uneditted*

CHAPTER 7: Zeus

Many times, in his past, Zeus has wondered what his life is supposed to be like?

Before everything went down, twelve years ago, he was a happy child and believed in the saying that everything that happened, did so for a reason. Which was the reason he had elaborate plans outlined with the help of his parents to work on the relations between each species, especially the ones that didn't follow the same Deity.

But then, in the matter of a couple of weeks, he had lost everything.

His mother, his father, his mate, his trust and love for every species along with any plans to ever interact with the other leaders.

Yet here he was, about to meet the King of Vampires to extract the... the what?

The king sighed as he tries to think what should he call the rogues that have been displaying these strange behaviours. He can't possibly call them victims, after all it is not clear if they are aware of what was happening around them or not.

He had no doubt in his mind that this has something to do with that blue substance, and he is even more sure that this blue substance has something to do with the potion he got experimented for.

"King."

Kayden calls out from the passenger seat, making Zeus look at his friend with an eyebrow raised.

"Paige has the report on Anderson Pack you wanted. She has been trying to link you."

Running a hand through his hair, Zeus opens his link to Paige and Kayden. He wants the matter to be well known to the three of them, and only to the three of them.

King. I have the report.

So I have been told so Paige. Now before you start, this remains between the three of us.

Receiving their affirmations, Zeus asks his beta to start telling them what they have found.

The Anderson Alpha family had suffered a loss of a child when their son, Zachery had been three. After that the family had been like any other family till they adopted a witch, Celestine Elaire Mavross about fourteen years ago. Interestingly there has been no account on how did they find her or how did the adoption got the approval. On further inquiry, it was found that no one had actually seen her till about a decade ago.

Zeus hums, adding in.

That means that no one in the pack knew about her, or saw her for about three and a half years after the adoption date?

Well, As cool she had been, this is quite suspicious.

The king agreed with his friend. The whole account that was just narrated doesn't add up. How can anyone not see the girl that their alpha had adopted for so long?

That's not all. Apparently, the alpha family is super close to each other, despite the witch being... well a witch. To the point that even the will of Senior Alpha has Celeste penned down to be the heir to the pack if something happens to the current Alpha. Not to mention she has been giving almost half of his personal properties in the will, and apparently, Alpha Zachery has signed it too, agreeing that he has no problem with that.

That's interesting, Zeus thought as he heard what Paige said. Making a witch heir to a pack of wolves? There is something they have to be missing. How can the Alpha trust a witch so much... how can a Alpha be so open minded that he couldn't see the ridiculousness of that statement.

What do the pack members think? Is that a forced decision of the Alpha family?

That's the problem Kayden, it would have been easy to assume that but no. Zeus, Kayden you guys won't believe it... hell I have a hard time believing it. But Celeste has been trained the same way we train your warriors. She had started at the very basic, like an omega. From literal bottom... and she climbed her way from there, even after being the Alpha's Official daughter.

That's more than anyone does. Hell, Royal Pack's member don't do that!

Unfortunately, he had to agree with Kayden again. Going to this length, working from the very bottom to the position she has... It is safe to assume that the pack members must have been as impressed as he was and agreed to the Alpha's decision.

There must be something that the family is hiding though.

With everything that has been happening, and what he had seen, he won't put anyone pass the radar. He wanted to know what they are hiding and soon. Who knows, maybe they can find answers to both the situations together.

The SUV halting pulls him out of his thoughts and he huffs, getting rewarded with an exasperated eye roll from his friend before Kayden got out from the passenger, Zeus following from the back as he buttons up his suit jacket as he link Paige again.

Paige, find if the senior Alpha of the Anderson pack had any affair? It must have been an affair, with the lengths they have gone to make it seem perfect, I won't put it past them till I get solid proofs on what they are hiding.

The two of them were escorted in by one of the maids, a human by what the werewolf king smell. The rest of his men station themselves outside, ready for further orders from their superiors.

Zeus would never admit it out loud, but for a mansion whose residents are literally dead beings, it was a nice and warm one, with the addition of feminine touch. They were led to a large hall, a dining hall with a theme of brown and gold.

