22
Callum's POV
I pressed my lips together in annoyance, turning to look at Max who stared at Ryder like he just spoke gibberish.
The situation was fucked.
That was our lovely, most affectionate mother.
She never changed. She had always been this self-centred, only concerned about matters concerning the pack and of course how she could get more powerful.
I doubted if she even saw us as her sons, and not tools for extending the bloodline and power.
"If this stands, we are fucked," I finally spoke after the silence, turning towards them. "I won't take this" those words were accompanied by the rage and hatred that burned the inside of my chest.
Ryder growled. "We won't, fuck no"
The look in Max's eyes said it all. He was determined to rebel against her. He was already having a hard time with his wolf. The news only made things worse.
"Then what are your asses waiting here for? Let's head to the fucking cause right now!" Max thundered suddenly like some sort of fire ignited inside of him. He stormed out, Ryder followed, while I trailed behind.
I personally didn't give two fucks about the girls. I didn't care what they looked like or how powerful their father was. What I craved for was to stop being her model "the perfect future Alpha."
Three guards suddenly cut into the corridor in front of us and walked directly towards us.
They didn't show any intentions of breaking off their formation, so I figured they were coming for us.
"Hey Max," Ryder called as he looked at the fast approaching guards. It seemed like he had also realized it too. "Those guards are coming for us," he warned Max.
"She bloody sent them to cuff us up, should we take them?" Max grunted as he protruded his claw.
Looking at them, I knew that wasn't the case. They were heading towards us, but not to cuff us. I didn't go with Max plan of attacking them, but I watched closely. Any wrong move and they'd smell their own blood.
Max tried to weave around them but one of the guards held out his arm to block his path.
"What the—" Max swung his fist, colliding it with the guard's up close face. He groaned moving back and spitting out blood.
"You have to forgive me sir, but the Luna has requested your presence my lords," The second guard spoke up, knowing better not to go close to Max who looked vivid, more than ready to break him into two.
I looked at Ryder. "Well, we were heading there ourselves, we don't need your services," I rejected, turning back at the guard.
"The Luna has requested you come with us. She wants to see you, somewhere else" the guard pushed on further.
I looked at them in frustration and I immediately understood. Not that I cared much about their sorry lives, but I understood a lot was at stake if they didn't bring us.
We could leave them and they won't to do a thing to us because of the difference in power we had compared to them. But I decided that we play along this time for the sake of their heads.
"Fine, take us there," I accepted.
Max protested. "What the hell? Doesn't it look fishy to you? I thought you were fucking smarter than this?"
"What the fuck are you doing Callum?" Ryder demanded from me, also having doubts like Max.
Not breaking eye contact with the guards, i spoke to them. "It's easy, any wrong move and they are dead meat. You know that Max"
Max massaged his fist which had already healed after punching the other guard who still had blood oozing from his nose.
"Let's get on with it then" he said confidently, patting my shoulders as he walked in front of the guards. "Where the fuck is she!" He barked at the guards who ran towards him immediately.
We followed the guards behind. Our mother's room was just ahead of us. One look at Max and I knew that he was going to go ballistic on her. I didn't have any intentions of holding him back either, even if he might kill her.
I smirked at the thought.
"Hey!" Max thundered.
I looked up and I understood why he suddenly had that burst of anger. The guards had turned away from the direction to mother's room. They were taking us through another direction.
I gritted in anger, storming towards one of the guards, grabbing his collar.
"Now look here, don't you dare think my being lenient to you is a weakness. I will snap your neck now and nobody will lift a shoulder about it. Where the fuck are you taking us!" I growled at him and watched the fear that took over his countenance even though he tried his best to act all tough.
Max and Ryder had already drawn their claws and were walking towards the remaining guards who were slowly retreating.
The guard I held understood every second that passed dictated his chances of living.
He yelled out immediately in fear "The Luna wants to see you in the hall. She isn't in her room," he spoke quickly. "The Luna wants to see you first. That's what she told me! I am only relaying orders"
I released my hold on him and watched him gasped for air. He arranged his collar and cleared his throat.
"Now listen, if you try anything funny, you are not making it back alive," Max threatened them.
