As it should be
~
Accalia
~

"Try anything, and I snap your neck."

A wave of fear flourished through Accalia so strong she was sure she would collapse, but before she knew it, she was on her feet.

Lycus could crush her throat so quickly, fast as blinking and no one would catch on until Cadence's body met the floor.

Accalia shook even thinking about it because she knew Lycus would do it without question. Without blinking.

"Put. Her. Down." Gabriel commanded his brother.

Accalia saw from the corner of her eye the weapons Erisa and Tristan had drawn.

Erisa clutched a sword, levelling it up to Lycus and the anxiety was so numbing that Accalia could hardly look at her. Tristan had his gun pointed at him and there was no mistaking the lengths he would go to protect his cousin.

Accalia stared into Cadence, the blackness of her eyes never dropping from Lycus as if she expected this.

Cadence was impulsive and reckless, but hardly, if ever, faulty. Something drove her back to the pack and the more Accalia observed her struggling cousin, a plaster on her neck came into view and Accalia stifled a gasp.

"Lycus put her down!" Accalia cried out.

Lycus's head tilted to the side at her cry, but his focus settled back on Cadence.

"Do you have any idea of the destruction you unleashed on all of us, girl?" Lycus spat at Cadence, those fingers closing tightly around her skin.

"Nah," Cadence choked out and flashed Lycus a chilling smile, face flushing beet red. "But now I'm glad about it."

Lycus roared in her face and slammed her back into the wall, bangs clattering through the house. Cadence's eyes glazed over and she steadily went limp.

"Erisa, pass me your sword," Accalia ordered.

Erisa nodded and threw the object to Accalia's waiting hand. She caught it, ignoring the slices of pain rippling through her back and straightened up, stalking over to Lycus.

She spun the sword around, getting used to the heaviness and power. The last weapon she used on a person was piercing a stake into Cole's neck and that resulted in weakness, not strength. It resulted in hunching over, covering up and flinching like those claws were laying into her back all over again.

She hasn't fought in so long because she hated it. She hated the violence, the torment and the pain it caused for others.

Accalia held the sword right at Lycus's neck, edging the tip of the sword into his skin. "Let her go!"

Lycus simply shook his head. Cadence gurgled for air and clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the suffering to be over.

"Lycus—please," Accalia begged, the back of her eyes burning and trying to dig for the humanity he had shown her. "Please."

A gunshot wailed through the house and a bullet pierced right by Lycus's boot, a hole in the floor.

"Accalia," Tristan roared, holding the gun that was directed to the back of Lycus's head and she whipped around to face her brother. "I will kill him if he doesn't release her."

Accalia knew she may be considered a fool. Perhaps Lycus will hurt her as well, but it didn't hinder her from piercing the sword right into his arm that held Cadence in place.

Lycus hissed in pain and released Cadence to her feet.

Accalia let go of the sword, a shard of rage flashing across her and punched Lycus square in the face.

The silence was deafening and the sound of tearing was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Accalia gasped, leaning over and placing a hand on her lower back, crying out in pain.

Lycus ripped the sword out of his arm and threw it to the ground, wiping his bleeding lip that his mate handed to him.

Accalia couldn't even look at him even as she felt his eyes on her, burning a hole in the side of her head.

"Acc—Accalia, your back." Cadence stammered with a croaky throat and stumbled to her. "It's bleeding."

She felt it, the blood trickling down her back and the pain returning. She was positive it would never leave.

Lycus came to her side in a heartbeat and brushed his hand along her side, a hole engorged in his arm quickly healing. He didn't care what Accalia did to him, no stray of bother and anger was shown toward her. His face only swam with concern for his mate and went to pick her up.

Without thought, Accalia shoved him away and tried her hardest not to cry out from the force she had to put into her arm to keep him away from her. "Leave me alone!"

"Let me help you," Lycus growled out, word by word.

"There's a line of blood right on your clothes, Accalia, like a scratch mark." It was potent fear that wobbled Cadence's words and it made Accalia's heart accelerate.

Accalia spun on her heel and faced Cadence that clutched her neck with shallow gasps. Her neck was bright red and that gave Accalia the energised fuel to stay even more away from Lycus.

"A letter, really, Cadence?" Accalia stumbled to her and gently clasped her shoulders, inspecting her neck.

Shock filtered across Cadence's face and Accalia gathered why. She didn't think she'd be so easily forgiven even if it was shown in Accalia digging her nails into her cousin's shoulders to grab her full and undivided attention. "You better stop playing hero."

Cadence sent a glare to Lycus.

Lycus didn't part from Accalia, not even in distance and placed himself by her side, as close as she would allow.

She gave him the cold shoulder and wanted nothing more than for him to leave her alone.

"What happened to your back?" Cadence demanded.

"Cole Canus scratched me when I was trying to find you. He ambushed us, waiting outside of Lycus's pack and when we left to find you, he crashed into the car. He was close to taking me if I didn't stab him in the neck and then he scratched my back. Tala and Lycus saved me." Accalia explained through controlled and even whispers.

