A Deal with the Devil

Her heart brimming with a myriad of negative emotions, Harlow stopped the car in the middle of an unfamiliar road, which had thick trees blanketing each side.

At first, she stared into nothingness. Then, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel, her palms cupping her cheeks as tears welled in her eyes like someone who had just lost her life assets.

Lost.

Hollow.

Lifting her head, she whipped her head at the blood-stained gun she had flung on the passenger seat and raked her fingers through her hair.

"Why didn't I do it?!" she bewailed, sinking in rues for not finishing what she had started.

When she pulled the trigger a few hours earlier, she couldn’t bring herself to kill Kai.

She had shot his leg the first time, but the image of her dad—shaking his head in disapproval— had flashed through her mind and fractured her resolve, causing her to waste the other two bullets.

"Why, Dad?" she sobbed.

"I will guide you even when I’m gone, my Pearl," was her father's final message to her. And it left her wondering why he wouldn’t want her kill Kai, especially when Kai didn't deny having a hand in his death.

Harlow sat adrift for minutes before turning the car around and heading home.

~~~

When Harlow arrived at the Royal Packhouse, she observed Raydes, her childhood friend, hurrying out of the mansion before she alighted from the car and she wondered what skeleton he had hidden in his closet.

She filed the thought away, but it itched like a splinter.

"You returned early," Ian uttered, his eyes agape as Harlow ambled into the sitting room, car keys dangling from her hand.

"Everything happened faster than we planned," she replied and the muscular man, still hooked to an IV drip, lit up with excitement, although he noticed the cracks in her voice as she sank into the couch.

"You don’t sound or look good." Ian carefully trudged close to her.

"I couldn’t shoot him," Harlow blurted out, heaving a breath of frustration and rejecting the glass of water a maid had brought.

"Why?" His brows furrowed.

"I...I don't know. But he took the poison."

His confusion morphed into a smile. "Then the Lycan King should be dead already. Once word gets out, everyone will revere and accept—"

"Killing him felt wrong, Ian," she interrupted with a sad cough. "I gave him the antidote before I left."

Shock engulfed Ian. He couldn't believe the twenty years old lady who had left the pack so confident this morning had failed to go through with their plan.

It was the best shot he felt Harlow had at proving herself to everyone, and now she had let it slip.

"You what?... Why, Princess?" Disbelief coated his words.

Ian had prepared the poison years ago. A scentless substance safe for werewolves but lethal to Lycans. He had tried to poison Kai many times, but the King never wined or dined recklessly.

Then he discovered Kai's hatred for hearing his full name without courtesy. After testing it on several guards and witnessing the aftermath, he had advised Harlow to lace the coffee she'd order in the restaurant with the poison.

He had also given her the antidote to use, just in case the mating bond made her feel Kai’s pain. And to think she had refused to take the antidote along with her earlier that morning, only to end up using it on Kai pierced him deeply.

"I can't explain it," she muttered softly.

"Harlow, do you realize what you have done? You have lit a match under Kai’s fury! That man does not forgive!"

Harlow straightened up and mumbled, "No, Ian. I think I showed him I’m not afraid and I won’t be manipulated."

"You might be right. But please, be careful," Ian cautioned, and she nodded before climbing the stairs on the left wing.

~~~

Harlow had just reached her room and was about to open the door when she noticed a folded white paper lying beneath the threshold.

A sense of dread slithered up her spine but after picking up the paper, she immediately recognized the familiar signature at the top, one she suspected belonged to Raydes.

She pitched the paper on the bed when she entered her room, still wanting to process the day's event. But on second thought, she unfolded it and read through the content several times.

"With what’s written here..." she soliloquized and sighed, "perhaps sparing Kai was the best choice after all."

************************************************************************************

(ATHENS) THE LYCANS KINGDOM

A throbbing ache pulsed through Kai’s body as he uncoiled and stretched out on a soft platform.

As he squinted his eyes open with difficulty, he ran a scrutiny and relief surged through him, when he realized he was in his bedroom.

"How did I get here?" he murmured. But as his memory flooded back, a searing urge to carve pain into Harlow’s heart filled him.

He had gravely underestimated her, and it still nonplussed him how a tiny girl had rendered him vulnerable without him seeing it coming.

She had outwitted him completely, and he couldn’t help but question why he was still alive.

"Did she kill me, and my immune system somehow fought off the poison and bullets?" he queried inwardly, perplexed.

Lost in a long chain of thoughts, he didn’t notice a tall, muscular young man and a middle-aged doctor with a stethoscope hung around his neck enter the room.

"It’s great to have you back, King Kai," Zeke, his Beta beamed, lines of relief wrinkling his forehead.

Kai loathed appearing vulnerable in front of people. And when he tried to sit up, the pain sprouting from his heavily bandaged head pinned him back to the bed.

"Tell me Harlow is in our custody," he barked, ignoring the stinging ache.

"We had a window to grab her, but we waited. You’ve been out for three days, and we needed your command," Zeke answered.

"Three days?" Kai asked, his face twisting with a blend of anger and disbelief.

Zeke nodded nervously.

"What happened to me, Mond?" Kai directed his question at the doctor.

"You were poisoned with a rare compound. Moirenox. Its effect is so dangerous that it could have killed you in less than two hours..." He trailed off as Kai’s eyes darkened.

"Why then am I still breathing?"

"Judging by the trace markers in your blood, I suspect the lady gave you the antidote. And it took you this long to wake because the antidote also used up your energy to heal the gunshot wound on your leg," Mond explained carefully, choosing his words with caution.

"She spared me? Why? Is this pity or tactics?" he muttered, confusion laced with a hint of grudging respect.

The mercy stung him worse than poison.

Zeke added, "We wouldn’t have also known where to find you if she hadn’t called your company’s business line, sir."

She did all that? If she didn’t kill him when she had the chance, she was definitely playing a different game.

Kai scoffed, grasping what was happening. Harlow wasn't just playing survivor, she was making a statement. She wanted him to see she could lead without his shadow, without his power.

And disturbingly, she was succeeding with ease.

"But Kai, do you think the prophecy is referring to her?" Zeke mind-linked him in a brotherly tone. They've been childhood friends and only act formal whenever there's a third party.

"It can't be someone like her... or can it?" he fired, blinded by angst after breaking the mind-link. "Get the men ready to strike. She kept her promise, and I’ll keep mine," Kai growled, his fingers curling so tightly his veins threatened to burst.

He felt humiliated.

"My King, forgive my questioning, but... should we still go ahead with this? Harlow sent a message the night we brought you back to–" Zeke rushed, but Kai cut him off.

"What message?"

Zeke pulled out a phone and handed it to Kai, who quickly snatched it from him. Before Kai could press play, the door flew open and a gorgeous woman strutted in.

Black mini skirt. White crop top. Red lips.

"I missed you, my love," she cooed as she clipped her lips against Kai's.

"I missed you, too, babe." He gently broke the kiss and refocused his attention back on the phone.

And as soon as he clicked play, Harlow appeared on the screen, her face fierce and her voice clear.

She said, "I will accept your marriage proposal, but only on three conditions..."