章 424: MY BETAS' DARK SIDES
Something in the pit of my stomach churned uncomfortably. Who could it be?
"What did she..." I started.
But Harvey had returned to us after paying for the petrol.
What did she look like? Who could it be? I didn't get a chance to ask.
The guys quickly got back onto their bikes. Even though speeding around on the bike was like second nature to Henry and Ben, I realised they were still beginners because of the way they handled their bikes when we had to ease out slowly.
"Whoa, Alpha." Harvey would say when he noticed Henry struggling. And then he noticed Ben, "Don't look at the dashboard, Ben. Keep your eyes on where you're going."
And naturally I looked down at my dashboard the moment I remembered it was there.. Ki had put me in front again now that we were back on relatively smooth and flat roads. He kicked up and stand, "Okay, goddess. Let's go!" Wait what? I was driving?
I suppose I should practice. It was still annoying that Henry and Ben were so much more natural at it. I'll practice till I was riding circles around them! But for now, I just need to concentrate on not dropping the bike, or worse, getting Ki and I thrown off.
For some reason, coolness was always something that I needed time to develop.
"Oh yeah, we need to go to the pack house with Henry later." I decided to mindlink my betas, "He says someone wants to pass me a message."
"Who, Sam?" Ben asked over the mindlink.
"Dunno." I answered.
I had no time to explain, it took my full concentration to maneuver my bike out of the gas station even with Ki's coaching.
I guess everyone else had their minds full too. Ben was still new to riding. Harvey had to keep an eye out on both Henry and Ben, while leading us back. Ki had to deal with coaching me from behind. He was a little like a GPS, except he also included tips like to lean a little forwards, or to apply a bit of brake at the next turn etc.
By the time we got back to Henry's packhouse, I felt like I was getting the hang of it. I could follow the other guys okay, and my bike didn't wobble at all anymore. Except for the fact that Ki had to put down his foot at all the stop lights, and park the bike, etc...
Let's put it this way: I could now ride a motorbike "all by myself", the way I could make chocolate fudge squares "all by myself".
"If you coddle her like that, she'd never really learn to ride." Ben had to remark as we followed Henry into the packhouse.
"She shouldn't be riding in the first place." Henry threw back, "You guys are going to get your Alpha killed."
"I won't die so easily!" I argued back. We hadn't even met any rogues! All we did was rode our bikes around. But I had so much fun, so okay.
Beta Peter was there to open the front door for us, he led us up the stairs to one of the rooms, "The lady is waiting in the red room. I've left two guards with her."
"Who is she?" Ben asked.
"She wouldn't tell us." Henry admitted. He reached for the door, "Don't worry. I had her under guard since her arrival."
The moment the door opened, I heard the sound of something slicing through the air.
{Rogue} Boo decided to explain. Oh sure... What happened to the early warning you used to give?
{Approaching rogue.} Boo supplied with sweet sacarsm.
I hate my wolf.
Henry was quick enough to shut the door though, the door slammed shut and a thud from something metallic biting into the hardwood door was heard, "What the hell."
"The guards are not responding." Beta Peter sounded a little panicked.
The hunt was on.
"Windows!" I decided, "We need to stop her from escaping through the windows!"
"Sam and I will take the next door room. Hen and Pete go downstairs with guns and warriors. Harvey and Ki take the room on the other side." Ben was immediately on it.
And we were off.
Ben and I entered the room next door, surprising Henry's beautiful Luna Mother and the housekeeper.
"Excuse us Luna." I didn't stop.
"Alpha Sam is here." Ben said while following me. The housekeeper made a startled bob. Henry's mum just looked at us wide eyed. The window was opened so I popped out without a second thought.
"Oh dear!" I heard Henry's mum exclaim. She was definitely alarmed.
Since she was already alarmed, Ben saw no reason not to take out his gun before popping out the window with me.
Downstairs, I heard warrior footsteps from somewhere beyond the garden, but we had no time to wait for them. Ruby!
Ruby was out on the ledge. She turned the moment she saw us to go the other way. Either that or she saw the gun in Ben's hand.
The window from the next room crashed open, shattering just in front of her. And then, a hand reached out - I was sure it was Ki's, and dragged her into the room.
She screamed. I smelled blood. Ben pulled me back, "Let's get back."