Nodding at their escort, his eyes took their time in assessing everyone in the room, noting the British man that ruled the vampire to be sitting at the head on one side of the long table. There where four men, six women and a child, the daughter and heir to the throne of the Michaelson family.

"Welcome to our humble abord," The pale skinned man with curly brown hair greets, his accent thick as he stands up and gives his guest a smile.

"Thank you for getting in contact with me for my wayward member, though I would like it if you could hand them over as soon as possible."

Zeus kept his face and voice blank, not trusting the other species.

Sure, he knew there won't be an attack due to the world known knowledge that the Michael son family vampires tend to not use violence when their daughter is present. And even if they did, Zeus knew he would be leaving the room alive, but the process will be messy.

Not to mention the war between the two species that would un-doubtly break out.

"Sure we would, but we have something to discuss, and as it is lunch time. Join us, we have even gone to lengths to get something ready that you would like."

Forcing himself to relax, Zeus nods with what he hoped to be a smile.

One of the rules of peace as well as a common courtesy was to not decline offers of polite interactions more than once. He knew the fastest, and the cleanest way is to agree for the lunch.

Once seated, the maids appear out of nowhere and start serving, while the Klaus Michaelson took the opportunity to introduce everyone.

"King Roditti, this is my wife and queen, Caroline," the blond siting right to Klaus gave him a smile, while her husband continues. "These are Elijah and Kol, my brothers with Hayley and Davina, their wives, respectively. And Rebecca and Freya, my sisters and Marcel and Keelin, their partners."

With each member introduced, the vampire gives his daughter a smile. The auburn haired girl giving a smile to the Zeus introduces herself as Hope.

Giving the kid a smile was not that hard, though his heart hurt that maybe, just maybe he would have had a chance to have a child of his own had he not lost her for ever. Shaking his thoughts away though, he focused on the Klaus again.

"What is that you had to discuss?"

The vampire sighs, stopping his culinary as he looks at his sisters. The blonde he introduced as Freya gets up, along with her partner and they usher his daughter out of the room after excusing themselves. Once they get out of ear shot, Elijah speaks.

"We found your member when we were actually looking for one of our own garbage to clean. I am pretty sure you are well aware of the fact that my brother here had been a werewolf before we got immortality. So myself and Rebecca are well acquainted with wolf behaviour, thus when the she-wolf seemed to act strange we had no other option than to lock her for the safety of everyone."

Zeus listens to the man as he speaks, already assuming their discussion is more of a questioning rather than a discussion.

"God, seriously?"

Caroline interrupts the straight laced man who had been speaking, making Klaus, Kol and Rebecca stifle a smile.

"What Elijah here meant to tell you is that they knew there was something wrong because this is something we have been experiencing with our vampires too."

"What?"

Kayden rightly expressed what Zeus had been feeling.

There was no way in hell they had been seeing the same. But... The werewolf king clenches his jaw as his suspicion seems to be turning true.

"Can you tell me exactly what you had to deal with?"

"We could rather show you."

The werewolves wrinkle their noses, trying to supress the shudder of disgust that threatens to go down their spines at the foul smell as they walk down the stairs towards the cells, following Marcel and Elijah.

When the two vampires open one of the cell doors, the smell of rotting flesh increases its intensity.

Walking in, they are greated with a sight of a man hurdled in one corner, barely breathing, his head twisted in odd angle and clothes torn in shreds. But that was not horrifying, what was however was the blotches covering most of the pale skin that their eyes could see, leaking a bluish substance.

The blotches, if they could even be called that, were huge and swollen. Walking closer, Zeus crouched low next to the man, his eyes widening as he noted further details on his skin. The skin, or the inside of it was moving, almost as if there was something boiling just beneath the surface.

The man whimpers, his femur cracking followed by his mouth leaking a single trail of blood.

"This is one of the middle stages. We found him after we found the she- wolf."

Marcel informs Zeus, making the wolf stand back up before asking them to lead him to the wolf.

Walking to the cell next to it, Zeus halts at the doorway.

