Darian's POV
When I came out with Elena and saw the number of soldiers lying lifelessly on the floor, I widened my eyes in surprise because, from the view of things, it was as if the rival soldiers had multiplied by two; possibly the soldiers of Alpha Ethan had come to assist Alpha Benson's soldiers, but unfortunately for them, Richard had a change of mind and decided to come and help me, and from what I'm seeing, they were the ones who dominated the battle.
Leaving Elena behind, I started walking towards Richard, but to my greatest surprise, Elena held my hand once again as I was about to walk to where Richard was with his soldiers. From the look on her face, it was clear to me that she was afraid of Richard, but I don't know the reason why. Without uttering a word, I allowed her to follow me from behind as I walked to where Richard was with his soldiers.
"So you finally decided to show up?" I asked Richard with an inquisitive look.
"Yes, my conscience didn't allow me to leave my younger brother to embark on a suicide mission, but it seems like it wasn't a suicide mission after all," he said to me, and I nodded.
"Anyways, thank you; I really appreciate your help," I said to him, and he faked a smile at me before turning his gaze towards Elena, who was standing behind me, one of her hands clutching Richard on her chest and the other one gripping my hand tightly.
"Wow! You also succeeded in saving your mate; I hope you killed the b*st*rd that abducted her."He asked me with a firm tone.
"Actually, I killed only one of them, but the other managed to escape," I said to Richard, who nodded positively.
"By the way, don't you think that you owe Elena some explanations?" I asked him, and immediately he pouted his mouth before shaking his head negatively.
"No, Darian, I don't owe anyone any explanation; you are the one who owes her an explanation, not me," Richard said to me while smirking at Elena.
"What is he talking about?" Elena asked me in a low tone.
"Actually, he wasn't your mate; he only pretended to be your mate in order to get back to me for being the Alpha of our pack instead of him," I said to Elena, who frowned immediately.
"And he tried to mark me." Elena grunted angrily and tried attacking him, but I held her hand and drew her back.
"What's your mate trying to do, Darian?" Richard asked me with a mocking tone.
"You better hold her back; I do bite," Richard said to me before looking at Elena, who rolled her eyes at him angrily.
"Don't worry about him, Elena; I have made him pay for trying to mark you," I said to Elena, who nodded positively while staring daggers at Richard, who was still smirking at her.
"You should actually stop looking at my mate like that," I said to Richard, who smiled at me.
"Wow, that's romantic of you, Darian, defending your mate, huh? Sorry to say this, Darian; you look awful while playing the romantic mate," Richard said to me before walking away.
"Round things up; we need to start heading back to our pack before daybreak," Richard said to his soldiers while walking away.
"I think we should start heading back too; it's not advisable for us to stay here till daybreak," I said to Elena, who nodded before letting go of my hand.
"Let me gather my soldiers so that we can start leaving," I said to Elena, who nodded, and with that, I started walking away.
"Alpha Darian," Elena's voice sounded from behind, and immediately I turned around and looked at her.
"Yes, Elena," I said to her in reply.
"Thank you," she said to me with a warm smile.
"Don't mention it, Elena; you have thanked me more than three times this morning; you thank me one more time, and I'm going to kiss you again without asking for your permission," I said to her, and immediately she furrowed her brows at me. I could see her blushing as I walked away, and I must admit she has one of the most beautiful smiles, even though this is my first time seeing her smile.
Alpha Benson's Pov
"What do you mean by my father being dead?" Adrian Alpha Ethan's oldest son asked me while gripping the collar of my cloth. Behind me, I could see Luna crying her eyes out as Justin, the second son, was trying to console her while at the same time fighting not to show off his emotions.
"You need to calm down, Adrian. I know exactly how you feel. I too lost thousands of my men tonight. If I had known that Alpha Darian was going to take us by surprise, I would have enforced the security of my pack," I said to him with a dejected tone.
Leaving the collar of my cloth, he went to the wall and punched it, and immediately it divided. He continued punching off his anger on the wall, not minding the effect it was having on the wall and on his hand.
"Damn Alpha Darian, damn him, what did my father do to deserve this? How could he kill someone who did nothing wrong to him just because he thinks he's strong?" Adrian kept screaming in pain while punching the wall.
After some minutes, I rushed to where he was punching the wall while screaming in pain and pulled him away.
Once I pulled him away, I hugged him tightly, allowing him to cry away his sorrows on my shoulder.
"Let's take a walk, Adrian," I said to him after he had gathered himself up a little bit.
Leaving Justin and Luna in the chamber, Adrian and I started heading towards the garden in the palace.
"What do you think that your father would want the most wherever he is right now?" I asked Adrian once we came to the garden.
"To avenge his death, to make Alpha Darian pay for what he did to him," he said to me, his voice filled with anger.
"Exactly Adrian, or should I say Alpha Adrian? So instead of wasting your energy punching the wall, why don't you look for a way to make Alpha Darian pay for what he did to your father?" I said to him, and immediately his face hardened more.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do, Alpha Benson, and I know just exactly how to do that," he said to me, his voice filled with anger and rage.