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“Figured what out?”
“The labs. The reason why I needed to be pushed off the cliff that day. That wasn’t the first time I’d fallen from the cliff, Lex. That was made to be my resting place, but I kept on surviving.”
What… is he trying to say?
“Malifer… I don’t understand.”
“Travis and I have been rivals for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why he even showed up in my life, but I was so envious of him that I wished desperately to do something to grasp my father’s attention. Father used to go to this place once a week. Always reminded me of a medical center with individuals in white coats and clipboards. I never understood it, but now I remember why we’d go there.”
The dread on his face made my stomach flip in worry.
“It was to experiment on me. To make me into something powerful. Father wanted to create a demon hybrid. Someone with his Alpha genes but who could manipulate the dark element in a way no one else has ever been able to. He’d send people to the resting place where Lily was killed. Before the valley, it was a place from where no one ever returned. He’d sacrifice people to retrieve the soil or dead specimens there, sacrificing them. Some sort of magic was used to teleport the collected items but those shifters were then left to die and rot. Those ingredients were blended into a dark liquid, a thick, metallic essence that mimics the demon blood that now runs in our veins. I was his first test subject, and the best way to test the theory was to push me off the very cliff.”
I stared up at him with wide eyes as I envisioned everything he was putting together.
“I somehow survived the drop. I don’t know how or why, but that was the start of multiple drops. The experiments continued, but only on me. I was the sacrificial lamb my father wished to use to perfect the demonic substance, but I had so much of it as just a kid, I think that’s what triggered the creation of Nathan. To me, I thought I was doing what could take my father’s attention from Travis, which it did for some time, but not because he was happy to have a ‘second son.’ It was because I’d pulled off the highest demon form trait: Maleficient Astra. I’d done something he’d never seen before, and now he could use me to build on this vision of his to create a pack full of demons that would be ruled by him. That would be just as savage, lethal, and driven by madness, but compared to us wolf shifters with heightened healing abilities, these wolves would be immortal.”
It clicked. “They would be able to respawn again and again. They’ll never be able to die… so they’ll be stuck under his ruling.”
“Not underhisruling, Sweet Lex,” he corrected me. “Under Travis’s.”
“Travis? That doesn’t make sense, Malifer. Your father is going above and beyond so he can remain Alpha of Shade Moon.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “Of Shade Moon. Father wouldn’t be able to rule Demon Valley. He doesn’t have the demon blood we carry, Lex, but guess who does thanks to my fake mate?”
“Oh shit. Travis extracted the demon blood from Laura… but wait. That doesn’t make him a ruler though. Only you and I can rule the valley.”
“Unless he finds the crown of the valley.”
“Crown? You’re wearing it!” I pointed out. He shook his head.
“The real crown is hidden in the throne room of the valley. Like any kingdom, there’s a place that holds the symbol of power which is usually in the form of a crown. I enjoyed how in fairy tales and other stories the hero has to find a specific item of interest that helps save the innocent from the villain’s plans. I created a crown, one that would be worn during special occasions like a coronation where I’d crown the queen of the valley. It would be the symbol that the demon shifters of our world would acknowledge, and they would give absolute loyalty to the ones who wear the set of crowns, but I hid it so I wouldn’t use it until I’d made Demon Valley into a kingdom of power filled with monsters that could protect themselves from anyone with the intentions of doing harm.”
“Then if you created and hid it, why are you worried about Baker getting it?”
“Because I don’t remember where it is,” he confessed.
“Why not?” I gasped. “Did Travis make you forget? No. That wouldn’t make sense. You were sacrificed already. Neither would your father. Did the drop make you forget where you hid it? The burning need for revenge, maybe?”
“Nope.” He smiled at my frustration, which did reach those orbs that were now ruby red. “I swore that the crown would reveal itself when the crowned king met the queen he wishes to rule by his side.”
“Meaning I have to find it,” I pressed and nodded as if I understood the entirety of this incomplete puzzle. “Okay! I can do that! You’re looking for it, so I can come with you! I can help you and we can find it together in the valley! Then we’ll have the symbols of the valley and we can do a relaxed coronation in front of the members of the pack and build the valley into what you see for it! When the other demon members know your original intentions of saving them, I’m sure they would be fine with being loyal to you. Even for demons. Then Baker or your father or whoever the mastermind of all of this is can’t take advantage of us anymore. No one can use Demon Valley Pack against the rest of the world!”
“Your missing one important point, Lex.”
“What?” My shoulders sank at his comment. “What piece am I still missing in this puzzle? Your father used you to be a catalyst of death and the creation of demons when you were a kid through experimentation. You were sacrificed again and again to test your survival abilities until you unlocked your Maleficient Astra form which created Nathan. Travis was there but never experimented on because he was your father’s real favorite even though you’re not…”
Something didn’t seem right.
“You’re not related, right?”
Silence…
“Malifer.” My voice barely reached my ears. “Baker. He’s not actually your fucking brother, is he?”
If he was, wouldn’t that make so much fucking sense? Why Travis is the favorite of the two while Malifer was the sacrificial lamb to give all the power and fortune to the prodigy child, but why does this come back to the labs?
Didn’t Baker say he owns them during the confrontation? He said I was an experiment. That he’d report me for being missing from the lab. The lab was destroyed.… The place I was discovered was a destructive mine sight because I was an orphan, but I know I’m not an orphan. I’m a Monarch… the heir of the empire, which means the only way I could have fallen into another’s clutches was to be kidnapped, but if so…
