BENEATH HER DARKNESS: The Alpha’s Little Demon
Chapter 83 – Queen & King of Kalmerus
PATREA…
I watched as Lucius tried to pacify Alpha Stone. I knew I could easily protect myself, but the last thing I wanted was to hurt the Alpha if he attacked me because he was not the enemy here, so I was thankful Lucius was taking a stand to stop him.
I still had no idea what Lucius had in mind. He never shared his plan – either he didn’t trust me or he had no concrete plan at all. But maybe he just didn’t have time to tell me yet since he only showed up today.
“Not just any demon. I want you to practice taking my form.” Lucius told Alpha Stone as if he were just telling him to shop for new clothes. I was trying to keep my silence, but I couldn’t keep it this time. “Are you planning to bring him to the underworld again and pretend to be you?”
“Relax, I will lay out all the plans tomorrow, but first we need his memory back. That way he will remember things about the underworld, and I don’t need to spend hours explaining them to him.”
“But how will you bring him there?”
“That’s where you will come in.”
“No. I’m not sending him there, and I don’t think my power or spells can.”
“Think about some of the things my father told you. He discussed how to bring other creatures into the underworld.
“Spirits, Lucius! I was stuck there for decades, and your father visited or summoned me too many times. I doubt if I will remember everything, he told me.”
“Just try… because I had no way of bringing him there.”
“I’m still here in case you forgot. And don’t you f*uc*king tell me you have plans but no way to bring me back there? What happened to sell your soul to the devil to get there?”
“No, we are not doing it that way?”
“And why?”
“If I d*ie, no other demons can take you out of the demon world. Not even Lucija. You will be stuck out there.” Lucius explained.
“Are you telling me you are going to d*ie?”
“Who knows? But I didn’t want to take that risk.”
“So how on f*uc*king earth will I get there?
“Patrea needs to search her memory, and I will try to find other ways. But you need to prepare yourself. We will need to begin training you after you get your memory back. That means I might need you for two to three days straight away from your territory with a legitimate excuse so my father doesn’t suspect you’re up to something against him.”
“I can arrange that.” The man behind Alpha Stone spoke. “I’m his Beta. I can hold the fort down while he goes on a territory check with his Gamma. But then he can’t go with just his Gamma, he needs to take five to ten men with him. It’s a pack protocol.”
“I can take them with me, but they will go and check territories without me.” Alpha Stone answered before he pointed to the other man behind him. “I will have Viktor lead them in that case, so we can limit the people who know about this.”
“We can do that. We can meet again here tomorrow morning.”
“No. Not in the morning. We’ll meet by sundown. I need time to prepare my men. After that, you can have me for four to five days if needed.”
“Sounds good. How about the place?”
“We will go to Blade’s territory. His brother is the current Alpha after he turned his back on his pack. The current Alpha owed me a favor when I helped him run their pack when Blade left, so I am sure he won’t refuse if I ask for someplace within his land.”
“Well, thanks for the explanation, but I don’t give a f*uc*k who these people are. As long as you trust they can keep us without revealing anything, then we are good.”
“Blade is the one who brought us the witch that put a shield on the territory. So, he is aware of what Lucy is, but I’m not sure if Blade is there since he rarely shows up in his brother’s pack.”
My heart thudded loudly as I listened to the Beta’s words. Did he mean the witch Althea? My granddaughter?
“The witch that helped you, maybe she can…”
I held Lucius’ chest with my palm to stop him from talking. He probably wanted to ask them to have the witch help us as well.
“Althea. Is that the witch’s name?”
“Yes,” The Beta answered. “Do you know her?”
“She’s, my granddaughter. Do you know where she is now?”
“Wow! How come I didn’t know that?” Lucius asked sarcastically as if I owed him anything.
“Why would you know?” I asked him before shifting my attention back to Alpha Stone. “I’m not sure she knows that I made it back from the underworld, and I haven’t met her, so if you can tell me where I can find her, I will appreciate it very much.”
“We were on our way there before you stopped us to meet someone who will look for her. We haven’t heard from her since she left the territory to hide from Lucien.”
“But do you know if she is still alive?” I asked, my heart thudding loudly.
“She is. Lucien didn’t bother her anymore because Lucija agreed to send Stone back here and forget about him.”
I noticed the Alpha’s eyes dilated before he blinked and his gaze shifted elsewhere as he spoke.”Lucija… Lucy… Did she forget about me?”
His voice was so low as if he didn’t want to ask the question. My eyes darted to Lucius, who had his mouth parted but wasn’t saying anything, just looking at Alpha Stone. I nudged his arm with my elbow and the moment he looked at me, I mouthed at him to answer Stone.
“Lucija… Well, I haven’t spent time with her, but she’s busy perfecting her sK*lls and power.” He said it without any care.
Oh, spirits! That wasn’t what I meant when I told him to answer him. No wonder he’s a demon, he has no emotions at all.
