I could taste the pain in his voice.
“What in the world are they doing to him?” I didn’t know when the words went out of my mouth in concern.
“You’ll see.”