FIFTY-SIX

Young Conrad was the loved prince of the Lycan kingdom, loved by both his parents and the castle's workers.

A cute boy blessed with grey eyes; the only trait passed down within generations for the royal family of the Lycans, and luscious black hair.

A prince blessed with luxury, status, love, and affection from his parents, what more could he ask?

But everything changed when he asked for one thing from his parents. That was to visit the world beyond the lycan kingdom.

His parents were hesitant, but looking at their cute son, how could they deny what he wanted?

And so, the parents agreed with their child's desires, not knowing they would lead themselves to their deaths.

They wanted to start with the werewolf's territory, although, a seven days ride, it was the closest to the Lycan's kingdom.

They sent a letter to the goldmoon pack and got a reply two weeks later.

The letter stated where they would be happy to meet the royal family and specified the area they would meet with the directions.

Young Conrad was happy to be able to fulfill one of his wishes, and that was to explore the outside world.

His father, the king and mother, the mate, and the queen ensured the kingdom would be okay without their presence.

They finally left the kingdoms with ten warriors, although for the royal family, the number of guards must be more than that. But the king wanted his son to have fun without restricting him.

''I am sure you wonder how I knew about it?'' Typhon's voice broke Conrad's memory of when he was younger.

''You lots managed to defeat my creatures?'' Typhon looked around and saw there were no strays, rogues, or vampires to attack Conrad and Ryder.

''Good for you, now begin another one since my story time has not ended,'' Typhon said with a snap of his fingers, chuckling, and more creatures appeared out of thin air.

And so another attack began with the creatures, Ryder and Conrad.

''Where was I?'' Typhon wondered.

''Oh yes! I am sure you wonder how I knew about it?'' Typhon repeated.

''Why won't I know about it when I replied to your parent's letter to enter the werewolf territory?'' Typhon smiled at Conrad, who froze at his words and suffered an attack from a vampire.

'Why won't I know about it when I replied to your parents' letter to enter the werewolf territory?' The words echoed in Conrad's head.

''Poor werewolves don't know the Lycan king hated them for nothing they didn't do,'' Typhon said.

''You almost waged war on them, but what stopped you was the lack of evidence,'' Typhon strangled a creature that was about to attack Conrad with a choking hand gesture. That warned others not to attack Conrad yet.

Conrad continued to look at Typhon as he talked about what happened in his childhood.

Ryder wanted to call Conrad to snap out of it, but the creatures didn't allow him, and his body was at its limit.

''Don't you wonder why you couldn't find the letter?'' Typhon said as a paper appeared floating in the air at Conrad's front.

Conrad looked at the letter, an old letter.

The evidence that showed he was right and thought that would have helped him destroy the werewolves for killing his parents.

The letter would have changed people's mindset about him killing his parents for the throne at a young age.

He didn't know all of this was a ploy. His parents' death, everything was a ploy for Typhon.

''Why did I do it?'' Typhon asked a question but towards himself.

''I knew you were Carmen's second mate from birth, and what a better way to make her mate hate her than this?'' He answered himself.

''How do I know? Selene and I think the same way when bonding werewolves with their mates.''

''She couldn't pair a pathetic alpha with someone like Carmen, my perfect bride.''

Conrad clenched his fist in anger as he thought about what this monster did to get his mate.

He hated his mate because of the werewolves. And the funny part is they did not know of his family's visit to the territory years ago.

Typhon replied to the letter and also killed his parents.

Now it made sense why Rogues and possibly Vampires, because Rogues couldn't kill Lycans, and he didn't see strays and that only left vampires to kill his parents, but his younger self thought it was rogues that killed his parents.

Rogues were werewolves, and he felt the elders of the werewolves planned with the rogues to kill his parents because the situation felt like that to his younger self.

Conrad shifted into his grey lycan and attacked without thinking because he was angry.

Angry that his parents had to die because of Typhon's ploy, Angry that he ignored his mate, Angry that his mate almost died in his hands, and most of all Angry at himself for not thinking about the ambush deeply.

Typhon looked at the grey lycan and sneered, ''Stupid.''

He lifted the grey lycan in the air and made his hand into a choking gesture towards Conrad.

The grey lycan struggled in the air as he made choking sounds.

''I thought Carmen would have despaired when both her mates didn't want her, and I could take her easily without her knowing it was me,'' Typhon said.

''But not everything worked in my favor, the supernatural world knew of my existence early, and both of you aren't hating each other.''

''Isn't that sweet? But you have to die for me to take her.'' Typhon said as his hand made a squeezing gesture, and Conrad could feel his neck clutched tightly.

'Carmen,' Conrad thought of the first name that came to mind with tears in his eyes as his consciousness slipped away.

Ryder, on the other hand, lost consciousness because of overexertion of the body and loss of too much blood.

His injuries were not healing as fast as they should.

The remaining creatures were waiting for their master's order to finish him off.

''Finish him,'' Typhon said as Conrad could feel himself giving up on staying awake.

As the Vampire, the closest to Ryder's body on the ground, got the order from Typhon to kill Ryder, He struck his claws on Ryder's back to pierce his heart.

As his claws were an inch away from Ryder's back, he felt a blow on his side.

Typhon, who was about to ask what the problem was, felt a kick on his side.

As he was in the air and kicked away, he smiled suddenly before landing heavily on the ground.

Conrad, about to land on the ground, disappeared in the air.

Typhon stood up, smiling in the direction of the person holding Conrad.

''I had a feeling Seth would fail in capturing you,'' Typhon said as he started to walk.

''If he had succeeded in capturing you, I would have killed you for not meeting my expectations as Selene did.'' He continued.

''Isn't that right, Carmen?''