Reborn To Defy The Alpha-Chapter 86: A Visit to the Cell

The pack house walkway stretched long and quiet, polished floorboards reflecting recessed ceiling lights that never dimmed. One wing of the building had been sealed off from the rest of the mansion, its luxury stripped down to steel doors, reinforced walls, and the faint echo of suffering that leaked through concrete. Nikki stood at the end of the hallway where the prison entrance cut sharply into the architecture, an iron door set into the wall like a deliberate scar.

Two sub alpha guards stood in front of it, positioned with military precision. Their shoulders were squared, hands clasped behind their backs, and eyes alert even as tension crept into the set of their jaws.

​Behind Nikki, Lyra and Lena hovered close. Their gazes moved on instinct, cataloging exits and listening for any footsteps.

One of the guards swallowed, his gaze darting to the passageway. His voice dropped low. "We will be in serious trouble if the Alpha finds out about this."

​Nikki tilted her head, unimpressed. "And how will the Alpha find out," she asked evenly, "if nobody tells him?" Her eyes sharpened as she looked at the guards. "Unless you are planning to snitch on me." A faint, dangerous smile touched her lips. "Because I know my girls will not." She glanced at Lyra and then Lena, a silent question passing between them. Both women nodded without hesitation, standing firm at Nikki’s side.

The guard shook his head quickly. "It is not that," he said, hands lifting in a placating gesture. "We are not going to snitch. It is just..." He hesitated, eyes flicking toward the sealed door. "We are just being careful. Things like this have a way of going sideways, and if something does..."

​Nikki’s expression hardened, her face settling into cold impatience. "Enough of the excuses," she said coolly. "Have we not already talked about this?"

He drew in a breath. "We are just being careful and..."

​She cut him off with a raised hand. Her tone stayed calm, almost bored. "Are we not careful enough?" She stepped closer, her gaze unwavering. "Relax. Nothing will go wrong if you follow the plan. Or have you forgotten what I promised you once everything is successful?"

The hallway felt tighter as the guards exchanged a look. After a beat, the one facing Nikki nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys, metal clinking softly as he unlocked the door. With a groan of steel against steel, he swung the entrance open.

​Nikki inclined her head in acknowledgment and stepped forward. Lyra and Lena followed her inside as the door closed behind them.

Outside, the second guard leaned closer to his colleague. "I hope we do not regret this."

​The other snorted quietly. "As long as we are on the Krolls’ good side, nothing will happen to us." He paused, then muttered almost to himself, "Nothing severe, at least."

​His colleague shot him a look, lips tightening, then straightened and resumed his stance in front of the prison entrance, face blank once more.

​Inside, the prison walkway stretched long and narrow. The concrete was clean, the floors swept, the walls bare and orderly. If not for the thick barred cell doors and the people behind them, one might never believe it was a prison at all.

​Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Cells lined the path. Figures shifted behind the bars. Hands curled around metal. Eyes followed Nikki as she passed.

​A man pressed his face between the bars, teeth bared in a grin that reeked of rot. "Well, I will be damned," he rasped. "What is the Krolls’ princess doing slumming it down here?"

​Nikki shot him a cold glare and walked past his cell without slowing. A laugh broke into a cough.

Nikki’s nose wrinkled. Her steps never faltered, but disgust tightened her expression, her fingers curling slowly at her sides. "Filth," she muttered. "That bitch, Rhea will pay for making me walk through this."

​Lyra and Lena followed closely.

They reached the end of the walkway, where the light dimmed. A final cell waited there, half swallowed by shadow. Three men occupied it. Two lay sprawled on their bunk bed, barefoot, eyes closed or pretending to be. The third sat against the wall, elbows braced on his knees, head bowed, hair falling into his face.

Nikki stopped in front of the bars. Her voice carried clean and sharp. "Hey, Roff. Get up."

​One of the men jerked awake, blinking and scrambling into a sitting position with a curse. The other groaned and rolled onto his side. The man against the wall lifted his head slowly. His eyes found Nikki, and his brow creased into a deep frown as recognition settled in.

​"You," Roff sneered, lips curling back as he straightened against the wall. The sound scraped out of him, low and ugly.

​Nikki’s mouth tipped into a slow, deliberate smirk. "Yes," she said lightly. "Me."

The frown on Roff’s face deepened, lines carving hard into his brow. His jaw clenched, teeth grinding as old bitterness surfaced. If not for Nikki and her father, he would not be rotting in here. That much he knew. He remembered fragments from the healer’s quarters. The way the pack had gathered outside his door because of them, the Krolls.

​"What are you doing here?" he spat, pushing himself upright.

​"Easy there, tiger," Nikki teased, her voice smooth, almost amused.

Roff snarled. "I am not a tiger. I am a wolf." He surged to his feet and stalked toward the bars, bare feet slapping softly against the concrete until he was right in front of her, fingers curling around the metal.

Nikki took a single step back, not hurried, not fearful. The smirk never left her face. "It is a figure of speech," she said sweetly. "You know. Big teeth. Loud growling. Very intimidating." Her eyes flicked pointedly to his grip on the bars. "Or at least you tried to be."

​"The nerve of you to show up here," Roff growled, breath hot through the metal, "after what you and your father did to me."