Chapter 92: Betrayal of Blood
Demarco stepped out of the shadows with a somber look on his face.
Demarco, what are you doing?!” Warren shouted. He was beyond baffled.
“I’ m sorry.” Demarco stared at Tallis and Warren in the cage, looking pained and conflicted.
“Why?” asked. The anger and confusion in my voice could not be hidden.
This was not at all how I envisioned the rest of the night going. I got up from the ground to face
Demarco.
Let them out! You are supposed to be our friend and Warren is your family!”
Theo, on the other hand, remained silent and composed. His gaze fell on me, and he instructed,
“Ciana, get out of here. Now.’
How could I run away without at least getting some clarification of the situation?
“Forgive me,” Demarco shook his head. “l had no choice.” “What do you mean?” I asked.
Demarco shook his head. “She is dying. The only woman I have ever loved is dying and not one healer
is capable of curing her. I can’t watch her get weaker by the day. She is my mate, my entire world… I
can’t lose her!”
“We can help too, Demarco.” I tried to reason with him.
“There are royal healers—”
Theo’s voice echoed again, a bit harsh this time. “Ciana, get out of here!”
I looked around and realized that we were surrounded by Demarco’s warriors, and the rest of the cast
members were blocked just beyond the stage area.
Crap! Theo was right, I needed to get out of there.
I started to move toward the woods, trying to draw as little attention as I could while Demarco looked at
me sadly and sighed,’ “l’ ve tried everything. Like I said, I have no other choice.”
“So what are you going to do with us?” Theo finally spoke to Demarco. I knew he was trying to distract
Demarco and buy time for me. “Unless we possess some incredible healing abilities that we don’t know
about.’
“Ha ha ha, you don’t have incredible healing abilities.” A familiar laugh pierced through my ear and my
heart sank. “But Alpha Demarco is willing to exchange your life for his wife’s well-being!’
Luther walked out of the shadows. His whole body was clad in black. Had he been there watching the
whole time?
Without even thinking it through I bolted away from the men, but it was too late. Large arms circled my
waist and tWisted my arms behind my back.
“Let me go!” I demanded, fighting against whoever was holding me.
‘Shhh… be good.” Luther smiled, and his tune was almost gentle and doting, yet that made every
single hair on my body stand up.
“l thought you would be happy to see me.” I could hear the amusement in Luther’s voice. “Bring her
back to me.’
The man who subdued me walked me to where Luther stood.
Hello princess, I missed you so.” He stepped toward me and brushed his finger against my cheek. He
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇthad a triumphant glint in his eyes.
Don’t touch her!” Theo’s voice roared and he shook the cage.
Luther let out a little chuckle and then turned to him. Prince Theo, how nice to see you again. It’s not
often to see you lose your temper. Either I’m special to you…” Luther lifted my chin and leaned forward.
His face was only inches away from mine. or she is.”
“l will spill your blood on this floor if you touch her again!” Luther laughed at his remark.
“Why did he call you Theo?” Warren looked at Theo. His eyebiows furrowed in confusion as he
examined Theo’s face. I watched as realization dawned on him and then his eyes widened.
“You… You ‘re Theo?!” He looked at his brother. “But how
le e
Of did you…why did you…what the hell?!”
Luther shook his head with a playful smile on his face. “Prince Warren, it seems like your brother
doesn’t trust anyone, not even his own siblings!”
Warren’s mouth hung open as he stared at his brother who was glaring at Luther. Luther just looked
like he was enjoying it all.
“Here is what’s going to happen. My men are going into the cage to put these chains on your wrists.
And you aren’t going to fight them…”
“As soon as this door is opened, I’ll gut you alive, Luther,” Theo stated coldly.
“Your empty threats bore me, Theo. You see, that is why I have my leverage,” Luther chuckled, and
pulled me closer to him. I tried to fight back, but he was too strong for me.
“I have your precious Ciana, Theo,” he picked up a strand of my hair and kissed it. “If you are to try
anything funny, I can’ t promise I won’t accidentally slice her throat, or… mark her in front of your eyes.”
Theo let out a warning growl, but he didn’t say anything this time.
NOW, none of these things will have to happen if you just obey. The choice is yours.”
‘Don’t listen to him,” I shouted, shaking my head at Theo. His eyes bored into mine as he thought over
the request.
Then he turned his attention back to Luther. “Fine.”
” ‘ knew you would see things my way.” Luther grinned. “First, I want you to call off your little
bloodhounds. I know you have a dozen men surrounding us right now. Tell them to stand down and
move away from us. At least 10 miles. Or else I’ll cut off one of her fingers for every one of them my
men spot!” “Theo, no!” I yelled, but someone covered my mouth tight with some thick cloth and I could
no longer talk. Theo bit down on his jaw, and fury filled his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, and I
assumed that he used mindlink to communicate with his hidden warriors. “Greg and Sherry, ask
everyone to back off at least 10 miles.” Theo didn’t have to say it aloud, but he did anyway to show
Luther he was cooperative. After a short moment, he looked at Luther. “Done.” If Theo sent his men
away, that meant, at this point, we only had the three of us to rely on to-get out of this trap! Luther was
pleased with Theo’s cooperation. He nodded, “Great. Second, my men will chain you up, and you can’t
fight back.” Theo narrowed his eyes and before he gave his answer, Luther sighed dramatically and
nodded to the man who was holding me. The man tightened his grasp on me and twisted my arm. I
tried to hold back from making any sound in agony, but I couldn’t stop my face from twitching in pain.
