Chapter 165

Xaden’s POV

“This is it!” Emily said as she brushed the leaves and dirt off a wood latch. It blended in with the forest around it and was close to a giant oak tree. Nobody would have seen this unless they knew what they were looking for. But the blue dust was all over the latch, which meant this was where Kenneth was.

My father was the one who got the latch open, and he turned to my mother and sister before entering.

“Stay here with some of the guards,” he ordered. “I’m not sure what we are going to find.”

“I want to go too,” Char complained, trying to wiggle out of my mother’s embrace.

“It’s too dangerous,” my father told her.

“Just stay here, Char,” I said, turning to her. “We’ll be back soon.”

Char looked as if she wanted to argue, but she bit her tongue and nodded, stepping back towards our mother. I turned to my father who gave me a nod before he started down the stairway into hell. At least that’s what it looked like; the stairway was deep and dark; I couldn’t see where exactly we were going, but with my wolf sight, I could see each step I made as I reached the bottom of the hidden room.

Nicholas, some of his gammas, Lucas, Mia, and some of the Vixen warriors, were behind me. Emily stayed above the ground with my mother and sister, wishing us luck on our short journey.

Once we reached the bottom, we saw that the hallway we ended up in was lit by undying candlelight. I knew they were enchanted to stay burning that way they never needed to be lit again. This entire place was detailed to run without any maintenance, which was how Kenneth liked it.

I followed my father down the windy hallway, passing by the different doors until we reached the end of the hall. Once we were under the ground, I could smell Kenneth, and I could also get a whiff of Maeve. It was making my wolf go crazy, wanting to run to her and protect her, but I knew I needed to tread cautiously and bypass my father to run carelessly into the dungeon, I knew it was a bad idea, so I remained behind him, willing my wolf to be patient.

My father burst into the room we all knew Maeve was being held in; the main part of the dungeon it seemed because there were many cell blocks in the vast space. Kenneth was bowing on the ground, and I froze when I saw Maewve glowing with a white wolf submerging around her.

“Maeve!” I yelled as I ran towards her.

“Isabelle?” Nicholas asked, her eyes narrowed at his sister. She was whimpering on the ground, tears streaking down her cheeks and her phone resting beside her. I barely paid her any attention as I ran to catch Maeve who was no longer glowing but falling to the ground. Her eyes closed tightly.

My father ran to tackle Kenneth to the ground, preventing him from going anywhere while Lucas and Mia, along with the gammas and Vixen warriors, prevented the few guards in the dungeon from leaving.

I got to Maeve before she officially hit the ground. She was out cold though. She was filthy and had bruises around her body which made my stomach twist. Her throat was purple and blue like she had been strangled or something. She had some traces of blood on her lips as well and I wondered what the hell happened to her down here.

“Maeve…” I whispered, tapping her cheek lightly, trying to get her to wake up.

“Is she breathing?” My father asked, his teeth baring as he glared at Kenneth, but I knew he was talking to me.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Good,” he said, grabbing Kenenth’s throat and shoving him against the cement wall, cracking it in the process. “You have a lot to answer for, Alpha,” my father growled at him.

His eyes were wide.

“H… how did you find me?” Kenneth asked, trying to get some air but struggling as my father tightened his hold around Kenneth’s throat.

“You really thought you could hide from me?” King Arlan asked mockingly. “I trusted you, Alpha.” He added, spitting the word “Alpha” like it was a bad taste on his tongue. His eyes shifted from Kenneth down to Isabelle. “And you…I should have known you were a part of this too. Does Henry know of the despicable games you played?”

“P…please don’t tell him, Alpha King,” Isabelle said, tears streaking down her cheeks. “I… I was only going along with my father. I didn’t want any part of this…”

“She had nothing to do with this,” Kennet tried to say, blood trickling down the sides of his neck as my father’s nails dug deep into his flesh.

“Then why is Maeve’s picture on her phone?” My father asked, his wolf nearly taking control completely.

I kept Maeve in my arms, her head resting against my shoulder and I glanced at Isabelle’s phone which was still on the ground. A picture of Maeve’s dirty and bruised face comes into view. Maeve had been crying and Isabelle took a picture of it.

“What else is on her phone?” I asked, glancing at Lucas.

Without hesitation, Lucas grabbed Isabelle’s phone. Isabelle attempted to grab it first, but Lucas was faster.

“It…It’s not what it looks like,” she stammered; she was afraid of what we were going to find on her phone. Which made my stomach knot even more.

