"Okay."
That word irked Flynn more than anything in the world. It made his chest twist with annoyance and anger and maybe... just maybe regret.
He watched Nyx’ara, the beautiful vixen who had now been reduced to a shell of the vibrant girl she used to be three years ago, struggle to rise to her feet but due to the metal shackles wrapped tightly around her neck and hands, she couldn’t.
"I’ll ask the guards to release you now, but before I do that, you must once again promise me that you will steer clear of Elara and wherever she may be. That you wouldn’t cause trouble anymore and that there will not be a repeat of three years ago."
She hung her head, her breath catching, but she still wouldn’t look at him as she whispered; "Okay,"
Her reactions or lack thereof, were making him mad. Hell, he wanted to lose it so badly. His nostrils flared when he stepped closer to the cell only to have her scurry backwards like she couldn’t bear the thought of being anywhere near him... and he couldn’t help but remember the times when she would follow him around like a lamb.
The times in the past when she would look up at him with big doe eyes, promising forever, promising an eternity of love and happiness.
Something in his throat locked tight at the memories, and when his eyes dropped only to find the same girl, now visibly broken and now keeping as much distance as she could between them, his chest tightened.
Goddess, he hoped he had not pushed her away for good this time.
"You do not seem surprised to learn that Elara is alive," he tried again, hoping to stir a reaction on her face, but aside from the tick of her left eyebrow, there was nothing more.
"I knew." She said,
And oh, that was icy. Brutal almost. She didn’t even seem annoyed that she had been locked in here for a crime that doesn’t make sense.
He gulped. "Good that you know. Also, I’d love for you to know that the reason we kept you here for three years is so that you will learn a lesson or two about being able to hold back and not to try to hurt anyone. It is so that henceforth, you will not be pushed to try to kill anyone, especially Elara." He said and somehow, that finally made her look up at him.
However, the hollowness he found in her once glowing eyes— the eyes that now looked colorless— made his breath hitch. She shrugged.
"I h-have a wish."
And because he hadn’t expected her to speak up, much less to make a demand, his eyebrows raised in confusion. He drawled; "What is it?"
"I w-want you to let m-me go..."
She was stuttering, not like he cared. He nodded. "I am already on it. The guards will free you in a few minutes and take you for a bath—"
"No, not that!" She snapped, her voice icy. Cold. "I want y-you to reject me and s-set me free."
For a second, Flynn wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly due to the buzzing sound in his ear. His heart fluttered in his chest... painfully at that. But when he looked down at her, hoping to see something in her expression that would make him realize that this was all just a joke... a silly one at that... he found nothing.
Her jaw was locked tight.
Her face was devoid of any emotion.
And when she looked at him, it felt as though she was looking right through him. Like she could no longer see him.
And then his world slowly stopped.
June 10 2026, 11:57am
Flynn left because he couldn’t stand the thought of being treated like he was nothing more than a stranger to her. He left because the aching in his chest wouldn’t leave no matter how hard he tried to push past it.
He didn’t give her what she wanted. He could not, and for that reason, you can as well call him a coward.
Right now, he was sitting on his throne, his body as stiff as a rock. Elara pressed her full bosom against the side of his face, her voice sultry as she whispered the word; "Please!"
He stiffened.
Because she was always begging him for one thing or the other, he couldn’t remember what it was this time. Her parents and brother sat before him, their hands clasped between their legs as they stared straight ahead.
"Please, I don’t know what to do! I cannot go there! You have to marry me! To protect me. Please I cannot be taken there!"
Her words pulled him out of his reverie, and for a moment, he almost toppled out of the chair. Almost. Because why the hell is she asking him to marry her now?
Why the hell is this conversation about her and not about Nyx’ara whose life had been stolen from her for exactly three years?
Flynn’s brows creased as she dropped to her knees, jolting him out of that thought, and in that moment, he couldn’t help but notice how fragile she was. How pale her skin looked. How dried blood rimmed the corners of her plump lips.
"I didn’t do it intentionally. I didn’t even know that a person was standing there. I couldn’t see anything and was running for my life. I hate to say this but images from the time I fell off that same spot wouldn’t leave my head. I didn’t even realize that I had pushed a person until it was too late."
So in other words, she had killed a girl. From the same spot she had fallen from three years ago. The rooftop library.
It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, something that their sweet Elara had never hoped or planned for. But there was a problem. A plot twist. The girl she killed had family members powerful enough to grind Flynn’s pack to dust.
Elara’s sobs grew hysterical as she fell to the floor, clutching at her chest. Her eyes were red and swollen, and when she coughed, she coughed up blood.
The scene was heartbreaking, pathetic even. Flynn squeezed his eyes shut, exhaled deeply, and drawled; "If the Alphas of Stormborn pack are asking for you, for your head, then there is nothing I can do to stop them. You have to go there."
"But please, they will kill me!" She wailed as her hands jumped to her neck. "They are known for their brutality. Known for how inhumane they are. They do not even tolerate strangers well, not to talk of one who killed their sister!"
Just then, Celine, her mother, rose to her feet. For the first time in forever, Flynn saw raw fear in her eyes as she chirped in; "You know Elara is weak! After that fall three years ago, something in her wolf was lost. She can’t heal as quickly as other wolves, nor does she..."
"ENOUGH!" He barked, interrupting them by raising his fist into the air. At the sound of his voice, both mother and daughter stopped talking. They turned to look at him with hope and fear and panic all written boldly across their faces.
And Goddess, at this point, he was already tired of always hearing her talk about three years ago.
The tightness in his chest worsened and he gulped. "So what do you want me to do now? You do not expect that I will let my pack fall when it is only Elara they want, do you?"
A beat of silence passed between them before Elara suddenly lifted her head. Slowly. Her eyes brightened as she had just gotten struck with the brightest idea to ever exist. She muttered;
"We can send someone in my stead."
Flynn’s brows shot up in askance. But before he could talk her out of that bizarre idea, she continued;
"We can send Nyx’ara."
His body went rigid.