Chapter 39

Owen had closed the door behind him when he left with a soft clinking sound. She thought it was him locking it, but there was the smallest sliver of light coming from the doorway. She drew closer and found the door was slightly ajar. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to give her hope. She gripped as much of the edge as she could and tried to open it, but the door wouldn’t move. She lifted a leg to kick against the door frame to try and push it open and it barely let out a creak before she lost her grip and went crashing to the ground.

She huffed incredulously. What would Owen need to lock the door if it was impossibly heavy!

A howl sounded from below the tower. She hurried to the window to look down at the rogues who seemed to be facing something oncoming.

Had Arthur found her?

She had to get out of here. Daphne worried her lip, casting her gaze anxiously at the chair inside the room. It was wood and old, but it was her only hope. She lunged across the room and grabbed the chair to try and wedge its legs between the door and the doorframe.

She managed to wedge two of the legs into the opening and began to pull with all her might. The wood of the chair creaked as the sounds of battle grew louder and she prayed that it would snap.

She had to get out of here. She knew she couldn't fight a werewolf, but she couldn't let Owen control her like and use her to threaten Arthur, or worse. He was only keeping her alive to make sure that Arthur remained focused enough to fall into the trap he’d set up.

“When I get out of here,” she growled to herself, huffing and pulling as the door began to creak and start to move. “I’m going to grill Arthur about the Royal family and the kingdom and everything else!”

There weren’t supposed to be secrets between them! Arthur knew almost all of her secrets. If Arthur had told her about it earlier, she might have been prepared, or at least had time to start preparing!

Her heart lurched and she choked as a pang of anxiety went through her.

Had he not told her because he planned to leave her to become king? She was just human. How could she help him rule a kingdom of werewolves?

She shook that thought away. That wasn’t Arthur’s personality, and trying to figure it out now was only a distraction from her current task.

She would think about all that later and grill him for as long as she had to when she had escaped.

The legs snapped and she quickly flipped the chair to use the other set of legs and pry it open further. The wood creaked and began to splinter as the space seemed just large enough for her to slip through.

She listened for a few moments, listening for Owen or a rogue to come up and stop her, but no one came. The door had been quite loud. Fear went through her at the thought.

Why hadn’t he tried to stop her from escaping? She braced herself and hurried down the stairs as quickly and as quietly as she could manage. Daphne peered around every corner and strained to listen for every creak and sound in the shadows, but the tower was practically empty.

She was on the highest floor and aside from a bed, a pile of animal bones, and a few random objects covered in dust, there was no sign that anyone ever lived here. Hadn’t he said that the vampires used to live here? What happened to them?

Did Owen live here now? It looked more like a prison than a home. If this was all he had, it was no wonder that he was crazy and hell-bent on his revenge. It was likely the only thing that was keeping him together.

The poor guy had no warmth or joy in his life. What else could he feel when his life was filled with fury, hatred, and murder? Why hadn’t he sought out other werewolves and tried to join a pack?

She thought back to Arthur when they first met. Had he already started to think of himself as a monster and hadn’t bothered or did he think no one would take him in because his father had been the reason that the werewolf kingdom fell?

For a moment, Owen’s insanity and hatred, his lack of empathy, made sense. If he had a mate, maybe he wouldn't have turned out like this. Why didn’t he have a mate? Mamie said that all wolves had a mate. Had the moon goddess abandoned him because he killed too many werewolves, or had he just given up finding his mate?

Had Arthur ever felt as though he hadn’t had a mate?

Curse by the moon goddess, he’d called himself once. Daphne shuddered. She made a note to make sure Arthur never thought about himself like that ever again. He had never been anything like Owen, and he never would be so long as she was with him.

She slipped carefully down the steps, trying to listen for any rogue that might appear from the shadows, but she encountered no one.

What had happened?

A wolf’s roar shook the air around the sound of battle and the splash of blood on the stone of the tower and across the ground. She shuddered as she slipped down the last set of stairs and went to the side door of the tower.

Slowly, Daphne leaned out of the door and she ducked back in as her stomach lurched at the thick scent of blood and the sight of wolf corpses strewn in pieces everywhere. It reminded her of the night in the forest before Blade and the patrol had found them.

She took a calming breath and pressed a hand to her face to try and block out some of the smell before darting out of the door to run.

In the distance, at the edge of the fence, Arthur’s blood-stained body leaped on top of a rogue as more tried to attack and push him back. Behind Arthur were other wolves, struggling to fight the rogues and faltering in the fight, bleeding profusely.

They were outnumbered.

Owen stood nearby watching Arthur tear through the rogues, growling and losing his senses to the scent of blood and death. The wolves he’d brought with him struggled to fight the few rogues that were nearby.

“That’s right,” Owen grinned, his heart light and full of joy. “This is the real you, Arthur! This is what it means to be a Royal!”

Owen grinned and leaped into the fight.

“Arthur!” Daphne screamed coming around the side of the tower as Arthur turned sharply and slammed his body into one of the patrol members before sinking his teeth into a rogue’s neck.

Owen pounced on Arthur as he tumbled, ripping a rogue’s arm from its shoulder. Arthur cried out in fury as Owen caught him in the face with his claws.

The wolves Arthur had brought with him pulled back and reorganized to fend off the rogues, allowing Owen to fight Arthur.

He dodged the swipe of Arthur’s paw and laughed as he turned to slam a rogue into the ground and break its neck.

Owen growled and slammed Arthur into a far-away tree. He let out a yelp of pain and fell to the ground, shifting in a whirl of light back into his human form.

Owen laughed, “You see, Arthur. You’ve just weakened yourself…”

Owen approached slowly.

“Arthur!” One of the other wolves yelled, killing a rogue. He tried to get over to him, but another rogue jumped in front of him.

“Arthur!” Daphne cried from a distance.

Arthur heard her voice and struggled to reach for the pouch around his neck.

He had to get to Daphne.

He opened the pouch and pulled out the bottle, opening it as his hands almost faltered and pouring her blood into his mouth.

He shuddered at the metallic taste. Owen faltered at the waves of light washing over Arthur, closing his wounds as Arthur struggled to his feet and shifted back into his wolf form, covered in blood but uninjured and focused, glaring at Owen.

“What?” Owen hissed.

Arthur growled and leaped forward, knocking Owen back with more force than should have been possible.

“Arthur!” Daphne screamed.

Owen turned to look at Daphne as she ran around the tower towards them and smirked before shifting into his human form and running towards her.

She tried to stop, but it was too late. He caught her by her arm and swung her around before Arthur could catch him. His paw raised into the air and froze as Owen held Daphne in front of him with his hand around her throat.

“Come on!” Owen growled. “Kill me if you can! But before that happens, your mate will be dead!”