Chapter 15 - Dorian
Two weeks spent in a hospital bed out in Edmond feels like a lifetime has passed, but the Alpha Council insisted that I remain here until I’ve recovered.
My condition was so bad that I couldn’t join the Council in taking down Jackson. They found him in his childhood home and apparently, he’d willingly given himself up.
No one knows why he surrendered, but I have a feeling it has something to do with Amelia. Sighing forlornly when I think about her, I stare out of the window at the woods surrounding Edmond as I dress into a spare set of clothing Damian brought back from Fort Smit.
Today, after a visit from Simon’s head doctor in the hospital, I’d been given the clearance to return home. I’m eager to get back to the Nightclaw Pack, especially since Connor, my Beta, visited the other day and brought with him news that the members of the pack want to throw a celebration for me, in honor of my return and my life.
Whatever grim ambiance I’d been picking up in the pack was only my overworking mind getting to me. I should have stood tall and proud in my position as the Nightclaw Pack’s Alpha from the start. Now that the Alpha Council has faith in me, and the past accusations have been put to rest, I don’t feel like an outsider anymore.
There’s just one thing keeping me from rejoicing about my return. I have no idea where Amelia is, even though I’ve tried tracking her down with Connor’s help. None of the Alphas on the council know about her, or what Jackson forced us to do. Since he’s been captured, he hasn’t breathed a word about his sister to the Alphas.
That’s what has led me to believe that he gave himself up because of her. Returning to his childhood home must have ignited the memories and humaneness that were buried when he experimented with werewolf blood.
That’s why I need to speak to him to find out where she could be hiding. I’m sure he’s tried looking for her after she escaped. He’s the only one who might have an idea about where she’s hiding.
“How ya feeling, man?” Simon asks when he enters the room.
Buttoning my shirt, I turn and offer him a half-smile. “Stronger.” I straighten up to crack my spine. “Where are you keeping the hybrid?”
“He's locked away in my research facility downtown,” Simon informs me. “I didn’t wanna keep him on Misty Creek territory in case he tried anything funny.”
“Has he been behaving?” I ask, to which Simon nods.
“He hasn’t said a word since we caught him. He just gave up,” he shrugs coldly.
“I wanna see him,” I say, but Simon grimaces as he peels away from the doorframe.
“Er—I called the others in for a meeting. They’re waiting in the boardroom.”
“Waiting for me?”
“Yeah!” Simon jests with a playful slap on my shoulder as I head to the door. “You’re our resident celeb now, Dorian. You’re the VIP at all our meetings.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Cyrus took a bad knock too, remember?”
“Yeah, but he was fine. I heard he had his mate by his side. He healed quickly.”
My lips straighten into a firm line as we leave the hospital, Simon’s last statement sending me into a chasm of longing for my own mate. The human woman I was forced to marry had quickly become the most important person in my life.
My mate… I have to find her now that I’ve been given a second chance at life.
When we enter the boardroom, it’s not just the Alphas in attendance, but their mates as well. Simon, Flynn, and Cyrus all have she-wolves seated beside them, further driving in the intense need to reunite with my mate, even if she’ll be the only human amongst us.
My brother greets me with a warm hug when we claim our seats around the oval boardroom desk. Each of the Alphas extends their apologies for what I’d been through, and I soon realize that I’m no longer an outcast amongst the Council.
“The wolf's blood is already infused with his own, and there’s no way of reversing its effects. We can’t remove Dorian’s blood without killing Jacson,” Simon says grimly when he updates us on what’s been happening with Jackson.
“That won’t be such a bad idea,” Alpha Cyrus of the Moon Shine Pack adds with a snide chuckle that causes a stir in the room.
“Of course, not, Cyrus,” Simon replied coolly. “I’ve been weighing our options, and we’ve extracted enough blood from him to run our tests. My people have already begun looking into his initial research for a cancer cure, and we don’t need him. Since he’s not saying a word, he’s of no use to us anymore.”
“Wait…” I raise my brows as I lean over the desk. “... Are you saying that you’re considering killing him after all?”
“Yeah,” Simon shrugs. “There’s no reason to keep him alive. We have all his files, and we’re not looking to make werewolves out of humans.”
I lean back in my chair, a heavy breath escaping my puckered lips. I begin shaking my head slowly, the idea is not ideal, but it’s all I can think of right now.
“I’ll take him,” I offer with a disconcerted grunt. “I’ll take him with me to Fort Smit. We don’t have the facilities you do, Simon. But we have a dungeon.”