Lucas went through her phone, his face paling with each swipe he made. A video started to play on his phone and Isabelle’s taunting was clear as day. I could also hear the soft sounds of Maeve’s cries and anger surged through me.

I could also hear Kenneth explaining to Maeve that in order for her to survive the birth of her baby, she would need to be marked and mated. He was going to use this video to make Nicholas mark Maeve to save her life.

I glared at Nicholas, who was completely white in the face. I had never seen him look like this before; he was the head commander of the Royal Gamma force. He was always so sure of himself and confident. He portrayed himself as someone who never had a care in the world, but at the moment, he looked like a helpless little boy who was just told that Santa wasn’t real. He stared up at his father, his eyes blazing with contempt, hurt, and anger.

“Father… how could you do that?” Nicholas asked, his tone hardening as he slowly got himself back together.

“I did this for you!” Kenneth rasped out. “You deserve a strong mate and strong heir.”

“No…” Nicholas said, shaking his head. “You did this for you. This had nothing to do with me… this was all for yourself. You wanted a strong Enigma in our pack. What was your game plan, Dad? To use this child to take over the werewolf nation?”

“That’s exactly what he was planning,” King Arlan growled, fur sprouting from his body as the Alpha King’s wolf emerged, a loud and deadly growl sounded throughout the entire dungeon, making the grounds shake violently.

My attention was shifted back to Lucas who was still going through the phone. The sounds of screams and choking came from the phone and Lucas nearly dropped it.

“Holy shit,” Mia said, staring at the phone as well, her face pale. “They force-fed her… oh Goddess…”

“Shut it off,” I demanded, not able to stomach hearing the sounds anymore.

Lucas did as I commanded immediately and shoved the phone into his pocket.

‘We are keeping that for evidence…” Lucas muttered, with Mia nodding in agreement.

“We need to get Maeve out of here,” I said, turning to my father who was baring his wolf’s canines at Kenneth, wanting to rip his throat out. I knew my father felt betrayed in more ways than one. He trusted Alpha Kenneth with his life; not only was he a trusted ally for years, but my father also thought of him as a friend.

But I knew we were never going to get answers if Kenneth died, and my father knew it too. We still had so many questions for Kenneth and emotions were too wound up to truly ask any of them. Punishment needed to be made, but for right now, we needed to get Maeve to safety and make sure she was okay.

I turned to the guards and Vixen warriors who stood behind us, preventing the other corrupt guards from leaving.

“Take them to the royal dungeon,” I ordered. “All of them,” I added, glancing down at a sobbing Isabelle.

I turned to Lucas.

“Inform Henry of his darling wife,” I said sharply; Lucas nodded and started to leave but he paused when he saw that Mia wasn’t coming with him.

“Are you coming?” He asked.

She put her hands on her hips.

“You go ahead,” she said. “I’m staying here so I can make sure Maeve is okay.”

He looked a bit hurt that she wouldn’t go with him, but after a moment, he nodded and then left. My father finally managed to get control of his wolf, and he was back to his normal self, though rage was still burning in his glowing eyes and he refused to let Kenneth go.

“Wait… please… don’t1” Isabelle sobbed as one of the gammas cuffed her and dragged her to her feet. She struggled against him, but it was no use. He was too strong, and she was too small; mouthy, but small.

Nicholas handed my father silver cuffs, and he put them around Kenneth’s wrists.

He threw Kenenth towards the waiting gammas.

“Question him. Make sure he talks,” he ordered. “I don’t care what needs to be done. He will be punished for his deeds. As will his daughter.”

The gammas nodded and dragged both Kenneth and Isabelle out of the dungeon.

“And what about them?” One of the other gammas who remained asked, pointing at the corrupted guards who worked for Kenneth and took part in keeping Maeve here.

“They are the ones who held her down and force-fed her,” Mia explained, having seen the video when Lucas played it. “Their manhandling of her is what caused the bruises on her face and the tube shoved down her throat is what caused the nasty bruising around her throat.”

My wolf flared with anger at the sound of that.

“Kill them,” my father ordered as he started to walk towards the exit. “Immediately.”

Part of me wanted to stick around to watch as the royal gammas called their wolves forward and started to shift. I wanted to watch my mate’s torturers being killed, but also didn’t want to chance Maeve waking up while it was happening. I wanted to get her to safety. Plus, my mother and sister would start to worry if I didn’t return to the surface with the others.

So, I left the dungeon with Mia and her vixens behind me. I smiled when I heard the growling and the frantic screaming just as the sounds of flesh being torn sounded the entire dungeon.