Aries

A silence as old as chaos grappled the clearing and made itself an uncomfortable home. Despite not feeling in its skin, it still stood there like a stubborn child. Even the birds that sang a few minutes ago succumbed to the invader. Winds being an ally of the stillness fell in line.

I breathed heavily. What did I do to be cast away from this pack? Was being Ethan’s mate a curse?

Even if I had never shifted, I was still a shifter. My genes said both my parents were. And I had been grown in a pack. Being thrown out meant I would be a rouge, a creature who would lose their mind slowly and die of mental deterioration.

I glanced at Harper who had a huge smirk on her face. At Livvia who stood beside the new Alpha female with a stone face. At Cain who beamed as though it was the greatest idea. Finally at Ethan whose eyes skimmed over me. When our eyes met, there was a shift in the air.

His eyes glowed gold before it melted to blue again. His beast wanted to control him to get to his mate. For a second, just for a second, I felt nothing but pity towards his wolf. But that part of me, some animalistic part, that woke four days ago trashed within me for feeling that.

If his beast had wanted me, then he would have fought with his human. After all, the shifters were half humans and half animals. It was never about one part being dominant over the other. It was about coexistence.

Ethan pressed his lips together and cleared his throat. “If you are going to step forward, do fast. We don’t have all day.”

Rhaze thrashed and she released herself from one side. They tried to contain her, but she snarled at them with a fury that made them step back.

“I will follow her even to death,” Rhaze enunciated, taking another step forward. “I will follow my true Alpha.”

Cain scoffed. “Alpha? More like your sister.”

The delta of western pack glowered. “Yes. Before the Alpha whom I serve comes my family. And I will fight for my family until the end. A true Alpha would never give me a choice to decide between family and pack, for he would know that both means same for us shifters.”

Ethan snarled lowly. “Are you claiming that I am not worthy of bearing the title of Alpha of the Western pack?”

“Precisely,” Rhaze spat. “Just because the Halls gave you the clearance does not mean you are worthy, Ethan.” Gasps resonated in the clearing at the way she addressed the Alpha. “You should win over the pack! Respect over fear, Ethan! A true Alpha knows that loyalty, obedience and humility is the key to rule. But what have you done? You rejected your mate! First in aeons! You don’t follow the Moon’s will yourself. How do you expect us to follow you?”

My heart clenched. Did my sister love me that much to hand her life in a platter to these people? She knew what the cost was. She knew she would die for talking back to her Alpha like that.

From the crazed rage, I knew Rhaze saw father die. She knew what was on the line. Punishment to mother or herself. Was she willing to go through the pain of death only to be rewoken and beaten to her breaking point again? She, as the delta knew what punishment she would receive.

While Alphas gave the command, Betas oversaw the working of the command. Deltas were the one who made sure the command was delivered. Gammas were more or like the peacekeepers and ambassadors of the pack.

Rhaze being tied down, I wondered whether Cain would deliver the blows himself. After all, she was the closest to kin he had.

Ethan shook switch fury while Harper slowly inched towards my sister. “Loyalty. What a fairy tale. Give people gold and power, Rhaze Throne. You will see how efficient that loyalty of yours is.”

“Much better than yours,” Rhaze retorted.

Harper’s lips raised. “You think you stand in the line of righteousness? You think you know everything? You think Moon is clever to pair that weak sister of yours to an Alpha?”

“Moon did go quite wrong there,” my sister agreed, eliciting a gasp from Alpha Violet. “Because Ethan does not deserves her.”

Ethan growled. “I will not tolerate any disrespect, Throne.”

Listening to their conversation did nothing to ease the pressure that was building in my chest. How many people were to fight for me? When would I learn to fight on my own? The more I thought about it, more pathetic I felt.

“I will follow her too,” Alpha Violet said, cutting whatever Harper was about to say. “Follow Lyra, I mean.”

This statement woke up mummers, the companion of gasp. For the Alpha female to say she was leaving the pack, there was no greater dishonour to the pack more than that. Despite Ethan taking the role of the Alpha, his parents very much held the title. If word got to the Halls that the former Alpha female left her pack, the Nobles would no doubt change the current Alpha.

