Chapter 3: A Strange Offer

Anastasia's POV

I couldn't believe what just happened. The Vampire King accused me of poisoning him. Even worse, Constantine said that I was poisoning the King. How could this happen? Also, where was Andreas? 

A warrior who was tasked to put me in the silver cuffs yelled at me, "Hurry up, woman!"

"Mind your tongue! I'm your Alpha!" I shouted angrily with my Alpha voice, which startled him into submission.

Even though my 18th birthday was still 2 months away, I managed to wake my wolf early. It caused me to be able to use my Alpha voice if I felt very threatened. Still, it was rarely used because I didn't wish to undermine my father's ruling as it would mean that I wouldn't be able to be put into submission if my father used his Alpha voice on me. 

The warrior immediately put me into our pack's silver dungeon, the place for the most terrible criminals in our pack. Frankly, I wasn't shocked about it. I was being accused of poisoning the Vampire King, which was a huge crime. Still, I was determined to prove that I was innocent. 

Damon, Sophia, and Constantine had messed with me. I wouldn't let them win. However, I quickly stopped my train of thought when I saw a familiar sight. It was Andreas. No wonder he didn't come to my enthronement ceremony. He was held here! 

As I looked closer, Andreas only wore shorts. His whole body was covered in lash scars. Damn! My poor assistant had been interrogated. Seeing this made me enraged. 

"How long had Andreas been put inside the silver dungeon?" I angrily asked the same warrior who shouted at me earlier with my Alpha voice.

"Y-yesterday, Alpha," the warrior said in fear.

"By who?" I asked again in my Alpha voice as I gritted my teeth.

"By Beta Damon and Luna Sophia, Alpha," he replied in submission to my Alpha voice.

"Those bastards! Go get some medicine and water here!" I shouted angrily as the warrior quickly left. with the other ones who were standing in fear.

When the warrior gave me medicine and water, I quickly approached Andreas who kept mumbling. After I shook his body several times, my assistant finally woke up. His eyes widened the moment he saw me.

Andreas immediately said in panic, "Alpha, I’m sorry. They’re planning to poison the Vampire King. I tried to report them, but they caught me-"

"I know. The Vampire King already accused me. We need another way to get support," I told him as I cut him off, thinking hard about what I could do in this kind of situation.

"Why don't we ask Oppie?" he asked me, which gave me the idea to contact Oppie via mind-link.

Before I was able to contact her, Oppie already asked me through the mind-link, 'Alpha, are you okay? It’s chaotic here! The vampires are angry. Then, Damon asks to lead the council to remove you from the Alpha position! Elder Thalia tried to protect you.'

'Thank you for reporting, Oppie. I want to tell you that Andreas has been caught. Try asking our wine tasters, cooks, and servants. Ask them by using my name. If they lied, they would be executed. Also, keep in touch with Elder Thalia too,' I instructed Oppie.

'Goodness! At least, he's with you. Okay, Anna,' Oppie told me as she ended our mind-link.

I told Andreas that I had already linked with Oppie. Since the other pack members never cared about my best friend, it would be much easier if Oppie slipped herself unnoticed. That way, she could investigate what was happening. Also, I wished that Elder Thalia would do everything. I could only count on both Oppie and Thalia.

'Aaah!'

That was Oppie’s voice. My eyes immediately widened as soon as I heard her scream through the mind-link. When I tried to reach her, she didn't answer. I told Andreas that I couldn't reach Oppie. From his look, I could tell that he was as scared as I was about what could happen to Oppie. Not long after that, the two of us heard some shouts. 

"That's … Ophelia's voice,” Andreas said grimly, which made me nod my head. 

Soon, both Andreas and I could hear a ruckus from outside the dungeon. Then, Oppie was shoved inside the dungeon. I was shocked to see what happened to my best friend. She had a long mark on her right cheek. Obviously, the warrior had used his sword to strike Oppie in the cheek.

"How dare you do that to her!" Andreas angrily shouted. 

