Chapter 85
POV: King Hades Pierce
He could sense the tension slowly intensifying around them. And he knew that it was because of his dark and enraged aura. He must stay calm but thinking about his Kingsman’s betrayal was making his inner wolf growl in deep fury.
“I am giving you the opportunity to talk and explain yourself, Dillion. Why did you do this?” He said in between his gritting teeth.
But Dillion just let out a small smile making him a bit more impatient.
“You aren’t like this, Your Majesty. You should have just ended my life, right here right now. You already caught me, right?” Dillion coolly stated.
It seemed like his eyes were looking at him with melancholy hidden in them as if they mirrored some pain and grief inside. But now, he just couldn’t decipher whether he still believed what he had been seeing. Especially that he had already been caught off guard revealing his own betrayal.
Hades already had a tiny hint that one of his third in command was the one spying on them, but he knew how much it pained him to know that his hunch was right.
However, he needed to mask his own emotions like what he had been doing for the past years. He shouldn’t let his enemies see through him. He must portray strength and authority the intimidating and ominous aura that he had.
He just couldn’t believe that after all these years, after everything that happened, after everything that they’d been through together even though he knew that he wasn’t that good to them, he couldn’t believe that they could do this to him.
It was one of the things that was fueling his intense anger towards him now.
Hades sarcastically smirked at him while Arlan and Raven remained silent.
“Let’s just say that I am giving you a chance to finally bid your goodbye and share your final words. At least you have given reason to show your dignity as one of my Kingsmen or even a friend to your comrades.” He darkly told him.
He saw how Dillion was affected by his words. He seemed so shaken all of a sudden, and it made him more curious curious about his side of the truth.
That is, if he is telling the truth.
Dillion let out a deep sigh.
“Just give me peace, Your Majesty. I know that no matter what my reasons are, it won’t be enough. I still betrayed you.” Dillion soulfully stated making his brows furrowed.
His forehead creased as he stared at him.
“You don’t totally betray me, right? Because if you do, why did you save Lineus’ life?” Hades smirked as he saw how shocked he was.
He slightly shook his head as the former Alpha of the Midnight Pack, Lineus Mindsor, stepped out of the shadows with his daughter, Lindy Mindsor.
His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
“What the heck?! I already told you to run! Why are you still here?!” He furiously yelled.
And before they could even move arrows started to shoot at them.
“Cover the King!” He loudly yelled as he moved towards the King to do what he had just told them to do.
He and Arlan instantly covered him while Raven assisted the wounded Shimuel with his shoulders. Lineus covered his daughter as they ran towards the path that led to the nearest gate of the castle.
Hades was still confused about whether Dillion’s worried face was true, or he was just doing it to cover his unfaithful tracks.
But it happened so fast that five rogues suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked their way towards the castle. They slowly surrounded them and paved their way to a stocky man none other than the Alpha of the Dark Wood Pack Cessair Darkwood.
“It is a pleasure to see you here, Your Majesty.” He mockingly told him.
He smirked at him ignoring the fact that they were outnumbered. He just knew that there were still rogues around hiding behind the shadows.
“I can’t say that it’s the same thing for me, anyway.” Hades playfully said making Cessair grit his teeth in irritation.
But then, his eyes squinted the moment he saw Dillion by his side.
“I can see that after everything that happened, one of your Kingsmen stayed by your side.” Cessair scornfully pointed out.
But he remained unbothered by him.
“It seems like no matter how much you try to poison his mind, they always find their way towards their true leader.” He sardonically retorted back.
Cessair clenched his jaw in pure annoyance. He saw how he had hit a nerve and it was making his inner wolf growl in joy. He even saw Dillion glance his way as if he had said an unbelievable thing.
“Really? Or are you just being manipulated by your subordinate again?” Cessair really wouldn’t want to lose this argument.
“Only a fool would think that way.” He chuckled sarcastically.
Cessair took a deep breath, calming himself as he raised his hand signaling every rogue to attack them. But Kage and Shanaia went out of the shadows as they helped them with the fight.
Dillion and Arlan shifted into their wolf form as they tried their best to counter the attacks of the bloodlust rogues.
While fighting, he even saw Cessair drink something before he suddenly turned to him as his claws elongated. A rogue was also attacking him, and he needed to dodge it that made him open to Cessair’s attack.
