Chapter 92
Iris
His voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t tell where I heard it from so I continued the chase, intentionally pissing him off until he loses his temper and reveals himself.
“And you think I’ll just hand over the bag to you because you asked for it? You must really be delusional,” I cackled.
He lurched at me, throwing a punch but I was quick to stop his hand midway from landing on me. With an unimaginable strength I didn’t know I had, I tightened my grip on him and flung him over.
A satisfying crack resonated in the air, coming from a dislocation that occurred in his arm. He groaned, gritting his teeth in pain but he managed to keep himself from wincing loudly.
“What? You thought I was that weak and powerless girl you used to know?” I teased him.
“Well, I made a mistake of undermining your strength, but you’ve forgotten that I’m a man and I can take you down here in less than a minute without anyone coming to save you so why don’t you hand the bag over?” He snarled.
I couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of my lips. I’d rather die than hand that bag over to him though dying wasn’t an option. I had a pack to save.
“And what if the tables are turned? What if I beat you up so bad that no one will be able to find you? Haven’t you considered that possibility?” I retorted with a smirk.
He didn’t respond, instead, he allowed his anger to cloud his reasoning and attacked me again without thinking. I dodged him, stretching my claws and I turned around and struck his neck.
My fingers drew out blood and he fell to the ground. And this time he couldn’t hold back the wince.
With my fingers still on his neck, I tore the mask off his face and my eyes widened in surprise.
“Lyros?” I called out, bewildered.
He bowed his head in shame while I stooped before him. “Yes, My Lady,”
Fury blazed within me as I grabbed his throat, squeezing it so hard that he began to make a wheezing sound, pleading silently with his eyes that I let go of him.
“How dare you attack me? Do you know what Elda would do to you if he finds out that you tried to hurt his Luna?” I hollered, my eyes reeling with anger.
He snorted, leering through his pain. “He won’t hurt me if he knows that you are trying to betray him,”
My heart skipped a beat, but I maintained my composure while waiting to find out how much he knew. Now, I was in a fix because if he knew about the antidote and told Elda, I’d be in trouble but at the same time, I couldn’t kill him.
He was Hegar’s father.
“Betray him? I’d never do that,” I countered.
“Lies! You think I don’t know that you haven’t been injecting Gradel with the poison or that you’ve been looking for ways to sabotage the Alpha’s plans for the pack,” He snarled and I clenched my fists.
“Alpha? Don’t you dare call that sicko an Alpha, Lyros,” I fired at him. “That man is bad news and only cares about two things-his position and the thing between his legs. Once he’s done using you, he’ll dump you like trash and you won’t be able to do anything about it. Think with your brain,” I fumed, breathing heavily with beads of sweat gathering on my forehead.
How couldn’t they read between the lines? Why were they oblivious to Elda’s plans to make the pack a shadow of itself? I tried to imagine what he might have offered them, but nothing was enough to buy someone’s conscience like that in my opinion.
Lyros scoffed, propping his arms behind him to hold his weight. “You want me to betray him and I won’t do that, so hand over the bag to me or you’ll face his wrath. We can do this nicely, you know,”
I chuckled darkly. “Are you still on that case?” I asked and removed my bag, flinging it at him. “There, you can have it.”
He hurriedly unzipped it and began to search the bag but to his amazement he couldn’t find anything apart from a bunch of keys and a wad of cash.
Lifting his face in disappointment, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets, he muttered, “There’s nothing in the bag. You don’t have the antidote?”
“Isn’t searching my bag enough proof?” I retorted, my voice ringing hard with sarcasm. “Now, let’s see who’s going to be punished for going against the Alpha,”
He gulped nervously and clutched my leg. “Please, have mercy on me. I’m so sorry for going against you,” He cried.
Truly he who laughs last laughs best. Funny how the narrative changed in less than a few minutes.
Before leaving the hut, the antidote had been in my bag but suddenly I didn’t feel comfortable with it being there so I secretly hid it inside my bra. Now I don’t regret doing it.
“You want mercy?” I kicked him hard.
He nodded desperately, his eyes watering. “I’ll do anything, I promise,”
“What if I want you to be on my side? I’d go straight to the point, I want you to defect to my camp the same way you did to Elda and you have only twenty-four hours to make that decision,”
He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out so I pulled my leg away from his hands with a bright smile on my face. The only reason he wasn’t dead right now was because of his relationship with Hegar.
“But, I can’t-”
I raised my hand sharply and interrupted him. “I don’t think you have an option here because either way you’ll still be punished by Elda either for attacking me or betraying him, but the good part is that you’ll be protected by me so think about it, Lyros. You only have twenty-four hours,” I reminded him and walked away.