However, the warrior just sneered before he left. Both Andreas and I quickly approached Oppie. The poor girl was crying hard.

"Oppie, what happened?" I asked my best friend.

Unfortunately, the poor girl didn’t answer me. My best friend then hugged me as she cried even harder. I hugged her back to calm her down. 

"I'm sorry, Alpha. But I-I came to the council to protest your arrest alongside Elder Thalia," she told me.

Oppie cried again. It seemed to be very traumatic for her, but she still proceeded by saying, "Somehow, Beta Damon decided to lead the council. Beta Damon, Elder George, and Luna Sophia had decided to remove you from the Alpha Position and put Constantine as the new Alpha. Elder Thalia, me, and some council members immediately protested."

For a while, Oppie's whole body was shaking as she howled again in anguish. What she had seen was obviously terrifying for her. Still, my best friend had the courage inside of her. She continued to speak before she whimpered sadly, "Beta Damon and Elder George killed Elder Thalia. Then, they announced that they would execute the members who sided with you!"

I couldn't help but howl in pain, which was then followed by Andreas. How could Damon and George kill Thalia? Even worse, they tried to execute the members who sided with me. This was unacceptable!

For what seemed to be hours, I howled in anguish about Elder Thalia's death. Both Andreas and Oppie also did the same. When there was another warrior who came to the dungeon, I immediately rose from the dungeon floor as I walked toward him. Then, I used the Alpha voice to put him into submission.

"Take me to Constantine!" I shouted an order, which the warrior quickly obeyed.

Soon, the warrior brought me to the hall upstairs. It was a ruckus. Both Alpha Carl and Alpha Lili were angered to see Constantine in what was supposed to be my seat. However, my half-brother didn't seem to care. Even worse, he asked our warriors to arrest both Alphas. That was a very stupid move.

Alpha Carl was quickly shouting, "What the hell is going on? Alpha Anastasia is the Lykos Pack's Alpha!"

That man might be old, but he was still intimidating. In fact, that old man was able to scare my half-brother away. Seeing that Constantine was scared, Beta Damon walked before my brother to approach Alpha Carl.

Damon said, "Alpha Carl, I believe you should’ve known that Anastasia is no longer the Alpha. Constantine is now our Alpha-"

But Alpha Carl immediately cut him off, "Fuck off! This is lunacy! We, the Varg Pack, refuse to acknowledge that timid boy as the Lykos Pack's Alpha!"

Alpha Lili agreed with Alpha Carl. She seemed to be upset about all of this. Then, the female alpha angrily bared her fangs at my warriors as she said, "Don't you dare touch me! My pack also refuses to recognize that coward as the Lykos Pack's Alpha!"

As for the Bloody Fangs, the Crimson Warrior hadn't made any move. From what I had observed, it seemed that he just watched it. To be honest, it seemed that he was pretty neutral about it. Since he wasn’t affiliated with the 3 packs, no one knew whose side he had chosen. I had decided to win over him later.

The other creatures, except the vampires, were unimpressed with this mess as well.  

"This is ridiculous! If we want to know who poisons the Vampire King, we should've let Alpha Anastasia show her innocence by investigating this matter!" King Marco, the Dwarf King, firmly reprimanded my brother's embarrassing action.

"Shut up, Dwarf!" Constantine angrily yelled at the Dwarf King.

Everyone was stunned. I covered my mouth in shock after what I just heard. Did my half-brother just insult King Marco? 

Immediately, the Dwarf King felt insulted. He jumped out in anger. Not long after that, King Marco saw my brother from head to toe with eyes full of rage.

"That's it! The dwarves will sever the relationship between the werewolves until we see Alpha Anastasia is restored to her position!" the Dwarf King shouted before he left the castle in a huff.

The only thing I could think of was, 'Goodness! This was bad.'