“Fine!” Theo shouted, “Just don’t hurt her.” Luther smiled brightly. The venom in his voice was potent;
and deadly. “Chain them.”
My heart sank to the floor. Theo and Warren were in danger, but there was nothing I could do.
Two of Luther’s men came out of the shadows and entered the cage with chains in their hands. I could
tell the pungent smell of the wolfsbane on the silver even from where I stood.
I scrunched up my nose trying to turn away from the poison.
As •soon as the metal touched Theo and Warren, I heard the faint sizzling sound as the wolfsbane
burned their skin.
I couldn’t imagine how painful it must be, and my heart ached for both Warren and Theo.
“Ahh!” Warren gasped and sucked in the air and let out a low curse, while Theo only frowned slightly.
My gaze landed on Theo as he lifted his head, I could see a thin sheen of sweat seeping through his
forehead. Through his quivering, thick eyelashes, I saw a pair of determined dark eyes. Then he
slightly moved his lips.
“Don’t worry,” he said silently.
At that moment, it was like a thousand daggers thrust into my chest and I couldn’t breathe. The flood of
my emo tions broke through the barricade holding them back, and tears poured down my cheeks. I
frantically shook my head,
Theo snapped his gaze back to Luther. “You’ve been after
me for a while, Luther. Now that you’ve got me, why don’t you let them go?”
Luther glared at Theo for a moment, and then his smile faded. Slowly, his handsome face twisted and it
turned into a cold sneer. “Who do you think you are?” Luther’s voice was as cold as ice, and his
expression turned livid. “A savior? Trying to sacrifice yourself for others? Humor me! You are no one
but a mur- “This is between you and me,” Theo reiterated in a leveled tone. All of a sudden, Warren let
out loud and boisterous laughs that had all of us turning toward him. ‘Now you care?” He turned to
Theo with a disgusted look. ‘Now you want to show some semblance of humanity inside of you? We
are literally in this fucking situation because of you!” His eyes were bloodshot, and I could see veins
bulging on his forehead and neck. I couldn’ t believe what I heard and never before had I seen Warren
so enraged. Was it truly how Warren felt about Theo? I knew sometimes the brothers didn’ t get along,
but his words stunned me.
I looked at Theo, how would he take it? “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Warren,” Theo
responded flatly. “My, my, what do we have here? A little brotherly tension?” “Don’t know what I’m
talking about?” Warren shouted out aloud, raising his voice at Theo, “When you followed through with
Father’s orders, did you question him? When you wiped out those packs, did you even blink your
eyes? Of course not! Why would a monster like you care?”
“Enough!” Theo bellowed.
Warren snapped back, “Hell no! And now here we are again because of you. It’s all your fault, Theo!
I’ve been wanting to say this to you for a long time! Since we’re both dying today, I have to let this out!”
“Is that any way to treat the brother you so dearly love?” Luther had a large grin on his face, clearly
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmloving every bit of this.
“Love?” Warren sneered, “I hate this jackass to the core of my being. If I am being honest I want this
man bleeding on the floor at my mercy.”
I gasped, still unable to make a sound.
HOW could Warren think that way? He couldn’t have! I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart, but
I knew no matter how hard I tried, I could not erase the horror painted on my face.
Theo remained passive and unmoved, as if he didn’t care what Warren just said about him.
92
Luther walked to the cage. “If you hate him so much, then prove it.”
Warren sneered at Luther, “Get out of my face, who the hell are you? I hate Theo, but that doesn’t
mean I like you!”
“How about I give you an opportunity?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, beat up your brother, Warren. Make him black and blue the way you say you want to.” Luther
nodded to his guard, “Release his chains.”
I looked at Warren with terror and I fought against the man who had me subdued, but to no avail
“Um…um…eh!”
I watched as the guard untied Warren and then released him from his chains. Warren looked at Theo
with fury in his eyes. There was no hesitation, no second thought, and he punched Theo right in the
gut, knocking the air out of him.
Warren continued his assault on Theo’ s stomach until Theo toppled over, but he didn’t stop there. He
connected his foot to Theo’s arms, back, and legs. He kept going and there was nothing Theo could do
to defend himself.
The wolfsbane was keeping Theo’s wolf from surging forward. He just laid there and took it all because
his hands were pulled back by the chains, which were now locked to the bar of the cage.
My heart ached so much as if every one of those hits were on my body. Tears streamed down my face,
and I couldn’t
After about ten minutes of beating, Theo couldn’t main tain his stance and dropped to his knees.
“How pathetic!” Warren looked down at Theo. “Serves you right!”
Then he stopped and turned to Luther. “Happy? Satisfied?”
Luther grinned. “Extremely. I think we can be good friends, Prince Warren.’
However, Warren scoffed, “Friends? With a man like you? Never. ”
Luther didn’t seem to be offended by Warren. Instead, he studied Warren’s face and let out a chuckle.
“Prince Warren, why don’t you reconsider? With me as your ally, and your brother and father out of the
picture, you will be the sole heir to the throne. Imagine all the good you could do for our people. ”
Warren didn’t immediately retort back this time.
I was panicking… Was he really thinking about it? No, no, he couldn’t be!
‘Fine. I will be your ally, Luther. But if we do this, we are going to play by my rules.” Warren looked to
Luther. “Those are my terms and conditions.’
My heart sank, and the blood in my body ran cold.
Luther clapped his hands together.
“Wonderful! Guys, open the door and let us welcome our future king.”