Claimed by The Rogue Alpha
Claimed By The Rogue Alpha Chapter 85

7:00 pm

==Matteo==

We were ready. With the snipers, grenades, shotguns and pistons, we were prepared for battle.

In addition to the guards at the gate, there were those stationed at strategic places all over the Malchian Grove. They would take them down even before they reached the mansion.

I could hear the distant sound of gunshots and wolves growling. They were near.

I cracked neck. I flexed my fingers. With my fist balled and my eyes staring straight ahead, I was ready.

The sound approached, getting dangerously close to the gate. Just like that, shots begun to be fired. The guards at the gate fought well. They fired all their bullets on the invaders, but then, something weird happened. The invaders came pouring in numbers. I stood, shocked. I hadn't expected this kind of number. A sea of people forced themselves through the gate. They had with them ammunition.

Someone threw a grenade, shooting everyone around the gate off.

Yosef gave me a look; I shook my head. No. We wouldn't charge at them first. We had to stay put. That way, we wouldn't waste our energy and resources.

And so, we gathered around, watching as they wrestled it out with the guards at the gate. A good number of my men began to drop dead, but I didn't morph, even with Yosef egging me on.

Not yet.

Some of the invaders spotted us. They began rushing towards us. Now was the time.

Hunching on the ground and with my eyes shut in concentration, I morphed. My teeth bearing a knife.

I growled, and the guards behind me echoed. Pumped with fury, I dashed forward, leading the way. As they approached, I simply punched them off my path and kept skipping forward. I wasn't going to waste my energy on one person.

I cleared as many people as I could before reaching the gate. There, I dealt without mercy. I went for someone and punched him. I mounted on him and smashed his head on the ground repeatedly. When I noticed he was limb, I left him and charged fir get another person. This time, I used the knife instead. I shoved it into his stomach.

It growled and fell to the ground, but I didn't leave. Hovering on him, I kept jabbing the knife in his stomach with the raw intent to kill. Not long afterwards, his breathing ceased.

Pulling away from him, I went for yet another person. I would kill as many as I could tonight. The next was a red wolf. What a piece of f*****g cake.

I didn't brandish the knife at him, but rather decided to the play fair. He threw a punch me a punch which I smoothly dodged. He made another attempt, but as with the first, this one didn't even brush my cheek.

Balling my fist tighter, I kneaded his jaw. Then, went ahead to drive my teeth on his neck. He wailed. The sound made me even madder.

***

==Olivia==

8:03pm

Call me a coward, call me a chicken. I didn't mind. I was inside Matteo's closet, its door ajar, allowing just a little slit for me to breathe in air. I couldn't understand what was going on, or rather the reason behind the chaos. Gunshots were being fired, people -yelling, the others, groaning. It was crazy. I was scared to the marrow. Occasionally, the mansion would tremble as a resounding sound of grenades exploded. That had been my cue to seek cover in the closet.

It been long since I came here and I wasn't eager to leave. I trembled, wondering why the hell this was happening. From how dark it was, I could tell it was around eight, if not more. I would have been on my way home by now for God sake, I would have possibly arrived at my apartment, or Leah's and give her the ultimate surprise of her life, but here I was, stuck in the middle of this insane battle. Why on earth was I cursed?

I couldn't help the stream of tear that dropped from my eye. It was clear now. Matteo was innocent. This hadn't been a ruse after all. No, not with all the gunshots and mammoth crowd outside.

The question now was what the hell was going on? Matteo had told me something about a curfew happening in town. Was it somehow connected with this uproar or did...

The sound of the bedroom door opening swallowed up my thoughts. My eyes wide open in fright. My heart thudding. I couldn't hear any footstep but I was sure someone had come into the room. I held my breath. However, it was m useless because I could hear the loud beating of my heart.

Then, taking me unawares, the door to the closet swung open.