Henry and his men were downstairs now, "Hold your fire!"
They looked up at us scooting across the second floor ledge.
"Henry, she's in the other room!" I called down, waving my hand towards the broken window.
"Henry, what's going on?" His mum called down from the open window on the other side.
"Nothing, Mum. Stay out of it." Henry shot back.
Since Henry's mum was at the window we came out from, Ben led me into the open window of the Red Room next to it.
The room wasn't really all red. Just the curtains and sofas, the wallpaper filigrees, and the blood on two dead warriors. Both had been stabbed in the heart with what looked like a bloody serving knife now stuck to the back of the door.
Ben tore the door open in time to meet Henry, Beta Peter, and a good dozen warriors along the hallway. Naturally, it was over-crowded.
Henry was yelling at his mum, "Just stay there. Don't come out." He turned to his warriors, "You two! Make sure she stays in the room."
"I'm telling your dad when he gets back!" Henry's mum yelled from the room.
We rushed into the next room, and found Ki glowing, while holding Ruby by the neck. As far as I could tell, Ruby looked completely broken, her legs were bleeding from being dragged through the broken window, and her head was bent in an unnatural angle.
Ki's expression, was not something I could describe. He wasn't smiling. There was a cold, calculated gleam in his eye even as Ruby's body twitched violently and she gasped.
Harvey's face was also strange, and I wasn't talking about the Langston level of strange. My good beta was calmly watching Ruby take painful breaths in Ki's grasp from the side of the room, arms crossed. He didn't smile, nor did he tell Ki to stop. It was like Ki and Harvey had suddenly become two other people.
"She killed the two warriors in the next room, Alpha Henry." Ben reported. Ben's voice was a stony monotone.
"Oh f***. What the hell." Henry muttered, "Should've kept her in the dungeons."
"You were too kind." Ki agreed with a beatific smile. It was scary, especially since he suddenly let go of Ruby and she collapsed on the floor with a jagged intake of breath.
We waited a while for her to start breathing again. Ki's glowing stopped and he wiped the blood off his hands on a white handkerchief.
"What are you doing here, Ruby?" Ki asked.
"Keys..." Ruby looked up in recognition, her eyes bright with tears, and her white neck bruised where Ki had held her, "I never thought I'd see you again."
"It would be better if you hadn't." Ki answered as he knelt down in front of her, "Answer the question, Ruby. I won't ask a second time."
"I needed a safe place from the rogue hunt." Ruby admitted.
"And what message did you want to give to my goddess?" Ki asked.
"Your goddess?" And then Ruby saw me, "Not you too, Keys!"
Ki straightened up and kicked Ruby in the stomach. She crumpled over.
"What message?" Ki repeated.
"I will kill her and take everything she has from her." Ruby gritted out to the floor.
Ki reached out his hand.
"Stop, Ki." It was Ben.
Ben was smiling, his forest green eyes shone darkly, "Don't kill her."
Ki retracted his hand.
"What are you thinking of doing, Ben?" Harvey asked.
"I can't decide." Ben weighed his options aloud, "Put her with the worst rogues, or return her to the Ciara Coven."
Ruby's eyes widened in horror, her mouth opened but no sound came out.
"Let's do both." Ben decided, "Imprison her with the trash rogues. If she survives, we'd give her to Lord Ciara."
"No!" Ruby found her voice to scream, "I'm not going back. No!"
She looked back at Ki, her voice cracking, "Please just kill me Keys."
Ki didn't smile, "If we were in any other circumstances, I would have helped you. But you set yourself against my alpha, Ruby."
How was killing her helping her?
"We'd leave her in your dungeons for a bit, Alpha Henry." Ben said, "You don't have to feed her."
"Even if she survives it, I doubt she's be in any shape for Lord Ciara to want her." Henry warned.
"Don't worry. We have very good healers." Ben promised.
Ruby was very silent now.
She was silent when Henry had her taken away too. No one else spoke until she was well gone.
"It might have been better to kill her." Harvey shrugged at long last, "Eliminate the threat completely."
Ben just brushed it off, "What kind of threat could she pose once her mind is shattered?"
Ben was very evil.
I've always known this.
But I couldn't say anything.
Not at that moment.
I was too shocked.
