THIRD PERSON POV:
"What the fuck, Bella?" Ryder asked, his veins visible. Her foolishness amazed all four of them, and they wondered how she could embody that and still act smart.
"Look, it wasn't intentional. Sue said once you are in, you cannot leave, and leaving would only mean death. I wish I had known, I would..."
"You would have still walked right into it, Bella, because this is what you always do," Kai cut her short, and she looked at him with a fallen face.
She couldn't believe he had said that to her. He was the soft one, but the anger seemed to have torn deep into him. "All you do is make hasty decisions without caring how it would affect your counterparts. Do you know how it hurts to know that you were in trouble?" Finn asked, and she scoffed.
She tried to sound brave, like she knew what she was doing, but deep down, she was scared.
"At least I am trying to do something good for the werewolves. Look at you three, an alpha prince and two beta wolves who have done nothing to protect their packs. Who are you to point fingers?" she raised her voice, earning a chuckle from Ryder. "And what are you laughing at?"
"How stupid you sound." Ryder didn't hold back the anger brewing inside him. "These people do not love you, Bella." "And neither do you guys. They might not love me, but at least I do not have to hide the fact that I am a vampire from them. For every meal, we raise a toast with a glass of blood, but with you guys, I have to hide to feed," she said, looking into their eyes. "You got a normal life, Ryder, so you have no right to judge me. When you become a hybrid or have to hide a great part of your life from the world, then you can judge me," she said, then turned to leave.
"Bella, wait," Hazel said, reaching out for her, but she yanked her hand away.
"You have been the best friend in the entire world, Hazel, but this is my fight, and I want you all to leave," she said, attempting to walk away.
She wasn't just walking away because she didn't need them. She wanted to leave because she knew it was almost time for the vampires to wake as the sun was gradually setting.
"We will walk away, Bella, and we will never, ever dream of coming back here to save you. You might as well reject us!" Ryder yelled out, and she looked back at him, choking out a scoff.
"Be careful what you wish for, because I am up to the task, Ryder." That word broke her heart more than it did his, but she had to put up a strong demeanor.
The twins held Ryder back.
"No, this is ridiculous," he protested.
"Ryder, you are angry, but do not do something you will regret," Kai said to him.
"You always want to be in control, and you are reacting this way because she is slipping out of your control, but rejecting her will only make you feel worse," Hazel tried to convince Ryder, who let out a sigh as he watched Bella disappear.
The four of them turned back, and then Hazel tried to open the portal back home for them, but the moment the portal began to open, she felt something strike her from behind, causing her knees to buckle. She crashed to the ground, watching the triplets who came after her. The four of them glanced at each other as they slowly drifted into darkness.
The next time the group of four opened their eyes, they discovered they were in a dungeon, confined in chains. Hazel sighed the moment she saw the chains, then shut her eyes, muttering a quick spell that broke the chains off.
"Guys!" she called out, and they echoed a weak murmur.
Hazel looked at the locks, which she easily broke with a spell, then walked through the narrow passage, breaking the boys out. She felt weak for allowing them to take her down with some shallow spell, but she had been taken unaware because of the invisible house. She tried to convince herself she was a better witch than whatever witch they were getting their black magic from.
"Let's go," she said to them as they made it to the end of the room, opening the door and walking through it.
"I knew we probably shouldn't have invited that hybrid over! We could find another hybrid if we wanted, but Sue decided she was the best option!" Hazel glanced at the triplets when they heard a man yelling from afar.
"I think we got Bella in trouble." The triplets felt a wave of sadness in their chests, and Hazel's words about letting Bella be echoed vividly in their ears.
They hated to admit Hazel was right, but on this one, she was totally right.
"I say we get rid of her with them!" another woman yelled.
"And I say that none of you have the power. Enzo left me in charge, and unless either of you has Darkmoore as your surname, then you will shut it and let me think!"
"That is Sue," Hazel whispered.
They kept walking down the hall, directionless, but then they ran into a male vampire up ahead. They attempted to go back, only to see that the entire hall was surrounded by vampires. With their backs against each other, they braced themselves for a fight, but Bella's voice shot through the hallway.
"Stop!" The vampires listened to her at once, and the two of them blocking the path the four had passed through cleared for Bella.
She walked up to her friends.
"Are you crazy or something?" she mind-linked with the triplets. Then she turned to Hazel, raising a brow. "The four of you will surrender at once and face justice from the council."
When she said this, Hazel put up her hands, and the triplets did the same reluctantly. Bella heaved a sigh of relief. She knew Hazel was powerful, but this was a den of vampires. She wasn't up to Halle's level yet, and she didn't doubt her capabilities, but she knew what Sue was capable of.
The vampires grabbed the four of them, pushing them forward until they got to the room where the council of vampires were bickering. The moment they noticed they had company, they kept mute, with hardened faces.
"How dare you step into our presence without permission?" the male vampire roared, and Sue sighed, sitting up. "Shut it, Ray!" Sue sneered at him.
Hazel choked out a laugh, knowing that the man's name was Ray. He looked like someone that would have the name of a warlord, but he was just Ray.
"What is funny, witch?" Sue asked, and Hazel shut her mouth at once. Then she got to her feet at once, glaring at the four of them, including Bella, who she was trying to vouch for.
She feared Bella would try to outsmart her like she did with the car incident, but she knew Bella was the best option for releasing Enzo, so she had to keep her alive, at least until they got what they wanted.
Bella's heart thumped fast as she wondered what kind of punishment Sue would give her friends. The fact they came to get her pissed her off. She was trying to protect them, but they had hurled all kinds of insults at her, and even at that, she didn't want any of them to die. She wanted them to live, and she would do everything within her power to ensure that happened.
"They should be put to death for crossing our territory," Sue said this, glaring at Bella, but Bella was smart enough not to flinch.
This almost convinced Sue that Bella was on her team, but then Bella put up a hand, causing a smile to spread across Sue's face. She felt victory slipping in, and even if she didn't intend to kill them, she would now, so that Bella would lose everything.
"Yes, Bella. Why do you think it is a bad idea to kill your friends and mates?" Sue asked, and Bella swallowed hard, trying to arrange her points.
"Killing the four of them in secret shows cowardice," she began, and her friends stared at her, praying she wouldn't do something that would get them killed instantly before they could come up with an escape plan.
"I mean, she is a Baudelaire." She pointed at Hazel. "And these three, an alpha prince and two Betas." She turned to her mates briefly before facing the council.
"The war is fast approaching, and with our preparations, everything is foolproof. Why slay them in silence when you can slay them in public, watching the rest of the wolf population crumble when you slay their top soldiers?" Her words made sense to everyone in the room, and Sue walked back to her seat.
They murmured for a while before she let out the word.
"Let them go." Bella's heart fell in relief. "They say dead men tell no tales, so go and tell your people that we are coming, and they will pay for their sins against us several centuries ago!"