Chapter 33

Chaos erupted around us. Kinsley and the servants around screamed, but the Beta hadn’t even had the chance to scream. I gasped as blood poured from his very open throat as he dropped to the floor, a pool of blood now surrounding him. I looked at the Alpha King, worried that maybe I was next since I couldn’t utter the words of rejection. Would he hate me now? Was I next?

“Why did you do that?!” Kinsley shrieked. “He was our Beta!”

“I wanted the bond severed. I had to be sure.” The Alpha King shrugged, but he wasn’t even trying to hide the smirk on his face.

I looked to Adrian whose mouth was set in a small frown, but his eyes were wide. He didn’t say a word, which honestly surprised me.

“You have no idea who you are messing with!” Kinsley screeched, snapping Adrian out of his shock. “There are things going on that even you, Alpha King Rhys are unaware of! We could have helped you!” Adrian grabbed her, and started to drag her out of the room, but she kept yelling. “You will regret this!”

I tuned her out as I watched the Alpha King’s eyes glaze over. I knew now that meant he was mindlinking someone, and if I had any guesses, it was probably to tell Beta Leon to follow them.

He then turned his attention to me, and I felt my nerves flutter. He wasn’t looking at me with hate, but I could see the confusion on his face.

“You aren’t in pain?” He asked, gently touching my face.

I shook my head slowly. I didn’t feel any different at all.

“Did you want to be marked?" He asked calmly, but there was tension in his voice like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

I shook my head quicker this time and wished that I had my chalkboard. I wasn’t sure how to convey to him that I wasn’t sure it was the Beta who had marked me.

I thought for a moment, which was kinda hard to do under the Alpha’s King’s scrutiny, but then I had an idea.

I pointed to the crumpled body on the floor.

“The Beta?” He clarified.

I nodded, and then pointed to the mark on my neck and then made an X with my arms, hoping that he would understand what I was talking about.

“You don’t-” He started, but was cut off as the door swung open with a bang causing me to flinch.

“That was dramatic, Leon.” Alpha King Rhys teased with a slight smirk. I was so confused at how he could be so light in a moment like this.

“My apologies, my King,” Leon said breathlessly. “But they’re gone.”

All sense of teasing disappeared, and the Alpha King face twisted into fury.

“What did you just say?” He asked, forcing a calm I know he didn’t feel.

“Alpha Adrian, Luna Kinsley and their ENTIRE pack have disappeared. We’ve looked everywhere. It’s just like before. They must have a secret hiding place, but I checked all the usual placements for one and I have found no trace of them or a hiding spot.”

The Alpha King slammed his hand onto the coffee table, channeling all of his rage into that hit effectively causing the coffee table to snap in half, and the Alpha King to appear slightly calmer.

“We have been deceived. Do you see Grace’s neck?” The Alpha King growled.

“She’s still marked? I thought you killed the guy who marked her?” Leon frowned, looking over to the dead body that still laid between us and the doorway.

“Clearly, he died because his Alpha framed him.” The Alpha King sneered. “He probably would have died in the end anyway, but it’s a pity that we didn’t get more answers from him. This pack is full of lies and deceit and I want to know all of it. Leon, I want us to go over our contracts with them again to see if what they were asking for from us has any further relevance. I want a search party left here, and nobody from it leaves till they are found. We will not let a random pack cause this much disruption without severe consequences.”

“Yes sir.”

“Tell Gwen that she is in charge here, and that we are leaving.” He said shortly, before ‘sneaking’ a glance at me and softening a bit. “We’ve tortured Grace enough here today.”

I looked at him in surprise and felt incredibly vulnerable. Did he really care about how I was feeling? Could he really tell that I was beginning to feel the anxiety eating me alive? That flashes of my life here kept flashing before my eyes? Did he really see me?

He reached his hand out to me, and I took it without a second thought. He wasn’t mad at me for not being able to speak in front of everyone. He didn’t hate me. At least I didn’t think so.

We made the walk to the car in silence. Both of us looking around as if they would attack us for the stunt Alpha King Rhys had pulled earlier, but it was eerily silent. There was nothing except the sound of the wind, which sounded like it was howling in the silence.

The Alpha King opened the door for me and I climbed in tiredly, suddenly exhausted from the day. The Alpha King climbed in on the other side and pulled me into him. I immediately felt comforted and laid my head on his lap, laying across the back seats.

“Grace? Are you alright?” He asked with worry in his voice.

I shrugged. I could barely hear him. All I could see was my past. That night in the dungeon, the mysterious attacker who had had no fear in marking me. Who had been furious I wouldn’t go further with him. How I barely escaped with my life. How bad my body had hurt in that time.

“You can talk to me Grace,” He tried, and there was a bit of a plea in his voice. “I’ll listen. I know today had to have been hard for you. But you did so good.”

I nodded absently as the scene from that night replayed over and over in my head. The way he grabbed me, the way it was all blurry. As much as I wanted to tell the Alpha King where my head was, I couldn’t. There was nothing to say. The anxiety had melted away. All I felt was nothing.