Chapter 125

Lewis POV

"I knew you'd be good at this." I absentmindedly spoke the truth about what I had witnessed my girl doing. She was amazing at keeping her composure in situations that demanded a clear head. "I always did say that you were a born leader."

"How come no one is questioning it?" At first I had no idea what she was talking about, I couldn't fathom what she thought everyone should be doing, then it hit me, she didn't understand why nobody refused her orders. I knew this to be true by the bewildered shock showing on her face. "Surely everyone must be wondering why we are suddenly attacking the borders."

"I'm sure they are, but, although they might not know why you're ordering it, they know that you have everybody's best interest at heart, you wouldn't ask anything that wasn't beneficial or important." Dylan had this aura about her, despite her frail malnourished frame, her mind and determination were unmatched, she had this unique ability to keep command over situations that were completely uncontrollable.

Even when she was being beaten down to the ground by the king she remained level headed and took control over her decisions, rejecting her mate at every turn. Even now, in a situation were it seemed that she may have to choose between herself and the lives of many others, she remained steadfast, adamant that she would fight until her last breath, and if the situation demanded it, then she was scarily yet fully prepared to sacrifice herself.

"Come on, we need to go too." We took off running quickly across the district and closer to where the sectors border was, Dylan was naturally slower but even after only a minute of running I could hear her chest working overtime trying to regulate her overworking heart rate, I could hear the raspy wheezes coming from her and allowed it to distract me momentarily from our destination. I turned slowly towards my unfit girl when his scent caught my nose.

I hadn't time to comprehend what was happening before my body was catapulted sideways by Oliver, Who knocked me onto the floor with himself landing on top of me. My fist came up quickly to punch him in the face but he moved, wrapping his arm diagonally over my left shoulder and across my chest to my right rib cage. His claws dug in while his legs wrapped around me, pinning me before letting his wolf claws dig into the now exposed skin on my neck slightly.

A small click of a gun sounded and my head spun to find Dylan, stood firm with her gun held out in front of her, pointing right at the man I once called a friend.

"I underestimated you!" Oliver's grip never once faltered on me as he eyed my girls weapon. "Put the gun down before you hurt yourself." I struggled in his grip slightly but couldn't focus on anything except the determination of Dylan, as she strengthened the grip she had on the weapon and forced herself to stop panting from the bout of exercise we had done.

"I managed just fine when I shot the palace warrior through the eye last month." She spoke calmly however there was more conviction in her voice than there ever had been. "Now, let him go, and we can talk about things rationally."

I felt Oliver's claws begin to penetrate my skin slightly but the act didn't bother me in the slightest. I just couldn't take my eyes of Dylan, I watched in awe at how fearless our queen was. She even surprised me with her resilience sometimes.

"I think the time for rationality has long gone." She let out a small scoff at his words but stayed firm.

"Change is coming, don't you want to be on the right side of it." He faltered ever so slightly at Dylan's words and I was able to roughly break free from his grasp, his claws left two very small scratches on my flesh not that they had any effect. Within a second the pair of us had dropped into a fighting stance, our eyes matching each other's, as they began glowing with the rage of our wolf forms.

He was quick to launch himself at me again only this time I was ready for it. My fist came up quickly, making contact with his jaw while he in turn kicked the back of my knee sending me to the floor slightly.

I let my own claws elongate and growled taking a step forward only to have my movements stopped by a sudden gun shot that echoed over the area, and a loud shout left Oliver's mouth as he fell to the floor holding his lower leg in agony.

"Silver." He ground out as he continued to yell. "You shot me with a silver bullet?!" I looked and saw the wound pouring slightly while smoke rose from the hole that it had left.

"I shot you in the leg out of curtesy for your meager help in the past. One wrong move and the next bullet will hit a more vital point." Dylan didn't miss a beat in her taunting, as she held the gun tighter and stalked towards him, pointing it at his face. "I won’t go back to him Oliver."

"He's your mate, Your Grace, you belong with him." He was fighting the pain the bullet brought him, however he was lucky, as the bullet in question had traveled straight through his flesh and had created an exit hole on the the opposite side of his leg. I watched Dylan shake her head at his pain filled words and let her eyes dart to my form for a split second before talking to Oliver again.

