Chapter 80

~Grace~

The monster!

The Elder Lycan caused this clan so much grief and pain, not to mention Liam’s mother and the ripple effect of mutual hatred it bred between werewolves and Lycans after all of these years!

He truly was the worst person I knew. I growled, and Alex squeezed my hand. I stopped myself from attacking him, only for Alex.

Alex took a step forward. He lowered his head toward Liam’s mom, a sign of respect.

“I don’t mean to discredit your story, but… Why haven’t you come forward about this before?” Alex asked, and I could hear the pain in his voice.

It’s true. If he had known about this way sooner, his whole life right now wouldn’t be a lie.

I turned toward Liam’s mom, waiting to hear her answer.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” she began, looking off to the side, “he wouldn’t let me. The Elder Lycan is more powerful than he looks. He’s got people everywhere, and his reputation is unmatched. Even if I spoke out against him, nobody would believe me.”

I nodded, slowly. That made sense. The Lycans cared so much about the Elder Lycan that they didn't let anyone, not even each other, say a single bad thing about him.

And how would it look if she told the world that she was framed? To the Lycans, she’d look like a coward and a liar, and to the werewolves, she’d look like she was just trying to weasel out of punishment.

Nobody would have believed her.

“I had to move away. Across the seas, to get away from all of this. Start a new life. I only came back to visit my son after he told me about some Lycan named Black getting married to a werewolf. I just had to see if things changed.”

I felt sick to my stomach.

“It seems like they haven’t.”

So all of this was a set up again by the Elder Lycan? Just because he didn’t want Alex and I to get married?

I looked up at Alex with tears in my eyes, but suddenly, the Elder Lycan let out a strange growl.

I looked at him and I stumbled back, horrified. He was… shifting!

Oh, my god!

The Lycan form of his towered over us, and in an instant, he rushed forward, right at Alex.

Without thinking, I jumped into his path.

It felt like time stopped.

I closed my eyes, expecting searing pain, but… there was nothing.

Was I dead? I couldn’t hear anything or feel anything.

What happened?

Slowly, I opened my eyes again, and gasped.

“Nola!” I cried, tears streaming down my face.

All sensations rushed through me at once. I could feel the thick fur of the Elder Lycan’s as I wrapped my jaws around his neck, holding him onto the ground.

I felt the strength and compassion that Nola always brought me, surging through my veins. I felt more powerful than ever.

It felt so good to be connected with Nola again.

I laughed. I didn’t know what to say.

Was I dreaming? It all felt like a dream.

After Liam had used his Alpha voice on me, and I got attacked by Rogues, I hadn’t been able to access Nola, and I feared that she was gone forever.

I was so scared that I would be the wolf that couldn’t turn into a wolf, all because of the stupid pills I took to try to have a child with Liam.

Everyone around me looked just as shocked as I did. I growled, and let go of the Elder Lycan.

He didn’t look nearly as old in his Lycan form, and being this close to a Lycan terrified me. I knew they were much stronger than I was, but perhaps because the Elder was so old, he was much weaker than the other Lycans.

Behind me, Alex snarled ferociously, and he rushed past me in a blur, tackling the Elder Lycan.

I backed up, not wanting to get in his way.

It seems that he finally saw the painful truth.

The Elder Lycan was the villain all along.

Alex fought the Elder Lycan with his bare hands. I had no doubt that he’d win this fight. He was strong enough to defeat Liam without shifting, an old man wouldn’t be a problem.

Snarls and yelps rang through the air as they fought, and I stayed ready, just in case something happened where I needed to step in.

I would protect Alex at any cost.

They tumbled around the room, knocking into tables and chairs. Despite the Lycan Elder’s age, he seemed to be keeping up with Alex just fine.

Maybe he had a lot of years of fighting experience.

The Elder Lycan bit into Alex’s shoulder and he yelled out in pain, and the hair on my back stood up. I instinctively snarled and I could feel every fiber of my being telling me to run to Alex, but I waited.

Right now, it would be more dangerous for me to intervene than it would be helpful.

Alex slashed the Elder Lycan across the face, who yelped in pain, but the Elder Lycan pounced on Alex in return, holding his foot against Alex’s neck.

Alex gasped for air, and struggled to throw the Elder Lycan off.

“Go!” I heard Nola yell, and I did. I ran so fast I was sure my feet didn't even touch the tile.

I hit the Elder Lycan in the side, sending us both crashing into tables. He quickly recovered, and I could see his giant maw open wide. Saliva dripped from each tooth, which had to be a couple inches long each.

I darted out of the way just before he clamped down on me, and Alex quickly wrestled the Elder Lycan back onto the ground.

Suddenly, I realized it.

One of the ways for the curse to be broken was to kill the one who betrayed the Black Lycan clan.

All along, it was assumed Liam’s mother was the target, but no. It was the Elder Lycan.

I howled with a newfound rage. The Elder Lycan did this to his own clan! Alex’s people suffered because of him!

He deserved to be killed!

With his blood spilled, the curse will be lifted from the Black Lycan clan, and finally, justice will be served.

It wouldn’t undo all of the awful things he’d done, but it would prevent him from doing anything to hurt anyone ever again.

Normally, I was against killing people and I believed in redemption and second chances, but the Elder Lycan didn’t deserve that.

He hurt too many people and he showed no remorse for his actions. He was this old and had spent his entire life being a nasty, crusty, dried up sack of garbage, and that’s all he would ever be.

It was time for his disgusting life to end so he would never hurt anyone ever again.

If anyone deserved to die for their crimes, it was him.

I looked at Alex, who held the Elder Lycan down with both of his hands. His face was an expression of fury.

I ran toward him. “We need to kill him!”