Questions for the enemy
~
Accalia
~

"Start talking," Lycus commanded and settled against a stone wall.

Amidst the edgy shadows and dawn light streaming through the door of the dungeon, Lycus's cheeks hollowed, carving his face into 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, and then triple-check if she needed anything. 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."

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

Accalia was the worst cousin. Lying didn't get her far. Over two weeks of keeping the secret and sealing her lips for Cadence's benefit did nothing in the long run. Still, divinely, through the fullness of the moon and foretelling of an oracle, Cadence still found out she was mated to Rexton.

"What's hilarious is that you're in here and you're not getting out," Cadence said snidely.

"What's even funnier is that you're all gonna die, so torture me if you fuckin' want."

Cadence looked over her shoulder and Lycus growled in response, marching back over to the door.

"You Canus pack members, so fucking deranged. Cole doesn't care that you're in here, he doesn't even know your name, wolf. Why protect him?" Lycus growled, trying to keep his anger in check as his muscles flinched with rage.

"Cole does know me," the wolf snarled, sitting back up with a self-assured look.

Lycus shook his head with a wolfish grin. "You're disposable to him, why do you think he throws the wolves to the lycans? He doesn't care about you or your friend."

A cord was struck and the wolf was back on his feet. "He does so! He's our Alpha, he says we're doing this for the sake of our pack."

Cole didn't even care about killing his mate, Accalia pondered, why would he care about pack members?

"You know Cole turns." Lycus declared and a shift rippled through both wolves, blinking at the Alpha of Alphas.

Cadence sent Lycus a confused look.

"He does not!" The loud-mouthed wolf spat.

Lycus shrugged and stretched out his arms through the bars, pointing at both wolves cockily. "I have a source that says he does."

Accalia caught on to what strings Lycus was pulling at. Cole's pack didn't know his secrets, how deeply they were.

The wolf's nose upturned in disgust. "Cole wouldn't. He's always lycan — he prefers blood on his fur than his other skin."

"My mistake," Lycus said smoothly and could almost pull the wolf's tail with his next assumption. "I heard that he does. He receives visits from someone unknown and likes to be around human women."

If the wolves were loyal enough, they wouldn't stand for false information being spread about their Alpha. They would stand their ground and stick behind their Alphas as loyal soldiers.

Lycus was seeing what they didn't know.

The silent wolf cocked his head to the side, eyeing Lycus with disdain. "You're playing us, tryna makes us talk, it won't work." 

Lycus cracked his neck and nodded, walking backwards. "Maybe I was confusing Zenith for Cole ..."

The silent wolf grinned maliciously and crooned, "Zenith couldn't even get she-wolf pussy he's that pathetic, he would be lucky if he got a human girl."

Lycus laughed, not disagreeing with him and wandered over to the wooden table in the corner of the room.

Whilst silence emitted through the dungeon, Cadence stalked over to Accalia, purpose in her stride. "What is he going on about? Human women and having a visitor? Has Lycus completely lost it?"

Accalia wanted to wrap her arms around Cadence and pull her close, but she simply gripped her hand, tugging her forward. "Are you going to stop ignoring me?"

Cadence shook her hand off with a curled lip, not appreciating the affection given to her. "It's either I punch you in the face or ignore you. Take your pick."

Accalia raised her brows and sighed a heavy sigh. "You're the one that came here to ask me questions."

Cadence glared, a feral look plastering her features that made her appear as rough as those wolves in the cage. "Start talking."

Accalia looked over Cadence's shoulder to find Lycus drumming his fingers across a table, debating what torture weapon he should inflict on the two prowling wolves.

Accalia swallowed, blinking back to reality and distracted herself by speaking to her cousin.

"When Cole scratched me, some parts of his claws were still in my back and Vaela wanted to see if she could find anything within them — like accessing his memories," Accalia explained to her cousin.

Cadence nodded in understanding, eyes becoming distant in a shadowy void. "She found something, didn't she?"

Accalia was grateful her cousin's tone softened, not full of snark and brute. "She found more questions than answers. His memories are all over the place because he turns human, which means his claws become human so these events go black. But there's something else, at certain points in the memories they become blocked — warped. It could be a vampire."