“You think you can do that, mother?” Ethan asked with a calmness that rattled my core.

What was he up to now?

“Yes,” Alpha Violet said with a conviction, a conviction that did not ease the storm I saw in the newly mated Alpha pair.

Ethan turned his face and nodded to the shifter there. “Gerald! Bring him!”

Reece curled her fingers into a fist and Mike was regaining his consciousness. As much as he could in that painful state of his, he caressed her hand. Reece dropped her anger and knelt next to him. Comforting her, Mike snapped his head up and saw me. His hazel eyes widened and his breathing changed. Reece whispered something in his ears to which his jaws locked. Had those Splicers not been there, I was sure Mike would have attacked Harper.

It just sent a twinge to my heart to know that the shifter I called my brother was ready to kill me and the one who was like a brother, was ready to defend my life and honour, no matter the cost.

I dragged my eyes away from them. It landed on my poor mother, who gave so much to me. I wondered what did I ever do to deserve this? Was loving your family that bad? Why were my mother and sister being punished for a crime that was not theirs? Not even mine?

Her eyes had dark shadows around them and her body looked bruised. Her breathing pattern was erratic and her heart thrashed against her rib cage.

Next to mother was a pair of familiar boots. Tracing the owner, my sight landed on Livvia. Her face was too blank for someone who was very expressive. When her grass green eyes met mine, she looked away fast. But not fast enough for me to see the love she had for me. I saw the pain in her eyes and the unshed tears none of the morons here would ever notice.

Was she playing them?

The gathering cleared and a shifter dragged someone behind him. I recognised the scent, but I refused to believe it. When the murmurings rose, I dared myself to see Alpha Charles being pulled like a felon. He was a respectable man. One of the best shifters. Yet he was being humiliated and degraded by his own son.

Whatever little respect I held for Ethan chipped away after I saw how he treated his parents.

Alpha Violet cried and tried to free herself, only to be paralysed by the effects of the rope. She glared at her son, her eyes asking him a question her mouth was unable to.

“You see, mother,” he said, crouching near her. “If you want to leave, your mate’s life is on line. Try to leave, mother and your mate dies.”

Her chin wobbled as tears leaked from her eyes. My inside twisted seeing my Alpha female in this condition and to know I was not able to do anything.

“Going to leave, mother?” he asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

For the first time, Alpha Violet lowered her head and looked away. That one action was a loud answer.

Standing up for me was enough.

“Thought so.” He did nothing to hide that smugness in his voice.

Matching her mate’s smirk, Harper called out again, “Is that all? Only Rhaze?”

The silent buzzing died and the stillness picked its pace again. My heart thudded in my chest. Newborns would find breathing a less difficult task.

“Two members of the Western pack are going to be banished. Lyra Throne and Rhaze Throne for defying their Alpha pair. Anyone has anything to add?” Harper asked.

I sniffed. I knew what toll it was going to be on my soul. Aurelia, before her death, specialised in psychological neuroscience. One of her areas of interest was studying the minds of felons and rouges. Being her friend, I knew all the results of every project she had taken up. And not a single report gave me hope.

Ethan walked over to Rhaze and placed his hands over her shoulder and stared intently at her. “I wish you would have chosen your pack over your sister. You were a worthy delta before this.”

Rhaze snorted. “Banish and be done with, Ethan.”

“You will never find another pack like this, Rhaze,” Cain voiced next to me. “Think again before you do anything rash.”

“You’re right, brother dearest,” Rhaze said in a sweet voice. “I will never find a worse pack than this. And I would rather be shunned by even the smaller packs because I bear the banishment mark than sit here and pretend you are above all.”

Mike looked at Rhaze and slowly nodded. For what I did not know. Reece released her mate and gave her a small smile through tears. She touched her heart and then her eyes. Finally, she ran her fingers through her hair.

At that action, a lone tear slipped out of Rhaze’s eye. Whatever that gesture was, I assumed it was not good. My eyes burned in the corners and I wanted to cry. But not a single tear gathered in my eyes. Was I lacking the energy to even cry?

“What are you waiting for?” Harper snapped. “Banish and be done with her, Ethan.”

