Calhoun was curious about what had his servants so worked up that they were willing to leave their duties and go somewhere. He decided to follow them and see where they were headed. As he made his way through the castle's corridors, he couldn't help but wonder what awaited him at the end of the journey.
The possibilities were endless. It could be something thrilling or something that would upset him. Calhoun was prepared for anything. He continued to follow his servants, eager to find out what was going on.
As he made his way towards the room, his anxiety grew with every step. The servants had been tight-lipped about what he was about to witness, leaving him to imagine the worst. He tried to calm himself down, but the unknown was too much to bear.
Finally, he arrived at the door of the room. He hesitated for a moment before turning the handle and pushing it open. As he stepped inside, he was greeted by a sight that took his breath away. The room was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The walls were adorned with intricate paintings, and the furniture was ornate and luxurious. He couldn't believe his eyes.
"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Calhoun asked, looking at the delicate paintings.
They nodded. "There was someone here earlier. We were making our rounds of the castle and we heard some muffled voices coming from this direction so we came to check it out."
The second servant took it up from there. "When we opened the door, we saw how strange the room looked, but it wasn't as strange as the shadow we caught moving out."
"We tried to search but we couldn't find anything, we just had to call you instantly."
Calhoun nodded. "When did this happen?"
"While you were at the town centre."
Calhoun nodded again, he looked around the room. The room was beautifully adorned and he wasn't sure he had entered the room at all.
For a moment, he forgot all about his anxiety and simply stood there, taking it all in. But as he looked closer, he began to notice something strange. There were no windows in the room, and the air felt thick and heavy. Suddenly, his anxiety returned in full force. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was not quite right.
"That's alright, you can go." He said. They bowed one after the other and left the room.
As they left the room, he couldn't help but wonder what secrets it held. Despite his anxiety, he knew he had to find out more. He was determined to uncover the truth, no matter what it took.
As he stepped into the room, he felt the floor beneath him give way and he fell through a large hole, many floors into the ground. This was not the ground floor so how come he fell this length and he didn't manage to enter another room? There was something strange going on.
Once he hit the ground, he stood up quickly. Looking around, he immediately recognized the place. It was the segment of the castle where his grandfather had taken him, severally, to teach him cruelty.
How come it was so tattered? Who else had known about this place? As he wondered, he began to hear some growls. He didn't turn but he paused to listen to the sound so that he could identify it. After listening for a while, he knew it belonged to a werewolf.
He walked towards the hole where he had fallen from and he stood under the light that penetrated. He was surprised to find someone moving around the place and then covered it with a carpet. He frowned at it and while he was still staring up, he felt something heavy jump on him and begin to scratch his skin.
It was painful but he did not let out a single sound. He managed to throw it off and when he looked again, he could see that it was a werewolf. It smelled familiar as if he knew the person. But he also knew that this was his first time seeing that wolf.
"Who are you?" He demanded. The wolf did not answer him and rather jumped to attack him again. Calhoun easily dodged the attack, allowing the rogue to crash into a shelf that stood behind him. Everything in that basement was old and could easily break.
He turned swiftly. "You dare to attack your king?"
The wolf snarled at him angrily, making scratching gestures in the air and he wasn't even fazed. He stared in amazement as the person tried to frighten him.
"If you will not speak, can you at least stop attacking me and let me see if I can help you?" He asked firmly.
At the mention of help, the wolf snarled even angrier and pounced on him once again. Calhoun tried to wade off the attack but it seemed as if she gathered strength before attacking him. Calhoun was getting frustrated and in no time, he felt his claws protruding from his fingers. He immediately scratched the wolf on the neck and she paused.
He used the opportunity to throw her off him and he rolled backwards and stood up, glaring at her. She had injured him but he wasn't bleeding, there were just long red marks on his face and neck.
He noticed something even more awkward about the wolf, he could smell a bit of Diana on it. What had Diana got to do with this? Did she hire a rogue wolf to kill him? Was she that cruel to him? His glare turned harder and he felt the sudden urge to spill the wolf's blood.
The wolf crawled around him, Calhoun did not bother to turn around with her, he allowed her to make rounds of him while he remained in the same position. Once she felt like he had relaxed, she jumped to attack him but he swiftly turned and caught her by the neck. He began to strangle her, enjoying the sound of her gruntled gasp to be free.
She moved her paws frantically, trying to get a grip of Calhoun to either free herself or at least injure him as well. She couldn't understand why he was so much stronger than her that even as a human, he could harm her wolf. She tried to catch her breath but it wasn't coming.
