51. Gryphon

Chapter 51

Gryphon

" O llie? Ollie? Talk to me!"

Oliver has completely shut down, and now I can't even sense him through the bond anymore.

All I can see is the face of a child I never met—his sister, Isabelle.

No matter how many times I have told him that her disappearance was not his fault, he still blames himself.

He was twelve. A child himself.

Fuck. This is not good.

Lily got into his head, and I swear…

This time, I will kill her. Just like she killed Frederick.

We found him with his throat slit on the floor of his dirty lodge, and all I had felt was anger.

Anger that Lily had got to him before we did.

She knew. Knew that we had found his location.

It's almost as if we have forgotten who we are dealing with. My old superior is always one step ahead, and defeating her won't be easy.

Especially now that she has Oliver and Mila.

Even if he is inconsolable right now, at least I can still feel him.

But I can't sense Mila, and the thought terrifies me.

I have no idea if she is okay, or if she is even alive, and I curse, slamming a fist on the steering wheel.

"Easy now…" Barret warns on the passenger seat beside me, and how the hell can he be so calm?

Lily has our Omegas!

Yeah, I said it. Mila is mine as much as Oliver is, and how it took this goddamn long for me to see it, I will never know, but I swear I won't dawdle any longer.

I just hope she will accept me.

I won't push it but I'll let her know that I am hers. If she will have me.

After all, I still have a long way to go before I am worthy of her forgiveness, but I don't mind.

Mila is worth waiting for.

"Barret… she has them… the both of them. Fuck! Where the hell was Lachlan? Wait till I get my hands on him…"

Barret grits his teeth. "I'm sure he's beating himself up enough as it is."

I don't care; I need to direct my anger somewhere. But I have to remember that he and Lachlan are thick as thieves. They may be at odds at times, but Barret will always have the crazy blond's back.

Yet the only person I truly blame is myself. I should have been there for them, but instead, I went to that dilapidated backwater lodge to recruit a dead man to our cause.

Frederick was already dead from the moment Barret turned up to his shack; he was dead from the moment his cousin Jeremy heard whispers that he was still alive.

I wasn't even sad when I found the former Beta governor surrounded by a pool of his own blood.

I just felt numb, empty.

It wasn't suicide. It was obvious he was murdered.

I wonder what plans Lily had for him. There would have been a reason why she had kept him alive for this long.

But in the end, she sacrificed him.

Just so her secret wouldn't get out. Just so we would lose our only trump card.

The government thinks Frederick has been dead this whole time, so nothing has changed on that front.

He is now and utterly truly dead, and we are back at square one.

Worse, Lily knows that I have strayed, and she will make me suffer by taking my Omegas away from me.

The woman will do all that she can to cling to her power. It's all she has after all.

Still. The time has finally come when I will stand up to my superior. She's had her leash around me for too long, and it was starting to choke. I couldn't breathe, but now…

The air has never tasted so sweet.

Pure freedom, and it's liberating.

I haven't felt this kind of buzz in years, and now my Alpha is eager for revenge.

Three faded marks burn on my cheek as a reminder, and I reach up, patting them gently.

It's time I paid her back for that.

We arrive at the house to find it blown to smithereens, but my eyes fall on the slumped figure in the leaf litter out front, and I've never seen a sorrier creature.

I storm out of the car, going after me.

"Gryphon…" Barret warns.

I ignore him, descending on the Alpha. " You …"

I yank Lachlan up from the ground, gripping him by the scruff of his shirt, and he doesn't even fight back. It's like all the fire has left his body, but I still shake him around a bit.

"Why? Why did you let this happen? Where the fuck were you?"

Lachlan blubbers, producing a generous amount of saliva from his mouth, but I press on, gripping fistfuls of his shirt.

"They're gone," I say more to myself now, hardly seeing the crying Alpha before me.

"I… I tried…" he cries, and finally, I explode.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough!"

I grip his shirt tighter, almost choking him now, and the Alpha gladly lets me. It's almost like he wants me to kill him.

Fortunately, Barret steps in, pushing me away from him, the whites of his dark eyes showing.

A warning to stay away. To back off and leave the Alpha alone.

I get it. Why kick a man when he's already down? I'm just so lost, so furious.

But the only one I blame is myself.

Lachlan did all that he could, I'm sure. Someone had intruded onto our property, and he went to deal with them accordingly.

Guessing by the blood on his shirt, he's already killed them.

Can't say I feel any remorse.

I drop Lachlan back to the ground, and now he cries into the dirt. The sound yanks on my heartstrings, and I have to look away.

I really am a bastard.

"Come on, get up." Barret drags him up to his feet, but Lachlan pushes him away.

"No… I deserve…"

He doesn't finish, but I've lost interest in him now, casting my gaze ahead.

We need to get to Central Government.

It's what she wants after all.

She's using our Omegas as bait.

Once Lachlan picks himself up off the floor, we'll go. I'm sure he will be back to himself in no time.

I shouldn't have been so hard on him, but I was just so angry.

