Blood Ties

23

Questions for the enemy
~
Accalia
~

"Start talking," Lycus commanded, settling against a stone wall with a grave look haunting his features.

Amidst the edgy shadows and dawn light streaming through the door of the dungeon, Lycus's cheeks hollowed, carving his face to a stone-cold sculpture standing with provocation.

Accalia always viewed him as a nightmare someone wouldn't mind being haunted by. They wouldn't get too close, the shadows too overbearing and not wanting to suffer the bite he had in him.

The dungeon floors were scattered with metals, chains and cuffs swimming through the passageways as the wolves detained recently departed from their cages. They were free from the reigns of their monstrosity that led them here and back into the woods they welcomed as their home.

But not these two.

These two, even in their bare human form after turning back, still ran rampant. Stalking the cellars with clenched fists and heads twisted at every scent and sound that aroused their attuned senses.

"Let us out!" One male smashed his hand at the silver metal and hissed in pain, but that didn't stop him from clutching it — breathing through the ache it gave him. "Then maybe we'll start talking."

Accalia looked to Lycus from across the room as she settled deeper in the corner next to Cadence who hadn't spoken since being in here.

Accalia tried to coax Cadence out, double, then triple check if she needed anything and every single time, Cadence shut her down like she was a poltergeist giving her trouble.

"You'll talk," Lycus drawled and came to the cellar bars. Before the wolf gripping the metal could move, Lycus gripped his wrists and smashed him into the bars. "Or I'm going to break every bone you have. Do you want a rerun of your shift from last night? I can make you turn again, but you won't come back from this form."

The wolf yelped, eyes blazing a fiery orange. "We were given orders."

Lycus released him and the wolf skidded to the floor beside his friend who sat mute from the back injury he sustained from Rexton throwing him into a tree.

"By Zenith or Cole?" Lycus snapped in question.

The wolf laughed, stretching against the cold ground and waved over to Accalia. "Cole not happy with that one, ya know? Stabbed him in the neck, didn't she?"

Accalia shifted uncomfortably, back tickling at the mention and Cadence pushed to her feet, stalking over to them.

"And we're not happy with Cole," Cadence snapped and leered down at him with her towering height. "He keeps sending wolves over to spy and play games. Let's just say, games can get fucking boring after a while."

Accalia watched the wolf chuckle, wiping at his mucky face and jutting a finger at Cadence. "You're her cousin, aren't ya? The Larren family. Fuckin' ironic that two notorious families of rivalling species are connected. Fuckin' hilarious."

And the two Larren cousins just so happened to be mated to two Fenris brothers.

Accalia wanted to know what was going inside Cadence's head. Crack her open and analyse every piece of her so Accalia would know what to do and say.

Lying didn't get her far, over two weeks of keeping the secret and sealing her lips for Cadence's benefit. But divinely, through the fullness of the moon and foretelling of an oracle, Cadence still found out she was mated to Rexton.

Accalia didn't know if she was the worst cousin, but she needed to be by Cadence's side, for better or worse, even with that woeful face on Cadence telling her to stay away.