Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Chapter 83

Chapter 83

LEO’s POV

The crackling of fire as it burned wood into ash was unmistakable. Its constant flickering met Leo’s stare. He was more lost in the flames than he was in his own thoughts.

The damage done was more than his heart could take, and so anything was a distraction from the pain. Perhaps the flames could burn those flashbacks into faded memories, just as the wood was being turned to ash.

"It’s been more than three days, My Luna." A guttural voice came from behind.

Leo shifted, the semblance of the wood snapping within the flames serving as his recognition of reality.

"Are we close?"

"Yes, a few more hours," the man behind him replied.

Leo nodded and picked up the bowl. The fire had done its job, leaving ashes in place of the wood he had carved out by himself. Leo stood, passing by the man as he veered towards the forest.

"For how long do you wish to do this?" the man complained, and Leo only glanced at him once.

"They wouldn’t even allow me to retrieve his body to perform the proper rites for my uncle’s funeral." Leo’s voice trembled, his throat tightening as the words slipped free. "Even after they took everything from me."

The trembling intensified, and he didn’t care even if he broke down before the man, who was stuffed behind armoured steel that caught glints of the flames as the metal reflected the fire.

His height was overshadowing, blocking the light from reaching Leo’s face and helping mask the sadness etched into his features.

"We still have more men. We can go back and fight to the death, get your uncle’s body out. He deserves to be buried justly."

Leo turned once again towards the depths of the forest, where even the moonlight faded away, complete darkness having claimed that territory.

"You’re naive to things other than war, Ser Cavriel. There’s so much you don’t know," Leo stated.

His gait led him deeper into the forest, his skin occasionally caught against jagged vines and barbed branches that tore into his flesh. But he’d hardened. He wasn’t the same spoiled brat anymore who’d whine about everything. Nor was he the kind who’d let his reactions reveal his predictability.

Three days in the woods, and he was a completely different person. When he reached his destination, he set the ashes into the lake.

"Uncle, I promise you. Your death won’t be in vain."

∆∆∆

"The House of Steele," Leo exhaled, comfort etched into his tone. "We are home."

The architecture was ancient and bland. But even as plain as it appeared, it had housed generations of the Steele family, and they had remained firmly standing, just like the old building itself.

Not only had it withstood countless attacks, its bricks whipped by harsh times, but it had outlived those horrors.

Towards the very entrance, Leo led the way. Their numbers had been reduced significantly, with Ser Cavriel a few steps behind him.

The gate creaked, a heavy metal structure that looked rusted to the eye yet remained unbreakable. Chains clung to both sides of the gate, helping lower it flat to the ground.

Once the doors met the earth, the House came into Leo’s view. They made their way inside, and behind them, the gates began to rise again.

’Colder than I remembered,’ Leo thought to himself.

The chambers felt as though they no longer belonged to his warmth or his care. Even the portraits and sculptures he’d spent all his life molding and admiring reflected no life within them.

Leo made his way directly to the common room.

And there was Nathan.

Leo’s brows knitted together. He glanced behind him to make sure he was hallucinating, only to catch the very same shock in Ser Cavriel’s gaze.

"How are you here?"

Nathan’s hands were entwined behind him, dressed in a black tunic. The cape billowed to the side, caught by the wind entering through the windows. The air had grown thicker since winter had begun inviting itself closer.

"I never left," Nathan uttered.

"That makes no sense."

Nathan ignored Leo’s distress. He took a seat at the head of the room. The war chamber had seen more lifetimes than even a solid man like Nathan could fathom, causing Leo to burn as the man disrespected the very purpose of the room.

"That seat isn’t for you. My uncle died. How dare you disrespect his place?" Leo took a daring step forward.

In response, Nathan merely raised a brow. "You got him killed when you forgot there was another Mages-wolf in the Castle. Alex." He pointed out.

Leo was shunned. His mind began to reel back to the past events, and it soon began to make sense.

"You are a child," Nathan said, stoking even more rage in Leo. "You were played, and you fell cheaply into their ploy. Though it’s always been established that Alex was smarter and better than you... of course he is." Nathan chuckled. "He’s a hustler. And what are you?"

Nathan stood, his hands slamming against the table. "You’re merely a spoiled brat. You uphold nothing."

"Slit his throat," Leo commanded, his head snapping to the side. "I have no need for this mutt anymore. I’ll take down Alex and Kai by myself."

Nathan chuckled, and somehow that kept Leo grounded. The man held no fear within him, as though he relied on something far greater than Leo remembered.

"Do you remember when you once lectured me on power?" Nathan began. His fingers simply traced the spiked edges of the table, a reminder of the many internal sword wars it had sustained.

"I reflected on that, and you were right. For once in your life, you made sense. The power of Aetherblood wasn’t the only thing I needed to fulfil my destiny. I needed armies."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, his voice a little shaky.

Nathan chuckled.

"You’ve been tricked, Leo. You’re the rogue here. The entire Pack rejects you, and even now, your own House rejects you."

"What...?"

From the corridors, men of the House of Steele rushed out with spiked weapons in their hands. They outnumbered the forces Leo had returned with, yet the ones who were still by his side stood ready to die protecting him.

"You’ve turned my men against me?"

Nathan’s shoulders rose almost to the level of his face.

"You still don’t understand. Power did the talking for me. They got better options than ending the same way your uncle did. With their leader gone, they knew better than to be led by a spoiled brat like you."

With each word, Nathan’s tone hardened.

Finishing his crushing statement, the war table, as humongous as its frame was, uprooted itself from the earth, taking a piece of the floor with it. Hovering in the air, Nathan muttered words incoherent to Leo.

The table began to crumple, bit by bit, until it resembled nothing more than folded paper.

And like waves aggressively striking the shore at the height of a storm, the table crashed into the head seat.

"From now on, there is no more House of Steele," Nathan stated, affirming his claim. "Everything is mine."

His first trophy was winning the House of Steele.

And soon, Nathan would come for the throne of SilverFang itself, where his reign would be established.

And then, the entire world.

∆∆∆

There was a time when Leo smiled.

There was a time when he knew joy, and it shimmered within him like the constant tea his Grandpa would make that made the family gather.

Leo would hang around his father’s neck as they prepared for breakfast. The Steele family had been many in number during those days. The Steeles had always been a part of the royal family, from the very moment SilverFang was established as a Pack.

This was a time when the Steeles were capable of becoming the Alphas themselves.

This memory was one that could never fade. Then, Leo had only been a child. On the night they were to choose the next Alpha King, a gathering was called. Eight Alphas from the House of Steele went, yet not a single one came back.

Not even his Grandpa. Not even his father. Even after his mother was gone, he’d never forget the way she’d stare into nothingness after that incident.

She died in the flesh that day, as the pain was more than she could bear.

But Leo stood out.

One of the many Omegas who’d survived the plight, who’d led their men into that gathering and tried to save as many as they could.

And though they failed, they managed to save one.

His Uncle.

Yet even Uncle Barry had been taken from him. By these same people who wanted the throne.

Leo had always lost his loved ones to the throne, and for that, he planned to claim it.

They said Omegas could not rule, and so they took out all the Alphas who could challenge them, he believed.

And so Leo remained unfazed.

He would become the first Omega to rule when he turned Kai into his puppet. He was certain Kai’s father had orchestrated that event so Kai’s family could become the ruling Alpha King when the House of Steele should have.