The building the guard led us to wasn't that far from the mansion. I looked at the guards that had been positioned outside the huge doors and I immediately suspected our father might also be inside. It was also good; i wanted him to hear everything I had to say concerning this.
"Come on Callum, you are behind," Ryder called out to me as they walked ahead of me.
I caught up to them and we stood before the hall. I took a look at the guards that stood at the door and I frowned. They were built, like the ones in the special unit.
A thought crossed my mind. What if they were trying to harm us, or force us to accept our mother's decision? No, they wouldn't go to that far. They knew that we would put up a good fight against them and they were no match since we had Alpha's blood in us.
On getting there, the huge doors were opened, revealing the witch which has filled my heart with so much hatred. I clenched my fist by my side, walking in front of Ryder and Max towards her. I had a lot to say which were both planned and unplanned.
While walking towards her, it took me a while to realize there were about 10 guards present in the hall. I was on alert. I knew what she was capable of and that included asking the guard to restrain us. She had done it before, but this time, there was no way I was going to let her win.
"What the hell is this?" Max was the first to speak up, looking from the armed guards, over to my mother who had the corner of her lips tugged up into a smile.
No, something was definitely wrong. Or maybe I was just being far too ahead of myself. I realize that wasn't the case when the door behind us was slammed shut and two guards stood in front of the closed doors. I was beginning to put the puzzle pieces together.
The witch was plotting something
"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked, making sure my eyes didn't leave the guard, especially the ones that were closest to us.
She walked toward me, placing a hand on my shoulder which I pushed down immediately.
"Answer me" I gritted out.
Moving close enough to me, she spoke. "Doing what is right son" she whispered.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ryder asked with an evident scowl on his face.
"Oh darling, it means I am doing what's best for you all and this pack".
"Can you cut straight to the point? As you can see I have a lot of patience to listen to you at this point" Max shot at her in anger.
She smiled softly, walking round the hall and then she stopped at the door.
From that smile she had on her face, I knew for a fact that something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what exactly. I knew she wasn't going to tell the guard to restrain us.
That was something she would have done the moment we stepped our feet into the halls.
"Why were we called here?" Max questioned again, this time as confused as I was.
"Why not in your room? What's wrong with meeting you there?" Ryder threw the question at her
"I'm doing what is best for you," she finally said slowly. I knew that saying and each time she said it, something awful was going to happen.
"You are my sons, the future of the pack," she started.
"I want what's best for you. Ryder, Callum and Max, I want our family to flourish. I want you to be happy," she stood between us and the door.
"You want us to be happy by forcing us in marriage with those girls? We refused, it's that simple!" Ryder rebelled.
"NO! It's not that simple!" she roared at him with an anger I didn't know she was hurdling.
She then took a deep breath with her eyes closed
"Soon enough you'll understand. You have been bewitched. I am the Luna and it's my duty to eliminate every threat to the throne. You might not understand now, but you will understand soon enough," she smiled at us.
There was something about her smile that made me uncomfortable. I looked around the hall for something dangerous, but I could to find anything. What the hell was she planning?
"So what happens to us? What happens to Liv if we accept those girls?" I asked, not because i thought of accepting, but because I wanted to know what directions she was playing her ball at.
She looked at me and smirked. I thought her eyes had glowed a bit there.
"Liv will be taken care of ," She said as her face fell into a glare, filled with deep hatred and contempt.
Max frowned. "What do you mean__?"
I had almost forgotten our mother was a Luna and her wolf was almost as powerful as any of us in there. But I had underestimated her and let my guard down.
In a flash, she was already at the door and when I realized and began running towards her since I had figured out what was happening, I was three seconds late when she suddenly slammed the doors behind her.
"Fuck!" I roared in rage, banging my fist on the door. This was what she had been planning. While she spoke earlier, all the guards left one by one. I should have realized I had a witch for a mother and there was no way she would bring us down here just to speak to us.
When she said she was going to take care of Liv, I knew that instant she meant she was going to hurt Liv and locking us up here was the only way she could achieve that.
'Liv will be taken care of' those words rang in my ears and more rage coursed through my veins.
Liv was in danger