CHAPTER 2. Sins of the father

Hope's Pov

Shock and confusion were the two things I felt at the moment. If Orion had recognized me, why had he ordered that his guards to throw me into the dungeon? His voice was filled with so much venom and hatred. He had called me a traitor? What was happening?

My chest beat with anguish and pain from being betrayed. But was it betrayal?

“Orion, no. Tell them to stop!”

I struggled weakly as the men dragged me down the steps. The sharp stones tore into my skin, adding to the pain my body was experiencing. My face stung from the spot where the guard had hit me for resisting.

"Traitor!" A guard spat on me as they flung me into the cell. It was dark and smelled like rotting meat down here. I wasn't the traitor, Lucian was!

"Help!" I screamed with the little energy I had left as my mind pondered hard. What had happened over the years? I shouldn't be here! They didn't given me a chance to explain why I was here. Was it because I was in their territory? They didn't have problems with that when I was younger.

"Help!" I screamed again banging against the bars.

I fell to the floor feeling exhausted. There was only a little thing my human form could do. I wish I had gotten my wolf, I'm sure she would have known what to do right now. She would have been everything that I couldn't be.

She would have fought her way through those guards, she would have fled when they ordered that we should be thrown into the dungeon. Most importantly, she would have killed that traitor, Lucian, before we escaped.

"No one will hear you. Even if they do, no one will defy Alpha Cyrus," A voice said behind me.

I jumped in shock and slammed into the metal bars. There was someone sitting at the corner of the dank room.

"Who are you?" I asked, putting a safe distance from the person I couldn't see. He continued to sit in silence.

The sound of footsteps reverberated through the room as a long shadow was cast from the doorway, the only source of light to the cell. The walk was slow and agonizing, like the person was deliberately holding out their identity from me.

"You have a lot of courage you know that?" I heard the familiar voice of Orion.

"Orion? Orion, what's happening? Why am I in here?” I begged weakly. Orion laughed, a cold distant laugh that told me that my pleas were falling on deaf ears.

"After what your father did? You still have the audacity to step your filthy feet in our territory? Are you that desperate to die!?" Orion shouted and I shrunk. I had never heard him so angry before.

"Orion, please," I began to sob. I didn't know what he was accusing me or my father of but they were all lies. Orion moved, stretched his hand between the metal bars and grabbed my neck cutting off my oxygen supply.

"Don't you dare speak my name with your treacherous mouth," Orion seethed, then pushed me toward the floor.

He let go and I fell to the floor, desperate to swallow as much air as possible.

"We were best friends, Hope, and I was blinded by how much I cared for you, I didn't know you and your father were using me to get to my father," Orion laughed, but I sensed sadness this time.

"I'm glad your father met his fate, one less traitor in this world," Orion said. My heart broke, how can he talk about my father like that? It's been six years since my father died, yet the pain gnawed at my heart like it was yesterday. My father wasn't a traitor: he loved every other pack and respected them as well.

"In a few hours, Alpha Cyrus, my father, will demand your presence, and I pray you receive the worst punishment," Orion spat and walked away. I didn't even have the strength to call after him because of how broken I was.

I didn't know how long I was in there for, because I couldn't see whether it was night or day. I was used to not seeing the moon, it was how I hadn't gotten my wolf in the first place. Lucian had locked me underground for six years and I had been denied the goddess' assistance when I turned 18 years.

The person who was inside my cell had been quiet after Orion had left. Suddenly, I heard the rush of footsteps. My heart pounded loudly in my chest knowing what it meant.

The guards opened my cell door and pulled my limp body out with force. I couldn't struggle against their brute strength because I was weak and hungry. They chained my hands and feet like I was a criminal, pushing me.

"Where are we going?" I asked weakly. They pushed me up the stairs not caring about my pleas.

One hit my shoulders and I tumbled to the ground reopening my wounds in the process. I felt the gaze of numerous pairs of eyes on me in the dark room. It felt like we were outside.

A switch was flipped and suddenly bright light filled the entire room. I shielded my eyes from the intense light and tried to find out where I was.

When my eyes got used to the light, I observed the room: the room was circular and looked like a theatre, with high chairs, that were filled with other wolves. The room had no roof, lights were mounted on poles at the corners of the stone seats.

Then my eyes landed on Orion who was standing close to Alpha Cyrus sitting on the throne.

"Orion, please," I whispered, hoping he would end whatever this was. Orion frowned deeply.

"Six years ago, Stormclaw and Emberfang lived peaceably, each respecting their boundaries and territories," Alpha Cyrus began.

"Unknown to us, the Alpha of Emberfang, Alpha Kellan, her father! was plotting to kill me," his voice thundered in the room and I shrunk. No, that's a lie! My father didn't do anything. I could feel the glares burn into my skin.

"But thank the moon goddess that someone was brave enough to end the life of that evil man, and report his atrocities to us!" Alpha Cyrus stared condescendingly at me.

Lucian! Lucian had spread lies about my father after he had him killed. Now people believed him because dead men couldn't tell tales.

"Unfortunately, he died before I could lay waste to him, but now, his daughter is here and the sins of the father shall be inflicted on the children," Alpha Cyrus drew his sword from his sheath.

My heart was beating, I couldn't die like this. Not now, not here, I had a whole life in front of me. I crawled backward slowly and the guard held me steady.

"I find you, Hope Embers, guilty of treason and I hereby sentence you to death by beheading under the full moon in two days time."

My heart fell to the pit of my stomach.