Chapter 22 Retribution
2309 Words
[..]
As Hunter had been pulled out, Ace came into the room, as he stared at Nathan in surprise.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, but Nathan was too thrown aback to even give a straight answer to that.
“Ace.. Why.. Why are my father and Hunter getting arrested?” Nathan asked, as Ace placed a hand on Nathan’s shoulder, and got him to follow him out of the room.
“Listen, some horrible things happened to Stella. We first believed they were attacked because that was what your father told us, but it showed out to be Hunter, Kyle and your dad, who did it all along..” Ace spoke, as he paused by the door.
“But.. How can you be certain? She hasn’t even woken up yet,” Nathan asked with a frown, as Ace sighed.
“All the evidence is pointing at them, but if you want more specific answers, you’ll have to talk to Alpha Chase about it, ‘cause it’s not my place to do so.. I’m sorry you have to go through this, I really am.” Ace replied, as he shortly patted Nathan on the shoulder, as he sent him on his way.
Nathan then walked towards Chase’s office, as the need to figure it out was constantly nagging him. By the door was Drake and Charlie, and immediately as they saw Nathan, there was this look in their eyes that Nathan didn’t recognize, but if he had to guess, it was probably because of his dad and Hunter.
“What are you doing here, Nathan?” Charlie asked, as he got closer to them.
“I wanna speak to Chase.” He stated, as Charlie and Drake looked at each other.
“He is quite busy right now, Nathan..” Drake tried to dismiss, as the door suddenly opened, and Nathan’s eyes widened, as the Demon he remembered had kept Stella hostage, walked out of the room. His expression was cold, and as Nathan laid eyes on him, he couldn’t help but take a step back in surprise.
“Is he the one you have been speaking to? And you are just letting him walk freely around!” Nathan blurred out in disbelief, as he pointed at Armaros.
“Calm down, he was imprisoned, but he is not to blame for this.” Drake explained, as Nathan shook his head.
“But he did all those other things, shouldn’t that be enough!” Nathan yelled.
“Listen, this is Chase’s decision, Nathan, I would recommend you go home for now.” Charlie spoke as he tried to place his hand on Nathan’s shoulder, to calm him down, but Nathan shoved it off.
“No! This is all bullshít.. Tell me, is he the one saying that my dad, Hunter, and Kyle did it?” Nathan snapped, as Armaros' eyes narrowed for a moment.
“No, the evidence has nothing to do with what he has said or done, Nathan.. Now go home!” Charlie demanded, as Nathan glared at Armaros, before he stormed off.
[..]
As Armaros left the office, he wanted to know who had dared to put their fücking hands on Stella.
But Chase didn’t give him much to go with, but he didn’t get far, ‘cause this guy, Nathan – that Armaros remembered was one of those who came after Stella the first time – was standing on the other side of the door.
He ended up giving him just enough information about these motherfückers to know exactly who they were talking about. It was the three werewolves who supposedly should have brought her home, knowing this only made his burning anger worse. Just the thought of how scared she must have been, as people she believed were there to protect her, turned against her, gave him the urge to burn down every God-damn wall standing between him and those motherfückers.
He wanted to show them what real fear looked like. They deserved nothing less than what they put Stella through, he just didn’t have any idea how he would manage to do it.. Yet.
“Kyle is still not been found, no..” he heard someone speak up – as he passed by a group of men, who were on their way towards Chase office – which immediately caught Armaros’ attention.
Finally, some information he could use to his advantage, he was going to find this piece of shít and make sure he would regret ever laying his eyes on his woman.
If he knew werewolves right, he had an idea where this ásshole would hide – the forest was typically where they would seek to, when they were in trouble or for some other reason they were stressed, that much he did learn.
He walked into the forest, and it didn’t take long before he found him.
“Hello Kyle!” Armaros greeted him as Kyle jerked in surprise when he laid eyes on Armaros.
“W-what, are you doing here? Weren’t you locked up?” He asked nervously, as he raised from his seat and took a step back.
“I was.. But your Alpha decided to let me out, when he figured out, I wasn’t to blame for Stella’s injuries..” Armaros explained as he strode towards Kyle, and with that grabbed him by the throat, while he pushed him against a tree.
“.. It was you! What did you do to her!?” Armaros growled, as he pressed Kyle harder against the tree, as he was almost getting choked, while Armaros proceeded to pull a gun out – which he had managed to get back – and held it against Kyle’s cheek.
Kyle looked at him terrified, and immediately began to talk.
“Okay, listen, Carl just wanted to scare her a little, okay! But then it got out of hand.. Carl lost his temper, and he ended up beating her, and cutting her with a knife. Thereafter, he didn’t know what to do, ‘cause he couldn’t return her to her parents after what he had done to her, so he planned to make it look like you had killed her, but then Hunter had to mess everything up, as he tried to get in her pants.. So, he píssed her off and she got away..” he explained, as Armaros' hand started to shake with infuriating anger.
“So, you were planning to kill her!” he yelled.
“No! I-I mean, Carl did.. I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want any of those things to happen, but it did - and he was also the one who gave Hunter the order to finish it, while he would keep Chase and everyone else busy at the meeting!” He blurred out, making Armaros eyes widen.
“Well, thanks for your cooperation.. Bye!” He spoke calmly, as Armaros then shot him, before he turned around ready to run back to the house, but he stopped for a moment as Vlad suddenly was standing in front of him.