He knew that he couldn’t dodge Cessair’s attack and it would be a fatal blow for him. He braced himself for the intense attack, but before he had landed that attack on him, Dillion suddenly appeared, and he was the one who had suffered the hit.
“Dillion!” He loudly called his name as he had been thrown away to the ground.
His eyes widened as he saw how Dillion coughed with blood and so did his huge and long wound.
Cessair mockingly smirked at him.
“Too bad, it landed on the wrong person, huh?” Cessair playfully stated.
Hades gritted his teeth as his elongated claws landed on the rogue that tried to attack him. His animalistic side was growling impatiently well, more of, furiously.
“But my time is up. See you at another time, Your Majesty.” Cessair sarcastically told him as he mockingly bowed his head before him and he dashed to the midst of the woods.
With that, one of the rogues that was still standing suddenly burst, and his insides were thrown everywhere. He instantly went into Dillion, who was coughing so hard blood was flowing down at the corner of his lips.
“Dillion…” He heard Arlan call his name.
“We need to go. We are not safe here.” Raven suggestively told them.
They instantly ran towards the castle and arrived there in no time.
Arlan and Kage assisted Shimuel and Dillion. Tamika and Shanaia followed to help Kage in tending them.
“Hades, are you okay?” He saw Tamara worriedly go towards him and hugged him tight.
He buried his face in her neck as if he was trying to calm himself and ask for strength at the same time.
Tamara gently patted his shoulder as she returned his tight embrace.
“Calm down, now. Are you sure you’re okay?” Tamara asked with pure concern.
Hades slowly loosened his embrace around her as they sat on the couch. Linues and Lindy eyed them still shocked from the surprise attack from the Darkwoods.
“Lindy, you’re here.” Tamara surprisingly greeted her.
“It’s good to see you again, Your Grace.” Lindy softly replied.
Tamara shot him an unbelieving stare. He knew what she meant by that he must explain about them to her.
“Lineus, you must report everything that happened in detail. I haven’t heard any of it because of how fast everything happened.” Hades seriously turned to Lineus as he said those words.
Lineus heaved a deep sigh.
“After giving us the secret task to get more information about the Darkwoods, the rogues had caught us. We acted as rogues and discovered that Aeron is working on a secret liquid that can control the rogues. Apparently, they caught us, and he was using rogues for his experiment.” Linues seemed so scared while telling them those words.
“Before they could even get us tested, Dillion appeared and let us out. At first, I thought you knew that we were caught and came to rescue us, but I soon discovered that he was the one spying a traitor. He told us a threat that if we went back to the castle, he would kill us. And that, he even told us that you have announced that we are the traitors, Your Majesty.” Lineus continued.
Tamara was just shocked. He already told her about their plan but knowing that Dillion was the one who was spying on them, she seemed too disappointed and sad.
Her eyes shifted to him as if telling him that she was just there for him.
He gave her a small smile.
“Have you discovered what his reason is for doing all of those things?” Tamara seriously inquired.
Lineus let out a deep sigh.
“About that, Your Majesty, all I can say is that Dillion had slipped into something like he was doing it because of Lamina’s father. He was indebted to him at some point in the past.” Lineus replied.
“Apart from that, everything is just too vague, Your Majesty.” He added.
Tamara heaved a deep sigh. He held her hand and gently gripped it.
“It’s just that…” Lineus suddenly turned a bit more terrified and devastated on something.
“What is it?” He asked with his forehead creased.
“Well, we have a greater problem for now, Your Majesty.” Lineus suddenly blurted out.
A brief silence filled the air as they waited for Lineus to continue his words.
“The experiment that Aeron has been working for it is almost complete, Your Majesty.” Linues finally told them.
Tamara shockedly stared at him while he just pursed his lips.
“Once his experiment is done and complete, the rogues will be stronger than an average wolf. They embodied a greater ability than us, and it would be impossible for the other packs to win.” Lindy seriously added on to his father’s words.
He clenched his fist as Tamara gave him a knowing look. He pursed his lips together as he knew that they were all thinking the same thing.
They must act quickly and think of possible moves this time. They were already running out of time, and he just knew that a lot of the pack members would end up dead if they didn’t think of a possible way to defeat their enemy.
He must call for a meeting. This was far more worse than what they had already anticipated.