[NOUR]
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Grant asked his tone harshly as if he already knew that Delbert and Nour were back to haunt the shit out of him.
He looked horrified to say the last, and the duo was impressed at how fast he had picked up. It was insanity at best and hells be damned if Grant tried to fuck around this time.
"I should ask you the same, shouldn't I, Hindley? You murdered my father unjustly, and that left an opening. I guess you didn't think with your head when you murdered him, didn't you?
"You should have finished the entire family. Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe. You know that, too, right? And now here I am, the reminder of what karma you owe Acrod.
"Let us through or watch me break everything that stands between me and the palace," Nour said, his tone so venomous that even Delbert had to take a breath and think about what he had just heard.
It sounded like Nour had, back when they had met on the day Alanor had had a meltdown before the mating ceremony. The tone that the young prince had used was a harsh one and a reminder that he would do whatever it took to protect his family.
Now back in Acrod, he had a rage that even Delbert understood he wouldn't be able to quell with love and kisses. This was a fire that had found its target, and Delbert would watch it consume and never let go.
"You wouldn't dare," Grant said as he looked at Delbert, whose real face was something that Grant had never seen before. He was still the same man who had served Acrod, but the face?
Oh, the face was of someone else.
The face of a furious Lycan who wouldn't let Grant talk shit to his Erasthai. The face of a man who would do whatever it took to keep Grant in his place, and honestly, when Grant met Delbert's eyes, he saw the defiance that all the Lycans of Udrad had.
Only that this time, this was a Lycan who had been brought up in Acrod.
A Lycan who had lived here his entire life and who had been protected by the very people that Grant was determined to ruin by breaking their hearts. And Delbert… he wouldn't let them.
"And you brought a Lycan with you? What the fuck, Lucius?" Grant asked, and Delbert just glared at him openly. It was almost like this was the reminder of what he had been running away from; the reminder of the man who had started his heart.
Only that Delbert didn't carry either the scent of Udrad or the scent of Acrod. Delbert carried his twin's scent, the one thing that he had told Alanor he would use to torment the enforcer of the great king.
Perhaps this was why Grant was so unsettled, not that Delbert gave a shit about it this time. He wanted to see Grant ruined, and he would make sure that even the heavens wouldn't try to come and save the man once he was done with him.
This was the beginning of a new phase of hell.
"You talk to my Erasthai like that again, and King Cassius will have to bury your body in the midlands, Hindley," Delbert warned, and Grant's eyes widened. It wasn't because of the way that Delbert had spoken, no.
It was because of the familiar scent that still made his insides almost melt with anxiety. This Lycan was different and boy was Grant screwed. He knew that the moment that the man had claimed Nour and now he had to think of what to do without fucking up Acrod.
"Of course, you had to carry a Udrad rat to help you with your negotiations, didn't you?" Grant taunted and Nour just laughed, as he walked closer to Grant, their scents almost mingling before he whispered the words that he knew would mess with Grant's head even more.
"I met him through Alanor Wynter. I suppose you know what that means, right?" Nour said softly, and Grant still for the second time since they had met at the gates of the Acrod palace.
This was not what he had imagined when he had stepped out of the palace, and now it seemed like his past had come back to haunt him. And that the man who had rejected him had come to play games with him.
But who was to tell the man that the one who had rejected him hadn't even thought of him for years on end? Life was shit, but Grant's life was short of even the rope he had screwed over in the past few months.
This was his karma, and they hadn't even gotten started yet.
"So, should we get in, or are you going to ask King Cassius why you should let a werewolf Lord into the palace and let him sit as part of the council that he verily deserves to sit?" Nour asked, and Grant stared hollowly as he tried to think.
His mind was whirring with the thought of Alanor casually coming over to Acrod. He couldn't even think straight and it was almost a pity because he had the chance to make lives better and yet had managed to screw things over.
Alanor wouldn't have been proud of him, and that was the first time that Grant realized that the one man he had loved with all of him, probably would never want him, despite the fact that the Merdel Lycans always had the grace of having more than three mates.
It was something that the old books had spoken about, a penance by the goddess for what she had done to the kids. But now, it was taunting Grant. It made the man feel like his life was losing its trajectory. He was fucked and no one was coming to save him.
"Let them through," was all Grant whispered as the gates opened even wider to let the two horse riders make their way into the palace. It was a shocker for Grant, and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
But maybe, just maybe, if he was asked what the fuck needed to happen with the scent that lingered on the Lycan, then maybe he would be able to get a hold of himself. But until then, he had to think.
So defeatedly, the enforcer shifted into his wolf and made a run for the midlands, the largest place that he could run and run without having to worry about anything.
Of course, Acrod was a huge kingdom, almost as big as Udrad and with enough training spaces, but Grant couldn't think in Accord. He needed the winds against his face as he tried to think and think.
A Lycan in Acrod was not a good thing, not for him, and definitely not for the plans he had for the unknown werewolf prince. But maybe this was his chance to see that even he could be replaced, right?
"Fuck!!" Grant shouted in the central forest of the Midlands, desperate to cling to anything that reminded him of home.
But what was home when he had lost twice already?