Alpha Charles raised his head and looked like he was about to say something. But his head dropped again. What did Ethan do his own father?

Was Ethan this evil from the beginning itself or was it because I was his mate?

They were right, weren’t they? They said be careful about what you wish for. And back in the days when I was a naive fifteen-year-old girl, I wished that Ethan would be my mate. Just once. I never knew wishing could be so bad.

Ethan squeezed her shoulder and said, “I, Ethan Verir, Alpha of Western pack, hereby banish you, Rhaze Throne from the Western pack.”

As soon as he finished, Rhaze tugged her the ropes that bound her. The ones who held her was not equal to the power she had. They stumbled back and Rhaze freed herself.

She raised her hand as if to strike Ethan when Cain said, “If you want your mother to be alive, you better not do that.”

Only then, did I snap my eyes to see Cain standing next to mother. When did he go there? And was Evelyn not his mother too? Why was this happening?

Rhaze froze. Snarling, she dropped her stance and slumped her shoulder. Another victory for Ethan.

Giving her a smile of innocence, Ethan turned and walked towards me. I could just see his face, a face I would have learned to love if he had just accepted me. Eyes that should tell me tales and stories when words failed him. The slight twitches of his lips and faintest frown lines on his face that I would be able to read with precision. His soul I would have weaved with mine over time.

He was my true mate, the one who was supposed to do everything within his power to make sure not a single tear freed itself from its prison. Yet he was the cause to all my agony. Beta Carter Black and Aurelia Knight died of his hands. Andrew Williams, Reece and Mike Knight and Catherine Meyers being tortured by his command. His parents and my mother on the verge of death because of his chosen mate’s actions.

As long as I breathed, I would never find it in me to forgive him.

Harper went next to my sister and whispered something in her ears. I could have listened to what she was saying, but my eyes were trained on Ethan. A shifter whom I hoped would suffer in the life he had ahead of him. Death would be an easy way for him. I wanted him to suffer in every way possible, not die. For sometimes death was a mercy. A mercy he certainly did not deserve.

Ethan touched my shoulder and began to speak the words. But I could not hear any. My ears were ringing and my heart rate shot up. A dull throb began everywhere. Soon the pain spiked up and my nerve endings burned. Black spots dances before my eyes and Ethan frowned at me when he finished the words.

The second his hands were off me, a scream tore through my throat. A scream that ricocheted enough for it to be the only sound in the clearing. I closed my eyes to stop the pain but it was useless. I further curled myself up and whimpered before screaming again.

Was being banished this painful? Then why did Rhaze make it appear as though it was nothing?

Every tie I had with everyone fell apart. My head threatened to split apart.

Waves of pain washed over me and I sought to scream. After what it felt like an eternity, I stopped crying, not because the pain faded but because my body had no more energy. Screams turned to whimpers and sniffles.

Then the earth beneath shook. Strong enough to release Mike and Alpha Violet. Ethan stumbled and held on to the pike and when Harper stumbled, Cain caught her. Yet, Rhaze held her ground.

Many who stood in the clearing fell and some fell on others. What was happening? But my mind ignored the calamity that went around me and focused on the pain my body was enduring.

I took deep breaths to calm myself. If I was going to make it... no, not if, I was going to make through this and I could not lose my shit over this. I have to make through this.

Different scenes wafted to my nose. At the hint of familiarity in the scents, I lifted my head groggily up to see Catherine being supported by Cheryl and Andrew by Brent. Cheryl and Brent had a calm fury working in their eyes. A wrath I was sure even Ethan would fear. And I was glad to know that even though I was the reason for that anger, it was not directed towards me. But at the Alpha pair behind me.

Behind them, three people stood. Upon seeing them, my lips stretched a smile despite the pain. They really kept their word. Seeing them, I no longer feared for the ones I loved, but for Ethan, Cain and Harper.

For it was a star with a halo shining brightly over her head, a Phoenix who left a trail of blazing fire behind him, and an omicron who looked like she owned everything stood there, each with a smirk that travelled with then through time.

Arien was right, after all.

Seemed like the Prison did release hell for me after all.