Aila stared at Cassius, her heart thumping loudly in her chest, making it seem like only the noise in the room. Even Davian stopped and looked between them and the beasts behind her in the cells. The lycanthrope in the middle cell to which her back was facing suddenly wrapped its gangly furry arm around her neck and pulled tightly. Aila gasped at the sudden restriction to her throat and put her hands on its arm, but it lifted her from the ground as it growled behind her ear. 

“I.. will.. free you..” She croaked with her eyes stinging with tears. 

Cassius and Davian appeared before her, but she kicked her legs out to them. “Stop, Aila!” Cassius grabbed her leg, and she whimpered from the strength in his grip. This then caused the beast behind her to loosen its grip but kept her in place.

“Don’t..” She sucked in some much-needed air into her burning lungs and rushed out breathlessly. “Don’t kill him. He wants to be freed.. He’s confused!” She kicked her free leg into Cassius’ arm, making him grunt and part his lips, revealing his fangs with a hiss, his eyes glowing with sparks of red. She was disobeying him, she could feel his annoyance and the pull of the sire bond to make him feel better, but she bit her tongue with her own fangs in defiance.

The taste of blood filled her mouth, but she didn’t care; it kept her from agreeing with him. Her hands tightened on the beasts, feeling remarkably more comfortable with it nearly strangling her. She didn’t mind being its hostage, but it wouldn’t work in its favour; Cassius knew she could control them, so feigning the victim and helping them escape properly was not going to happen. 

“Aila,” Cassius said her name so sternly she shivered both from his eyes and his chilly aura. The beast’s arm relaxed further and seemed to hold her up more than anything now.

Aila loosened her hands and patted his arm gently. “Let me resolve this, Cass,” She snapped back after feeling her wolf bristling and growling; it made her chest vibrate along with it. 

Aila turned her head and stopped, her eyes wide when she realised its snout was right by her head. He really was intelligent; if he was a beast, more animal than human, then he would have acted like the other two and could have killed her in seconds. Clearing her throat, she strained her neck to meet the lycanthrope’s crystal blue eyes. “I won’t force you,” She spoke so softly it was almost a whisper. “Lend me your trust.” 

Aila then tried something that just sprang to her mind, she opened her mind up to mind-link, and her eyes widened at the instant connection.

It worked!

“Please be patient,” Aila sent him a mind-link after feeling his presence. 

The beast growled, its jaws parting, revealing its large teeth. “I WILL help you,” She urged on through the mind-link. Would he speak back? She didn’t know.

Aila’s eyes flicked back and forth as the tense seconds ticked by.

“For now, I will trust you, Alpha Queen,” The beast’s baritone voice echoed through her mind, and she was released. Aila scrambled to her feet, surprised that he let her go. Turning around, she stared back at the beast, then flicked her gaze back to the vampire, aware that they didn’t speak aloud. 

Cassius’ steps echoed in the dank basement as he walked towards her, his face unreadable. His hand went to her face, gently holding her jaw, his eyes flicking to her neck. “If you couldn’t control them, he would be dead,” He drawled, his lazy gaze sweeping up to the beast behind her.

Aila’s shoulders tensed by a small fraction, but Cassius detected the slight movement instantly, his eyes sharp and always on her. “Is that one on the table still alive?” He asked slowly; his eyes still locked on Aila and his question directed at Davian. He lowered his hand from her face while he waited.

Aila balled her hands up into fists by her side as she quietly observed Cassius’ features. Why did he have to be like this? 

“This one is still alive. Whatever they did to him just knocked him out,” Davian replied from across the room. Aila glanced at the lycanthrope, his legs dangling off the table, its feet resting on the floor. 

How were they going to carry that? They couldn’t leave it behind. Aila turned her head back to the beasts behind her, an idea forming in her mind. 

“They can carry him,” Cassius instructed, speaking her idea aloud. 

“We need a key first,” Aila murmured as she started searching for one near the cabinets on the wall across from the unconscious lycanthrope. 

Cassius chuckled. “Honestly, Aila, it is only in moments like this that I remember you haven’t been a werewolf and now a hybrid for long. Come back here and make sure they don’t attack me.”

Aila blinked back at him, a smirk crawling on her lips. “I thought the almighty Cassius would be fine against them,” She mocked as she started to walk back to the cells. 

“I don’t want to waste time,” He rolled his eyes and flapped his hands, gesturing for her to hurry.

