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Liar

***

The Bloodlust Alpha

Liar - Camila Cabello

wassup my raizel stans and landon anti's, this chapter is more informative than action

He was cold.

His skin went dry and taut from the bitter chill circulating around his confines. Unable to move from the chains binding him down, he surrenders to staying still. Sitting in nothing but his undergarment, his head hangs low as his soaked blonde hair shields his face. He can smell himself.

Or well, he used to until a few hours... days(?) ago.

Until he'd become so immune to his stench from sitting in his filth.

He's not really sure any more. The concept of time is lost to the never-ending darkness of both the cell he's kept in and of his mind. The silence is unnerving. A mock almost, to be stuck with nothing but his muddled thoughts. They taunt him. Mock him for his failures. He can hear his father hiss at him for failing him. For being the failure he always knew him to be.

You will never be anything, just like that mate of yours. Filthy.

The musky odor that covers his body smells of death- sour with vomit and feces. He can hardly feel his body. He's slipping in and out of sleep irregularly but he's vaguely aware of the quivering of his lips, the trembling of his hunched back and the spasm of his legs.

It hurts.

Though in his human form, he still feels it. The sharp, intense ache from the loss of his tail blooms at his tailbone.

Its excruciating.

It's agonizing.

It's severe.

There's the tremendous pressure he feels both physically and spiritually. He felt part of himself tear away with the ripping of his tail. The minute he felt his  appendage stretch to the point he began to feel it split apart, he had hadn't stopped screaming. From losing his mark to losing his tail, they'd stripped him of his identity as a wolf.

Benicio chuckles to himself: croaky, broken, dry, sardonic and it all but echoes back to him.

Who would have thought it would come to this?

"Oh my, she really did a number on you, didn't she?"

Benicio drew in a sharp breath, but doesn't lift his head. No, he thinks. It's not real. It's just my mind playing tricks on me again.

"It's almost pitiful."

This time, he's certain it isn't in his head because he recognizes the voice. He doesn't look up. He doesn't need to. The sugary sweet pitch of her tone hiding the taunt in false concern pinpoints the intruder.

He's cold.

But he's angry.

"Hm, surprised she didn't castrate you if I'm honest. It's probably in the list though. There's protocol for things like this. I'm sure you know. Being Beta and all."

Feet appear in his field of vision -though blurry and slightly disoriented. At this, he looks up. The witch's beautiful face is smiling at him, as if he wasn't sitting there on the verge of malnourishment. Selene wasn't going to kill him so quickly, he knows as much. That doesn't mean she won't make him feel like he is slowly dying each and every minute.

Ivory hums, vivid orange eyes glowing bright even in the dim light. Her green hair had been tied up, the thick ink around her neck nearly hidden in the mix of the blue on her skin.

"-iar."

Benicio rumbles,

"You're a fucking liar...this is all your fault."

He spits. Ivory raises a brow at him, tilting her head to the side as she considers his words. She doesn't respond, and so the onslaught of his accusations begins. She can see it, the final strand of his sanity thinning out. Like a rubber band being pulled at the ends too much, he was always bound to snap.

Benicio feels himself growing agitated. Regardless of the frost he feels prickling his skin, his blood roars scorching hot in his ears. Blinded by his rage, he directs a glare at her,

"You told me... you told me my daughter was gifted. You told me Hestia was destined for greatness. You said she was chosen."

Benicio bites out the last word, hatred and venom dripping from his tone as spittles flew from his mouth. His arm flexed under the thick bindings, no doubt itching to choke her with it. He's vibrating with anger.

"You lying piece of shit, it's your fault I'm in this mess."

"Is it?"

Ivory asks. She laughs under her breath, red cloak dragging behind her as she approached him.

"When you visited the council with your two baby girls, you asked me of the Goddess' favor. If one was chosen, as you said. If one was blessed. I didn't lie. I told you, your daughter was special. I never said which one."

