The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 47: Three Demands

Chapter 47: Three Demands

MOON

The word dying woman reverberated through the shrine as Bryle had all but confirmed that the attempts on Zina’s life was not a secret.

Zina, who was much younger compared to the woman who was already in her thirties, simply raised her shoulders haughtily. She was well aware of the contempt that the Nobles of the Five High Ranked packs held for her. For in a world ruled by might, Zina towered over them all by stealing the heart of the people and ruling with superstition just as the late Theta Amelia taught her.

While Eldric was more tolerating of her antics as her success could as well be counted as his, the five packs united under his rule were not so much taken by her. In fact, they abhorred her so much, for they all eyed Eldric’s position and yet could not muster the bravery to grasp it for themselves.

"The wolf knighting ceremony holds in six days." Zina said frostily.

"What about it?"

"I am to hold a ritual as the divine Theta to reaffirm the allegiance of the five packs to the banner of the Arctic North united under the NorthSteed pack," Zina rattled on as she stood. She started walking about the shrine with careful, slow strides.

"Say if I were to perform the ritual and I mistakenly said something about some strange army that trains in the palace of ruins, do you think your lover would be implicated?"

Bryle roared, out of her senses at the jab that hit its mark. She reared up from her seat, claws bared to attack Zina.

Ablanch, who stood a safe distance away, started to run towards them at peak speed, but Zina gestured with a wave of her fingers for him to stand still.

Bryle, green eyes shining with hate barely stopped herself in front of Zina. Spittle ran from her bared fangs as a crazed look clouded her features. It was as if she was using all her strength to contain the full shift that was bubbling up in her.

Perhaps if Bryle was smarter, then she would have inquired on how on earth Zina came about the information. Not like Zina was willing to tell the woman that East, one of the Thralgor Guild spies, was one of the warriors that trained under the treasonous army that Brestom intended to raise.

"What do you want?" Bryle gritted at the face of how nonchalant Zina appeared to be in her rage. Zina’s stance was firm, the corners of her lips curled into a demeaning smile, and her palm folded against the space between her waist and abdomen in a manner nothing short of regal. The moonstones on her dress gleamed in the light of the sun streaming into the shrine from the opened windows.

"Do you think it is easy to satisfy me?" Zina drawled, causing Bryle’s twisted features to twist even more if that were possible.

People like Bryle highly amused her. For they always thought that no one could be as evil and as depraved as they were. But they easily forgot that someone like Zina, someone who had nothing to protect, was like an untethered, crazed rogue wolf unafraid to go to great lengths to achieve her ambitions.

"You dare spy on the IceSavage pack?" Bryle growled in disbelief, her spittle soaking the down of Zina’s dress, "how dare you overstep your boundaries? Do you think having a little power is a leave to prance about!"

Zina took a menacing step closer to her, eliminating every space between them. The act slightly startled Bryle who reared back a little.

"Take twenty steps back, Ablanch." Zina commanded the warrior in a tone that didn’t leave for much objection. Seeing her seriousness, the warrior acted as commanded without hesitation.

"Now I shall tell you all

that I want. But believe me when I say it is hard for you to satisfy me. Especially when it concerns the treason of the son of an alpha who just happens to be your lover."

With everything in her, Bryle wished to rip apart the smug face of the woman before her. "And what could the incorruptible Theta want from me?!"

Ignoring the bite to her tone, Zina spoke in a bland voice of her own. "First, have prince Brestom retreat his command to his subordinate. I want the man who rejected his mate to meet back with the woman he all but destroyed with a few words. Whether to reject him back or not shall lie solely of the woman. For your sake, do not dream of going after her life."

"How disgusting of you to act like a good person," Bryle spat in genuine disgust, "Fine. What is the second thing?"

"Two thousand brams of coins. I hear that is the cost to feed and train for one week an army the size that lies at the palace of ruins. I want ten times the amount within two days. Of course, you could try to kill me and make this go away silently. But as you’ve noticed, taking my life is harder than climbing the Yaja Mountain."

Bryle’s jaw dropped open. "And how are we to raise such an outrageous amount in a short time?!"

"I do not believe you expect me to answer that question. Thirdly..."

"There’s a third demand?!"

Ignoring her outburst, Zina continued. "I want information on the assassin Lycan, Xalea Borne. I understand he once trained under prince Brestom."

Bryle genuinely frowned at that, her brows furrowing from suspicion. "Borne now works for Beta Moorim."

Zina knew that, the same way she understood he was the main werewolf that would be inserted in her travelling retinue to murder Daemon NorthSteed. A fool’s sojourn for sure, but there was no telling if Borne’s murderous claw would turn instead on her during their journey under Lykom Lupus’ order.

"I want everything there’s to know about the man. From what ticks him in the morning, to how he scratches himself at night. Leave any detail, and I am not sure if I would be able to hold my lips shut during the knighting ceremony."

All Bryle could do was shake from a profound rage that threatened to swallow her. "I hear the Alpha King sends you to your death in less than two weeks time? What does a dying woman need all these for?"

Zina smiled, entwining her fingers together at her front. "Consider it my dying request then if you may."

And then Zina turned, leaving for Alpha Prince Falcon’s residence at the capital for yet another visit in her seemingly never ending battle against time.