“Are you mad?!” Damian exclaims, his eyes growing wide with horror as he leans forward to scowl at me. “After everything that bastard did to you, you’re gonna take him home with you? To be amongst your pack?”
“I know it sounds crazy, Damian,” I sigh. “But he tortured me for months. It’s my turn now. I’ll exact my revenge when he’s in my custody,” I lied. I don’t want them to know that I have other reasons for wanting to keep Jackson alive. He’s the only link to Amelia and the only way I’ll be able to find her.
“No!” Damian slams a palm on the desk as he pushes off his chair, incredulous eyes glowering at me now. “You’re making a mistake, Dorian!” Damian points one finger at me in a warning. “Mark my words, you’re making a terrible mistake.”
With that, Damian storms out of Simon’s boardroom, leaving me to sink in the chair while my heart drops to the soles of my feet. I’ve done it again—I’ve disappointed my brother. Now, he’s angry with me again, and he probably believes that we’re revisiting the past where he thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life by leaving Valley Walker.
Sighing heavily, I hang my head when Alpha Flynn pats my shoulder.
“If I were in your shoes, I would choose to kill the hybrid once and for all,” Flynn says. “But, I know you won’t do anything with good reason. So I think you should do what you feel is right.”
I slowly lifted a frown at the Alpha of Blood Moon—the man whose brother died while he was with me that fateful night. I can’t believe that he’s the first to support my decision, but when he smiles at me, I feel reassured.
He trusts me, even more than my own brother does. Perhaps Damian’s sense of judgment is still clouded by the anguish he faced when I decided to leave Valley Walker.
I can’t go back on my decision, however. Returning to Fort Smit without my mate doesn’t sit right with me like there’s a part of my soul missing. I can’t ignore the laws of the mate bond, even if my mate is a human.
She’s more than just an Alpha’s mate. She’s the woman who built an empire in this heart of mine, and I can go on living my life without the best pieces of me.
“We’ll arrange to have him sent to Fort Smit,” Simon assures me after a long stretch of silence around the room. “You should return to your pack, Dorian. I’m sure they’re awaiting your arrival.
***
A night spent partying around the bonfire in honor of my service to the wolf packs around Oklahoma wasn’t something I was expecting. To my surprise, the Alpha Council had been in on the party, and their attendance was the most surprising.
Of course, Damian didn’t show up after our brief argument at yesterday’s meeting. I know he resents me right now, but I’m hoping he’ll come around once he hears that I have a mate.
I need to find her first. The only place I thought to look was the retirement home she worked at in the city, but she wasn’t there. She must have followed my instructions when I helped her escape, and didn’t go somewhere Jackson would find her.
Still, it’s been impossible to track her down, especially since I can’t let the others know just yet. Flynn’s mate has the gift of vision and saw a vision of me locked in the warehouse when they found an empty vial of poison outside the Nightclaw boundaries where I’d been kidnapped. She would have been able to track Amelia if she had something she touched. But the warehouse was torched after I’d been extracted, and I have nothing of Amelia’s that could lead me to her.
Then there’s Cyrus with his tech company, whose mate hacked into a government satellite feed to pinpoint the exact location of the warehouse. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to search for Amelia, so that’s why I have to get something out of Jackson.
“Alpha!” Connor stops me just as I’m about to unlatch the door that goes down to the dungeon.
“Connor! What’s up?”
Connor slows down and warily glances at the door. His lips are pressed into a grim line, and I know how he feels about having the hybrid in our custody. Even when Jackson was transported in a blacked-out van from Edmond to Fort Smit, Connor wore a grim expression to show his disdain about what was happening.
He’s not happy, but unlike Damian, he’s my Beta and has to trust me on this.
“Are you going in there?” He nods toward the dungeon.
“Yeah.” I crack my neck from side to side. “Time to get some blood on my hands.”
Connor eyes me suspiciously. “I’m going in there with you.”
I shake my head, placing a hand on his shoulder. “That won’t be necessary, Beta,” I address him by his rank to let him know that I won’t be arguing this. “This is between Jackson and me. Let me handle it.”
“I don’t doubt that you can handle it, Alpha. I’m just worried you might kill him on Nightclaw turf.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” I chuckle. “Nah. I’m not gonna kill him. I need him.”
Connor raises a brow. “For what?”
“To get my revenge, of course…” I snicker, feeling slightly regretful that I’m lying to the Beta despite how much he cares. As I take the first step on the ladder that leads into the dungeon, I look up and decide that once I have the information I need, I’ll have to tell my Beta about my mate “I’ll catch up with you later, Connor. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“You’re leaving me in suspense…” Connor rolls his eyes. “Fine. But it better be something good this time. I don’t think I can handle more bad news.”