She smiles almost tenderly in thought,

"Oh, but I knew what you were like before. Even when you smiled so charmingly, acted as if you were benevolent in front of all those Alphas including yours... I knew what you were really like."

Ivory leans in closer,

"I can see a snake from a mile away. It takes more than pretty words to fool me, I'm afraid."

Benicio grinds down on his teeth. Heat burns deep in his chest as humiliation rains down on him,

"Hestia showed promise."

he defended, shaking his head as if it would convince her. As if to justify his actions.

"She had all the right attributes to being Luna-"

"And still, that wasn't enough, was it?"

There's a slight frown on her face. Blue eyelids cast down as she stares at the floor, tracing over the lines of stone under her feet. She doesn't comment how blood had bled into the crevices.

"It still wasn't enough to keep that young Alpha, Landon Walker. Still wasn't enough to get the Alpha position yourself. The Alpha position you always wanted... what you could've had if your mate hadn't been Sophie. It's a shame isn't it?"

When she sees surprise flicker in his gaze, her smile gets sweeter. Her face twists into one of pure joy,

"You thought I didn't know? That your father was the Alpha of Reddusk and you were the result of a tryst? From a human, nonetheless? The hidden disgrace of the family... You must've been so driven for power.  So desperate to prove everyone wrong. Oh, you must've been so pleased when you found Sophie. So glad you had a mate. Finally, you'd be qualified to take over from your father with a mate. Until you found out Sophie came from a tainted bloodline. It's what made your father turn you away, right? Why he gave it your brother instead. Traditional Alphas like that don't like sullied blood."

Ivory sighs, her hand coming to touch her cheek,

"I do pity Walker. Doesn't even know his own father-in-law was trying to get him evicted, and in turn, promote you. The poor sod didn't know you were still after the Alpha seat. Granted, not Reddusks... but you planned on getting that too, right? Losing Selene to the rogue attack was slowly taking its toll on Walker, wasn't it? You knew better than anyone your Alpha wasn't faring well. I suspect if it went on that way, he would've lost his mind. And of course your Luna can't run a pack by herself. You know better than to believe she's fit to be Luna after watching her with the title for years. A pregnant, vulnerable Luna, especially. I bet you were so glad when Hestia claimed Raizel Locksworth was her mate. The Alpha of Alphas. What a prize, right? An upgrade from Walker. But then Selene came back and your plans went down the drain."

Benicio says nothing. He stares at her, trying to focus his bleary gaze on her expression. The anger doesn't subside, it's just barely being contained. He stays mute as she continues to study him.

"Is there a point to this?"

He asks gruffly, giving in to end the silence. He was trying to gauge out her intentions. If she read so far into him, he questions why she hadn't said or done anything yet. Was she really so devout and faithful to the Goddess' plans that she stayed silent over everything? That she turned a blind eye to all that occurred? He didn't need to ask.

The answer was yes.

The way she smiled was enough of an answer.

"Well,"

She says quietly,

"It's about to start soon. All the skeletons have to come out at some point. Your mate is out there squealing like a pig as a final attempt to save you."

Benicio feels his chest tighten at her words. Sophie was telling them everything. He narrows his eyes at her, trying to spy any indication she was lying to rile him up. But there was none. There was only genuinity in those orange, blazing eyes.

She looks at the wall, eyes clouded over as she thought for a moment.

"Xeneron won't stay silent either. I'm sure he's lingering close."

It's those words that makes Benicio laugh. He's grinning, bloodied teeth showcasing for her to see. A spark of amusement runs deep in his veins. The Realization sinks in as he thinks of the rogue. The rogue that could change everything.

"If what you say... about Selene being gifted is true, then he's coming for her, isn't he?"

Benicio cackles, dry lips splitting as he leaned back and dropped his head against the wooden  chair.

"He was never coming for Hestia."

He mumbled, shutting his eyes.

"No,"

Ivory agrees,

"He was coming for Selene."

***

"Daddy issues gives birth to daddy issues."

Noah frowns,

"I should've known."

