Untouchable by Marii Solaria

hapter 77 Choice "You make choices that are good and sound, but the gods have other plans for you." - Lisa See Neron un with Oxygen forced itself into my lungs in a successful attempt to arousefrom unconsciousness. I woke up a startled gasp, along with the throbbing pain in the back of my head. My vision swirled with dark, indescribable colors as I rubbed the tender spot, aching for relief. Scrunching up my nose at the foul stench of death and blood assaulted my nostrils, the frigid air billowing around my form nipped at my naked flesh. It wasn't natural to go from burning under the torrid sun to shivering under the ruthless cold.

The last thing I remembered was Lady Sanguine tacklingand falling backward into a shadowy mass that knockedinto oblivion. However, once my vision cleared, I took in the surroundings that had the power to make the strongest men quiver in the knees.

in a cell. A dirtied, fetid cell with rusted chains hanging from the walls with no windows for the sweet solace of the light. The air carried the essence of past prisoners, their haunting spirits wailing before falling into a deafening silence. Ghosts of the past were warningto proceed with caution, for things aren't what they seem here.

Lady Sanguine broughthere. This meant that I was far from my teammates and alone in an unknown place that could end up as my grave. I couldn't ignore the heavy chills barreling down my spine as I rose on my feet, groaning at the tender back and muscle aches pulsating around me. The prison bars stood in front of me, posing as either my escape or my seal. Walking toward it, I grasped a bar simply to retract when audible sizzling echoed, my hand screaming in pain.

"Fuck!" I cursed, gripping my wrist. "Silver!" Lady Sanguine went the extra mile to ensure I wouldn't get the chance to make an escape. The pain subsided after a minute, but my anger didn't. She won't keepin here like a caged dog! I raised the hem of my shirt to my teeth and tore sfabric out to act as my shield for the bars.

It isn't much, but it'll do.

Wrapping the torn fabric around the bars, I grasped it again and gave it a good shake. Clicking and clanking from the lock alertedthat the bars were unlocked this entire time. Part ofwas elated, but the other was suspicious. My eyes narrowed when I slid the bars open with ease, my heart picking up pace. One foot over the threshold and I'm out.

This was too easy. There is no way in hell Lady Sanguine would forget to lock the gates. I grew uneasy at the prospect of this becoming another trap. But trap or not, I need to find the woman in black.

"Be careful, Neron." Onyx warned. "Thone: no telling what is lurking in the shadows." I slipped out of my prison into the echoing hallway, illuminated by flickering torches hanging on the walls. Prisons stood on either side of me, separated by a thick brick wall coated in muck and grime. The dark ambience added to the deathly mystery and darkness, obscuring its horrors in a haze of black. To think that Kiya was roaming these halls madesick to my stomach.

Her bright and beautiful soul didn't belong here.

175 Walking through the dungeon halls brought back repressed memories of when I'd go down to the prisons below the packhouse to hurt Kiya. Anger was my only friend, urgingto do the worst, to mend the pain of losing Mom and Nuria, Slams of the prison doors bombarded my cars in real tas I remembered my mate's small body cowering in the corner, frightened of what will happen next.

My stomach churned. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to turn on my heels and run. This place, albeit different, remindedof the monster I previously was. But what if that monster was still alive? What if it is just waiting for its moment to cout? My eyes welled up in tears at the thought.

But I stayed. Because I needed to find Kiya buried deep in Lady Sanguine.

As I walked, the acrid aroma of blood burned every olfactory receptor in my nose. Fear trickled down my back when I realized the blood belonged to people I knew well. Following the trail of spilled blood with hastened speed, I cacross Ashley and Steven in two separate prison cells, bleeding. Their haggard breathing echoed with their pained wheezes as flood profusely seeped out of their large and plethoric wounds like crimson waterfalls into the pool steadily growing underneath their knees.

They were carved up like turkeys.

