The Alpha's Prisoner

Lance came out from behind a bush and stared at Violet without saying anything.

In the mean time, in a space of split seconds, Violet considered her options.

She didn’t want to wait to see if he was there to attack her again, so she tried to think about how she could get out of there and return safely to the mansion.

Otherwise, she would have to fight him, and she wasn’t in the mood for that.

The day was too good to be true, she thought.

Realizing what Violet was doing, Lance stretched his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender, and looked inside her eyes.

“I’m not gonna do anything to you. I just wanna talk.”.

She raised her brows at him, suspicious.

“Talk? What could you possibly have to talk to me? Are you here to ambush me or what? Who else is with you?” she said looking around, trying to sense if there was someone else there, hiding and waiting to attack her when she was inattentive.

“I swear I didn’t come to attack you. I’m also hiding from them. Violet, all I ask is that you hear me for a few minutes, okay?” he begged, and Violet felt a warmth in her heart.

He didn’t seem to be lying. But should she trust him so quickly?

He had attacked her when she tried to escape the Diamond Pack. She hadn’t forgotten about that yet.

“Why should I believe you? You attacked me and didn’t want to believe me.” she asked still in a defensive position.

Her shoulders were tense and she couldn’t stop looking around.

“I know.” he lowered his head, too embarrassed to look at her now. “And believe me, I regretted that as soon as I did it. And your boyfriend made me pay for it. I got beaten up real badly.”

“Yeah, do you want me to feel sorry for you?” she sneered.

“No, Violet… I didn’t come all the way here so you could feel sorry for me. I came to apologize to you. Now I know why you did what you did. I believe you.”

She looked at him surprised and in disbelief.

Was he being honest?

“You only believed me after I released the evidence. You had no choice.”

“Can you blame me? How did you expect me to believe that? If I had told you that, you would laugh at me. You have to admit that only the idea of it is insane.”

He was right. She almost didn’t believe it herself, even with all those documents in front of her.

Could she really blame him?

“I guess I was more upset because you couldn’t trust me, even though I begged you to…” she murmured.

Lance took two steps forward, but stopped as soon as she widened her eyes.

She wasn’t ready to trust him yet, so he decided to stay where he was.

“I’m truly sorry for that. I couldn’t stop cursing myself for not trusting your words. I guess I was too blind to see it. It was like I had been brainwashed, Violet. It’s ridiculous, I know, but you don’t consider the other possibilities.”

“I know what you mean. It’s hard to imagine Arden being that type of person. But I was the one always in the dark, I never participated in the real action. But you have. You have fought by Arden’s side for a long time.”

Lance nodded.

“I have, but he never showed his true side to me. I mean, he is smart. He would never show that he’s a monster, right? Only his allies knew. I was his son, so why would he show me that? In fact, Arden was someone I really looked up to.”

Lance’s voice sounded sad and disappointed.

Violet knew exactly what he must had been feeling, because she was feeling the same.

“Why are you hiding from them?” Violet asked.

“Because I changed sides, and I know too much. I don’t trust them anymore, and I didn’t want to do Arden’s dirty job. When the news spread, Arden escaped right away. But I heard him talking to some of his allies first, saying he would contact them when he had found a place to hide.”

“Why did you change sides?” Violet wanted to know.

“I asked him what happened, if everything was true. I thought he would try to explain to me what happened. That it wasn’t what we thought it was. But he didn’t deny it. He said he did what he had to do. There was no remorse on his eyes. Then I didn’t know what to do. People could think I was also part of his schemes too, so I ran away.” Lance explained, and Violet felt really bad for him.

Gwen had suggested her that she had done that, confronted Arden. And then Lance did, and the result was even worse than she could’ve imagined.

Violet sat on a rock by the river, paying attention to him, while still away from him.

She was still deciding if he was trustable or not.

Lance also sat to continue his story.

“I camped in a forest on the West and changed my location every two days, afraid that someone could find me. Then I heard about the trial of Mr. Brown. I couldn’t watch, but I heard some people talking about it when I went to the store to get some supplies.”

“Did you hear about Gwen? What she did?”

Violet didn’t know if she should bring that topic to their conversation, but she was dying to talk to someone about that.

Someone that also knew Gwen.

Lance nodded with an upsetting expression.

“Yeah. What a surprise, huh? I never thought Gwen could do something like that.” he replied.

“I know. But she also must be going through a lot. Maybe she regretted it.” Violet said, still trying to find something to hold on to.

She would take anything that gave her the least hope about Gwen. Anything that proved that Gwen wasn’t lost for good.

Lance examined her.

“I know that she must be going through a lot. I can’t even begin to imagine. But I don’t think she regretted it, Vi. Gwen is kind and sweet, but she is also very rational and clever. As much as I hate to admit, she has something that reminds me of Arden.”

Violet opened her mouth, but no word came out of it.

She had never seen Gwen like that. But maybe she wasn’t paying attention to the ugly side of her sister.

She always glamorized Gwen, like she was the most perfect and incredible person in the world.

“I know you don’t see it in her, but I do. Always have. But I thought she couldn’t be corrupted. Or maybe that’s what I wanted to believe.” he confessed.

“Don't you think she could go back to being the sister we know?” Violet asked, feeling that last strand of hope disappearing in front of her eyes.

Lance looked away.

“I honestly don’t. Hope I’m wrong though.”

Violet stared at the water while all that was digested by her mind.

A few minutes passed while they stayed in silent, just thinking and hearing the birds sing.

“Why didn’t you go back to the palace?” she suddenly asked. “You could have helped her.”

Lance looked at her.

“I don’t belong there anymore. I need to find my own place now. But before that, I need to avenge my parents. And also avenge myself. Arden betrayed me, you, and only God knows how many others. I can’t sleep thinking that I was too stupid to see it. But now it’s over! He will pay for what he did to us.”