With a roll of my eyes, I turn back, getting down on my knees at his level. "Look… I'm sorry. It could have happened to any of us. Lily is smart. She knows our weaknesses. Yours is a need for blood, a need to protect, Lachlan…"

He shakes his head, and snot pours out of him this time, and how disgusting.

The poor thing really does wear his heart on his sleeve, and for someone so strong, and downright fucking terrifying at times, he is just too sensitive.

An enigma if I ever saw one.

"And it's that insane bloodlust that we need now, Lachlan. Lily took something precious from us, and we're going to get them back."

I squeeze his shoulder as if to bring some life back into him, and finally, he stirs.

I don't look away from those bloodshot eyes as I continue. "That's right. Lily needs to pay. And I'm going to gift you the killing blow…"

Something sparks to life in his eyes. "K-kill?"

The one word he loves. That sustains him and gives him life.

The fucking psychopath.

How is he not inside a padded cell right now?

"Yes. You will be the one to kill her for us, Lachlan. Make that bitch pay..."

Finally, the tears stop, and then a smirk spreads slowly across his face. A purr of satisfaction leaves his lips and now he rises back from the dead. "Yes…"

"Now get the fuck up off your knees and help us get our Omegas back."

It starts quietly at first—a small, rattling sound. Then it grows into a crescendo—a batshit crazy cackle more befitting of a circus clown than an Alpha— and there's no stopping him now.

He flies toward the Jeep, taking the wheel, but that's where I draw the line.

Like fuck I'd let him drive…

I buckle up, turning to Barret. "Make sure he keeps his hands to himself."

Barret sighs, grabbing a piece of cloth so he can tie up Lachlan's arms. It's necessary.

The Alpha is too lost in his crazy thoughts to notice the innocent little game of bondage right now. He barely even reacts when Barret gags him, shaking uncontrollably in anticipation of blood.

I needed to light a fire under his ass, but once that fire is lit, well, it needs to be maintained.

We will untie him when we get there.

Our greatest weapon.

For now, we need to focus.

Oliver and Mila are counting on us.

***

It's quiet when we get there.

Too quiet.

Almost as if she was expecting us.

Our footsteps echo off the floor as we enter the spacious hall, and where is everyone?

This place is usually bustling with government officials, but it's like someone gave them the order to go home.

It's not hard to figure out who.

She's not hard to spot, a pink blur hovering on the stairs just ahead of us, and Lachlan charges forth.

Barret yanks him back by the shirt, and thank God Barret tied and gagged him.

Lily only appears to be alone, but she has this building surrounded.

She barely even looks at him, only having eyes for me. She never did care for the rest of my pack. Maybe Oliver, but never Barret or Lachlan.

She couldn't bend them to her will, which is why she won't think twice about disposing of them now.

To make me suffer.

I know I promised Lachlan blood, but only when the time is right.

The woman holds too much power. People are afraid of her, and she has armed guards at her beck and call.

We just have to turn them against her somehow.

And there is only one thing I can think of.

It may just be the trump card we need.

"Hello, Gryphon."

Her voice is like ice, but I maintain my stance, looking her straight in her eyes, and it looks like her jaw tics.

Anything to show her that she no longer has any control over me.

I'm not her puppet anymore.

"Hand them over. Before it gets nasty."

She raises a brow. "Is that a threat?"

I never look away from her jewel-black eyes. "Only if you don't comply..."

Again, her face gives her away, and I spy another tic on her face. She's slowly slipping, knowing she is losing her grasp on power.

"You leave me no choice, Gryphon…"

This is it. Where she gives the order, and her men will surround us.

But I throw her the oldest trick in the book.

Let's play like our ancestors did. Before the days when we had governors and just relied on pure animal instinct.

"No, Governor. Your men won't touch us… because I challenge you to an Alpha duel. Just me and you. No one else."

My eyes flash, and her face blanches for a millisecond.

I bet she wasn't expecting an open invitation to a duel. I bet no one has ever offered to fight her one-on-one.

After all, if she is so powerful, why would she need armed guards in the first place?

A true leader needs no one.

Well, so she thinks.

Ego is the worst detriment of them all.

And I'm about to use hers against her.

Lily laughs once, a cruel, mocking sound, and it echoes in the spacious foyer.

"Fair enough. If that's how you want to end this, Gryphon… A shame. You were always my most loyal subject."

But not anymore.

"Meet in the stadium in half an hour."

With that, she walks back up the stairs to her office, and Lachlan growls, going after her again.

Barret grabs him by the shirt. He turns to me. "You sure about this, Gryphon?"

I don't take my eyes off her retreating form. "Never been surer of anything."

Lachlan moans. "But… I was gonna be the one to kill her…"

"And you will. Once I beat her."

Finally, I turn back the way we came, heading to the Jeep where we parked it rather haphazardly on the sidewalk.

But the streets were mercifully empty.

We may not be any closer to getting Oliver and Mila back, but this may be our only shot at securing their freedom.

I don't actually intend to win this duel. I just intend to expose Lily for what she truly is.

Let the duel begin.