CHAPTER 187: A PEACEFUL END

Zilia stepped cautiously into the abandoned clock tower. The eerie silence of the midnight didn’t scare her.

But what scared her was whether Berik would come alone or not. Though she warned Estelle about it, but she hoped there wouldn’t be any conflict in catching Berik.

Her phone suddenly vibrated in her hand. She glanced at the screen and swiftly answered, pressing the phone close to her ear.

"It’ll take me about ten minutes to get there. Wait for me," Berik said.

She lowered the phone as she paced on the ground section of the tower.

As promised, Berik arrived at the clock tower ten minutes later, his footsteps echoing through the hollow, dust-laden structure.

"Where have you been?" he demanded the moment he saw her, frustration tightening his voice. "I tried asking the King, but there wasn’t a single word about you. You just vanished, Zilia."

Zilia held his gaze as she formed the lie.

"Someone from the South arrived unexpectedly," she said. "I had to leave with him for an urgent assignment near the border."

Berik narrowed his eyes. "Has Prince Casaio, or anyone else, started getting suspicious of you lately?"

She offered a faint, composed smile. "No. Why would they?"

"Zilia, do you really think you can fool me?" Berik muttered. Before she could react, he pulled out a knife.

"It’s time to give you a peaceful end," he hissed, stepping toward her.

But just as he raised the knife to strike, a powerful hand shot out and seized his wrist mid-air, twisting it with brutal force.

"Ahhh!" Berik cried out in agony.

Within seconds, another hand clamped around his throat, lifting him slightly off balance. He gasped, struggling for air, and his eyes widened in shock as he looked down.

Prince Casaio was holding him up in the air.

Terror surged through Berik’s veins. He clutched at Casaio’s hand, choking out, "Y-Your Highness..."

His voice faded as his vision blurred, darkness creeping in from the corners of his eyes.

Just as he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, Casaio released him. Berik dropped to the ground, coughing violently while his body trembled as he sucked in air.

"Your Highness, please, you have to listen to me—Zilia is a spy!" Berik blurted, desperation dripping from his voice as he tried to shift the blame.

Casaio’s low growl echoed through the hollow clock tower, reverberating like thunder in the silence.

"Stay quiet," he commanded, his voice sharp and cold. "I don’t want to hear a single word from you."

Zilia stood frozen, her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen Casaio like this before. A shiver ran down her spine as she took an involuntary step back, her hands trembling at her sides.

"Take him away," Casaio ordered, his voice cold and unwavering as two warriors stepped forward to seize Berik by the arms.

As they dragged him away, Gabriel stepped out from the shadows, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

"He came alone?" Gabriel muttered, his brow furrowed. "That’s strange... I could’ve sworn I sensed the presence of wolves nearby."

"Let’s search the area then," Casaio suggested.

"No. They might run away. I’ll go and check on them. You should take Zilia back to the prison," Gabriel opined.

"I’ll come with you," Dominick said and the two brothers walked out from the other side of the clock tower.

"Let’s go," Casaio said.

"Why did you save me?" Zilia questioned.

"Because you’ll profess your crimes in front of the council tomorrow," she stated. "I won’t let you die before you tell every single truth from this mouth of yours."

With that, he bound her hands with the silver cuffs and dragged her out with him, not caring she was flinching in pain.

~~~~~

"I can sense the wolves now," Dominick mindlinked Gabriel as they ventured deeper into the forest. "But it seems they’ve already pulled back from this area."

"They might’ve picked up on our presence too," Gabriel responded. "But we have to catch them, Nick. We can’t let them slip away."

Without another word, Gabriel shifted into his wolf form. He threw his head back and let out a deep, resonant growl that echoed through the forest, startling a flock of birds into the sky.

Dominick followed suit, his body morphing into a black-coated wolf. Without hesitation, he charged after his brother, their paws pounding against the forest floor in synchronized strides.

With their unmatched speed, it didn’t take long for Gabriel and Dominick to close the distance between them and the retreating wolves.

Gabriel lunged first, targeting the nearest wolf. His powerful body slammed into the wolf with brutal force, sending both of them rolling across the forest floor in a tangled clash. The impact was so fierce that a nearby tree snapped at its base, toppling as the enemy wolf crashed into it with a thud.

Dominick charged on the wolves ahead of him and hit them with his claws.

The wolves snarled in defiance, but their resistance was short-lived. A fierce clash erupted. Yet, against the sheer power and skill of Gabriel and Dominick, the enemy wolves stood little chance.

One by one, they were subdued, the battle ending as swiftly as it had begun.

Breathing heavily, Gabriel and Dominick stepped back, shifting back their human forms.

"My beta is near," said Dominick and mindlinked with Carlos.

Within minutes, Carlos emerged from the trees, leading a group of fierce warrior wolves. Their eyes scanned the area as they shifted into their human forms.

Without hesitation, they moved in and secured the blood-stained wolves in their wolves forms sprawled across the forest floor. Carlos gave a firm nod to Dominick, "We will take them away."

Gabriel looked at his arm from where his shirt was slightly torn.

"You got injured," Dominick pointed.

"Just a minor cut. It will be healed soon," Gabriel said. "Berik did come with prepration. He wanted to eliminate Zilia," he muttered.

"But our doubts are over now. It’s confirmed now it was Berik, who helped the Alpha from the south," Dominick said. "Amidst this what worries me if Casaio will be able to handle the loss of Zilia tomorrow," he added with a frown and a worried gaze.