"I don't belong with him... he made that abundantly clear when he tortured me for refusing him... No, in his eyes I belong TO him. An object for him to do whatever he wants..." her gunned hand shook with rage as she thought about everything that she had been through. "We all are... Even you!"

"If you had just accepted him, then he wouldn't have had to resort to such drastic measures." I just couldn't understand why he was still on Josh's side.

"Rejection doesn't hold you unaccountable for torturing you're mate." I growled out only to be met with pain filled eyes. "There is no excuse for doing that."

"Oh please, you went on a rampage after Iliana, we wouldn't have even entered the palace if you hadn't have..." I had to cut him off, so my fist flew towards his face and made direct contact halting his speech instantly. I tensed at his words and swallowed thickly. I couldn't conjure up the right emotions whenever my previous pairing was spoken of. Not to mention, I had yet to explain to Dylan that she was my second chance, and not my first given one. This was the first time she had even heard of my rejection.

"Josh placed fuel in the fire and you know it. I never once hurt her! I only attacked the people that killed her." Now I really had to explain things to Dylan, although, I wasn't at all sure where to even start, you see even now I was unsure about what actually happened that day.

The entire time me and Oliver argued Dylan stood still, her gunned hand never faltering, I couldn't work out whether she was bothered by our subject of conversation or if she was non pulsed by the whole thing.

"King Reginald didn't kill her. His palace guards didn't either. You may not have harmed Iliana, but it's hypocritical to say things when you haven't been held accountable for any of your doings." I was furious with Oliver, my wolf form was on the verge of bursting out of me, but it was Dylan who changed the subject, there was absolutely no hint of questioning mine and Oliver's subject of conversation as she stepped a little closer to my old friend.

"Why are you still so loyal to him? You don't like what he does, I know you don't. You've even helped me in the past. So how can you still sit there making excuses for his actions?” She had a point, eventually there has to come a time when even he will see how bad Josh had made things.

"I might not like what he does sometimes, but I agree with his reasoning for doing things. He is my king, from now until my end." My girl shook her head in exasperation and finally dropped her gunned hand to her side. Her face took on a hard expression before looking my friend in the eyes. What was going through her head.

"And what of me?" Was her simple answer which caused Olivers eyes to widen a fraction. Her question had caught us both off guard. "The man that you call king, is nothing more than a usurper. Falsely claiming the crown as his own, and holding it due to fear." She spoke nothing but facts as her eyes began to blaze with a dominant force that had even me wanting to bow before her. "The lycans were never meant to be oppressors to the human kind. The previous ruler knew this, but you don't seem to." She crouched down before the new beta and held the gun in a relaxed grip, her elbows rested effortlessly on her skinny knees, she was suddenly the epitome of confidence, which was a huge contrast from the girl who wakes up crying out of fear. The girl truly was amazing. "I understand how difficult it must have been to hide your way of life from the rest of the world, but to completely take over, that's just screaming cause for uprising."

"And what's so different about your rebellion?Before Joshs family first came into power, they conspired with the rest of our kind, similar to what you are doing now with the humans. Someone will always seek more power and control. You are no different.” He was wrong about that, Dylan was very different, she didn’t want power, or control. She just wanted her freedom, the ability to choose how her life could be lived, instead of it being forced on her. Although, I wasn’t at all sure she would ever get that chance.

“We don’t want to control you lycans, and we don’t want you to suppress who you are, we just want to have the chance at a legit life. One without fear of physical punishment for everyday mindless offenses.” Dylan really was talented with her words, even still she surprised me with how sure she was about the rebellion and it intentions, as for the people, I think they really would go along with whatever ideas she had. “Why do you and your king have the rights to tell us what we can and can’t do? Why do you make excuses for his tyranny? I think he has you lycans on just as big a leesh as the rest of us. If he says jump, then you comply. That isn’t a leader, that is a dictator…”She paused, for a second before addressing me once more. “Take him to the pack’s dungeon, where he can’t harm anyone.” Her eyes showed sadness at her orders but I nodded and grabbed him only for him to pull away from me roughly and look Dylan in the eye.

“You can lock me up as much as you want to, but Josh will come for me, and when he does, he won’t leave without you too, you can’t hide forever.” She let out a scoff at Oliver’s words, fear was nowhere to be seen on her face, only determination as she looked the new beta in the eye.

“Who said I was hiding?!” She nonchalantly replied. “The wheel that’s set in motion, spins much faster than you think.”