Chapter 108: What Do You Say?

Sebastian wasn't alone. His Beta Xavier was behind him.

Theo ignored Sebastian's question and kept his silence.

"Prince Theo, Your Majesty asked you a question! Did you not hear?"

Xavier's arrogant tone made me want to strike him down and punch him right in the face.

Jake obviously felt the same as me as he said, "Beta Xavier, who do you think you are to speak toHis Highness like that!"

Xavier glared at Jake viciously and looked like he was about to explode. But Sebastian didn't seemto mind his son's silence. He ignored the tension between the two Betas and walked over to Theo'scell.

"How are we feeling?"

Theo didn't even lift his gaze, only kept his eyes on the ground.

"I know normal wounds won't kill you and I'm sure you're quite used to pain,” Sebastian chuckled,"So hopefully, the wolfbane extract on the whips was able to help you remember somethingimportant..."

Wolfbane extract?! That freaking cursed bastard! What kind of father would seek joy in his son'ssuffering?

Sebastian took a pause and completed what he wanted to get across, "You should never go againstthe law."

Theo finally scoffed, "Law? What law?"

"I am the law, son. I am the king!" He spread his arms out wide. "And you are my gift from theGoddess herself. She knew I wanted all the land to obey me and she gave me you."

"Being related to you is my greatest curse.”

"Curse? Ha ha ha!" Sebastian laughed hysterically, however, there were no happy vibes at all, "Theo,that's no curse! I gave you power! You should thank me for raising you, training you, andmaximizing the blessing you received from the Goddess and King Lycaon! Do you understand howlucky you are?"

"I..." Theo took a few fast and shallow breaths before he could continue, "I wouldn't consider beingraised as a monster and used as a tool as lucky."

"I was preparing you to be king! I had such high expectations. for you, but you disappointed megreatly. I even offered you many whores to bed or do whatever you want with them! But just likeyour pathetic brother, you wimped out. You couldn't even stick it in that little blonde haired one.What's her name again? Kiki? Crystal?"

"Ciana," Xavier finished off for the king. "Ciana Black. Your Majesty. The daughter of Alvar pack. Acute little slut.”

Hearing my name from Xavier's disgusting mouth made me want to puke.

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Jake scolded Xavier. It was rare to hear Jake lift his volume.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Xavier growled, his face turned burning red. He probably feltgreatly offended, especially in front of Sebastian, but it was obvious that Jake had never cared aboutwhat Xavier had to say.

"He dares because he's my Beta. Do you have a problem with it?" Theo gave Xavier an icy glarewhich made the king's Betal swallow back what he was about to spill.

However, the cunning Beta then turned to Sebastian and complained to his master, "Your Majesty,please forgive me! All I wanted to do was to help but Prince Theo-"

"Enough!" Sebastian waved his hand, and thank the Goddess that Xavier's annoying voice stoppedtalking. "He is your prince and you're just a Beta, I don't want to hear any whinings about yourdisagreement with the crown prince, you will show respect!"

Xavier gritted through his teeth reluctantly, "Yes... Your Majesty."

"And Theo," Sebastian turned to Theo, "I expect you to show the same respect to me, your father,your king!"

Theo responded to Sebastian's comment with a sneer.

"I see you may have a different opinion. Now, I want to remind you of something. I gave youeverything. Your power, your status, and your privileges. That means I can also take them back. Forexample," Sebastian said, that sickening smile was back on his face. "Xavier, you have my permissionto teach Beta Jake a GOOD lesson!"

Xavier smirked viciously, "Understood, Your Majesty!"

He opened Jake's cell and planted his heel on the side of Jake’ s head. He kept going until Jakeslumped down to the ground, but Xavier didn't stop there. He took his fist and hit Jake's lower backover and over again.

I had to look away for a few seconds, my stomach churning at the sight of Jake's blood spewing allover the place.

"That is enough.”

Xavier didn't want to stop, but more so, he didn't dare to disobey the king. He let go of Jake, andcame out of Jake's cell with a bruised fist but a satisfied look on his face.

"So I'm going to ask again, have you learned your lesson?"

"Yes...Father."

Sebastian looked at Theo with joy in his eyes. "Good boy! I'm glad to hear that. Now tell me, whathave you learned?” And he had the audacity to laugh!

"I learned..." Theo glared at his father and whispered in a hoarse voice, "I should've killed you rightthere yesterday!"

The smile slipped from Sebastian's face and twisted into a dreadful scowl. "Obviously, I've been tootolerant of your unruly behavior!”

Theo panted. "Humor me, Your Majesty. Let's be honest...the only reason that I'm alive is becauseyou need me!"

Sebastian's expression was even darker.

"May I make a suggestion?" Xavier had a grimy smile that made the hair on my body stand up.Sebastian gave him a slight but impatient nod, seemingly not too unhappy about Xavierinterrupting the conversation.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Pomeni Pack has a secret way to, um, make people listen..."

"Really? How Interesting! Why don't you tell me more about it?" Sebastian was intrigued, but I had areally bad feeling about this.

"Surely, Your Majesty! I heard that they were able to turn the most feisty soul into a compliantcompanion. As skillful of a warrior as Prince Theo has been, he has, however, disobeyed you enoughtimes already.”

The king contemplated what Xavier was saying as he stroked his chin.