Aila stopped in front of the cells and stared at each of the beasts. Their eyes gleamed back at her, and she closed her own, her stomach tightening as she called on the power within her. Opening her eyes again, the blue hues were replaced by glimmering gold irises. “Do not attack us or try to run away,” She said, glancing between the three lycanthropes before dropping her gaze and releasing her hold.

Sometimes it was easy to use, coming naturally to her like it did earlier, but other times, like now, she had to really focus. Maybe over time, it would get easier, not that she had any intentions of controlling a bunch of lycans.

“Good girl,” Cassius muttered before cautiously going to the bars and ripping them away. The metal clambered on the ground, and he repeated the action for the other cells. “Get them to carry that one.”

Aila stepped closer to the creatures, watching their movements warily still; even though she had this control over them, she didn’t trust it. She didn’t know anything about these beasts, whether they were stuck in this form or if the effects were going to wear off at some point, or they might become like type 1 rogues. Although besides the one that took her hostage for a moment, the other two seemed to act like type 1 rogues already. There was so much to look into this, but then that would make her as bad as Robert and Silas for wanting to research more into this. It wasn’t worth testing on them. 

Shaking her head, Aila called on her powers again, her eyes warping into golden honey, and she spoke quietly, “Please carry your friend and follow us.” Once the words were out, she sighed, feeling drained. Unlike the Alpha command on normal werewolves, it seemed to take a lot of energy to control them. Now feeling fatigued, she felt her fangs grow in her mouth as her throat began to burn. She ignored it but couldn’t help swallowing a few times as she watched the giant beasts saunter over to their comrade on the table. 

“Aila, are you okay?” Davian walked to her, giving the 8ft tall beasts a lot of room. It made her chuckle at the nervousness behind his eyes.

“Isn’t he like five hundred years old?” Malia snickered, distracting Aila from Davian’s question. 

He frowned, then narrowed his eyes. “What did your wolf say?”

“She’s saying you’re too old to be scared of them,” Aila smirked, enjoying the distraction though she still had to clear her throat from the sandpaper-like feeling that was growing along with her tiredness.

Cassius grabbed her fisted hand used her clawed index finger to leave a cut on his neck. “What are you..” Aila trailed off as she saw his blood. She took a step closer to him, her claws going back into her nails while she was fixated on Cassius’ neck. 

“Now is not the time for this.” Davian grabbed Aila’s hand and jerked her away from Cassius. But even though Davian was holding onto her, she was still looking at her master’s neck in a hypnotic state. “Cass, STOP. If she is out of it, who will control them?” Davian warned with a growl with a growl behind his voice. 

Cassius sighed and snaked his hand around Aila’s waist. “Your knightly attitude is getting on my nerves. She is getting weaker and needs blood. I’d rather her have mine than lower herself to drink from one of the corpses above. Stop acting like I am trying to have my way with her,” He snapped, his tone sending a chill down Aila’s spine. 

She’d been clinging onto Cassius’ shirt while Malia was telling her not to lick the now dried blood on Cassius’ neck.

“Yes, because this..” Davian gestured at Cassius’ hand. “Is not trying to have your way.”

Aila closed her eyes after a headache was starting to form in her temples. “Can we get moving? If I can’t drink, then let’s go. They are waiting,” She said through gritted teeth, her hand going to her temple.

The pair stopped arguing, and they set off back out of the building. The beasts followed behind obediently, one of them running and carrying the unconscious creature, and the other two ran on all four paws. Once they were in the car, Aila lying down on the backseat with Cassius and Davian in front; they headed back to the castle Aila was used to but still did not call home. The beasts followed behind the car, sticking to the fields and forests, though their thundering paws made it sound like a stampede was chasing them. 

As soon as they made it past the protective barrier and they drove up the long white bricked path towards the castle, Aila finally sat up, the throbbing of her head still painful and keeping her wolf quiet. Cassius instantly jumped out of the car and pulled Aila into his arms, carrying her bridal style, this time, she was too fatigued to complain. She wanted to know what happened to the lycans, but her head was pounding, her throat burning and her body were becoming weak. 

Aila was laid down on the bed, and Cassius handed her a glass of blood. She was grateful for the glass and annoyed that she preferred ‘straight from the source’, but it kept her from going overboard. Right now, in this state, she knew another would die by her hunger. “Sleep now, I’ll sort your.. Lycan’s out.”

Aila frowned at the tone of his voice, but her lids were starting to droop. Did he command her? Or was she very susceptible to even the slightest commands right now? Either way, her head fell back onto the pillow, and she let sleep take over with her thoughts running away with her and the mind-link of a certain lycan trying to get through to her.. But darkness fell over her like a warm, comfy blanket and all went quiet.