| CHAPTER 19 : UNGRATEFUL SHITTY WORLD |

The streets bustled with cars and transportation, and I was sure as hell gonna die waiting in anticipation for the traffic to clear out. My knee came up and down restlessly with my foot tapping.

King Alpha must be awake by now.

How long was it before he came for me?

I hope it's somewhere after I talk to Ava.

Katia drove without a crease of worry or anxiousness, low music playing from the car stereo.

"So why did you offer to help me?" I asked after a long moment of driving and anticipation.

She shrugged, "Let's just say everyone likes to disobey King Alpha."

"Who are you exactly to King Alpha?"

She smiled, "I'm one of his wolves," she said before adding, "Just not entirely a loyal one."

"Where do you live?"

"In the mansion itself."

"I barely see anyone there except you, Drew and now Levi."

"King Alpha lives in the east side of the mansion where no one except a few people are allowed. The rest of them lives on the west side."

"How many of you are there?"

She smiled, "Even if we don't live in the mansion, many of us live scattered across the earth. We live as normal human beings among you beings."

"So you mean my apartment owner could be a werewolf?"

"Vampire, witch, dragon, angel, demon, mermaid," she shrugged, "he could be anything."

My eyes went wide momentarily.

"Wow." I sighed.

She chuckled, "There are a lot of us creatures. Some of us can't even be seen to human eyes."

I placed my head in my hand wondering why the witches would choose someone like me among all these amazing and dangerous creatures. Something is just not right about this.

We reached Ava's apartment after a few more minutes.

I half expected her to be gone and missing too. But to my surprise, she opened the door after three knocks. Her eyes went wide when they landed on me, and she quickly embraced me without another thought.

"Oh my god! You're not dead!" She exclaimed, her arms crushing my ribs with her short auburn hair tickling my face.

For a moment, I forgot what I was here for when she hugged me. How long has it been since someone hugged me? I found myself yearning more for her warm hugs but pulled away before I got carried away.

"Ava," I said, "you have to tell me what's goi-"

Her eyes slid behind me. Her smile dropped and she snarled.

"What is she doing here?"

"Nice to meet you, Ava," Katia said politely standing behind me.

"You know her?" I asked Ava, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, she's k-"

"I believe we don't have much time," Katia interrupted, "King Alpha is coming for her."

Ava narrowed her eyes at Katia and gave her the most suspicious look, "What are you doing with her?" She asked me.

"Katia helped me escape," I responded.

"She did?" Ava looked confused for a second before shaking her head and moving aside, "Come in."

We stepped into her small and comfy apartment. I tried not to look around for too long or let my gaze linger. It would be hard to leave this place if I let the homey feeling get on to me.

I stood in the center of the living, crossing my arms against my chest as if doing that will protect me from the warmness and comfiness of this room.

We all stood in the living room.

"Ava," I started almost rushed, "tell me what's going on. Someone took Collin. I had this weird vision thing and I saw Collin being hit by this blue suit man with light shooting out of his hands. And I did magic too. At least I think I did. I don't know-"

"I can't tell you anything." Ava interrupted.

I blinked. "What?"

She sighed, rubbing a hand down her face, "Collin didn't tell me anything," she said then muttered, "I thought we always tell each other stuff."

I thought so too.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're a werewolf. You're his best friend. He must have told you something."

She shook her head, "I'm feeling just as confused as you are, Ez. He lied to me. All this time..." she sighed, "I thought you were dead and then when I went back to your apartment, the place was a wreck and Collin was missing. I thought King Alpha killed him too. I know nothing now."

"What did Collin tell you?"

She pursed her lips before sighing, "You're not going to like this."

My fists curled, "I have to know."

"He told me that he found when you were a baby. In an alley abandoned and alone. He took pity and took you in. He didn't want you to know he was a werewolf, so he kept compelling your mind, erasing memories, putting in new memories, making you sleep for almost half your life and then compelling you again to think that you've lived your life full."