Xavier took the opportunity to try to convince him, "It would be an honor for the Pomeni pack toperform this task for you, I'm sure!. After that, you'll have a son who'll never go against you ever.Wouldn't that be a wonderful solution?"

Although I didn't know exactly what that meant, I knew for. sure it wouldn't be anything pleasant. Ineeded to stop them!

"That is not a bad idea at all! See to it that the message is sent to Pomeni and you can make allnecessary arrangements.”

"Yes, your Majesty! And I know exactly who to talk to in this palace.”

I ran for my life up the stairs and made my way to Warren's room. I had to stop this!

By the time I made it across the palace, I was out of breath but the adrenaline was surging throughme and I didn't dare even a split second of delay.

When I got to Warren's door, I didn't bother knocking.

"What the hell!" Sophia was about to curse when she saw it was me. "Ciana? Are you f... kiddingme?"

I closed and locked the door behind me. "Sophia, I need to talk to you!"

"What do you want?" she snarled, "You better not be here to take Warren away from me. I havebeen making sure that he's doing okay. He needs me and I am staying right here by his side.”

She wasn't too friendly, but her hostility was the least of my concern. I went straight to the point. "Ineed your help.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes wide. "Did I hear what I thought I heard? You, CianaBlack, out of all the women. in the palace, need my help? Either I'm out of my mind, or you are.""We don't have time for this. Sophia, does your pack have some sort of ways to totally changepeople's behavior, or attitude, or..." I tried to figure out what else I could describe what Xavierreferred to, "keep them totally under control?"

There was no doubt that I set off her alarm because her eyes shifted away and wouldn't look me inthe eye. "I... I don't know what you're talking about.”

"All right, thanks for being honest." I almost rolled my eyes. Could she be a worse liar? "Sophia, youhave the answer written all over your face.”

"I really don't-"

"Let me finish before you turn me away. Theo has been trying to figure out a way to save Warren,and he needs the king's help. However, not only did King Sebastian refuse to help, he kept Theocaptivated.”

Sophia's eyes were even wider, however, I had the feeling that she did believe what I told her.

"In addition to that, the freaking psychopath Beta Xavier suggested to the King that your pack hassome secret way of making people compliant. Is that true?"

She was still hesitant about whether or not to be honest with me or not.

I urged, "Sophia, Theo is Warren's only hope! Please! You and I can sort out our problems in thefuture, but this is a life or death situation for Warren!"

"All right, all right!" Sophia finally said, "Fine, I'll tell you."

"Oh, thank the Goddess! I'm listening.”

"The sacred artifact of my pack is a dagger. It was said that it was a weapon of mercy from theGoddess because it doesn't kill the person even if one gets stabbed in the heart by it."

"Is that true?"

"Do you want me to talk or what?"

I nodded rapidly, pressed my lips tight, and used my hand to gesture a zip motion.

"However, that person will not be considered alive either..." She gave me a warning look as if sheknew I wanted to question her, so I held back my "why".

"Because it was said that that person's soul would be sent to the Goddess, and only his bodyremains. Such a body keeps its physical strength and can follow simple instructions, however, itwouldn't have free will anymore. I'm pretty sure that's what Xavier was referring to."

"You mean... they basically want to make Theo into a soulless, obedient puppet?!"

Sophia nodded with a serious expression on her face. "That's my best bet."

I gasped. "Sophia, you gotta stop them! I know we've never gotten along, but this time, could youplease help me, no, could you please help Theo and Warren?"

She bit her lower lip. "I... I don't know."

She went to sit back down beside Warren and grabbed his hand. He looked even paler. All I knew isthat we were running out of time for both brothers.

"What do you mean by you don't know? Do you want Warren to die?"

"Of course not!" She retorted, looking back at me. "But how am I able to say no to the king if heasks me to do anything?

Yes, I love Warren, but I can't bring disaster to my pack!"

I found myself not able to argue with her. As an Alpha's daughter, we all had our responsibilities,and keeping our packs safe was on top of our lists.

"Sophia," I looked her in the eyes, "Sebastian is ruthless and his goal is absolute obedience from anypack. Honestly, the more powerful a pack is, the more threatened he would feel and it would be justa matter of time before he does whatever is needed to bring the pack down.”

Sophia murmured, "I don't believe you..."

"Then name the ten most powerful packs in the past twenty years and tell me where they are now?"She didn't answer me this time. I knew she wouldn't be able to

"Pomeni pack is the biggest pack now, and thus will be his next target, I promise! Especially, if heturns Theo into a mindless killing machine, not only your pack, the entire country would suffer.”"The rest of the country is none of my business,” Sophia argued again, however, her voice wassofter. I felt she was trying to convince herself to stay out of trouble.

"Do you really think so? Don't lie to yourself."

"But-"

"Now, think about this. If you save Theo this time, the Dark Prince would be forever obligated toprotect your pack to return the favor."

"What if I fail?"

"Then King Sebastian continues to rule and we're all doomed anyway."

"It's too much. I need to think about it. Even if..." Sophia's eyes were glimmering with worry and sheshook her head. "No, I can't. I don't even know what I can do..."

I gave her an assuring smile, even though I felt nervous sweat moisten my palm. But this was one ofthose fake-it-until-you- make-it type of situations.

"I have an idea that may work. It's risky, but if we work together, we can get it done. What do yousay?"

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you replace any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report