The wolf, female was in her human form and this is the first time Zeus had seen the effect the substance was having on the wolves. Lying on her back, the wolf had been chained to the wall with one of her wrists though she seemed to hardly take not of that, or their presence. Her breath was laboured with blood constantly pouring out from her nose.

There were claw marks on her, focused more on her legs and in a haphazard way. As if she had done that in a misted conscious. The marks, none healing as they should, were bordered by the tale tell blue liquid.

Hate to say this Zeus, but her heart rate is too low for a werewolf.

Zeus keeps his face blank as he links Kayden back.

How sure are you that it is not her bodies response to slow the blood leak?

Not waiting for Kayden's response, Zeus mind links his men to get the girl from the cells before turning to the two vampires.

"Thank you for your co operation. My men are coming to take her, I would inform you if we find anything."

With a nod, Zeus and Kayden leave the cells, Zeus deep in thoughts as he mulls over the possibility.

What are the odds that the same people are behind this? What are the odds that they seem to have the same purpose as the ones before? What is the possibility that maybe this time, they will end up being successful?

Once again he found himself sitting in the car.

Never had he imagined, even in his wildest dreams that he may after all get to the bottom of what happened back then. Never did he imagine that he may ever get to take revenge for his mate, never imagined that he would ever get to see who made his life what it is now.

Each night he had cried himself to sleep, cried for the betrayal of his mother, cried for his lost chance at love and cried for the helplessness his father faced.

He remembered the first time he had cried after entering his teens.

It was in an underground cell of an old English manor, looked behind bars. He had been provoked to change forms before molten silver had been poured on him, after getting injected with wolves' bane. He remembered feeling his fur soak in the silver before it burned his back and limbs, forcing a change in transformation that didn't really complete.

That moment he really did wish to give up, having bones stuck hallway between the two forms, hearing his daemon trying to surge forth and his wolf clawing his insides.

Now as Zeus sits there, all he could seem to remember is her words.

Not his pain back then.

Not his condition.

'Come on Royality. Cry out as hard and as much as you can. Holding it in won't make it better, nor make you a lesser man.'

As a prince back then, and even now, all he had ever been told is that he is the Heir and King to the Werewolf Kingdom. All eyes were to be on him, everyone was to look up to him. Never had he been told that crying could help, that crying was an option.

Sighing, he asks the driver to pull over and give the two some privacy.

Once his commands had been completed, he looks at Kayden before speaking.

"It is the same thing... and I suspect the same people."

"As in... Twelve years ago people?"

Kayden could hardly believe it. He thought that the struggles of his friend would come to an end soon, but it seems the Moon Goddess is not willing to do so.

If this is the same potion, and the same people. It would mean that they need to find and capture them as soon as possible.

Them being captured will stop the spreading of the potion, probably before it could arise panic in the kingdom as well as give his friend the closure he wants or rather needs. He has seen how he had broken down when he woke up in the hospital but couldn't feel his mate.

A mate is what each wolf looks forward to in life.

Hell, it is something the species often envy. But his friend's had been ripped away from him as harshly as they could, and that had completely changed the ever happy Zeus to the man he has now become. A man that hardly felt anything.

A man who is guilty of out living his mate, but couldn't run from his duty to end his miserable reality.

"So we need to get to them as soon as possible."

"Yes."

"But how will we know where to start? They could be anywhere? It's not like we can get the girl we just found to get talking."

Zeus sits up straight as a thought strikes him

"We may not, but we know someone who can get information out of her."

Zeus ignores Kayden's bewildered look as he fishes out his phone, dialling a number he had in his phone for years but never had to use it. it takes a few seconds before it is picked up, a man speaking.

"Anderson Pack."

"Alpha Anderson."

A pause follows as Zeus waits for the Alpha to decide how to respond.

"Alpha King Roditti. How can I help you?"

The king smirks slightly, his mind already ready.

He has to take revenge for his mate, and if getting a chance to do so meant that he had to get help from the most suspicious family he could think of, he would readily do that.

"I want you to send Commander Celeste and her team to the Royal Castle. We need her help."