I think my heart stopped beating.

"I met Collin only five years ago and he knew I was a werewolf. We immediately became friends. He told me about you and where he found you and made me promise that I would never tell you our real identity. I thought we were in this together. I thought we were always together in many kinds of stuff. I didn't know he would hide something this big..." Ava trailed off, putting a hand to her forehead.

"What about our uncle?" I demanded, "We lived with him our entire lives before Collin turned eighteen."

She gave out a sigh, "Collin told me that too. But I promise I have no clue about any of this. I don't think there was any uncle, Ez. Collin is a really old werewolf."

I didn't know whether I should scream or cry. I wanted to do both. My eyes stung with abrupt tears and my chest heaved. My whole life has been a lie. My memories?

Everything was a...lie?

I turned around and ran out the door. Ava and Katia both called my name but none of them came to stop me. I ran down the stairs and out onto the streets.

Everything is a lie? How could it be?

I ran in between people and in different streets, wanting to run and leave this all behind. The night darkened with a starless sky. I kept my head down and ran until I couldn't take it anymore.

I ran into an open field near the park where people usually play football. The field was empty for now, but I couldn't care. I placed a hand on my forehead taking in a deep breath.

He put fake memories in your head making you believe you've lived your life as a baby.

Ava's every word felt like a punch to the gut. My chest heaved with painful sobs ready to burst out, but I couldn't bring myself to cry. My mind was in too much denial of Ava's words.

Collin hypnotized my whole life for me? All those moments and memories I had with him were fake? He lied to me about everything.

I let myself scream.

I screamed out in anger, frustration but mostly hurt.

What am I gonna do now?

King Alpha is coming for me, my brother- who isn't my brother -is missing and lied to me my entire life, worse, he made me see a life which wasn't real in any way, I have nowhere to go and my own home isn't safe.

Is my life ruined just like this?

I wanted to stomp on the ground like a child, I wanted to scream out more, I wanted to cry out loud. My quick paces back and forth on the same spot in the field were useless.

I raked my fingers through my hair, sniffling up the unshed tears that's when I started to feel something churn within me. Something...extracting me. It started from the middle of my chest, flowing slowly through my entire body, extracting what seemed like my energy and flowed towards my hands.

I looked at my palms where it tingled.

A white glow illuminated. Small at first. But it glowed further, wider. A small noise of pain came out of my mouth when the light seemed to burn my hand. I stared at them in horror, astonishment, before waving my hands around as if putting off a fire.

The light didn't diminish and grew larger, covering my hands till my wrists. My thoughts were all over the place as panic took over, clenching my heart and rattling it.

Drew had slapped me last time this happened. I brought my hand closer to my face but yelped when my hands seemed scalding hot to my skin. That's when the tears abruptly left my eyes, streaming down as I sobbed.

My knees collapsed to the ground, not caring about the light anymore and just sobbed openly, placing my hands in front of me on my lap.

I felt, nothing, everything, all at once, hurt, betrayal, lonely, empty.

For a long moment, I just wept to myself, my hands continuing to flicker and flame with the light dancing merciless and scary from my palms.

When I thought I was gonna weep for more, a crunch of dry leaves echoed behind me. The light abruptly stopped and disappeared as if it was never there. I turned my head around and almost screamed at the small shadowy figure moving towards me before realizing it was just a puppy.

I exhaled a breath of relief; shoulders slumping and wiped the tears from my face.

The puppy sauntered towards me on its tiny four feet, its size no more than a basketball.

"Hey," I said gently as it neared me. Its floppy cute ears swayed slowly.

It reached towards me with its tiny paws and placed them on my knee, looking at my face as if asking 'are you okay?'.

I gave him a small smile which probably looked like a sad look.

A calm silence stretched between us and the entire field.

The puppy kept looking at me with his wide blue eyes, tilting its head from one side to the other, giving a small whimper.