I roll my eyes at him, folding my arms across my chest as Sophie tearfully looks around. I knew Benicio had to be from fucked up backgrounds to be the cause of everything, I just didn't think it would be like that. From one tragedy to another, our family line sure was cursed. An endless trail of bad luck, I suppose.

For someone whose been said to be a blessing, I lived a life worth calling a tragedy.

Whether or not what she said was true, it's almost comical someone could consider this life of mine a gift. It felt anything but that.

To hear that both Sophie and Benicio had tried to see if either Hestia and I were gifted with the Goddess' favor rubbed me the wrong way. It suddenly makes sense why they always dotted on Hestia. She was gifted, therefore, she was better.

Sophie breathes in raggedly, sitting on her knees as she tries to recollect herself. She had sobbed the story away, each time sounding more and more pitiful until the self hatred became apparent. She clearly felt like her blood was at fault. As if what happened with Romanov was Luna's fault.

To hate the person who was betrayed.

How similar that was.

"S-so, are you going to spare him?"

She asks, when she manages to have some composure.

"No."

I answer. For a moment, I might've felt terrible. I might've felt terrible for lying to her and giving her a false sense of hope. But then I remember what they've done and all the people who hurt and died in the process and that tiny bit of guilt is squashed down just as quick. Her eyes glaze over as she stares at me, open-mouthed and shocked at the blunt reply.

"Y-you said-"

"And I lied."

Within seconds she's up and trying to charge at me just from pure rage, but the guards holding the chains around her arms yank back and she falls on her ass with a thud. She glares at me, eyes still misty with tears and red from the stress. Thick droplets roll down her cheeks but she doesn't make a move to wipe them away. I can tell she's seething silently, probably proclaiming all sorts of threats and promises of pain and death in her head.

I look at her, trying to think back on any time we ever had a moment of affection. The affection she'd never given me in favor of Hestia. It's sad. To think I would long for something I never had.

"They'll be put into death. Method is up for debate."

All chatter stops when Williams spoke.

We all turned to look at him but he kept his gaze solely on Sophie. She pushes against the chains purely in persistence, lips dropping open for a moment but she quickly starts to retaliate. She's thrashing, trying to free herself from the binds burning against her skin, screeching out horrified no's and you cant do this.

But Williams spoke, and he wasn't going to go back on it. Instead, he turns to me and asks,

"Do you agree to this?"

His gaze fleets from me to her once more and the question resonates with Sophie. She stops in her attempts to free herself to look me in the eyes. Begging. Almost bargaining with me in a silent plea.

"Isaac had given his vote and said he would follow whatever decision you would make. So I ask you, Alpha Crestfield: As the sole survivor of the attack at Duskfall, do you agree that the two traitors should face punishment by death?"

"Yes."

There's no room for hesitation.

Sophie roars out, screaming at me and calling me all sorts of things. Raizel is at my side, hand at my waist as he kissed the side of my face for comfort. My wolf merely watches as our biological mother curses the day I was born. She hisses out,

"You act so justified but in the end of the day, you're just like the lot of us. You're a monster!"

And at that, the faintest smile graced my face,

"I never said I wasn't."

They pull her away and out of the room, her feet dragging behind as her hollers echo down the halls. The tension immediately lessens when she'd gone and Williams calls off the meeting. The other Alphas with their respective members take their leave after a word of goodbye and all of a sudden, it's just us.

"Well... that was brutal."

Weston mumbles, pushing himself off the wall as Emerson nodded in agreement. The two look over to us but neither Raizel or I return their gaze. His thumb gently runs over my skin, calming me as I try to clear my head.

Too much was happening all in one day.

Meredith hums, staring down the door where Sophie had been dragged to. She'd been quiet this whole time, and from the looks of it, she was deep in thought.

"You know, you never did tell us what your plan was."

I look at Meredith as she glances between Raizel and I. To say we were all exhausted with drawing out information and cracking down on Sophie was an understatement. The fatigue settled in my bones, but we pushed forth. We didn't have much time to do anything else, really. It was only now that we had a chance to finally breathe.