Ashley looked up atand relief washed over her dark eyes as she sobbed. "Neron. O-Oh my Goddess, you're here!" 1 jiggled the woman's prison bars, finding them unlocked. Slipping in, I ran to Ashley to check the chains imprisoning her to the wall only to have her shake her head. "Don't touch them! They're made of silver." From her raw and reddening wrists, anyone could've guessed that, "Ashley, what happened?" I asked, kneeling away from the pool of blood. "Can you tellwho did this to you?" Brown eyes gazed into mine, weak and pleading. A sigh escaped her lips as tears fell from her eyes. "My baby girl, S-She chere to “vent' out her frustrations and started cuttingup with her knife. She did the sto Steven. Goddess, his screaming.

Rage. That is all that could describe the torture marred on Ashley's brown skin. Every cut, deep and superficial, told a story of how much fury Lady Sanguine harbored in her body. And it terrified me.

"Neron..." Ashley whimpered. "Run for your life. K-Kiya has gone insane. She attacked our land, and this is what she did to us. There is no telling what she could do to you if she has the opportunity. I...I don't think we can stop her." I narrowed my eyes, frowning. "Are you tellingto give up on her?" "I'm telling you to save your own ass before she kills you!" She huffed, her body trembling in spontaneous pain. "Nothing we say will make her see reason. I'm her mother and I can't reach her heart, and neither can her father. I don't know what else to do. When she comes back, we're all dead." "Not if I find her first." I growled, fists clenching. "It is shameful that you're just going to give up on Kiya like this. That got us into this mess. You need to face the facts that Kiya will never forgive you or Steven for your past transgressions." "Whatever hold that man has on her is absolute, Neron!" She winced and later started coughing. More blood Chapter 77 Choice spurted out of her wounds, soaking her clothes in crimson. "What else do you think we should do? Because, from the looks of it, this hellhole will becour graves, anyway! She is lost to us!" Onyx growled in the recesses of my mind, furious at the elder Beta. Neither of us believe we lost Kiya to the darkness because she isn't lost. I saw her true self sprout with Nikolai and Lyra-she is fighting to get out. If Kiya is fighting her hardest to escape, then we need to fight for her.

She may be lost to you, but not me." I snarled at the woman who flinched. "Giving up on your daughter means you're surrendering her to Osiris and I rather die than to let that happen!” "That might happen sooner than you think." Ashley fell into a fit of coughs once again, her breathing laboring. Fuck! Both she and Steven needed medical attention, but there is no way to get them the help they need. We're trapped in the dungeons with no way out in the middle of Goddess knows where.

"I need to check on Steven." "No need." A small smile appeared on the woman's face, somewhat stained with her blood. "We're connected through mind-link, remember? That is our only solace in this madness, Neron." I nodded, scratching a to-do off the list. “When Kiya and Osiris brought us here, they took your father further ahead. If, by the grace of our Moon Goddess, that they didn't kill him, he should still be there. Go to him." I stood on my feet, staring down at Ashley for a moment longer. There was so much I wanted to say but didn't find the words to do so. Giving up on Kiya might be her and Steven's prerogative, but it isn't mine. Once this craziness settles and I get Kiya back, I'll work on getting them the help they need. Werewolves are resilient, and I'm certain these two will hold out. With a weighty sigh, I turned to leave the prison, shutting the bars. behind me.

Ashley said Dad was further ahead of the dungeons, so I walked down that path. My nostrils flared, desperatel to track his scent of cardamon and cinnamon. The prisons darkened significantly the further I ran down, the light of the torches snuffed out with only a wisp of smoke to commemorate its memory. Shadows lurking in the corners watchedwith heavy eyes, tracking my every move. After about a minute of searching, I caught onto Dad's scent and bolted toward it.

Dad's scent and his blood billowed out of a grand, solid prison door with a miniature window peeking into the interior. There were torches inside his cell, flickering like a lightbulb but illuminating his face enough to expose his unhealed injuries and clothes stained with blood. I gripped the door handle and yanked it open, slowed by the heaviness of the door.