I throw him a wink. “I promise it’ll be good.”
Descending the ladder, I pull the door closed and latch it from the inside before landing on the ground. I take a deep, composed breath, rolling my shoulders with fists curled with preparation at my sides. The stone, cold dungeon is ominously dark, my shadow looming on both walls as I head down the narrow alley toward the opening of the cave.
The only sound is the trickle of water in a corner where droplets spatter on the cemented floor.
”Jackson Ramirez…” my voice comes sinisterly as it echoes all around us, snapping Jackson’s head up as tormented, dark-circled eyes meet mine.
“Dorian Walker…” he gasps, his pale face losing every last bit of color that drains as if he’s seeing a ghost.
My lips curl into a sadistic smile as I squat in front of him, taking great pleasure in seeing his arms stretched out on either side, shackled to silver chains like a sacrificial lamb.
“You know what I want, and you’re gonna tell me where to find it,” I growl menacingly. Jackson was in my head for most of my time captured, and after Amelia got out, he’d been listening to my every thought.
He knew that we’d been intimate. He knew how I felt about her, and how torn I was when we’d been separated. He was in my head thanks to all of the blood he’d been consuming of mine.
Jackson hesitantly opens his mouth and then pauses, shaking his head slowly.
“I don’t know where she is…” he murmurs, averting his eyes.
It’s as if my gut instinct kicks in, strengthened now by the return of my wolf abilities. I grab Jackson by the neck, twisting his face to one side as I growl into his ear.
“Something tells me you know exactly where she is…” I grate through tightly gritted teeth. “And you’re gonna tell me.”
“I’m not telling you anything,” Jackson’s voice is a frail murmur, his voice muffled from the grip I have on his neck.
“They were gonna kill you, motherfucker…” I growl, echoing the harsh tone he’d used when I was at his mercy.
Now that the tables have turned, I’m the one in power, taking great pleasure from watching him shudder when I spit in his face and release the grip on his neck. He chokes and sputters while the chains buck and clink from his movements.
“... You should be grateful that I stopped them,” I continue. “But I will have no problem killing you myself. It will give me great pleasure watching you suffer. And I swear, the torture will be much worse than what you subjected me to.”
When Jackson looks up at me through hooded, dark-circled eyes that seem to be deflated in his sockets, he probably catches the demented glint in mine and gulps.
“I swear I’m not as crazy as you thought, Dorian,” he offers with a shiver. “It was the rogues’ blood that had me going insane.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “You expect me to believe that?” I scoff.
“Believe what you want, but ask your friend about it. It isn’t just your blood in my veins, but the rogues’ blood too. It wasn’t as strong as an Alpha’s blood, obviously. It’s leaving my system.”
“Am I supposed to show compassion for you?” I snort disbelievingly. “I don’t care if you’re becoming human again or not. You’ll always be a monster.”
Jackson’s eyes sadden as his bottom lip quivers. “I only want you to understand why I’d become a monster. It wasn’t me. It was the rogue blood in me that turned me greedy, but I’m no longer like that.”
“Then why won’t you tell me where she is?” I lift my chin and cross my arms as I wait for his reply.
When it comes, he hangs his head in shame. “Because she’s my sister,” he says, a flicker of remorse evident in his voice. “What I did to her is unforgivable, and she should be kept away from all of this. She shouldn’t be punished.”
I frown deeply as I consider his conviction, the way his shoulders are drooped and his head hangs with regret.
Is it true that he’s returning to himself? Is he becoming more humane, and recalls the close bond he once shared with his sister?
From what I learned from Amelia, they were really close growing up. It took their father’s passing to turn him crazy, but only a son determined to take over a project his deceased father couldn’t complete. If the rogue werewolves’ blood turned him rabid and demented, then surely he’d be coming back to his senses now that the effects were wearing off.
It’s not like I could see the Council killing him while knowing that Amelia is out there somewhere. She wouldn’t want that, even if it was to avenge her for the crimes he committed against her.
“She won’t be punished, Jackson,” I assure the man, a flicker of compassion sparking in my chest. “I have to find her because she’s my mate.”
He looks up with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “Do you really believe that?”
I nod curtly. “I do. You forced us into a marriage and mate bond, but it turned out to be real. If you care at all about her, you’ll help me find her.”
Jackson sighs, dropping his gaze again. “Knowing my sister, there’s only one place she can be hiding in…”