“Move away, I have to go and make sure that..” Armaros ordered, as Vlad cut in.
“I’ve already done that, both of them have been put away already – Stella is safe.” Vlad stated as he looked at Kyle’s dead body on the ground and then back at Armaros, who surely felt more relieved..
“But I guess Kyle won’t be joining them.” Vlad spoke plainly, only earning a careless shrug from Armaros, as blòod was scattered all over Armaros’ shirt and face.
“Guess not.. They planned to kill Stella.. He deserved worse than that,” Armaros replied.
“Oh, I’m not saying he didn’t..” Vlad spoke.
“.. I’m just wondering what we are going to do about this mess.” Vlad added, as Armaros took a handkerchief from his pocket, and used it to remove the bloòd from his face.
“Do what you have to do, but know that I’ll gladly kill those two other motherfückers, if I get the chance.” Armaros revealed, as Vlad nodded his head in a thoughtful manner.
“Then I believe there is only one thing to do now..” Vlad stated, as he walked closer to him, but he surprised Armaros as he proceeded to walk past him and grab a hold on Kyle’s dead body, as he disappeared for a moment and then returned.
“What did you..?” Armaros started, as Vlad cut in once again.
“If anyone asks, I was the one who killed him.” Vlad stated, as Armaros raised an eyebrow, before a smile came across his face.
“You are nothing like how I pictured you to be.” Armaros stated with a chuckle, as Vlad grinned.
“Well, ditto, I never thought I actually would meet a man, let alone a demon, that I actually believe is worthy and capable of looking out for Stella’s best interests.” Vlad stated as he patted Armaros' arm.
“Come.. Let’s go back.” Vlad spoke, as they headed out of the forest.
----
“You're saying he was in Stella’s room!” Chase yelled in shock, as Ace nodded.
“Yes, he was there with Nathan when Vlad arrived. Vlad is still out there searching for Kyle, as we speak.” Ace continued, as Chase got up from his seat.
“I want someone by my daughter’s door, until he is found. Am I making myself clear?” Chase ordered.
“Sure thing.. I know Bella would like to stay as well if you need someone else to keep her company, you know, if she might wake up..” Ace added, as Chase thought about it.
“That sounds like a good idea.. She can be there if she'd like to.” Chase replied, as Ace nodded.
“Great, I’ll let her know that.” He added before he walked out of the room.
“I can’t really do this again.” Chase growled, as he placed a hand on his forehead.
“Maybe you should bring in the council? You know you don’t have to do this alone, right?” Drake spoke up, as Chase sighed.
“I know.. But I’m just not sure that they will agree with me on this, so I would rather deal with this myself.” Chase stated, as he leaned against the wall next to the window, as he stared at the green trees.
“This is tough, I know that.. But don’t do this to yourself again. It was hard enough when it was your mate, but this is your daughter. You’ll end up going crazy, Chase!” Drake argued, as Chase glared at him.
“I have every right to go crazy if I do! I’ll handle this my way, understand!” Chase ordered, and the only thing Drake could do was to obey, even if it didn’t sit well with him.
“Yes, of course, Alpha,” Drake replied, as he gave a small bow and walked out the room.
[Stella’s POV]
“Hallo! Is someone there?” Stella called out, as she walked through big piles of snow, but the snow wasn’t cold, though she was walking barefoot through it. She couldn’t see anything, for miles, only the landscape covered in white untouched snow. She kept walking forward, as it felt like something was drawing her in that direction, so she just kept walking, until she suddenly stood in front of a big white wolf. It had these big blue eyes there were staring back at her.
“Stella.” She suddenly heard a voice inside her head. It was familiar to the voice that she remembered had whispered for her to let go, when she was running for her life.
“Who are you?” Stella asked, as she took a hesitant step back, only leaving the wolf to sit down.
“You have nothing to fear, Stella, I’m a part of you.” The wolf stated, as it just observed her.
“You’re my wolf?” She asked, as she was now staring at the big white wolf in shock.
“I am.” The voice once again replied in her head, as it still just sat there calm and collected.
“But why have I not been able to call you out when I needed it? Shouldn’t you try to.. Well, I don’t know.. Avoid getting us killed?” Stella asked, as she still couldn’t believe this was happening.
“I’m not the one who refuses to answer your calls – it’s you!” The wolf spoke calmly, as Stella frowned.
“Okay, that makes zero sense!” She blurred out.
“You have been constantly doubting your own worth and capability, and if you can’t even trust yourself, then that means your wolf-part too..”
“I am not!” Stella argued.
“You can’t lie to yourself, dear Stella, I’m part of you, remember? I know your doubts are rooted in your search for unattainable goals.”, it stated, as Stella sighed.
“People have all my life compared me to my parents, and I just don’t know how I will ever be able to compete with that..” Stella replied with a sigh.
“You can’t..” the wolf answered bluntly.
“Well, thanks for the pep-talk.” Stella spoke, as she was rolling her eyes.
“Listen.. You are not your parents.. You are Stella Aurora Lupus, the first of her kind. You shouldn’t try to be anyone else, other than yourself.” The Wolf stated.
“Live up to yourself, and not what others expect you to be.”
“Only then will you be able to embrace your true self.”
- Writer
