Rise of the Queen
Chapter 38

As the night slowly faded into twilight, she saw the dreadful being, covered in blood, and its fangs became evident to her eyes. She screamed out aloud, "Ahhhhh!!!" Pushing it away, she crawled back. The sunlight scattered around, and finally, she was able to make out the appearance of the creature in front of her. "Alex?" Her voice trembled as she called out her friend's name.

She remained there, unmoving. Slowly, she got up on her feet. Her eyes returned to her normal hazel color. She then looked at her blood-stained hands. All the memories flooded her mind. Horrified, she scanned her surroundings. All that came into view was blood and corpses. "Alex? Is that you?" The voice of her friend made her head snap in her direction. Conner gasped as she backed away. She was then reminded of how she was about to attack her friend too. "I'm... sorry..." She whispered as her voice caught in her throat, "I'm sorry...."

***

"Ahhhhh!!!" They heard a scream, and this time they recognized the voice. "It's Conner!" Tyler increased his pace as soon as he heard her. Reaching the place, they all halted. The stench of blood was stronger than anything. "This is..." Tyler trailed off as he covered his nose with his arm. They slowly took their steps forward. Kevin tightened his fist. The amount of blood was making him dizzy. He tried to fight it, but he was losing control. Slowly, his fangs descended. He stopped midway and closed his eyes shut, but this was too much for him. When he opened his eyes, they glowed red. He growled and was about to attack the men beside him. A hand stopped him. Turning around, he narrowed his eyes at the interruption. "You're coming with me," Lia heaved a sigh as she dragged him along.

***

When they finally entered the area, they all gasped in horror. "What the hell happened here?" Their eyes widened at the corpses lying around. Reagan stopped in front of one corpse, his eyes widened as he barely identified the body of Reon. His gut was torn open, and his dismembered body lay there.

Tyler then came across his enemy, who was lying there dead with his limbs torn apart. He then frantically searched for his mate. "Conner!" He shouted her name.

"Conner!" Tyler rushed to his mate, who had been hiding behind a tree. "No!" she shouted, "don't come near me," She warned them. "It's okay, it's me," Tyler approached her slowly. She slowly raised her face and looked at him. "It's okay," he whispered, "it's just me," he nodded, "Tyler?" Her lower lip quivered, "yes," he nodded. She then threw her arms around me as she sobbed in his arms, "I was so scared!"

Tightening his arms around her, he patted her head. "It's okay, I've got you now," he whispered as he kissed her head. Breaking the hug, he scanned her for any injury, "you're not hurt, are you?" He looked at her with a worried expression. "No," she shook her head, "but..."

"He did something to you?" His chest tightened as he saw her trembling in front of him.

"No," She shook her head, "Alex saved me, but... Alex... she..."

"What about her?" Reagan appeared in front of her, demanding an answer. "She's different... she's... something..." Her voice choked, "I..."

"Where is she?" He snapped at her.

"She... just..." Conner began to sob.

Reagan heaved a deep sigh. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he was back to his calm self. "I know you've gone through a lot, and I'm sorry for coming late, but Conner, can you please tell me where Alex is?" He asked her softly.

"She... ran..." She answered in between her cries.

"Can you tell me the direction she went in?" He raised his brows.

She slowly lifted her hand and pointed in the direction, "Thank you," Reagan smiled at her and turned to go, "please," She shouted, "please bring her back safely," She asked him, bowing down, "Of course," he replied over his shoulder. He then looked at Tyler, "Everyone return home," He commanded.

"But-" His beta tried to protest, who went silent as Reagan raised his hand, "Tyler, take her home. You all are going back too, that's that."

***

"Alex!" Reagan searched for her in the entire forest, but he couldn't sense her presence. "Alex!" He shouted her name, but he didn't get any reply. He then stopped as he noticed the bloodstain on his way. He squatted down as he stared at the bloodstains, which made trails down the path. Quickly, he followed the trail. After a few meters, the bloodstains had disappeared. "Alex!" he shouted. "I know you're here, please answer me!"

When he got no reply, he closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. He followed the smell of the blood, which led him to a cave. "Alex?" He called out to her. A rustling sound caught his attention. He finally heaved a sigh of relief when he saw her. She was curled up, trying to hide from him. "Alex?" He slowly approached her, "no, don't come near me!" She yelled at him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, taking a step forward.

"Is this what you were trying to hide from me?" She asked, "Is this what Kevin had been talking about?"

"You..." his eyes widened, "When did you?"

"Does that matter?" She shouted at him, "Why? Why me? Look at what I've become..." Her voice choked with emotion, "I've turned into a monster!" "That's not-"

"Nothing you say is going to change what I've done!"

"Okay..." He heaved a sigh, "Just calm down... hmm?" He tried to pacify her.

"How can I calm down after what I've done? How... after all that," her breath hitched as the image played in her mind, "with my own hands... I... Killed them," She confessed.

"It's okay," He patted her head. Slowly she raised her face to look at him. His eyes widened as he looked at her face covered in blood. Her tears had made trails through her blood-stained cheeks. "Ah, she's really turned into a monster," she spelled out, "even you're thinking that, aren't you?" She looked at him with questioning eyes.

He shook his head as he wiped her tears, "She didn't even leave a single one of them, not even one for me to take care of, that's what I was thinking," He smiled at her.

"It's no joke, Reagan," She slapped his hands away, "I wiped them all with my own hands," She looked at her trembling hands, which were covered in blood.

"They deserved it," He stated, "You guys were kidnapped, you were in danger, you did it to protect Conner, you did it in your defense."

"All of them didn't deserve that," She shook her head. "A brutal murder, no... they didn't," She sobbed.

"Weren't they all there to witness something immoral? Would they have stopped those who kidnapped you? Would they have come for your help if your powers didn't awaken? No, right? They were all there to witness you being taken," his voice grew silent, "If not you, I'd have killed them, not a single being would've been alive, no... not an easy death... they would have been begging for mercy at my feet," He replied. "Considering that I'm a bigger monster, no?" He smiled at her. "Now, stop blaming yourself," he caressed her cheek, "let's go home, hmm?"

"I'm not joking, Reagan!" She yelled at him.

"I'm not either," His face darkened. He meant every word. They surely got away with an easy death, he clicked his tongue.

"You know what's worse? I enjoyed doing it, I enjoyed killing them," She closed her eyes, hugging herself, "I'm scared, I'm scared of myself, no matter what, I couldn't stop myself, I couldn't..." She sobbed. "I don't deserve to go with you, I don't deserve to live with you guys, please let me be, I want to be left alone," She begged.

"That's-" Before he could say another word, her painful cry interrupted him, "I even tried to attack Conner!" She cried, "Even after this, you'll tell me I wasn't wrong?" She questioned him. He couldn't answer, "See, even you don't have anything to say anymore."

A lump formed in his throat, his heart hurt seeing her like that. "It's okay, Alex, it's okay," He tried to pacify her, "I... I was scared... I turned into a monster," She sobbed, throwing herself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, "You didn't... you did well," he patted her back. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this, I'm sorry for coming late," He apologized as he planted a kiss on her head.