The Beginning of The End
Chapter 80

I walked into the office with my head held high, ready to face their anger, if there was any, it wasn't my fault the war had started, even if it was because Darax wanted me to go to him.

Maddox could have just said no, he didn't need to start the war over me, but he did, and it stirred something deep within my stomach.

It made my insides feel like molten lava, and I had to clench my thighs against the wetness forming between my legs.

"Morning." I said with a half smile, spotting my mates bent over the table, talking in quiet voices.

They both startle and look at me, I laugh a little, they look like they have been caught sneaking out past curfew. Like children who have disobeyed their parents one too many times.

I guess they thought I'd be angry, but how can I be?

They started a war to SAVE me, how could I get angry over that?

I'd much rather go to war than die, that much I knew for certain.

"Good morning, my love." Ryker says in a smooth voice.

Of course, he'd be the first to recover, he's already ready for the unexpected, and I guess my good mood is unexpected.

But I can't bring myself to lose my temper, not even when they've put all our lives at stake.

Ryker walks up to me a pecks me lightly on the head, pulling me in for a quick cuddle.

"I didn't think you'd be up this early." He says, smiling down at me.

"I very nearly wasn't." I joke.

He smirks. "Suer woke you?"

"You know it." I laugh, pulling away from Ryker and walking towards Maddox who's bent over the table.

I tap his shoulder, giving him my best smile.

He looks down at me, "you do look tired." He says softly, kissing my cheek.

I cross my arms and huff. "Isn't that just a polite way to tell me I look like shit?" "You never look like shit." He smirks.

It's the kind of smirk that makes me want to smack him up the side of the head. I just might.

"I'm inclined to agree, you're gorgeous." Ryker comments, coming back to the table. "So..." I begin, rubbing my sweaty hands down my dress. "What is the plan anyway?" Maddox shrugs, "We kill them all."

"Well, I already guessed that part." I scoff and laugh.

He can be really dense sometimes, and he doesn't always understand sarcasm, but I know he tries, for my sake.

"Did you?" He counters, raising a single eyebrow, "Or are you still in denial about what exactly a war entails?"

"No." I grumble, leaning over the desk to smack his arm. "I know what I have to do, it doesn't mean I have to like it." I move around the desk and take Ryker's seat. "I know that I have to use my power to make sure Darax can't use our own men against us."

"Exactly." Ryker says, lifting me up and placing me onto his lap as he takes the chair. "We just have to get you close to enough to allow that to happen." He says. "But we also can't risk you getting caught, if Darax's power worked on you once, it could happen again, even if you fight it."

That's a scary thought.

I really don't want to feel the way I did before, I hate him, I don't want to feel attracted to him.

It makes my insides crawl.

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than feel anything but hatred towards that

man.

If you can even call him a man.

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Maddox lights up a cigarette, "We have to keep you far enough away from him that he can't get a hold on your mind." He says, taking a long draw. "We can't risk losing your abilities in the midst of battle, you are our one chance to actually win against him."

"That's a lot of pressure." I grumble, shoving my head into my hands, "please tell me you have a spare smoke, I'm going to fucking need one, either that or a strong drink." It's too much pressure, so much I might burst from it.

But I can't tell them that, not when they need me.

It makes me wonder what they would have done if I weren't here.

Maybe they'd have never started a rebellion.

Maybe they would have been forced to keep the peace even when they didn't want to. They would have been doomed to life a half life separated rather than a full life with all of us together.

If Darax had gotten his way and executed me when they found me, none of this would be happening. I wouldn't have ever known happiness in my entire life.

I would've died alone, believing that I needed no one but myself, and those rules my father and I created weren't to keep us safe, they were to condemn everyone else.

He never wanted to help the humans, that's why he created the rules, stay away from cities and towns, because that's where the last humans tended to be.

Move constantly because staying in one place for too long can increase the chances that you come across someone else, a human.

He was bitter, he blamed them all for my mother's death. He hated all humans.

I want to say that I was different, but I wasn't, not before Miya. Before she came along,

I was just like him, I let people die when I could have saved them. He was right, and helping others is dangerous. But I still could have tried.

I haven't been as happy as this in over five years, and it's all thanks to the other people I have around me.

I'd have died all alone, sad and depressed, and none the wiser to what life actually is. Maddox places a glass in front of me, causing me to jump back against Ryker. He grunts, catching me with ease.

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"For your nerves." He says, smiling gently. "And here." He hands me a cigarette and a lighter. "As requested."

I down the amber liquid and shudder, it looks like whiskey but tastes like fire. It certainly burns going down your throat.

"Ok." I say, straightening my spine, "let's come up with a plan, a solid idea that we can

use on the battlefield." I turn and glance between my mates. "Have you already called upon all of your allies?"

They both nod, silently.

I smile, that's one good thing.

Allies are useful.

"Is there anyone else we can call on?" I ask. "Is there anyone else who would fight against Darax?"

This time, just Maddox nods, "there are a few free cities to the south, I can call upon them, they fought in the last rebellion a millennium ago."

Good.

That's more people, more soldiers, more bodies that can fight with us.

"You think they'll join us?" I ask, putting out the last of the cigarette in the astray Maddox handed me.

"There's a chance, a high chance, we'll just have to promise to keep them as free cities, not governed by anyone but themselves." Ryker says, his nose stuck in paperwork. "It

could work though."

We have a plan.

It isn't the best.

But it could work.

We have a real chance to win.