I sighed, wiping my eyes and face further to hide the signs that I had been crying, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just got emotional I guess. Not even emotional. I think I had an outburst," I sniffled putting a hand on the puppy's soft head, caressing right behind his ear. He gave a pleased sound at that, giving in to my touch.

"My life has been going crazy for the past few days," I talked to him, "I don't know if I can keep going. I'm lost, you know? I mean I know where my home is, but I can't go back there. What about you? Are you lost? I don't see a tag on you."

The puppy hopped on my lap, curling up in response.

I petted his head.

"It's gonna be alright. I guess. I don't know what to do anymore. I have no one left. Someone took my brother, I can't go back to high school with my best friend Jade, I can't go back to the bakery where Mrs. Jenna probably hides a skeleton in one of her fridges, I can't-I can't do anything normal—" I broke into a sob.

I quickly put my hands on my face, sucking in a deep breath, wiping away escaped tears.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this," I said running a hand through my hair, "I don't usually cry like this. I'm just really emotional today. I guess because my period is near. I don't know if I'd even have pads or tampons to wear." The puppy gave a small sound which sounded of disgust, "Sorry, I know you don't want to hear about my monthly problems. No one does."

I petted his head further as he lay curled up on my lap, "Do you have a family? Where's your mother?"

At that, he leapt off my lap, his mouth formed into a sort of snarl as he glared at me. The glare sent chills down my body, and I wasn't sure anymore if this puppy acts cute the way it looks.

I widened my eyes in horror at his behaviour, my hands raised to either side of my head in caution.

"Sorry dude, I didn't know you were sensitive about that kind of thing. I know everyone has family problems and deals with those crap now and then." I said and then proceeded to pinch myself, "Am I seriously gonna talk to a freaking puppy?" I muttered.

The puppy raised its head high, looking away from me in a scoffing kind of manner.

"Hey, don't show me that sass. I'm the one with the sass here." I said pointing a finger at myself.

He titled his head at me, with eyes slightly narrowed as if he were giving me a flat look. For a moment, I paused and gazed at it in half astonishment and half horror. Was this puppy seriously understanding what I'm saying...?

I scooted an inch away from the puppy, "Erm...not to get too creepy and all but...D.Y.K?"

He only gazed at me before his lips slowly pulled up, showing sharp teeth pulled into a grin. My eyes slowly widened at the Cheshire-type grin he gave.

"That's...really not cute for something as tiny as you." I pointed warily.

He took a few steps toward me, and I scooted back at the same time.

"I swear if you turn out to be some kind of a creepy creature, I'll scythe you." I said and looked at his narrowed eyes, "Yeah I won't care if your all cute and all. I've had enough fantasy bullshit for one day."

His bottom lip puckered out, and his blue eyes seemed to enlarge with extra spark, a furrow came between his eyes and he seemed to shrink into himself as if pouting. A whimper came out of his lips.

He looked so...adorable.

"Jesus," I exclaimed throwing my hands up, "Fine, I'll just...slap you, I guess."

His cute demeanour faded and he seemed to give me a roll of his eye.

My jaw fell open at the human gesture he just did.

"You're not-you're not a normal puppy, are you?" I asked, mouth still wide open.

A corner of his mouth lifted, and it smirked at me. A freaking puppy smirked at me.

Before I could move or scream or run, it shifted.

Like literally. Slowly. From the roundness of its face to its tiny round body. It shifted to something big, limbs lengthening and shifting into that of humans. At the same time, his face grew a bit large, features sharpening. His eyes remained the same, blue and it took me a while to realize whose blue eyes were those.

I didn't move and only gaped as the puppy shifted to a human body.

He stood on his feet planted in front of me, icy blue eyes glimmered, raking down at my sitting form with a wicked look.

"I'm all kinds of abnormal, blondie."

