Chapter 235

Almara’s Pov

We recite the speech in flat voices the Zayne had prepared. We go through the motions as though on autopilot, just getting through this part so that the real events can begin. For all the murderous skills the familiar have, they lack in their writing.

The speech was so dry there would be no way anyone back one would truly believe we meant the words we were saying. Still, even pretending to admit defeats leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“We said our piece, now let us go,” Arthur growls, clearly disturbed by the horrible words we had just spoken as well. Zayne pretends to busy himself with the camera.

“I’m just not sure we got it all,” he says, twisted amusement glowing behind his eyes.

“We did what you asked, now hold to your word and let us go,” Arthur says and even I feel the threat crawl down my spine and paralyze me with fear.

The door to the control room opens and a grotesque familiar the size of a bear fills up the space in the doorway. He barely looks at us as he crosses the room over to Zayne. He lowers his snout to Zayne’s ear and for a second I wonder if he’s going to bite him.

He whispers into Zayne’s ear and Arthur and I watch with acute interest as Zayne’s expression shifts from intrigue to devilish delight. “Very well,” Zayne says and lets his gazeroam over us, but I can’t read his expression.

The bear-like familiar backs away and Zayne comes over to us, “You’re right, Arthur. A promise is a promise,” he says as though it was Arthur’s remark that caused him to change his mind and not whatever information he just received.

Zayne outstretches his arms again and works his black magic and as each moment passes the unseen restraints become looser and looser. As soon as they are removed, Arthur jumps from his seat and heads to the backdoor. He reaches the knob just before the bear-like familiar put his paw on his shoulder and throws him back.

Arthur lands with a thud, but is quick to recover. He stands with a vengeance and goes to pounce at the familiar. “Arthur, don’t!” I scream, I can’t watch him get hurt again, the baby starts kicking wildly, entwined with my stress and I try to put a comforting hand over my stomach.

“Listen to your woman,” Zayne says. “Besides, you’ll see your daughter again.” He pauses and adds, “I promise and after all a promise is a promise,” he taunts and the urge to slap the smirk off his face overwhelms me. “Besides, the door is locked,” Zayne says and something tells me it’s locked as in the way we were locked to our seats.

“There’s something you need to see,” Zayne says and I can’t help but notice the excitement in his tone.

“We’re not going anywhere until we see our daughter,” I say struggling to stand from my seat. I want to defend my husband, but I realize how pathetic I look as I do so.

I’m quickly growing in size, though not in an intimidating way. My belly is swollen, as are my feet and my back is killing me. I try to shield my expression as I use the chair to support me, but I know my face pinches with pain.

Zayne doesn’t even respond to my demand, instead I feel thick flesh wrap around my upper arm. I see the bear-like familiar hovering over me, I can feel the hot breath come out in short spurts from his black nose.

In his other paw, he has Arthur and he shoves us forward. “I’ll see you around,” Zayne calls from behind us, his cackling laughter gets cut off as the door shuts behind us.

The bear-like familiar doesn’t say a word as he shoves us in the direction back to the cell where we came from. I imagine this is what we can expect until the gammas from back home decide how they’re going to respond to the mixed messages they got.

One from Arthur telling them to not give in, while in the next speech admitting defeat- though as shallow as that sounded, the fact that we even uttered those words doesn’t look good coming from your Alpha.

As we walk through the halls, familiars smirk at us though there’s this knowing behind their expressions. They’re looking at us as if they’re all in on some secret, and I can’t help but think that secret is about us. We just have no idea what it is.

Normally their stares don’t bother me, only disgust me but I find myself actually relieved to be back at the doors that my parents, Cathy, and Robert are kept behind. I shudder at the thought of living in a world dominated by familiars.

The doors part, the familiar releases his grip and pushes us forward. I didn’t realize how hard he was grasping until he left go and I could still feel the weight of his fingers wrapped around my arm.

As soon as we’re through the doors, I’m hit with the strong metallic smell of blood. My eyes scan the room for where my nose is picking up the scent. Though all I see is Cathy cowered in a corner, shaking and refusing to meet our eyes.

“What happened?” Arthur asks as he leaps over to Cathy to console her. Cathy flinches as he nears her, as though just registering that we’ve entered the room. She lifts a trembling hand and points at one of the cells, but keeps her head down and sobs.

Arthur follows the direction of where her finger is pointing and his face contorts from shock, to horror, to sadness. I take a tentative step, my legs feeling like jelly.

I don’t want to know what he sees, but the not knowing is suffocating. Arthur crawls over to the cell and in a voice just barely above a whisper asks, “What did you do?” he repeats this questions as though in a trance, each time getting louder and louder until he grips his metals bars and shakes the doors.

I finally reach Arthur and stand behind him, keeping my eyes on my husband though it becomes unbearable to watch the strongest man I know crumble and shake before me. I finally lift my eyes and when I realize what has cut to his heart, I feel the floor get pulled out from under me.

I fall to my knees, the blood drains from my body and I swear it pools and mixes with the actual blood on the floor, because in this moment, I swear I’m dying too.

In the center of the cell, Robert lays. His mouth is hung open, his eyes wide, it’s like a frozen still shot of his last moment of life, calling out for help that never came.

“I’m s-sorry, I’m so sorry,” Cathy fumbles over to us, dibble hanging from her moist lips, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What happened?” Arthur asks, yanking his eyes away from Arthur as though he finally is able to do so. I on the other hand can’t. I take in every detail.

His head lay at an awkward angle, as though slightly sunken in on the left side and that’s also where the blood starts from, though that’s hard to tell because at first glance there are smears of blood everywhere. His knees are bent to the side and his arms are splayed out at his side.

“I killed him,” Cathy says like she’s just realizing this herself.

“Why?” Arthur asks and it sounds like he’s calling out to the heavens as he asks this question that I believe will never truly be able to be answered.

“They said they were going to hurt Grace. Robert offered himself,” Cathy manages to answer, but so much still needs to be explained.