KRUEL's P.O.V
It had been two days since we put Demitria to rest and Zarya had been doing her best to get over her best friend's death but I knew my sister better than anyone.
I guess you could call it a twin's intuition.
It was taking quite the toll on her and I was worried about her but I knew when to try to console her and when to let her feel her feelings.
She was strong.
She would get passed through it.
We all would.
Somewhere between handling some pack paperwork, I temporarily detached myself from my emotions. Work needed to be done and as much as I knew we were grieving, the pack had to pick itself up.
"Knock, knock." My beta peeked his head into my office and proceeded to come in without my permission.
Deciding to ignore him like I usually did, I spared him a brief glance before carrying on with my business.
"Well good afternoon to you too." He sarcastically said, making his way further into the room and closing the door behind him. I looked at him again and then back at the paperwork. "Why, thank you. I will take a seat." He sat on the couch adjacent to my desk.
"The hell you want?" I asked once I put the files that were in my hand to the side. He stared at me unnecessarily long and I couldn't help the heavy sigh and eye roll that I gave. "Use your words, Christian."
"How's Zarya doing?" And just like that, Mr. Comedian was gone.
"As far as I know, you're her mate. You should know how she's doing." I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.
"Well, that's kind of hard seeing as she hasn't spoken to me since Demitria's burial." His tone seemed a little irritated. That was unusual, "I'm trying to give her space and all, but it's getting harder by the minute. I can feel everything she's feeling and it's all thanks to the fucking mate bond." He stood from his seat and paced back and forth in the small space.
I had seen many sides to Christian but never in all my years of being his best friend had I ever witnessed an angered Christian.
"Why is she doing this to me?! I have every fucking right to know what's bothering her and how she's coping!!" He growled out, his eyes shifting from green to gold.
Well, this was definitely new.
"Why don't you take a breath? Hm?" I suggested and he took my advice. He breathed in slowly and let it out but just when we finally made progress, Zarya walked in and Christian's eyes began to shift again.
Oh fucking great!! Note the sarcasm.
Christian stormed out of my office just as Zarya came in and when she tried to go after him, I pulled her back.
"Let him go. He needs this." She thought my words over for a while before nodding slowly. "What do you have there?" I asked, referring to the envelope she had in her hand.
"It's an Order." She responded.
"An Order?" I couldn't remember the last time an order was sent out. It must've been when my father was still alpha. "What does it say?"
"In summary, it requests that you and every other Alpha meet up." She explained.
"Who requested this?" I took the envelope from her hand and opened it.
"The Alpha of All Alphas."
***
The bastard alpha king sent us a ride to his pack a little over an hour ago.
Three hours had passed and we still hadn't made it to the Black Chasm Pack. The drive was painfully slow because Zarya had insisted the driver take it slow to avoid accidents.
The driver didn't argue but I could tell he didn't like the idea.
I'd definitely call her out on her silly request but that would earn me a five hour lecture and who knows how long we'd be in this goddamn car.
I was extremely impatient and only for two reasons. One- to meet this fucking alpha who thinks he can have meetings whenever the hell he feels like, and... Two- to find the bastard that killed Demitria.
"Are you alright?" Zarya asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" At my response, Zarya took out a mirror from her bag and handed it over to me to look at myself.
Oh crap!...
My eyes were pitch black and bluish-purple veins popped out of my neck.
"Fuck!" I cursed, running my hand through my hair. I dug my claws into my palms and shut my eyes tightly in an attempt to calm myself down.
I began to take deep breaths and I felt my body start to ease slowly. I could also feel the blood trickling on my palms and I must say... it hurt like a bitch but it would heal soon so I could handle the pain.
'You scare Zarya when you do that.' Eren taunted.
'Just fuck off, would you?' I responded with my eyes still shut.
'I've been trying to for the last couple of years but apparently I can't because we share a body.' I could practically see him rolling his eyes.
