ELARA POV
I sat in my car, still confused, wondering why Marcus would be involved in my case. I thought Raya had said it was a well-kept secret. I turned off the engine and got out of the car, slamming the door shut and locking it behind me. As I walked toward him with my arms folded and a deep frown on my face, I confronted him.
"Why do you even have any involvement in my case? You are not supposed to speak to me again in your life!" I said angrily as he scoffed.
"Just follow me. I don't think this is the time to waste," he simply stated and walked ahead of me.
I had no choice but to follow, even though I could not understand why they decided to make my life more miserable by including Marcus in anything I was about to do. I noticed he was not taking the elevator but another route. I pulled him back almost instantly.
"What do you think you are doing? Where are you taking me? That is not the way to the board members!" I said as he laughed again.
"I am not taking you to the board members; I am taking you to the most important person in this company," he said. Immediately, Mr. George came to mind. Nobody would summon me more urgently than he would. I nodded and followed behind him.
We soon arrived at a stairway and reached a back door to find a group of people I had never seen before.
"Marcus, do you plan to have me kidnapped?" I yelled angrily as he laughed. I noticed his eyes were no longer their usual dark color; they were now a deep red. I stepped back immediately. I had seen this kind of transformation before. This was how Kael had looked at me when he was being tortured.
"What are you? You aren't Marcus," I said, about to run back, but I noticed the door was too heavy, and I couldn't push it quickly enough to escape.
As I was pulled back, I saw a person shed their identity and transform into a woman. I almost cried out in fright, seeing her sharp fangs.
"What are you? Are you one of Kael's?" I asked, pointing my hand at her as though I had something in my coat that could stop her.
"You have nothing in your pocket. I can see into your pocket, and there is nothing there. Stop trying to threaten us. We want to get Kael. We have been trying for years, and we noticed you carry his scent. I know you are the new surgeon in charge of him. Give us back what belongs to us," she said.
I laughed, trying to sound confident even though I wasn't. I folded my arms and stared at her.
"If you can transform into Marcus, then you can transform into the CEO or the board members and get in there to retrieve the person you want. I would have thought you'd have done this already. You should have protested and protected your king, but you didn't," I said as she rolled her eyes at me.
"I never knew humans could be so shortsighted, even though they are the ones who made this world so complicated. Why do you think we can't have access to him? Why do you think he cannot escape? Do you think he cannot break those chains?"
I was ready to listen to their explanation because I felt bitter and angry that they had allowed their king to suffer all this time.
"Why haven't you rescued Kael?" I insisted.
She rushed toward me and pulled me closer by my collar.
"Because we don't have human fingerprints. Our fingerprints are not the same, and most especially, we cannot use eye scans. We can only shift, and not all of us have that power. We are trying everything to save Kael. I know he must think we abandoned him, but I want you to tell him we did not. I want you to help us unlock the doors and let him release himself. He is stronger than those chains," she said.
I pushed her away, noticing the others moving toward me in a protective manner, as if they would harm me for just that one push.
"Don't bother acting all strong, okay? I'm not going to hurt her," I stated, walking toward her.
"You are quite powerless for how powerful you all are. Kael is already weak. They've tortured him; they've extracted his blood. They've taken from his bone marrow just to get something. They want something from him. I don't know what it is, but they are very persistent, and you have to find a way to get him out."
"I tried, but I couldn't. He keeps saying he doesn't want to cause destruction. He is the king. He should leave that place. This lab is going to destroy him, and I won't be able to do a thing. It is up to you. I am not ready to lose my job," I said to them as they stayed silent.
"Will you help us?"
From the way she said those words, it seemed as though she sensed I had some sort of feelings for him.
I laughed, trying to cover it up, because clearly, I cared for him.
"I wouldn't call it feelings, but I would call it care. I don't have feelings or whatever you want to call it. I just don't want anything to happen to him. Nothing must happen to Kael. He is a very decent person who doesn't want to harm anybody, despite everything they've done to him. That is enough. I don't know why, but you all need to do better. How was he even captured? I need to know everything. They gave me a time limit, and if I don't do something, I might lose your king," I said as they stayed quiet, exchanging glances.
Each time I mentioned rescuing him, it seemed as though there was something they were not telling me.
"Can you please just open the door for me? If you are not going to explain to me why you haven't come to save your king yet," I said, now facing the door.
The same woman who had shifted into Marcus cleared her throat and muttered quietly, "We can't."