Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Don’t fucking touch my runes.”
“You bitch!”
“Monster! You are a dirty rotten monster.”
“Animal!” They were all at once. The words were all different, but the intent and meaning behind it all was the same. They were mad at me for even thinking about changing their runes. Oh well. It needed to be done, and they would get over it eventually.
As I finished explaining these things to the new prisoners, Joaquin came over to me. He looked like he needed to talk to me about something. Something that was important.
“Shawn, Dietrich, can you two see to it that the marks are changed.” I called out to them. “I will give you the sight.” I waved my hands and saw that their eyes glowed just a little. It was the same magic that I used on myself earlier. They needed to know that the runes were changed, and to do that, they needed to know where the runes were.
“Riviana, come with me for a moment.” Joaquin took my hand and pulled me along behind him.
“Sure.” I spoke a little sarcastically. I mean, he hadn’t really given me the option of not going with him, so I just pretended like I was agreeing with him. You know, while he dragged me along behind him.
“I learned something else from Clovio today.” He whispered softly when we were in the corner.
“OK.” I made sure not to look at the group. I didn’t want the rest of the Jaegan to know that Clovio was a traitor.
“There is a woman in their group from the school that is most likely on our side. We need to talk to her and see if she is innocent and if she can be trusted.”
“And you think that he is telling the truth about her?” I just needed to make sure before we spoke to her.
“He has been honest with us since we brought him here. He and Warrick both. As much as I hate to admit it, they are going to be big allies in all of this. We need to protect them, and any of the others that are innocent and are willing to turn against the family. They aren’t all bad.” He looked like he was torn. He hated that this boy had tried to play our daughter, but as an Alpha and a king, he knew the importance of looking at the bigger picture. And the bigger picture here was clearly one that had several layers of paint that we couldn’t see yet. We were making strides and breakthroughs left and right, but we were still just scratching the surface here. There was a lot more that we needed to see, to learn, and to do. And if this girl that Clovio wanted us to protect could help us, then I was willing to do that. Assuming that she was given the clearance by Vincent or Gabriel. They were on their way back down here to help with the interrogations again. We were all so busy at the moment.
“Alright, Joaquin.” I nodded at him. “Let’s see what we can do. For that girl and all of the others.”
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Riviana
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Shawn and Dietrich changed the runes on all of the men that came from the hotel. They all had the death rune, but only four of them had the other ones that enhanced their abilities. The ones from the university didn’t have the death rune or any of the ones that enhanced them. There was only one rune that was on the college students, and it was on all of the people that we had taken into custody. It was the one that I hadn’t recognized, but Dietrich had told me that it was a rune that meant they were part of the Jaegan family. It was a mark that Alaric had given his friends when he was leading them all hundreds of years ago. Now though, this mark just meant that they were a descendant of the family, or something like that.
That mark was changed as well, I didn’t care if it was just one that meant that they were part of Alaric’s family, I didn’t trust it. And that meant that I needed to change the marks on them. None of the marks that these people had on them when they got here were going to stay on them. That wouldn’t be very safe for us or them.
The girl that Joaquin had mentioned, Armina, had her Jaegan mark removed, not changed. And the same happened with Clovio and Warrick. I didn’t want to force her to agree to working with us just because of the rune that we put on her. So instead of changing her rune, which was on her arm, I went to her and personally removed the mark altogether. I made sure that she could see me, my face, the entire time that I removed the mark. And I made sure that she could see that the mark was gone. That she was technically free of the family if she wanted to be.
I could tell that Armina was scared of me, but she also looked extremely relieved when the mark was removed from her arm. She didn’t know what to think of me, and I was sure that she thought that I was going to punish her for the crimes of her family. Well, people would be punished for the crimes that they personally committed and nothing else. If she was innocent, she would be protected.
…..
Armina, Clovio and Warrick were all put into rooms that were next to each other. In truth, Armina was in the middle of the two men. And that was because I had a plan. I was hoping that she was going to be useful to us, but until I found out for sure, I needed to be on my guard around her.
With all the prisoners now in their cells, waiting for their interrogations, I went into Armina’s cell with Joaquin, Vincent and Gabriel. She was the first person that I needed to talk to. She was going to be given the chance to turn her back on the family without the prompting of Clovio and Warrick. She needed to do this on her own. I needed to know that it was all of her own volition.
“Good evening, Armina.” I nodded at her as I entered the room. She had been searched, but she had no weapons. She also hadn’t been forced to change into the uniform. “You may go.” I looked at the guard and dismissed him. He nodded and left us all in the room.
“Y..y..you’re Rika’s mom, aren’t you? Y..you are the queen.” She was definitely scared.
“That is correct. I am Rika’s mother and the queen to all the shifters and magic users of the supernatural world.” I thought that a simple agreement would be best. She already knew all of this stuff. She had just needed me to confirm it.
“What are you going to do to me?” The fear was practically dripping off of her.
“Well, Armina.” I looked at her as I said her name. I hadn’t asked her for that yet, so it scared her a little when I showed that I knew her already. “Your future all depends on you, really.”
“I..I don’t understand.” She was looking all around the room, at me, Joaquin, Vincent and Gabriel. “What are you all here to do to me?”
“Armina.” Vincent stepped forward. “I have something that I need to ask you. And I will know if you are lying to me, so please be honest.”
“I..I am scared.” She wasn’t chained to the chair at the moment, so she was stepping away from Vincent as he got closer to her.
“Don’t be scared. I just need to talk to you.” Vincent was speaking calmly to her. “Please, just answer my questions honestly.”
“O..O..OK.” She nodded, but the fear was still just as intense.
“Armina, have you ever killed anyone?” Vincent’s first question threw her through a loop.
“N..no. Never. I couldn’t hurt anyone. I..I was just a spy.”
“OK.” Vincent made a gesture with his hand to tell me that she was telling the truth. “Now, do you believe that we are monsters? Do you believe what your family has said about us?” This was going to be a hard question to answer.
“I..I don’t know. I can’t go against the family without them knowing and killing me for it. B..but with the rune gone, they might not be able to find me now. And I don’t want to go back to them. They are crazy. They say that you are killers and monsters, but they sent out our brothers and sisters to kill people. They are the monsters.” She was getting more and more brave. And at the same time, Vincent made that same gesture. She was telling the truth again.