Kenneth’s POV
Obsession.
I hated that my general was right and his words still kept haunting me, even after his death. I couldn’t believe that Ella’s father had said the same thing. I was the only one obsessed and Ella’s father was also right about another thing.
My men would have assumed that I was dead and would have told everyone at home. The elders would have been mad that I had gone on a war that they didn’t know of but they would have eventually moved on, making plans on how to enthrone another person as the alpha for the betterment of the pack.
I growled at that. Someone else was going to get my throne. Someone else was going to get my title and be addressed as I had been addressed. Someone else was going to sleep on my bed and live in my house. I wondered if the servants, maids and guards would be relieved to serve another alpha since I wasn’t exactly a model master.
I couldn’t believe I had lost the position that had always been in my lineage. My ancestors must be ashamed of me right now. I wondered what I would say to them if I meet them right now. I should have listened when they had told me to find a mate. If I had listened to them then, it was possible that my mate would be pregnant by now and I would be assured now that I was here, the throne would still be in my lineage.
I wondered who was going to be the next alpha. Would it be my cousin or my friend? I growled. Regardless of who it was going to be, I didn’t want anyone sitting on that throne except me.
I heard footsteps again and groaned, hating that I had become an object for everyone to come to peek at when they felt like it. I felt like a caged animal at the zoo and I hated the feeling.
I caught the scent of the person approaching me and rolled my eyes while I emitted another sigh.
“Finally, my enemy comes to pay me a visit.” I smirked as he got closer.
He chuckled, his smile taunting me. “I didn’t know that you had missed me. I would have come sooner.”
“I didn’t miss you. I only wanted to kill you.”
He laughed. “I see you are still cracking your expensive joke. Didn’t I tell you that your life would end here?”
I went silent, remembering when he had said that.
“I came to check on you to see if you are doing well.”
I snorted. “Would you do well if you were me?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because you would have asked me that as well to mock me if I was the one in your shoes.”
“You can leave now that you’ve mocked me.” I hissed at him.
“You think I’m done?” He laughed.
“What do you plan to do to me?” I asked while dreading the answer he would give me.
“I don’t know yet. What if we keep you as a pet? What if I decide to keep you here forever till your obsession is out of your system?”
I was mad at his words and getting mad the more he spoke. I was the one who decided someone’s fate and not my fate decided by a lowly wolf that I would love to wrap my hands around his neck. My emotions rose and got toxic the more he spoke. I hated the sight of him and was gradually losing it.
“Do you mind excusing me? I need to eat the food your father-in-law brought in before it gets cold.”
He nodded. “I’m glad you still have your appetite. Let’s talk when you are no longer hungry. Maybe your anger would have dissipated.”
He wished. I scoffed as I watched him walk away. I was afraid I would run mad if someone had to come here to check up on me again and I would be damned if I put the food my enemy cooked in my mouth, poisoned or not.
I checked the food he had brought and snarled as I realized there was no utensils there. How was I expected to eat without a spoon? How much lower were they going to treat me as an animal?
I knew a spoon wasn’t there because they didn’t want me to injure myself with it.
“Bastards.” I hissed, wondering what their concerns were if I made a mess of myself or not. It wasn’t like they were going to spare me so what was the point of keeping me alive?.
Kevin was right. My life was going to end here but that didn’t mean that it was going to be at his hands.
I have made choices all my life about how my fate and that of others would be. I wasn’t about to leave what would be my final fate in the hands of another person.
I hit hard at the wall behind me, hoping to get some slices of brick to rip my skin apart but it didn’t cave in. It was too strong and I only ended up with a broken and throbbing fist.
I hissed as my hand healed itself, cursing at my ability to heal faster. Kevin must want to kill me himself seeing how careful he was being with the precautions to stop me from killing myself.
I wouldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t die by his hands. I would have prepared a small vial of poison if I had known that this would happen but I had been too confident about winning that I didn’t think of my escape plan should I lose the war.
There was no way of breaking out of this dungeon and there was no way of ending my life. This must be a joke. Kevin certainly had the worst humor I had ever seen.
I remembered his words earlier and barked out a bitter laugh. He was right. It was something that I would have done as well.