“Alpha Stone…” I called for his attention so he would look at me. “Before I removed your memory, Lucija told me her plans. She wanted you out of the underworld so she could focus on mastering her strength without having to worry about you being used by her father as an outlet for his frustration. Lucija wouldn’t be able to concentrate if she kept thinking about you.”
“So she thinks I’m her weakness, her kryptonite.”
“She loves you, Alpha Stone. She never thought of you that way, and she would never forget you. I’m sure everything she’s doing right now is to make sure she will get back to you. The heart never forgets. And I know you know that because despite not remembering anything about her, I can see your eyes. You are longing for her.”
“I’m so f*uc*king useless.”
Oh, spirits! I just told him Lucija loved him and all he was thinking was his ego.
“That’s why I’m here. I need your help. Lucija can’t do it alone.” Lucius told him.
“Why are you helping her? Us? What do you get from this? I’m sorry, man. I want to trust you, but you are your father’s son. “
“As Lucija is my father’s daughter. We all just want to survive my father. It’s either we do it separately or together. But there are strengths in numbers. So are you in or out?”
“As long as I get my memory back, and I get to keep the girl, yes, I’m all in.”
“Good. And don’t forget Patrea’s granddaughter. As soon as you get any information about her, let us know. Maybe she can help us too.”
“No. She’s too young. Let her out of this.” I let out a sigh. I didn’t want Lucien to see her. The thought of him taking a fancy to her was giving me goosebumps.
“You’re underestimating Althea.” The Beta b*tted in. “Sorry, I keep jumping in since my Alpha has no memory of her as well. But she did bind Alpha Stone and
Lucy and shield the territory without any problem, and she looked like she knew what she was doing. She did it in exchange for your freedom from the underworld. And now that you’re here, I am a*s*suming Lucy did that. And if she did, I don’t think Althea will turn her back on her if she needs her help.’
“And the more powerful witches we can get on our side, the more we can play our father. That’s where Althea will come in. We don’t need to bring her to the underworld. She stays here, because all the while we do our plans, I am sure my father will be watching Stone, especially on the day of Lucy’s cleansing.”
“Can we cut this conversation now?” Alpha Stone grunted. My mouth parted in surprise. Was he changing his mind?
“Can we talk about this once my memory is back? It’s so difficult to understand what’s going on and what we’re going to do when all the names and places you’re mentioning are things I’ve heard about but have no knowledge of.”
“I think the Alpha is right. We can resume with all the details tomorrow. And besides, we are holding them off for their meeting.” I was also concerned that they would miss whoever they needed to meet with and that finding Althea would be more difficult if that happened. “But please let me know all details about Althea.”
♡♡♡
LUCY…
Another day ended for me, but I had no idea how many days had passed since Adan left. I was just walking like a robot and doing my best to perfect everything I was given. I didn’t even have a concrete plan just yet. I just wanted to be out of here.
I tried to communicate with Lucius these past few days, but he was always gone, or when he was around, he would refuse to see me. He would always say Father was watching, and it was pissing me off now.
I was slowly getting the notion that he that he was not really on my side now leaving me on my own to fend for myself. But what should I expect? He was after a full-blooded demon; his ambitions and goals were greater than his promises to me.
It only means I should not let my guard down. He might be planning on K*lling me too if I got in the way of what he wanted – my father’s throne.
Gorgon was teaching me how to strengthen my mind to unleash illusions around me. One of the sK*lls I had to perfect, but I had no idea when I would use it because I was certain that once I got out of here, I would never use it unless it was to protect Adan, me, and our pack.
Our pack. My eyes watered as the walls of the fire tower melted and were replaced by glass, which was slowly moving like a tide of waves before it shattered.
That was what I was feeling. I was shattered inside. I would give everything to have a moment back with Adan when I was just pretending to be an Omega. Life was simpler. I had him – even if I had no idea he loved or liked me by then, I was happy to be around him.
Now I was just holding on to the idea that maybe one day I would have him back. And I would get to be beside him again. I didn’t care for the Luna title. I could be his forever mistress too, as long as there were no other females around him. I didn’t need his title. I just wanted Adan.
Just him.
But this was the reality of my life, and only I could make it better or worse.
“Lucija!” Father’s voice erupted in the air, and it brought me back to the present.
“Yes, Father,” I answered after putting out the illusions and making the surroundings dark and depressing again.
“Guillermo would be arriving today. Fix yourself and we will meet him.”
“Guillermo? Why? Can I skip that?”
“No. You need to be there. I asked him to come here because of you.”
“Because of me? Why?”
“I just realize that when you become the Queen of Kalmerus…’
“We haven’t agreed on that yet.”
“It is bound to happen. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, a queen. A queen needs a king, and Guillermo would be the perfect fit. This is also to make sure no one from the outside will come and try to lure you into handing them the crown.” I didn’t hear the rest of his explanation. I got stuck with Guillermo being the perfect king for me.
“He’s my brother.” I had no idea how I was able to say that because my throat suddenly felt dry.
“And what’s the problem with that?”