I wordlessly let Ben lead me back out of the packhouse. On the way, we met the dead warriors being carried out in bodybags.
"Apologies for the loss of your warriors, Alpha Henry." Ki said with his usual gentle smile.
Henry waved it off, "It was my fault for being gullible."
Henry walked us out to the porch. Our beat up old tin can truck had been moved to the front of the packhouse for us.
"Thanks for today, guys. It was fun." Henry said.
Not all of it was fun. But I didn't say anything.
"Thank you too, Alpha." Harvey produced his usual calm smile again.
"Let's race again next time, Alpha." Ben invited.
"Sure." Henry grinned.
So we were going to pretend Ruby never happened?
Harvey opened the door of the truck for me to go in.
"Don't think too much about it, Sam." Henry advised as I got into the truck, "These things happen. It comes with the territory."
Really? They did? Wait, no. I think Henry misunderstood something here. Or perhaps I was the one who could not understand.
"Think aloud, Sam." Ben ordered when our truck had pulled out of the packhouse gates.
"Why did Ruby want to kill me?" I asked then.
"Who knows?" Ki shrugged it off with a smile.
"I'll ask Fluffy if you don't tell me." I threatened.
I've never actually done anything bad to Ruby, right? Why did she hate me so much?
Ki sighed, "Based on what I could gather, when the fightdogs revolted and formed the underground, Ruby was certain she would be queen by Rebel's side. Her leadership and contribution among the fightdogs in the Covens was examplary among the she-wolves. So your appearance, in her mind, was a threat to her deserved position. Furthermore, she unjustifiably blames you for the suffering and subsequent death of her companions under the previous Lord Ciara. In her mind, if you were there to share in the suffering, the load would have been lighter for all of them to bear together. Ruby is ruthless and ambitious. She got to where she was by protecting those who were beneficial to her, and destroying anyone who threatened her position. She had survived so many years as the leader of the Jewels of the Ciara Coven this way."
Oh. So she wants to kill me to be Bell's Luna? To avenge her friends? To emerge on top?
I shook my head and then I spoke without thinking at all, "I think she hates me because I have no scars."
I remembered the time I first met her at the underground. Yes, she had rationed aloud things that supported Ki's explanation, but... It was the way she looked at me, the way her eyes flicked over what little of my exposed skin from under my coat. Her expression when Stephan stepped in front of her to physically shield me from her. The moment she realized that the other men in the restricted tunnel were all protective of me. She hated me with all her heart.
The difference between Ruby and me, what was it?
The only real difference I could see was that Ruby had survived all on her own, and she had all the scars to prove it. And I was alive and well, simply because I had always been protected. I was never left alone to do anything "all by myself", whether baking Vday treats or learning to ride a motorbike.
I've always been lucky like that. And that's what she hated me for.
Perhaps if she hadn't been so violently hostile towards me, we could've been good friends. I certainly would have admired her for her ability and courage. But she hated me so much right now, that I don't think that friendship could ever be on the cards for us.
"One day..." I murmured into the distance, as our old beat up tin can truck cruised down expressway home, "One day... We will become a pack where no one will ever have to be alone."
"Do you feel alone, princess?" My good beta inquired kindly.
I shook my head, "I was thinking about Ruby. Who would protect girls like Ruby?"
And then I decided, "Let Ruby go, Ben."
"Sam..." Ben began to protest.
"I'm not saying she won't pay for her crimes, she murdered two of Henry's warriors in cold blood. I'm just saying, let her be tried and sentenced according to the Gold Packland laws with the other captured rogues." I tried to explain.
"It's still a death sentence, princess." Harvey informed me.
"I can only help her so much." I confessed. I couldn't deny justice to the dead warriors or their families.
"Our goddess is always kind this way." Ki smiled softly.
"Fine." Ben decided, "I'll call Alpha Henry tomorrow morning."
"Tonight, Ben." I sulked, "Text him now."
"Whatever, okay." Ben sulked.
"Make sure to have one of us present at her execution." Harvey instructed.
"What? You think the great Silver Moon Pack would blunder at a straightforward execution?" Ki asked.
"I always like to be certain there are no loose ends." Harvey answered calmly, which normally I would take as my good beta's dedication to his work. But tonight, it sounded plain ominous.
We were werewolves, I know, but somehow the dark side of our moon always conflicted me.
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