I shrieked, covering my face with my hand. "Don't! Don't kill me, please." Pure horror gripped me. My brain froze, and for a moment, I thought I was dead. By slowly slipping an eye open, I realised I wasn't. And that the intruder was still looking at me. Before I would further fret, however, he called me by my name.

"Olivia?"

I knew that voice. I shot my head up. True, I couldn't see him, I knew who it was. The silver-haired dude. Leon? No, Lyons. Yes, Lyons.

"Oh, my good Olivia! You're alive." He wrapped his hand around me while I remained wide eyed. He pulled away from me and cupped my head. Still stricken with fear. I held his hand. Lyons? Wait, what was he doing here.

"Oh, my God. That monster locked you up here?"

"What? No. There's no monster."

He didn't say anything. And I had a lot of questions running through my mind. "What are you doing here? How did you replace me?"

"It's a long story, okay. We-"

"I need answers. What the f**k is happening? Why would anyone attack Matteo?"

His silence was ominous. "Lyons? What are you hiding?"

"Come." He held my hand and I stepped out of the closet. "Did you say Matteo?"

"Yes, Matteo. This is his mansion and I don't get why anyone would want to harm him."

Lyons cursed. Aggressively. I jerked, wondering the reason behind the sudden outburst. "That jerk. I knew it. I f*****g knew it!" "Lyons?"

"He's brainwashed you," he said and then burst out laughing. "He f*****g has."

"What the f**k is up with you? What are you talking about?"

"I should be asking you that." His voice was raised now, and it made me flinch. "What's up with you defending your abductor."

It hit me and I frowned. Oh no, he hadn't just said that. "F**k you."

"What?"

"Yes, f**k you. You know nothing about Matteo, so don't come here spilling garbage."

"I'm spilling garbage?"

"Oh yes. Here you are speaking ill of another guy when you are just as guilty." I said, my chest heaving with annoyance. I was so done with having people judge me simply because I'd fallen for Matteo. They didn't know him as much as I had come to know him. "May I remind you that you agreed to claim a poor man's daughter should he fall to pay you back your cursed money. So, yes, Mr.. Lyons, you aren't a saint either."

I got no word from him which made me believe my words had sunk in. I went to the other side if the bed that faced the window with tears sprouting in my eyes.

"You are right. I am not a saint. I never claimed to be. But you know what? The amazing thing is that I don't get to pretend like that son of bitch."

I turned sharply at him.

"You heard me right. He is a son of a bitch. A fucker with no sense of human dignity. What hasn't he done? He took you away, locked you away from your friend and from your future, made you believe he was your saviour of some kind, but yet went behind you to kill your stepdad."

"What?"

"Of course, he wouldn't tell you that."

"Wait..." I shut my eyes, and shook my head. "What did you just say."

"Your stepdad is dead, Olivia! Dead. His head was found buried in Matteo's-"

"Shut up!" I stood up. Tears clouding my vision. I charged forward even though I couldn't see him.

"I won't! I'm sorry, I won't because you don't know a thing that monster has done. Olivia, your dad's gone. He is no more."

"No." I pressed my palms on my ears. "No."

Lyons touched my shoulder, despite myself I didn't push him away. I was just...dead inside. "Olivia..."

"No." I shut my eyes. "No, don't joke with me. Don't mess with me, a*****e!"

I faced him and stabbed his chest. He didn't flinch.

"I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm sorry to break the news to you this way. The police made a report about it..."

I took a sharp breathe. My chest tightening up.

"Matteo's fingerprint was found in his headless corpse."

"No!" I cried, slipping to the floor. "No!" Oh God, no. A sea broke out in my eyes. "No, no! Lyons. That's a lie!"

He came down with me and wrapped his arms around me. I weakly fought, throwing my hands around. "No!" I buried my face on his chest, my fingers clawing on whatever part of his body it was. "No, Lyons. Not my dad. No!

Lyons remained silent as I screamed my lungs out. There was no way he was dead. No! I kept screaming, completely inconsolable.