Confusion warped across Cadence's face and she found a seat next to Accalia.

Lycus picked up a crossbow and loaded the first silver tip arrow. He ignored Accalia, even as his shoulders tensed and strolled back over to the cellar.

"He's an animal all the time, he would be disconnected from his human side. Why the hell would he shift?" Cadence rambled.

"I think it could be to see the visits he gets, but he also has an attraction to women that used to look like his mate," Accalia whispered to Cadence as she forcefully turned her head away from Lycus that banged the silver tip arrows along the bars to rattle the animals before him.

"He killed his mate so he can be what he is now," Cadence muttered, casting her attention to the scene unfolding across from them. "What type of female is it?"

Accalia watched Cadence's side profile, her sharp jaw that clenched tightly and thin brows that furrowed and lifted, working through emotions she wouldn't reveal.

Accalia wasn't collateral damage, she wouldn't die just as everyone else had around Cadence. Their family had targets on their back for a long time and always would.

Accalia didn't want to be another tragedy to Cadence even if she thought everyone around her was doomed.

"The type of female that looks like Erisa."

Cadence snapped her head so fast and her obsidian eyes bled Accalia's reflection. "Your point?"

Accalia placed a hand on Cadence's shoulder and didn't care if she writhed in disgust from it. "No point, just that Cole's preference is someone that looks like Erisa," Accalia couldn't keep any further information from her, the heaviness of her heart was weighing enough and she continued, "The reason Lycus called you downstairs was that he suggested we could use Erisa as our eyes and ears. She could be the connection we need to see about the visits he gets and about his human side. Vaela will be able to access her memories."

Yell in a fit of rage, shove Accalia or hell, punch Lycus — she tended to do that.

But Accalia was met with a solemn and stifling quietness and Cadence looked to the wolves in cages.

The quiet one didn't drop his gaze from the weapon Lycus carried in his hands.

The loudmouth one huddled in the corner, breathing through his fear and as Lycus raised the crossbow, Cadence covered her hands over Accalia's eyes and ears.

The scream died out as quickly as it came, but Cadence kept Accalia hidden from the gruesome sight.

Accalia's heart quickened, nausea building. She could never get over the routine of torture and death. She hated it, despite who she was and what was expected of her.

"I forget who he is sometimes," Accalia mumbled to Cadence, "I forget he's the Alpha of Alphas."

But what did she expect at the beginning of the war?

Accalia shook her head away from Cadence and ran a hand through her hair that streamed over her eyes. She didn't want to see any of it.

"I forget you're the Luna of his pack," Cadence spoke over the screams that broke into outcries. It was the loud one being struck with an arrow and he still hadn't answered Lycus's questions. "You'll always be a hunter to me."

Soon enough, the title of a Luna will befall upon her like a crown and soon she would wear it, by sitting on the throne of the Fenris pack.

"Lycus wants Erisa to go in as a spy, doesn't he?" Cadence clarified.

Accalia looked at Lycus, how sinister he was as he loaded another arrow, asking questions in hushed whispers. The wolves recoiled, shaking their hands and mumbling sad nothings.

"I think so," Accalia murmured nervously. "But I'm against it."

More questions fired from Lycus's mouth were left unanswered.

"Nothing? You have fuck all to say?" Lycus spat with vulgarity and lewdness.

The two wolves yowled, the arrows sticking out of their body parts were too painful to remove and Accalia had an inkling Lycus appreciated their anguish.

Lycus turned on the hunters, stalking them with a bloodied face and hands.

Accalia had the urge to shrink back and she almost did when Lycus hovered his face above hers, staring down at her like was mere prey.

"I want you to go, I don't want you seeing this." Silvery slickness traced his tone and he jutted his chin toward Cadence. "And take her with you."

Accalia swallowed the bile building and moved her face from his lips when he went to kiss her forehead.

Lycus noticed this, his mouth drawing in a thin line and stepped back, nodding at her before turning back to the cage.

Accalia didn't stick around and locked her hand around Cadence's wrist so she wouldn't be able to either. The screams drew further away as they left the dungeon and came into the vast forest, but it still didn't help.