After several failed attempts to get back at him, she finally began to calm down. Her eyelids were closing softly and her arms dropped to her side. Soon, she was totally out of breath and Calhoun threw her body to the ground. Once he was certain she was not going to wake any time soon, he picked her tail and dragged her out, through the path he could remember that led to the outside of the castle.
Once he got out, the snow hit his wound and he felt a satisfying chill on his open flesh. He smirked. It had been long since he ever got a scratch from a rogue werewolf. He enjoyed having to battle with them because despite not being matched with him, at least they went all out, giving him a little satisfaction in the battle.
He dragged the unconscious wolf back into the castle and he went up to another room which was on the same corridor of his chamber. Once he had carefully chained it, he went back out. He was confused about what to do. Should he confront Diana about it?
He decided to just allow her to see the wolf first then they could decide if Diana wanted to kill him or not. Personally, he felt bad about what he had said to her, but he needed her to understand that it took more than one party to put in the effort to make a relationship work. Whether he loved her or not, if she was going to keep blaming him for everything that had gone wrong in the past, they would never work out.
And rather than have a Diana that did not love him, he was going to prefer to not have any Diana at all. He walked to his chamber and when he opened it, he was not surprised to not find her there. He sighed to himself. Perhaps she already left? He could ask Thomas, he should know this time around.
He went down to Thomas's room. He knocked on the door. Thomas opened it and was equally surprised that Calhoun had come down to his room and was decent enough to knock on his door.
"My king, what brings you here?" He asked. Opening the door widely, he asked, "Do you what to come in?"
"No. Have you seen Diana?" He asked straightforwardly.
Thomas exhaled in frustration. He hated having to be the mediator between the two of them. They were so childish. Calhoun was about to rain fire and brimstone when Diana had disappeared before but put on an egoistical attitude when she returned.
Diana couldn't stand the fact that Calhoun was about to be murdered so she decided to come and save him when he died, she could not stop weeping, threatening to take her own life as well but now that he was awake, she could not just leave the past in the past?
Now that the both of them were with each other and fine, they both had egotistical attitudes around each other, pestering him, the innocent and single one out of the three of them. Diana had come to him and requested for him to hide her until she was able to leave. Thomas was not going to be the one to earn either person's wrath.
He opened the door widely and pointed to the closet. Calhoun walked in silently and when he opened the closet, he found her squatting there, trying to make Coco keep quiet. Did she already know it was him who had come? He vexed again and turned to go.
"Have you spoken with her?" Thomas asked in surprise.
Calhoun did not answer. He was angry and was about to walk away again. Thomas grabbed his hand and he turned to glare at him.
"Tone it down, Calhoun," Thomas warned. "You might be my king and Alpha but remember that I gave Diana to you. So, fucking tone it down!"
Calhoun chuckled at how the man had spoken to him. He toned his glare down as amusement danced in his eyes.
"Stay here." He said and marched closer. He grabbed Diana's arms and pulled her out as well. Diana was surprised, she didn't have time to defend herself or make any form of hesitance. Thomas pulled her to where Calhoun stood and when he left her hand, he pushed them both outside and slammed the door shut.
Diana glared at the shut door and she felt so embarrassed by his actions. The door opened again and Thomas snatched the baby from Diana's arms. Coco felt it was a play and he giggled excitedly. It brought a small warmth to the hearts of his parents and they both smiled unconsciously.
Thomas slammed the door shut again. "I don't want to see either of you if you can't make peace with each other." He yelled from the room.
Calhoun stared at Diana for a few seconds. She was probably waiting for him to say something but rather than say anything, he turned and started walking away. Diana was surprised because she assumed that Calhoun would at least try to say something regarding his earlier speech. She folded her arms across her chest as she watched him leave.
She knocked on Thomas's door and he opened it.
"What?"
"He just walked away without saying anything...!"
"So? Don't you have a mouth? You should say something if he cannot say anything!" Thomas advised.
"Who do you even support? I'm your stepdaughter!"
"Great, and Calhoun is my king," Thomas replied. "I'm not supporting anyone. The both of you were wrong in this-"
"I did nothing!"
"That is the problem, Diana. You feel as if you have done nothing and Calhoun is just supposed to do everything. Go and talk to him." Thomas repeated and before she could say anything, Thomas shut the door and she heard it being locked.
Angry, she stomped off in the other direction. If Calhoun was not going to make things right, neither was she.