"I agree with King Marco. You seem to have no respect for other creatures, Alpha Constantine. I can't wait to see the better pack to be the werewolves' representative. I, Otto Braun, will leave this place. The Giants and the werewolves are no more," the Giant King firmly said.

My brother was incensed after he heard what the Giant King had said, "Who needs a giant? We werewolves can stand alone!" 

Without any hesitation, King Otto walked to my brother with giant steps. Both Damon and Elder George quickly stepped back while Constantine cowered behind Sophia. After that, the Giant King turned to me.

"I pity you, my lady. I wish you all the best because you'll need it more. We'll welcome you to the Koloss Continent if you wish to be there," King Otto told me before he left.

Just within a day, my brother managed to sever relationships with other creatures. I couldn't help but feel grateful that the Mermaid Queen and the last dragon weren't coming. Otherwise, we might doom our relationships with them as well. This would never happen under my father or me. But what could I do with this?

Constantine then directed his attention toward me. The boy walked to me as he saw me from head to toe before he sneered mockingly. He then grabbed my chin cockily.

"Oh, Sister. Have you enjoyed the silver dungeon? Don't worry, you’ll even love it when we send you to go with the vampires to the Ustrel Continent," he said in a mocking tone.

"Shut up, Tino! What the hell have you been doing?" I angrily asked him back, which angered him.

My half-brother responded to me by yelling at the warriors, "Warriors! Bring Andreas and Ophelia here!"

Then, there was maliciousness behind Constantine’s eyes. Without saying anything, I knew that he meant to harm both Andreas and Ophelia. Those two were the only ones I had right now. I gritted my teeth as I tried to hold back my anger.

Soon, the warriors brought Andreas and Ophelia. As soon as they were brought before me, Constantine then walked to the warriors and drew one of the swords. He then walked to Ophelia who looked scared. My assistant tried to defend Ophelia, but he was quickly pinned down by the other warriors.

"So, Sister. Your choice," Constantine said as he played the sword around Ophelia.

"I will accept that sentence, Alpha Constantine," I said unwillingly.

This was the only thing I could do.

***

The Thalassa Harbor.

There it was. The ship that would bring me to the Ustrel Continent, the continent where only vampires lived. Constantine, Damon, Sophia, and George were standing next to the Vampire King and his prime minister. King Stefan looked at me as he showed his fangs while his prime minister, Viktor, showed his sharp claws. Clearly, those vampires were ready to attack me if there weren't people around here. 

I was ready to go with the vampires to the Ustrel Continent. After all, that was a much better choice. The pack members who supported me looked at me sadly, including Andreas and Oppie. It was obvious that they didn't wish for this to happen. Nevertheless, it was too late. The only thing I could do was to put up a brave front before everyone. 

'I'm sorry for failing you, Father,' I thought to myself.

As I was about to walk to the ship that would bring me to the Ustrel Continent, Constantine was looking at me with smug eyes as he smirked. I just threw sharp glares at him. That caused my half-brother to quickly stagger backward like a coward. 

Constantine then turned his head to face me as he shouted at me with a gleeful voice, "Now, this bitch will feel the vampires' wrath!" 

My half-brother then ordered my pack warriors to drag me. However, I glared at all of them. That managed to scare those warriors to submission. No matter how many times my brother yelled, the warriors refused to obey. Seeing this, he became even angrier.

That childish boy yelled at the warriors who were behind both Andreas and Ophelia, "Whip Andreas and Ophelia!" 

Before the warriors could do that, I told Constantine, "No need to do that! I’ll walk to the vampires myself. Don't you dare to hurt them! Or I'll give you my wrath, Tino!”

The cowardly Constantine whimpered, but he pretended to be tough. Both King Stefan and Viktor were already waiting inside the ship. At this point, I realized that I could only resign to my fate. As I was about to enter the ship, someone stopped me.

Surprisingly, it was the Crimson Warrior. Ever since I was arrested, the warrior had been very quiet. Thus, this was very shocking.

However, I would never expect that he would say something shocking to everyone. Including me.

"Marry me."