Ileus: The Dark Prince

Kaizan and his men stood behind the entire rebel group led by Luke and Tasha. They were blocked completely from both sides. When Tasha's gaze landed on Kaizan, her face paled. Dread skittered down her spine. Panic gripped her chest as she whipped her head towards the back to see Ileus and then Kaizan. How was it possible that both of them were here? 

Ileus seemed to pin his gaze on Luke. Shadows swirled around him mimicking his anger. He looked like he was going to finish all of them in one bout of anger. And he was barely able to conceal his anger. 

As for Luke, he was so stunned at the sudden change of events, at how the tables turned that his mind became numb. He was unable to process what was happening. He had come to attack the Whiteclaw pack and take it over. He was sure that the whole thing would end within a few hours and he was sure that he would return the pack to its rightful owner. But what happened right now was beyond comprehension. Murtagh had meticulously laid the trap. How did both Ileus and Kaizan come here when not a single rebel had leaked their plans? 

Luke's gaze went up at the sky which was slowly getting lit up by the morning sun and there were wizards hovering around. When he looked at Kaizan, he could feel his dangerous aura. He knew that he was trapped and he was trapped so badly that the only way out of this place was being dead. 

The whole place was so silent that one could hear the flies buzzing around, horses swishing their tails and crickets chirping. 

Luke heard clomps of a horse approaching him and when he turned to the other side, he saw that it was Vaarin. He had to come to stand in the middle of his unit, fearlessly. Fury filled his chest and he sneered. "So, you have finally become slave of the king?" he said waving at the wizards and werewolves around him. 

Vaarin narrowed his eyes. "And you have become a rogue? It would have been better if you were rather dead!" 

Luke jerked his head back. "That is what you have to say when you see me after such a long time?"

"Meeting after such a long time?" Vaarin laughed mirthlessly. "Were you planning on meeting me cordially? Because the way I see it, you had come here to attack the Whiteclaw pack, kill me and replace me with Murtagh? Haven't you?" 

There was a look of surprise on Luke's face. His father judged him well. His gaze went to Ileus who was standing at a distance behind them and watching them intently. There were no pretensions in his visit to the pack. "That's right. I had come to kill you," he agreed brazenly. "I am ashamed of you for being my father because you have sold your soul to the enemy—the enemy that we have fought for so long to free ourselves!" 

When Vaarin saw Luke as the rebel leader, his heart had stuttered. He didn't know that it was his son who led the rebel attack against him. He felt that his world had gone blank and he fought tears to come out of his eyes. His son, whom he had thought was dead, was standing alive and well and as a rogue? As someone who was instigating those attacks, murdering people, plundering them? It was impossible to come to terms that Luke was a traitor, but there he was. His heart wept. So, when he smelled him, he was actually there that night. He had waited on the side next to Ileus to control his emotions.

Vaarin tilted his head. "At least I have sold my soul to those who will look after my people. You have sold your soul to someone who is only interested in himself, who has an army of rogues purely so that he can use them for his benefits!" 

"Father!" Luke shouted. "Don't you talk about Murtagh like that. He was the one who saved me after these bastards left me for dead." He pointed at Kaizan. "He was your Alpha before you succumbed to the temptations of becoming an Alpha. He was the one who showed us the path of freedom! And look at you now?" 

"Do you mean that he showed you the path of freedom by creating an army of rogues even before he was arrested by the kingdom?" Vaarin snapped. 

Luke's eyes flew wide open. Suddenly one of the rebels unsheathed his sword and lunged at Vaarin, cursing him wildly. However, the moment he attacked, a white light struck his sword and melted it in his hands. He started screaming with pain when the hot metal poured on his fingers and palm. Not only that, the hot metal dropped on his horse too and the beast reared with pain. After throwing his mount on the ground, the animal ran away. The rebel got up from his place, still screaming and then rushed to the side where there was a puddle of water on the ground. 

Tasha was horrified. She gasped seeing that it was a Mozia who was above them who threw the beam at her man. She couldn't believe that they were ambushed in a way that they couldn't even come to know about it. She pulled her gaze from the injured rebel to Kaizan. 

"It is good to see you Tasha," Kaizan smirked. "How did you like the plan?" 

Tasha swallowed down the terror forming in the chest. "Wh— what plan?" 

"The plan in which we let you escape with Murtagh," Kaizan replied nonchalantly.

"What?" Tasha's blood drained from her face. "That's a lie…"

Kaizan nudged his horse to move ahead. "I do not lie," he said coldly. "Else how do you think that we had come to know about this attack?" He stopped his horse a few meters away from hers. "When you came to meet me about Murtagh's condition, I had my suspicions that you wanted to escape. I gave you written consent to take a healer with you. In fact, I was hoping that you would escape with Murtagh."

She scowled at him. "Why would any leader do that—make his most-wanted enemy escape?" 

"Simple," he shrugged. "We wanted to reach to the bottom of the problem so that we deal with it once and for all!" he pointed his chin towards Luke. "And now we know the root of the problem is none other than Luke. After you escaped with Murtagh, every activity on the border ceased. Did you really think that the kingdom was foolish enough to understand that you people had stopped working?" 

Vaarin came towards Tasha and kicked her horse so fiercely that it lost its balance and Tasha shrieked and tumbled from the saddle onto the ground. Vaarin dismounted his horse and then walked to her. As she tried to get up, he caught her hair and backhanded her. She skidded a few feet away from him and landed in a puddle of water. She screamed with pain as her lips split and blood spurted out of her mouth. 

"Father!" Luke shouted.. He dismounted his horse and leapt at his father, but the moment he did that, he froze midair, his hands and legs flailing.