CHAPTER 352: MADNESS

Inez felt a familiar discomfort in her throat while sitting on the ground.

She could feel her siren stirring harder within her, wanting to rush to the aid of her mate. On noticing the scales on her arms, she hurriedly covered them with the fabric of her clothes.

Gilderoy stared at Killian. He slowly turned to look at the woman behind him, who was staring up at Killian as if he were her knight in shining armour. Suddenly, everything clicked into place, and the guard’s smile turned a bit stiff. "Are you talking about this woman?"

"Do I look like I am talking to you?" questioned Killian, his voice dripping with lethal calm. "Even if you are a fool with a clogged nose as sharp as that of a little boy, you could have smelled the scent on her, right? Whose scent do you think covers her?"

Gilderoy seemed so small now, oppressed under the weight of the lycan heir’s dominance. He was nearly prostrating, as feeble as her and Scarlet, with the restraints tied around their wrists, as if he were not a half-blood vampire at all. "There was...there was indeed a scent, Alpha Sokolov."

"And?"

"I don’t think it belongs to anyone special." The words came out in a splutter, as if speaking was causing Gilderoy physical pain. Maybe they were causing him pain. However, clearly, he didn’t seem to understand the situation he was in at the moment. "But Alpha Sokolov, this woman is the culprit who killed Alpha Remy’s mate."

A laugh cut through the silent clearing. It was not a pleasant sound, and Inez could only wince as she realised how pissed Killian was; it nearly made her soul baulk at the tone.

"Fascinating." Killian stepped forward, and Inez could finally see his face again. It was closed off now, so cold and distant, as if he were a block of ice. Cold and detached—like speaking to the dead instead of living, breathing people. Every word that he spoke was punctuated with a step toward Gilderoy. "The mighty guards of the council are so fucking incompetent that they couldn’t even distinguish between the scent of an ordinary wolf and the alpha of the lycans. The heir of the royal blood. Not only that, you even captured my mate, trying to force a crime on her head, that she hadn’t even committed? You are either really foolish or really daring; there is no one in between."

"Perhaps, we should rediscuss the education and training of the guards here. Clearly, my man, your nose...it needs some retraining..." His blood-covered shoes came to a stop in front of the man, the one who had tried to break her arm just a few seconds ago. "Or did you simply choose to ignore the scent that was lingering over her because it was easier to blame her rather than dig through the pile of evidence in front of you?"

"Worse..." He glanced at Inez, whose clothes were in tatters, and his beast rushed to his surface, a rabid growl erupting through his lips. "You tried to touch what was mine. Never thought that there would be a day that a man would be stupid enough to try my bottom line by touching my mate."

"I ....I don’t know what you are talking about, Alpha Sokolov," Gilderoy’s breath hitched. "I was simply imposing some punishment on this woman who dared to run away from her cell. Her interrogation is not done, and if she was not guilty, why would she run away from the prison? You are disrupting the formal procedures, Alpha Sokolov—"

"Silence!"

The command cracked like a whip, and Gilderoy’s mouth snapped shut so fast that Inez heard the loud click of his teeth.

"You guards cannot even recognise the scent of the lycan heir." Killian’s eyes were glowing bright in the darkness. "You dare teach me what is right and what is wrong now? Even the smallest difference cannot be noticed by you. Perhaps all the criminals in the cells are innocents. I wouldn’t be surprised if you mistook a pickpocket for a murderer with how good your skills are."

The man shivered lightly. He snapped his head to retort, but under the gaze that stared down at him, Gilderoy didn’t dare to speak a single word. He lowered his head, trying to ignore the weight of Killian’s attention.

"This goes beyond just being incompetent." His voice travelled to every nook and cranny of the clearing, loud enough to startle the birds hiding. "This tells me how rotten and corrupted the system had become for someone like you, who is nothing but a fundamental failure, to be chosen as the leader of the prison. The head guard. Amazing."

Gilderoy remained frozen, his face almost pressed to the ground with the pressure that Killian was putting on him through his alpha vibes. Inez could even see him trembling, and yet she didn’t see that there was anything wrong with it. He deserved it. Not only for what he did to her, but also for the many innocent shifters who were executed without a trial just because Gilderoy didn’t feel like investigating the truth.

"You and your guards need to be re-educated." Killian’s words fell, like molten wax against bare skin, making the man inhale as if Killian’s words had stung him. "You will learn what you should and shouldn’t. Thoroughly, very thoroughly." The glow of his eyes intensified, a beautiful amber shade.

"You are making a grave mistake, Alpha Sokolov." The guard tried to fight his case, realising that if he didn’t stop the situation from escalating, he might lose more than just teh prey that he wanted to feast upon. "This woman is not what you think she is...I really wonder if you even know what she has done while making such claims."

"You mean to say that my mate would be so foolish as to kill a person and then wait for you idiots to capture and throw her in prison? And why would she even need to do that? When she has me?"

"Alpha Sokolov—"

"Just what in the world is going on here?"