I screamed. I turned around, stumbling while getting on my feet. I didn't look back and ran. Ran into the open field which was a pretty dumb move. He could just as easily catch me.

I expected my blouse to be yanked from behind or arms to grab my body, but nothing of that happened. I turned my head around to see King Alpha not even bothering to run or even walk fast. He sauntered in my direction as if he weren't going to catch me instead he was racing with a turtle.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and turned back around—

Too late.

The goal post collided with my face.

I swaggered back.

Placed a hand on my cheekbone.

Blinked.

Then cried.

"Ow!" I squeezed my eyes shut, whilst trying not to actually cry. A sting formed and no doubt, a bruise was gonna appear on my cheekbone.

"Well, that was just...stupid." He snorted.

I yelped at the distance of his voice, turning around, to see he stood two feet away from me.

I staggered back and yelped when my head hit the goal post.

"For god's sake, stop running into that goal post." He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't mean to poison you!" I said quickly with wide eyes.

"Right." A smirk curled on his face. "About that. You've really been a very naughty girl," he leaned towards me, and I backed up a few steps, making sure not to hit the goal post again, "I'm gonna ask you five questions and if you don't answer those five questions, Drew and I will play football with your head in this very same field, capiche?"

I just gazed at his large form, looming over me with wide eyes. I can't tell him Drew gave me the poison, some dude called Levi led me out of the mansion and Katia drove me till here to meet Ava. Too many people- or werewolves, whatever- are gonna be in trouble or danger.

If they can get in trouble that is. Immortal fast healing freaks.

My eyes darted towards the small opening to King Alpha's right side, where I can easily run through after giving him a small shove. A gulp went down my throat realizing I have to give a shove to the possible mountain in front of me.

Closing my eyes, I tried without even thinking about it. First the shove. I kept my head jutted out and took off like a bull. My head grazed his right arm but other than that, it was a success. I darted like a speeding ball running to the other side of the field, not wanting to look back.

My heart thudded loudly in my chest, and I didn't know where I ran. I ran off the field and onto the busy streets.

King Alpha didn't grab me yet or even appear in front of me.

I let myself turn to look behind to see crowds of people. But no King Alpha.

Isn't he following me? I furrowed my eyebrows and slowly stopped running, scanning the people on the pavements and streets to look for him. He wasn't there.

That did not assure me in any way possible. Instead, it made chills run down my spine. What if he was hiding somewhere and staring at me? What if he changed himself into someone or something and was currently behind me?

My feet took off again. Running in any direction until I was sure where I was heading off to.

I landed myself in the park where a scanty amount of people scattered around. Mostly kids. I ran into a tube slide, climbing up the ladder and hiding in the tube. I brought my knees to my chest, trying to take in large gulps of air.

My mind kept chanting; King Alpha-danger! King Alpha-danger! King Alpha-danger!

I knew poisoning him was a bad idea! I'm gonna fucking sue Drew!

My body trembled despite the sweat running down my forehead. I wrapped my shaky hands around my knees. I can't hide here forever. I can't go back home. I can't trust anyone. What am I gonna do?

How long was it before King Alpha finds me again? Was he already here?

Crickets chirped and a few people far away chattered, their conversations faint. Other than that, no more sound. No sound except my breathing.

King Alpha didn't kill me. He didn't even try to catch me. Was he finally letting me go?

My chest ached with both lack of oxygen and the fast thudding of my heart. Before I could think-

"Nice hiding spot."

I shrieked before I saw him. My body jumped and lost balance, tumbling down the spiral tube slide in an awkward way. It collided with the ground after a swirl of suffocation and rolling. My head rolled out first followed by the rest of my body. I gasped at the dull ache beginning to form on my head along with dizziness washing over me.

A huge chest loomed over my face.

"I have a question," he started not letting me take a break, "how long do you think it will take me to kill at least seven kids before you start answering my questions?"

I frowned despite the dizziness, "What?"

