Chapter 96

Third Person POV

Oh my god he’s screaming, Alaric shrieked to himself, terror filling his veins. The sound didn’t last even a second before Lucius had shoved a cloth in his uncle’s mouth, silencing him.

“We gotta move,” Alaric muttered, hopeful that Mia was out there in the halls being the best distraction in the entire city.

Lucius took his uncle by the ankles, and he took his shoulders. Alaric had forgotten just how big his uncle was — not only was he a broad, big-boned man, he also packed on a decent amount of weight.

With his body going limp in the grasp, it only got harder to move. Alaric swore he heard shuffling outside in the halls, his heart throbbing in his throat.

They shuffled his body to the trapdoor, counting the seconds as they passed. Lucius set the King down, slipping down the ladder to catch him as Alaric slid him down.

By now, he’d gone entirely limp, his muscles somewhat stiff. The poison had taken enough effect, immobilizing him almost entirely. His eyes were open to mere slits, glazed over and unblinking.

Alaric locked eyes with Sienna, who was waiting just down the tunnel, the electric lamp in her hand. Her brows were furrowed, probably wondering about the screaming.

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Alaric sighed, closing the trapdoor behind them, sealing them all back into the dark. “But we made it.”

“He has quite the set of vocal cords on him,” Sienna laughed, her smile tight.

“We’re still on track,” Lucius cut in, lifting the King by the ankles again. “The faster we get to the pits, the faster this is over.”

“He really doesn’t station guards inside?” Sienna asked, leading the way to the left and north towards the pits.

“Never has,” Alaric shrugged. “Guess it worked in our favor that he thought he was safe from everything.”

“Stupid, if you ask me,” Lucius mumbled. “Why ever assume you’re safe in a position like that?”

“My uncle always knew I would come for him,” Alaric smirked, looking down at the unconscious King.

The tunnels were starting to smother Alaric, sweat beading at his temples, sticking his newly black hair to his olive skin. It felt good to be back to himself.

“Jeez, it’s miserable down here,” Lucius practically panted, his own hair sticking to his forehead.

“Doesn’t help that we’re dragging this beast,” Alaric growled, the dead weight of his uncle starting to pull at his muscles too.

“Not for much longer,” Sienna hummed, and Alaric could feel the chilled breeze wafting down the tunnel as they approached the massive cavern of the pits. He could sense the size ahead, the vastness of the space haunting him.

Soon, his uncle would be down there forever.

Sienna stopped just outside the wall of darkness, the air much colder now. Lucius looked to Alaric, and he nodded, setting the King down a few safe feet from the edge.

Alaric removed the gag from his uncle’s mouth, chuckling at the low groan that he let out. The poison took away his ability to speak, though it was quite obvious how hard he was resisting it.

Always a fighter until the bitter end.

“You can’t win this time, uncle,” Alaric whispered, shaking his head. “It’s time you pay for all your wrongdoings.”

A gurgling sound was all that came from the King, knowing his fate was sealed. It was his own fault for allowing Alaric to stay alive all this time, always so sure that he’d come back for him, one way or another.

Then a high pitched scream rips Alaric from his focus on his uncle, his eyes bulging when he sees Sienna in the grasp of a rogue, a dagger to her neck, hovering at the deadly edge of the pit.

With just a single little push, the rogue could send her toppling to her death.

“Wait,” Alaric choked out, the electric lamp having fallen on its side a few feet away, casting the faintest light across all of them, shadows swallowing up everything else.

“All you Alpha’s deserve to die,” the rogue hissed, their hood draped so far over their face that Alaric couldn’t tell any of their features.

“That’s unfair,” Lucius said, braced for attack.

Alaric was aware of every muscle in his body, knowing exactly which ones he needed to rely on to leap forward and take the rogue out before they could hurt Sienna.

When Alaric looked at Sienna, she looked surprisingly calm, but he sensed fear coming from somewhere else in her.

It was the baby.

Help us, Daddy, it cried, the words so loud and clear in his head that he lost his balance for a split second, a dizziness grabbing hold of his head.

The baby is mine, Alaric thought to himself, an overwhelming joy seizing him. Some part of him always knew that Sienna wouldn’t have slept with Lucius, but it’d been hard to get her words out of his head.

Of course the baby was his. And of course Sienna was his fated mate — it was all so obvious now.

Without wasting another second, Alaric leapt forward, knocking the dagger out of the rogues hand. It clattered down onto the ground and over the edge of the pit, Sienna slipping out of the rogues grasp at the same time, ducking towards Lucius.

In another split second, the rogue was over the edge, disappearing into the darkness, their scream echoing for a while before a going awfully silent.

That’s when everything really started to move in slow motion.

Lucius stumbled back, Sienna gasped, and Alaric frowned, realizing too late that his uncle had lifted his foot, somehow defying the effects of the poison, slamming it into Alaric’s knee.

His knee buckled from the impact, and he fell, his hands scraping the rough dirt of the tunnel. His foot couldn’t catch a grip on anything, and he began to slide, too close to the edge of the pits.

Lucius lunged for him, but the King lifted his fist, intercepting him and punching him right in the temple, disabling him during a critical moment.

Alaric felt the gravity falling out from under him, panic encompassing his whole body. He was falling straight into the pits, and no one could save him.

“Alaric!!!” Sienna shrieked at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing through the cavern behind him. Lucius blocked most of the tunnel, forcing her to scramble over him, losing precious time.

There was nothing Alaric could do, his nails digging into the bare dirt, grabbing nothing at all, barely slowing his slide down. Soon, he would lose any chance and go into free-fall.

Sienna was screaming, tears pouring down her face as she tripped again, the electric lamp cracking as it falls over, the light dimming even further than before.

His uncle lifted his ankle again, the tiniest bit, bringing it smashing down against Alaric’s knuckles, pain ricocheting through him. Even then, he didn’t let go, fumbling so hard for the last scraps of life.

And then Alaric watched in utter astonishment as Sienna leapt through the air, transforming into her beautiful grey wolf for the first time in so, so long, a howl of utter determination blasting through the tunnel.