The s sound perked Dad's ears. His nostrils flared, catching onto my scent. Once his eyes found mine, his pale blues widened with shock as I stepped inside. "Dad!" "How the fuck did you get here?" He groaned, his breathing hoarse. He looked worse for wear, perhaps in worse shape than Steven and Ashley. They had guts and gashes, but Dad had literal chunks of his flesh torn out and tossed aside. My stomach did somersaults as I trudged closer to him.

"That doesn't matter. I'm here to get you out." "No, you fool! You need to get the hell out of here, son!" Dad shouted with the miniscule strength he had left in his body that wasn't zapped from his festering wounds. "You walked right into a trap!" Suddenly, a fierce blow to the back of my head knockedstraight to the ground. Pain rocketed all around 3/5 Chapter 3) - Chrice my head, blurring my vision as I heard the prison door slam behind me. The scent of honeyed strawberries and vanilla, instead of lullinginto peace, burned my nose. It was no longer sweet, clear that Kiya had changed. Mixed in her scent was the blood from Steven, Ashley, and my father.

A cruel cackle cracked the deafening silence of the prison cell as clacking of heels resounded next to me. It made my skin crawl. "It is a pleasure for you to join us, Neron. It wouldn't be a party without you." The torches roared to life, bathing the three of us in a dense, amber light. When my vision cleared, I turned to my right to see Lady Sanguine leaning against the wall by the hip with her knife in one hand and a teddy bear In another, blood smeared on her skin. Her sinister grin stretched across her face, evil glistening in her wicked eyes.

"Father and son together in a prison akin to the one you both torturedin. It has all cfull circle, hasn't It?" "Lady Sanguine," I wheezed, clutching the back of my head. "Please, reconsider on what you're about to do." Dad groaned in annoyance beside me. "It is no use, Neron. Your mate is too far gone to be reasoned with. The darkness has poisoned her mind with no chance of recovery." "No! Kiya is not gone! I refuse to believe it!" I roared at Dad. He glared at me, unflinching. "Is it a common thamongst you and the Betas to give up on her?!" "They're in the right, Neron. You can't reach your damn mate, so there is no use in trying." "There is a way to bring her back. I know there is. I won't stop until I find it.” "Then die trying, Neron."

A sardonic applause erupted from Lady Sanguine as she clutched her in Orpure teddy bear like a child waiting excitement. Her child-like giggles caused all muscles to clench throughout my body. She swung her hair behind her ear as she sighed. "What a fantastica great display of father and son love! Argue smore!" "Of course you'd find this shit amusing, you heartless bitch." Dad spat out.

"Shut up!" I bellowed, silencing him almost immediately. "I won't allow you to speak to her that way, so if you have nothing nice to say, keep it to yourself and lethandle this."

Dad scoffed in disgust, turning his head away from the scene. I couldn't afford to waste if my energy on him! apymore so focused all my attention on Lady Sanguine, peering atwith unbridled curiosity. "Lady Sanguine." "That's me." She laughed.

"You have the both of us here under your mercy. But I want to know one thing. What is it you truly want?"

"What do I want?" The woman tilted her head to the side, humming in thought. "That is a fantastic question.

I want a lot of things, Neron. Death, I revenge, blood, and to live a life free of pain and misery. However, what I want is to offer you a proposition." "Me?" 1 questioned, arching an eyebrow. "What do you wantto do?" Chapter 77 Che Lady Sanguine paced behind me, bloodied eyes glued on my form. "There is no chance in hell the your father will walk out of this prison cell alive. But you have the chance to walk out of here unharmed; to reunite with your friends and packmates. But you have to do one thing." I gulp, anxiety rocketing through my body. "W-What is it?" "You have a very important decision to make, Neron Prince. You love me, but how deep does that love go? If you lovelike you say you do..." She drops her blade and kicked it toward me; the hilt stopping at my knee.

"Kill your father for me." Chapter Comments X