"It usually takes me twenty seconds top to kill seven different creatures," he rubbed his chin, "I think it will take thirteen seconds, don't you think?"

"Are you high?"

He stomped a foot near my head, making me jump in the slightest way, taking a step closer to my body, "Wrong answer."

A scream left my lips as he fisted the front of my blouse and pulled me up. I immediately tried squirming and thrashing away, but his grip held me firm. He brought my face closer to his, but I refused to look into his cold icy blue eyes, still trying to squirm away.

"Now this is how it's going to go, you start answering me, or I slowly kill the kids here one by one. No one would even know. They'd think it was the wind."

"No one would think that."

"Shut up."

"Let go of me." I struggled, trying to pull away from his grip on my blouse.

"If you struggle any more, your blouse is gonna tear," his lips twisted up into a nasty grin, "not that I mind."

"I'm wearing a camisole inside." I reminded him despite my cheeks flaming of both embarrassment and the heat of his voice.

"Great, something easier to tear," he said then rolled his eyes, "I swear you woman wear clothes made of fucking metal threads. It's hard to rip them off you sometimes."

"Let go of me," I demanded more firmly this time.

He let go.

My body yanked back because of the sudden force, and I fell on my elbows and butt. A groan came out of my lips. I rolled onto my side as I rubbed both my elbows to reduce the soreness and the scratches.

"Question number one," I propped on my elbows watching him with wide eyes as his large body circled mine like a slow vicious predator, "Since how long have you been doing magic?"

"Since Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."

His eyes paused on me for a second, with no emotion, except a raised eyebrow. Then he disappeared.

A gasp escaped my lips when he reappeared...with a small wailing boy in his hands.

One of King Alpha's hands wrapped around the boy's tiny frame, holding his body to his chest, the other pressed firmly on his neck.

"Tick tock, blondie."

The boy sobbed, with eyes wide and screaming out to his mommy.

"This is insane! You're insane!" I yelled, dread filling my chest.

He gave a shrug, "Never said I wasn't."

"Please let the boy go." I pleaded, eyes wide with panic, fearing for the toddler's life now.

"You refused to play by the rules," his hands visibly tightened around the boy's neck making him scream, "someone's gotta face the consequences."

I searched King Alpha's face for any kind of mercy, sympathy, or emotion but it was as cold as ice, as cold as Elsa's castle.

When I didn't answer for a second King Alpha switched his hands on the boy's arm. With a small jerk of his hands, he bent the boy's arm backwards.

A scream came out my lips muffled by the boy's.

"A few days! I swear I didn't know I could do magic. It was only a few days ago!" I screamed out an answer before even thinking about it. I immediately felt stupid, weak, vulnerable. He knew he could torture anything out of me by torturing other people...especially kids.

The boy sobbed with his eyes squeezed shut.

King Alpha tilted his head to the side, lips pulled together into a thoughtful pout, "Not exactly satisfied with that answer but oh well," he let go of the boy and he fell roughly onto the ground near King Alpha's feet. The toddler wept but didn't make an effort to run. He lay cowered on the ground, clutching his arm, and my heart immediately ached for him. I looked back at King Alpha. A cold grin aligned his sharp teeth with one of the front teeth crooked, "this was only round one."

"Let. The boy. Go."

"Don't command me, bitch!" He snarled taking a menacing step towards me. I slid back a few inches just at once, "Next question. Where'd you get the fucking poison from?"

I sealed my lips shut, not willing to take Drew's name for the same sympathizing reason but King Alpha went ahead and planted his foot on the boy's belly making his cry louder. The threat was clear.

Panic surged through me, "Drew," I gritted out, "Drew gave me the poison."

He narrowed his eyes before huffing in annoyance, muttering "That fucking pain in the ass."

"Please let him go now," I said, my voice softer, tears at the brink of my eyes as I stared at the terrified, crying boy under King Alpha's foot.

