The Alpha's Rogue ✔️

47 | Flesh and Blood

4657 words

"B...brother?" Savannah stuttered, hating the tremble in her voice. She tried desperately to hold herself together, but a wave of dizziness engulfed her and she nearly fainted even though she was sitting.

The loss of blood combined with the poison still in her body had completely drained her of energy.  And now Lucifer--Parthia, the Prince--was saying that Zion was his older brother? "But how? I've met his father, Victor Forrester..." She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned forward, taking deep breaths to fight off the blackness that threatened her vision.

"Ugh, Forrester!" Prince Parthia scoffed, curling up his lips as if the very name was distasteful. "That worthless old mutt. Don't know what my mother ever saw in him."

"Wait, your mother...." The pieces slowly fell together in Savannah's addled mind. "The Queen of Vinlarhk?"

"Obviously." Parthia rolled his eyes. "You finally understand what I'm saying?" he asked, his voice gravelly and much rougher than Zion's.

"Shh!" she held up her hand to shut him up, and stop him from advancing too closely. He had a wild light in his eyes she didn't want to observe intimately. "I've just seen proof confirming that Victor saved your mother from an assassination attempt. Many years ago, he crossed paths with a group of Alphas who were heading to your territory to kill her. They were working with our head of Council, Lord Alistair."

She took a deep breath before continuing, "Victor killed them before they could reach the queen. He saved her life, but for years he's been in exile for murdering those Alphas...until now, since we found proof of Alistair's involvement. The head of Council wanted to take over your kingdom and control the wealth and resources your land produces."

Parthia stopped pacing and frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. "So she was saved by a wandering rogue, then showed her gratitude by sleeping with him? Sounds like something my sentimental mother would do."

An awful feeling came over Savannah at the thought. "I don't even think Zion knows who his mother is. He did mention something about a one night stand, but his dad didn't like to talk about her."

Parthia sneered. "That's what he says. But all these years, he's probably been training and plotting to take over what rightfully belongs to me. That's why I have to end him for good, before he can ruin everything!" The Prince slammed his fist into his palm. "I won't let that scoundrel steal anything more from me."

"Anything more?" Savannah was puzzled. "And how do you even know your mother has another son? Wouldn't everyone know if the queen had a baby before you were born?"

Parthia looked at her like she was a stupid child, and shook his head patronisingly. "She went overseas for an extended period before marrying my father. One only need guess why she disappeared from the public eye for nine months. The elders in my kingdom barely know anything, the ignorant old fools. But when I kept hearing stories of the missing Lava Mount Ruby, I put two and two together, and here we are." He smiled, a cold expression that made Savannah's stomach twist in knots. "I've been hunting Zion down for years, but alas--he's an expert at evasion. Even killing his mate didn't work. It only drove him deeper underground; more elusive."

With each word he spoke, each sentence that unravelled his brutal biography, Savannah's hopes crashed and fear blossomed in her chest like deadly madenolia flowers.

Parthia was beyond cruel--he was downright evil.

"Then when I found out about you, his dear little Alpha," Parthia turned to her with a gleam in his darkened eyes, his use of Zion's familiar words making her even more afraid, "Imagine my excitement. I do hope Zion is the kind of man who would do anything to protect his second chance mate. It's going to be so much fun to watch him fall apart over and over as I torture you before his very eyes. Then, when I'm finished with you and he is beyond despair, I will crush him like the disgusting vermin he is. Such filthy blood will never, ever, sit on the throne of Vinlarhk. My throne. I will stop at nothing to keep what's mine!"