2 Forsaken (Ch.2)

Fifteen days... Zariah had been locked up in this dirty and dark dungeon for fifteen good days, it had been just fifteen days but each and every second of it had felt like an eternity.

Zariah's entire body had been whipped till her skin and flesh gave way to reveal her bones and just when she thought she would die, just when she thought it finally would all be over, she would be left to heal only for the torture to begin all over again, the excruciating pain never ending.

Zariah had began loathing her regenerative abilities, if only she was a human, she would have long died from the pain or blood loss, at least then she would finally be free.

For the past fifteen days, each and every day he had come to her, he had threatened, tortured, coerced and even pleaded Zariah to give in to his request, the testimony of the rogue Alpha was not enough to convince all supernatural species and justify the massacre of Crimson Moon.

All Zariah had to do was admit to collaborating with the forsaken to attack the supernatural committee and overthrow the Alpha King, as long as she admitted to this, all the pain would come to an end.

"Admit to treason? Dream on!" Zariah spat out as she glared hatefully at him, once again there he stood, whip in hand like the depraved monster he was.

"How long do you believe you can hold out like this? For eternity? Can you truly withstand this pain... the constant torture for so long? " He questioned cynically, Zariah chuckled quietly.

"You will never get what you want from me... never!" Zariah swore solemnly.

"Oh Zari...but I already did, your heart, your love, your power, your body... I have had all of you Zari, do you forget? How easily you gave me all I needed?" He taunted with a conceited smirk.

Zariah's heart exploded with rage, uncontrollable fury churned within her like a fearsome storm, however there was nothing she could do, it was too late to make amends, he was right, Zariah had given him everything...

She had let him infiltrate even the most guarded secrets of the Crimson Moon Pack and in return he had used this to obliterate her entire pack.

"What? Cat got your tongue Zari?" He asked in amusement, Zariah kept silent, turning her face away from him, she did not turn back till she heard his retreating footsteps after which she drifted off to a restless sleep, her entire body pulsing with excruciating pain.

____________

'How much longer till she is willing to testify before the supernatural council?' A male voice reached Zariah's hearing and her eyes fluttered open slowly.

Some distance away, two male figures stood, one Zariah immediately recognized to be that traitorous mate of hers and the other Zariah could not quite recognize, her vision was blurred from the blood which had seeped into her eyes and so she could not clearly make out the faces, she only recognised that traitorous mate of hers by his addicting scent.

'She is adamant, her will is unbreakable, I will need more time.' Zariah heard her traitorous mate reply.

'Time? There is no time... the king has already put everything in order and is awaiting our good news, it took us great efforts to acquire the potion that helped you impersonate the mate bond, you know very well just what efforts the king has had to expend to ensure the success of our plan right from the moment you infiltrated Crimson Moon territory to the annihilation of their pack, now that the king has finally gotten rid of that thorn in his side...we must tie all loose ends to avoid future troubles.' The voice came again.

'What is my king's orders?' Zariah heard her traitorous mate ask, or rather, false mate as Zariah had now come to realize, the mate bond had been forged by sorcery, he had been an impostor all along and Zariah had been so desperate to find her mate that she had fallen for this farce.

'We will have to take drastic measures, the king believes you know just what to do, ... after this is over, he assures you your rightful place in his royal court.' The voice said before Zariah heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

Zariah watched as her traitorous mate returned into the darkness of the dungeons, after so long being locked up in such pitch darkness, her sight had long adjusted to it and with her natural heightened senses, Zariah could see him perfectly clearly.

"You heard?" He asked her in a knowing tone, Zariah kept silent.

"Since you have heard it all you must know now that this was all my mission from the start. Alpha Zariah, my king has repeatedly extended a hand out to you, but what did you do? Instead of swearing your loyalty to my king, you thought too highly of yourself, your pack was too prideful and rejected my king numerously. The Crimson Moon Pack is indeed outstanding, but of what use is a pack that cannot be controlled?" He shook his head slightly as he spoke.

"My king has thought long and hard on how to get rid of you and then it finally clicked... the very same cause that had earned the Crimson Moon Pack such great respect in the supernatural world, it was the fact that your ancestors lead the purging against the forsaken and saved all the realms from doom, however that was so long ago..."

"What happens when our very saviors betray our trust and ally with the remnants of the forsaken? It's simple really... the entire supernatural world turns on you and the once revered and respected ends up like this...hated by all, traitor of the realms...a genius plan truly." He said in a proud tone as though he had been the one to come up with the plan himself.

Zariah frowned slightly unable to believe the words she was hearing, up till this very moment she was yet to understand why her mate had betrayed her and why the Crimson Moon Pack had been so suddenly attacked by the united forces of the other wolf packs.

Zariah could not understand what exactly the Werewolf committee or the supernatural council at large stood to gain from annihilating their strongest line of protection from the forsaken which was the Crimson Moon Pack,

Zariah had also wondered why she was being accused of allying with the forsaken which were the mortal enemies of the Crimson Moon Pack and why she was being forced to admit to such false charges.

Zariah had never expected that all of this was infact a grand plot orchestrated by someone and who else would the Werewolves refer to as their king but the revered Alpha king?

Suddenly, it all began to make sense to Zariah, the new Alpha king had sent a missive on repeated occasions inviting the Crimson Moon Pack since his coronation, however Zariah had turned down each of the invites, the Crimson Moon Pack never got involved in the affairs of the supernatural world, much less the werewolf society.

The Alpha King had taken this to be a disregard of his authority and had come up with this method to get rid of the Crimson Moon Pack, all because the absoluteness of his authority was threatened by the existence of a wolf pack far more powerful than the Royal Lycan pack.

Zariah broke into mirthless laughter, tears pouring down her cheeks as she recalled how the blood of her pack members had covered their previously green fields and dyed their clear waters red all because they had refused to swear loyalty to the Royal Lycan pack and the Alpha King, Zariah's heart was filled with rage and hate.

"What did he mean by drastic measures?" Zariah asked quietly as she finally recalled the final words of the mysterious voice.

"Well...you should have heeded my advice Zari, but it is already too late now. There are other ways to convince the supernatural council other than your confession... instead we can let them see for themselves indisputable proof." He replied in an eager tone.

"Just what do you mean?" Zariah asked apprehensively as she watched him whip out a syringe and a small vial, the contents of the vial, Zariah was not certain, however she knew it could not be good and Zariah struggled against the silver chains holding her as she watched him advance closer to her.

"Oh Zari...we will let the supernatural council see that Alpha Zariah of Crimson Moon has turned forsaken." He said in response, Zariah's eyes widened as she understood his meaning however it was already too late as he stabbed the syringe right into Zariah's heart.

Zariah felt a foreign darkness filling her blood stream and immediately her fangs elongated, her bones began cracking strangely and her claws protruded from her fingernails, this was different from when Zariah shifted into her wolf form...no Zariah was being turned into something else entirely, she was being turned forsaken.

For the first time in fifteen days, the quiet dungeons was filled with Zariah's scream, a scream of complete horror.