The guilt enriching Cadence's face was a sight to witness. Her eyes swam with black liquid that watered her eyes, but nothing fell — not with Cadence Larren and not in the presence of others. Her skin paled to the bane of white bones and her marred body with bruises and scars looked ready for more.

"I will avenge you, Lilybelle, you can count on that." Cadence gripped Accalia's forearm in a tight grip and pulled her close, a vow hidden within the gesture. This was affection for Cadence.

"We will do it together, with silver and sword," Accalia confirmed.

"With blood and silver." Cadence added and threw her arms around her.

"What happened to your neck?" Accalia asked, pulling away from her and lifting her cousin's chin to examine the wound.

Cadence recoiled and shrugged her off. "Ask Lycus and Gabriel, it was their pet that did this."

"What is she talking about, Lycus?" Accalia said from over her shoulder.

"Now you want to acknowledge me?" Lycus spitefully spat.

She turned around to face him and took in the beast she had seen to be a man. Wickedly handsome, dangerous and more beast than human. He was everything she never wanted and yet, was given to her like a curse. Curses could be broken.

"Tell me," Accalia didn't want to beg him.

Lycus's busted lip was covered in dry blood and she cursed the lycanthropy abilities that healed him.

Lycus pointed at her with a curled lip, amber eyes glowing and said, "Let me look at your back and then I might start talking."

"It was a vampire, Accalia," Tristan's voice flooded through the room.

Accalia was finally able to see Tristan, wild-haired and fierce.

"He's not a vampire," Lycus growled at the hunter.

"He fed from Cadence like his own personal blood bag, what else could he be?" Tristan shouted.

A vampire? That was what Lycus was hiding, wanting no one to find and unleash? Accalia's thoughts ran with hollowness, a gaping hole punching through her chest and leaving her in profound disbelief.

"Why would you lock something like him away, Lycus?" Accalia demanded.

Silence flooded the living room.

Tala tucked herself away in the corner with crossed arms, still as a statue as she watched from the outside peering in. She seemed to want no part in this and the frown on her face revealed just that. Her loyalty kept her in place.

Erisa, the icy-eyed huntress was only here for Cadence and would go wherever she went.

Tristan was a soldier waiting for commands, waiting to strike down any lycanthropy creature that dared cross him. From where Accalia stood, he wanted to kill Lycus and she knew nothing would stop him from doing so.

Luna Nina pressed herself to Gabriel's side, green eyes pining for his attention but was ignored.

Cadence wanted accountability and revenge. She wanted lives to be perished and lost.

"The person that bit you, Cadence—" Gabriel began and Lycus roared, rounding on his brother with black eyes.

"Don't you fucking dare, Gabriel!"

Gabriel removed Nina from his side and looked at his brother. "This is on us and you know it. He bit Cadence, he hasn't fed in over one hundred years, haven't you thought of what will happen now that he's freed?" Gabriel grew taller, his bones crackling through the air and his face darkened. "Alexene wanted to save him from what we did to him and by doing so, she used Cadence and would have killed everyone Cadence knew if she didn't help. For what we did, we deserve everything we get."

"We will deal with it when the time comes." Lycus countered back.

"I'm not killing my little brother, Lycus, I'm not hurting him ever again. Rexton will not be harmed by you or me. I won't allow it."

Accalia couldn't control the dread that settled in her stomach and wove into a knot from shock. Stunned gasps shook through the room in an eerie ring and she knew she wasn't alone.

"You have a brother, Gabriel?" Nina's voice lost the sweetness and her green eyes watered with tears. "Why didn't you tell me you locked your brother away?"

The notorious Fenris brothers, the prevalent and oldest lycans, had a younger brother no one knew about.

"Tell us!" Accalia commanded over the silence.

"We don't owe any of you an explanation," Lycus said to Accalia.

Cadence stepped up, a flicker of sinister rage coursing through those black eyes and she flailed a finger at Lycus, "Alexene kidnapped me, threatening to kill everyone I know, including Accalia and when I said no, she strangled me until I gave in. You'll tell us what happened."

Cadence picked up Erisa's sword from the ground and gestured it at the brothers, then shamelessly towards Nina and Tala. "I know families upon families that are hunters — I'm sure they'll want to take part in killing this wretched breed into fucking pieces. Come on now, Lycus ... Canus, Thrax and then hunters ... the odds aren't in your favour. I suggest you start talking."

No words could be ushered in, Cadence's plight to undo everything with a sword left everyone at a standstill. No one moved against Cadence's threats except for the hunters that came to her side and Accalia stood directly by her.

Hunters against Lycans.

As it should be.

~

Readers, I cannot express how differently this chapter was supposed to go and in a better way than this.

I like Cadence's threats though and Accalia's strength in this chapter, it reveals a lot about their character.

And ... Lycus, I'll leave that for you to decide.

— Caranyx.