'If you're going to be sarcastic, the least you could do is not be a pussy while doing it.' This shut him up and before he could comeback at me, I blocked him out.
"We're here." I heard Zarya say with uneasiness.
Opening my eyes, I was surprised at the view before me. This place was said to be the deadliest but the surrounding looked so.... unreal. The grass was greener than green can possibly be, and tall trees stretched for miles.
What amazed me the most was the training field. There were thousands of warriors training and judging by the different colours they were wearing, I could tell they were all in different ranks. As I looked closer, I noticed the back side of someone who didn't look quite like a warrior but she was dressed in training gear and standing in a fighting position, going up against a guy who could easily take on at least six of her.
This was pathetic.
Women weren't allowed to become warriors for a reason.
They were meant to stay home and take care of the little ones because that was the order of things. This pack didn't seem all that tough to me now.
Any pack could easily take them down if this was the way they functioned.
"Is she really going to fight him?" Even Zarya questioned the tiny human's abilities.
"If you ask me, she wouldn't be able to—" Just then, the man was thrown over the female's shoulders and pinned to the ground with ease and speed I had never seen before.
"Oh my goddess. She just threw him as if he were a piece of paper." Zarya covered her mouth in shock and I had to admit that I was just as surprised as she was.
She continued by twisting the man's arm up his back until he tapped out.
Standing, she dusted herself off before taking off the gloves she wore and throwing them to the ground.
And she was quite cocky too.
But that wasn't what had me staring at her retreating figure.
There was just something about her that I couldn't put my finger on.
"The alphas are all settled in the main hall." The driver spoke up as the doors were opened and we all stepped out, "You might want to follow me."
And just like that, he walked towards what I could've sworn was the largest pack house I had ever come by in all my life as alpha.
"It's so...."
"Dark." Zarya decided to complete my sentence with a word I wasn't quite looking for but she was right.
This place had the stench of malevolence in every corner and I didn't like it.
No, saying that I didn't like this place would be an understatement. Everything was dark and gloomy and I wasn't just saying that because of the fact that there was barely any light in here. Even the twelve guards that stood on either side of the passage way added to the deathly air of the environment, not make this place any less threatening. Zarya squeezed my arm and I knew she didn't like this place either.
When we finally got to the two mahogany doors, I looked over at Zarya who was visibly shaking.
"What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"I don't like it here. I just feel this.... this power. It's nothing like I've ever felt before." Zarya was gifted with some ability that we still had no name for. She was able to feel supernatural energy around and this was the most shaken I'd ever seen her.
"Go back to the car then." I suggested.
"What? And leave you alone?" She snapped out of her trance almost immediately.
"You're saying it like something bad is going to happen to me." I rolled my eyes playfully. "I'm the alpha of the second most feared pack. Who could possibly dare to harm me?"
Thinking it over, she sighed and gave in to my request. "Alright, I'll go, but only because I don't want to feed your ego."
Giving my hand one final squeeze, Zarya left and took whatever ounce of patience I had a while ago.
I barged into the room and all the alphas present turned their attention to me. Some visibly shifted uncomfortably in their seats and to say that I felt great inside would be me trying to be modest.
"WHERE'S THE ALPHA?!" I growled out, failing to control myself anymore. I just wanted to rip out his throat for letting one of his filthy pack members to kill Demitria.
"The alpha will be here any minute." I heard someone say. He didn't look like an alpha and he sure as hell didn't smell like it but he was the only one who didn't seem phased by the power and authority radiating off of me.
"And who the hell might you be?" I questioned with a raised brow, challenging him as I took a step further towards the table which was annoyingly further away from where I was standing.
I didn't know what it was exactly but I could've sworn the temperature in the room turned cooler and I became far less angry than before.
Only when a scent so sweet and enticing reached my nostrils did I realise what was going on and the more that I walked further into the room, the more I was intoxicated by the scent I had hoped I'd never ever find.
My mate's scent.