Nemesis must be trying so hard to catch up with me. I wondered what I had done to deserve this from karma except wanting to get rid of an enemy.
I laid my head to rest, shunning the voice of my general ringing and echoing in my head. Your obsession would be the death of you. I sighed as I nodded. It certainly had.
Kevin’s POV
“How is he?” Liam asked the moment I stepped back into the house.
I shook my head in response. I didn’t know what to say about him. He didn’t act broken the way I had thought he would. He didn’t seem to regret picking a fight. He seemed more angry than I had ever seen him. I didn’t think he could get any more despicable but he had successfully put my theory to shame and shown me that he was more than ready to break whatever record I had set for him.
“What are you going to do about him?” Ella asked, breaking into my thoughts.
I sighed. Honestly, I didn’t know. I was tired of thinking of what I could do about Kenneth that wouldn’t haunt me later or put my pack in danger. I couldn’t think about letting him go, not the way he was at the moment, brimming with rage and hatred. I suspected that part of his hatred was towards himself but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t orchestrate a payback attack if I let him go.
I didn’t dare let him go at this moment, not the way he was, even if I hated myself for keeping him captive and had sleepless nights over it.
“Should we kill him?” Damien asked.
Hell no. I blanched with horror as I turned to look at him. We wouldn’t stoop down to his level. There was no fun in beating a man that had already fallen and Kenneth was worse than a fallen man.
Damien narrowed his eyes at me, seeming to read the thought in my head from the expression on my face.
He snorted at me. “I can’t believe you are still worried of killing him. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill you if you were in his shoes. Do you want to let him go then? We would all be dead if that happened. His army might be disappointed in him for killing the general because he opposed him but that didn’t mean he can’t get back on his side and against us with some words he had thoroughly thought through.”
Liam nodded and turned to me. “Damien is right, my lord. You can’t keep him alive forever. He isn’t someone you can propose a treaty to. He will agree to it to be set free now and come back to attack you when you are at peace, deluding yourself and not expecting him.”
I wasn’t expecting him to agree to a treaty as well. I didn’t think of that. I didn’t think he would honor the promise of a treaty. I wasn’t that stupid. I only wanted not to have his blood on my hands and still protect my pack? Why was it so hard to find a common ground?
Liam continued. “You have to make a choice soon. We have to go home and you can’t leave him here in Zeke’s house forever. That would be putting your father-in-law’s life at risk and also endangering the pack when he breaks out. We all know he gets more dangerous after losing a battle or a target he wants and he has wanted to end your life for the past five years. I don’t want to start imagining what would be going on in his head at this moment.”
I wanted to tell Liam that I didn’t want a reminder of what Kenneth was like or an analysis of his behavior. We all know how he was.
“Should we cut all his limbs and pull out his tongue?” Andre suggested. “You don’t have to kill him and that way, he isn’t much of a threat to us as well.”
Damn, my soldiers were more imaginative than I was.
I sighed, making my choice. They were right. I couldn’t keep wasting time because I didn’t want to turn into an animal like Kenneth was.
“Let’s go to the dungeon. We can make his death as painless as possible.”
“That’s the alpha I know.” Damien grinned at me.
“Damien and Liam, the two of you will go with me.” I said.
“Yes.” They both said, stood up and followed me outside.
I never expected the sight I met when I got to the dungeon. There Kenneth was, lying dead in a pool of his own blood. From the look of how his cell was, he had committed suicide. I wondered how he had done that knowing how much I had tried to prevent that from happening.
Why was he so much in a hurry? I was relieved that he hadn’t made me do what I didn’t want to do.
I checked the plate on the floor and his body and found out how he had killed himself. He had bent the iron plate and stuck it hard in his heart to pierve it and then cut his wrist repeatedly so he could bleed out.
His body couldn’t repair itself with the plate stuck in his heart. He must have been in pain but had kept on slashing at himself with the plate so he could blood quickly and didn’t get to heal.
I sighed at the gruesome corpse lying in there. “Get rid of him.” I said to Liam and Damien who went in to carry his corpse and burn it.
I gave out a long exhale when I saw his body being carried out. The war was finally over, I thought not knowing that it wasn’t anywhere near being over.