CHAPTER 320: I CAN LIE, SAY I LIKE IT LIKE THAT [2]

[GREALOR]

"What is it?" Zula spoke.

"You let Gabe be. No improvement, no mind games, no nothing. That man has had to endure the kind of hurt that none of you ever will. His mate chose someone else because of him.

"He was never officially rejected, despite the bonds he cut with Tamiko. That is why he still feels the pain and he will feel it for as long as Tamiko doesn’t come to reject him. That is enough punishment for the alpha.

"If you want me on board, you let the Alpha be. No chains, no nothing. He has suffered enough times already," Ciel said calmly. It was almost as if he could feel Gabe’s pain himself.

The stakes may have been higher than Ciel could ever be on drugs, but he understood what loss meant. It was one thing to mourn the dead, but it was another to mourn the living; especially if they were living their best lives without you.

Ciel knew what it meant to be in Gabe’s shoes and on some days, Ciel wished he never got to that point with Judd. Maybe it was one saving grace for him, because Judd was always kind, even in the face of adversity.

He was always the man with the right mind and the heart that always sought light rather than those that were already dark. He was the hope for that group and now he was gone.

On the other hand, Gabe was cursed with an empty space that no one would ever be able to fill for him.

It was the kind that was bound to drive him nuts because at the end of the day, no matter what they tried to do, no one would ever be able to attack that pain away from Gabe, except Tamiko himself.

And Tamiko didn’t exactly feel kike coming to Grealor to remind Gabriel of what Grealor had done to him.

"You must be out of your mind giving ultimatums like that, Ciel. We can do it with or without your help. The choice to focus on Gabriel is yours and no one else’s. Ultimatums or not, you can be easily dropped," Alpha Ashton said smugly, and Ciel scoffed.

It was not the first time he had seen the alpha make such a stupid decision. The Kawai monarch was one thing, but Kaito Hinata was another. To get there, they needed the young alpha who was currently locked up.

This wasn’t much of a choice for them.

"Well then, let it be known that I tried to save your lives and you refused. I could as easily tattle to the Kawai Lycans about your plans. They already took my mate. I have nothing left to live for.

"And your petty threats won’t do much to me," Ciel warned as he stared at the alpha.

He had just about had enough of the man and his whims.

The evening had already chilled into something else and morning was a little far but just enough for the Kawai psychos to find their way to the Grealor gates. It wouldn’t even cost the Lycan beasts a lot, because they knew what they were after.

They understood what the chaos would entail and the beast of Kawai thrived in that shit. They lived for it and this was just a chance for them.

Surely the alpha and to have understood that from the way his son was writhing in bed, yearning for the one man who would never look in his direction, no?

"You can’t be serious," Zula sighed while Ciel stared at her curiously.

This was not something that could leave and they also knew that the fact that Ciel was willing to go to war for them without having anything tying him back in Grealor was the one chance they had to make a crazier decision than the one that they had years ago.

It was their chance to use him as best as they could, because if he shifted sides if he went with the rogues, then he would be ungovernable. This was the right thing for them and they had to understand that much at this point.

"Let him go. We don’t need him. We don’t need another broken warrior on our side," Alpha Ashton said.

Ciel growled at the Alpha in a warning.

It was one thing to think of him like the one man who had been ruined for two years and more. But right now, taking shit just because Ciel had chicken to stand up for his son was the kind of insanity that none would ever level up to.

"I’m your alpha. Keep that in mind," Alpha Ashton warned and this time, Ciel laughed emptily.

"You really believe that, don’t you? Is that what this bastard warlock has been putting in your head at this time? You think you stand a chance just because you have the great Zula beside you, don’t you?

"Do you even know who this woman is? What are her loyalties?" Ciel asked, making his steps toward the alpha a calculated bunch of shit that no one had to understand at this point.

There was no return from what Ciel was trying to do at the moment, but he needed a free Gabe. He needed to say that his mate’s best friend was free. It was bad enough that Zakhar had chosen to leave because of what the alpha had done to Gabe.

But he also understood that desperation was all Zakhar needed to blast the entire palm to ashes. It wasn’t even debatable at this point. The sides were clear. The lines had been drawn and yet even then, the enemy was constant.

Tamiko was coming.

And whether they were divided or not the former Grealor outlets would burn them all.

They just had to choose what was right for them and hope that by the time the Hinata came to hunt them down, they would have something worth trading. But would there ever have been such a thing for the most unhinged of the realm for them?

"What the fuck are you on, Ciel? She is a warlock and I am your alpha," Ashton spoke, but his trembling voice betrayed him.

He was trying so hard to show that he was powerful and that he could command the broken wolf in front of him, but even he was intelligent enough to know that the friends hate his son had made over the years were to the regulars.

They were an entirely different breed, otherwise they wouldn’t be here trying to make sense of things that any regular warrior would have long agreed to.

"I may be here Ashton, but Gabriel is my alpha. You do whatever the fuck you want with that," Ciel warned, daring to close the distance between him and the alpha, to show him just how unaffected he was.

This was also a clear message to the traitorous alpha, that there would always, always, be someone else to defy him. As long as he was holding Gabriel against his will, the alpha didn’t have much of a bargain.

"You’re insane," Alpha Ashton insisted.

"That... I am, Ashton. I am crazy, but you know what is crazier? The fact that you are helping Zula try to bring down her brother. You more than anyone knows that the Hinatas flock together, but hey, you are glad you have a Lycan on your side, no?

"Excuse me," Ciel whispered as he cycled humorlessly before he left the room, and alpha Ashton felt the breaths leave his lungs.

This had to be a mistake.

There was just no way.

Loyalty was the one thing that had always thrived on and yet right now it was almost as if he had been blinded and caught off guard one too many times.

It was a chance for him to make things right for himself, and yet at the same time, his curiosity didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

"Zula..." Alpha Ashton trailed off, as he stared at the woman before him. She still had a calm façade on her and honestly, no one could have suspected what Ciel had said.

Of course, Ciel knew that Zula would deny her involvement with the wild Hinatas, but Ciel also knew about the stupid alpha’s obsession with Kawai. All he had done was plant the right amount of doubt, and it would work... or so the warrior had hoped.

"You’ve known me longer than the kid, Ashton. Cut the bullshit and let’s give them what they want," Zula said dismissively.

That was when Ashton knew.

He had been played and bested.

He had been fooled and wrapped and yet even then he had not been able to say shit because he had trusted the woman before him. Perhaps it was a misstep for him, but what other excuse for him to dwell on?

Who was supposed to tell him that this was the craziest decision when they had already gone as far as tilting the power in Kawai back then?

"That is not an answer, Zula," Alpha Ashton tried helplessly, ignoring the nudge that came with the seed of doubt that Ciel had planted. Perhaps this time, the Alpha would switch sides.

Then again, the man was a whore for loyalty, perhaps he would still give in, right?

"Are you doubting me? The kid lost his mate to Sadako, of course, he will say anything," Zula defended.

"I pray for your sake, and the Furfantes, that you are not a Hinata, Zula," Alpha Ashton said as he walked out too, leaving behind a very frustrated Zula who was ready to pull Ciel’s heart out of his chest.

The plan had to work, there was just no other way.