"Plans?"

I asked her.

Meredith nodded absentmindedly as she drank tea. She'd been insistent on keeping Hestia locked up in one of the safe rooms with three guards posted by the door. Had it not been for the fact she was carrying a child, she would've been thrown in the slums like Benecio and Sophie had been.

But soon, time would eventually catch up to her and she'd have no choice but to face the consequences. She'd get hers eventually, it was only a matter of time. Meredith sighed, a slight frown marring on her face.

"With you two announcing you're mates and all, you do realize that you have to swear into oath with one another."

Her hazel eyes sweep around the room,

"Usually in Alpha pairs, the partner would concede to the Alpha and join his pack if she was from somewhere else but...."

There's an amused twist on her mouth, eyes sparkling with humor.

"With two Alphas, I'm not sure how this would work."

"She's right."

Raizel rumbles, looking down at me as he gripped my hip tighter. She was right. I hadn't really thought about the outcome of our mateship. It was all just going forth until now. Something like this was unprecedented, so there wasn't really a traditional step to follow. No guide or example to look over. We were on our own.

Where do we go from here?

The deafening silence must've been an answer to her.

"You can go, you know."

I turn to Meredith. She has a melancholic smile on her face, but she sits dignified and poised. Even before she clarifies what she means, I know what she has to say. There's an indignant part of my that doesn't want to listen but I know better than to interrupt her.

"You can go to Ignis Red, Selene."

The fondness in her eyes is overwhelming as she stands. She walks by Noah and Isaac, not even sparring a glance at Williams who also seems to realize where she's going with this.

She walks over to me in three strides,

"When all of this is over, you can go and live the life you should've had. Be happy, have pups... No more suffering."

"What about Greyhound, Meredith?"

I ask, my voice on the edge of irritation. To think she'd suggest that I'd turn my back on them. On her. I couldn't imagine doing such a thing. Not after everything we've all been through together.

"I will not abandon you-"

"Oh, darling, you won't. Someone else can take over. We have good people, Selene. Yes, you are the  Alpha, but first and foremost, you are my daughter."

She takes my face in her hands and gives me a warm squeeze. Her thumb brushes over my cheekbones affectionately,

"At first, it was just about getting an Alpha in my seat. But now, I only want you to be happy. And if the only way for you to achieve that is by leaving, then so be it."

I stare at her for a beat, then two, astounded at this turn of events. I could feel Raizel reach out to me, but I couldn't look at him. Not yet. I didn't want to hesitate. To allow him to persuade me any which way. I wanted this to be my decision.

Meredith was deathly serious. Anyone could see by the way she was looking at me. She held my gaze and not once had she looked away or faltered.

She meant everything she said.

"Then I suppose we have to find another way,"

I tell her,

"Because I am not doing that."

She lets out a defeated sound but nods reluctantly. I knew Raizel and I had a lot to talk about concerning this. Sooner or later our people would want answers on how this was going to be done. I had no doubt rumors and talk were spreading around our packs as we speak on what was going to happen to them. On whether or not they lose and Alpha or gain another. Joining our packs together would be ideal, but it was hard when our territories were cut off.

It could never work being so far apart.

"There might be one way..."

Williams mumbles. He chews on his bottom lip before opening the drawer in front of him. Everyone watches as he pulls out a scroll and starts to unroll it.

When he finally flattens it on his table, he gestures for all of us to come over and look.

It's a map.

(lol I thought of Dora)

"Greyhound and Ignis Red are miles and miles apart but...."

He points to the section where the two meet and my heart drops. I feel it beat against my chest as I slowly look up to Isaac who looks just as astounded by what Williams is suggesting. There's a bitter taste on my tongue,  but I ignore it in favor of staring at where he's pointing.

"There is one connecting point."

He looks at me,

"Duskfall."

-

a/n:

Confession: Isaac was originally supposed to be Hestias mate but then I really liked Isaac so I changed my mind.