She could feel beneath their feet the torture Lycus was inflicting on the Canus wolves from below them.

"They won't tell Lycus anything," a voice crooned between two trees and Vaela gracefully moved a branch from her path, roaming over to the girls.

Accalia watched Cadence go tense in the shoulders and forced her fists to her sides.

"Hello, Vaela," Accalia greeted the oracle, ignoring the awkwardness announcing through the woods.

Vaela acknowledged Accalia with a nod but framed her sights on Cadence, the moon's eyes taking her in.

"It's quite a revelation, Cadence Larren and I am sorry I was the one to tell you."

Cadence shrugged and waved the oracle off. "You're a prophet or some crap, I know you couldn't help it —" she inclined her to Accalia, face darkening, "—but she could have."

Accalia twined her arms across herself and watched as Cadence regarded the oracle with a semblance of regard.

Vaela nodded and stepped up to Cadence, looking up at her. "I can't help when the moon talks to me, it was a message you needed to know at the time just as Accalia was protecting you at the time."

Cadence snuck an angered stare at Accalia and shifted her gaze back to the oracle. "Maybe it's what I deserve. I hate the supernatural, I've killed, attacked you, and tore that locket from your throat so I probably deserve this. Karma."

Her confession made the oracle laugh airily, flapping a hand over her mouth as her eyes shone silverly. "Child, so full of self-loathing, maybe you need Rexton more than he needs you."

Cadence's face reddened in disgust and before she could explode, Accalia butted in, "Vaela do you still believe someone could access more information by being around Cole? Like a spy?"

"Cole is a sexual creature by nature, in human and lycan form, but his emotions always connect to women who look like his mate. If we can, we should use it to our advantage." Vaela explained calmly to the two.

Accalia shared a mirroring look with Cadence, thinking back on Lycus's suggestion and if they could truly risk it.

"You said he goes to bars," Accalia remembered, shaking off Cadence's demeaning glower. "Is there a lot of people in the area?"

"From what I saw through the claws, he stalks human areas. Towns, bars and cities. When he sees someone he's interested in, he'll either stalk them or shift into a human. That's when everything goes black. I can tell when he turns human as I see the lycan begin to shift. The other time is, of course, when the memories blackout almost out of nowhere."

Accalia rounded on Cadence. "What's your input?"

Cadence rolled her sleeves, revealing thin arms and bloody knuckles. "Erisa tries to come off tough, but she's vulnerable. She gets scared easily, Accalia. She could pull this off, but if something happens to her ..."

"I would never forgive myself either," Accalia stated.

Cadence raised her head and bored her jet eyes at Accalia as if she was judging her every move. If anything were to happen to Erisa, it would tear Cadence in two and that wasn't something Accalia could allow.

"She'd be protected Cadence, in a public area, like a bar where one of us can watch over. But this is only if she wants to do it." Accalia informed Cadence.

Her cousin looked lifeless at the moment, the bags under her eyes hanging deeper and pulling her cracked lips together in a firm line.

Accalia couldn't understand if it was her drained and wilted state that made her willing, but Cadence nodded slowly — tiredly.

"Give me your phone, I need to call her. I still haven't gone over to her place." Cadence muttered tersely.

A fleeting sense of relief soared through Accalia and then it set in with cold, dead fear.

Underground, steps thundered upward and Lycus slammed the door close with a bang.

Blood showered him in crimson glory, from his boots to his head, unyielding to others beneath him, but closer to the pits of hell.

The cries of agony had ceased.

Lycus had the nerve to smile, lips plated in blood and Accalia didn't realise she wrung her arm through Cadence's and tugged her cousin into her side.

"He won't hurt you, Accalia," Cadence admitted, trying to get her arm back and Accalia thought she would throw her into him. The arms of a beast — a lycan.

"I know," Accalia stammered and faced Cadence head-on. "But he's willing to hurt others for me. What does that make me?"

Lycus came to Accalia silently, his exhales heaving over her head and he kept his hands at bay.

But anyone could tell what was on his mind, through his obsidian eyes that bared no trace of the human inside him. Territorial possessiveness of what was his. His to protect.

"Not him." Cadence declared.