"Nah-uh. Next question. What spell did you do on me to drink the poison?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Excuse me?"

He raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

"I did not do any spell, King of delusions. It was all you. You drank that shot without even giving it a thought."

He gave me a flat look, "You think I'm that stupid?"

I rolled my bottom lip out, giving a slow shrug, "Maybe..."

"You better tell me what spell or trick you did back there before I crush this twat to a pulp. You also spelled me into wanting to fuck you."

My jaw fell open, "Excuse me?"

"That explains why I was so horny at that time."

"Now wait a damn minute," I scoffed, "That was all you and just plain you! I didn't do any damn spell. You were in your own episodes of every day fuck me life."

"Not really sure what you mean by that. You're lucky I'm letting this answer slide."

"Slide your foot off that boy too."

A nasty grin stretched across his face, "It's amusing how much you care for him even if you don't know him."

"It's called humanity."

"It's called bullshit. I really think I'm wasting my time here talking to you. Why don't I just kill you and save everyone's breath? What do you say, SpongeBob?" He asked the boy, looking down at him.

The boy didn't respond and only wept silently now, looking between me and King Alpha in confusion.

King Alpha grinned, "He agrees."

I frowned, "But he didn't even say—"

"Time to get on my Hitler pants."

King Alpha slid his foot off the boy, trudging towards me with fast paces. A cold, malicious grin plastered his face as he swiped his hand in the air inches before my nose. I yelped, not noticing his claws vicious and long, outstretched where his long fingers used to be. I skid back, still on the ground, with my elbows and hands.

He swiped at me again making me shriek as his razor-sharp claws almost grazed my cheek.

"Let's have a chat!" I yelled, trying to skid away from him while trying to get up.

"Yeah, like you would fucking want to start a conversation with me right now."

"At least try to hear me out!"

He swiped his claws, tearing a bit of my blouse along with it, "Nope."

I sprang up not caring if his claws were inches above my face. I sprang up in the attempt of getting on my feet. But he grabbed my throat in a tight grip, pushing me back to the ground. His hips straddled my waist, making me gasp at the weight of his crushing physique. He held me down by my throat, another hand-claw-ready and raised in the air.

He looked dangerously ready, grinning murderously. No remorse, no emotion, nothing.

"Say bye-bye to this ungrateful shitty world, Ez."

He swiped his claw.

My life flashed before my eyes; my heart picked up its speed. Everything flowed in fast motion.

"Alexandros wouldn't have liked this!"

His claw paused centimetres away from my neck. His eyes hooded with a dark look, and I knew if I weren't dead earlier, I would be right now. His hand around my throat tightened making me gasp out.

"What'd you say, bitch?"

"Alex..andros...wouldn't want...you to-"

He pressed further on my throat. Black splotches clouded my vision and my lungs burned.

No word came from him. He pressed on my neck; hundred percent sure of killing me this way. Tears escaped my eyes, lungs burned. I thrashed underneath him. Sirens rung in my ears. Ezlynn Richardson finally gets to meet Angel of Death.

Before I could completely blackout or drift off to oblivion, not sure whether I was imagining the whole thing, a bright light suddenly burst into the air like a firecracker lightening up the sky.

It blinded completely me for a second. When I opened my eyes, King Alpha's eyes were wide in shock with his mouth hung open. His eyes were still on me. His body swayed slightly above me before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell limp on top of me. I gasped, panic surging through as I scrambled to do something, anything, not sure what.

A polished shoe nudged King Alpha's side and rolled him off me.

A man with shaggy hair appeared in my cloudy vision. A hand stretched out towards me, and I slid mine in his without giving another thought.

Before I knew it, the world flashed white, and I was thrown into a tumbler of lost senses. 

◃───────────▹

This was kind of one of my fav chapters that I've written, maybe because King Alpha had the full intention to kill Ezlynn this time and he wasn't even hesitating.

Date: 23 July 2021