Chapter Twenty-Six
DYLAN
“Is he in there?”
My head jerked up, glancing toward the exit at the sound of Aaron’s feigned concern, my eyes unwittingly forming a scowl. He was back.
Was Caine with him?
The door whipped open with all the power of an enraged Alpha behind it, colliding with the wall, shaking the foundations.
My heart clenched as he marched in, his white shirt drenched with blood, his chest heaving and jaw set.
His eye was alight with intolerance and ferocity, so intense my breath caught, the phantom sensation of it piercing my soul.
My belly. It softened as soon as it landed on me, and he advanced quicker than I could even blink.
His brother lingered near the door behind him. “Thank fuck! Is he alright?”
Caine ignored him. He was scanning me, a twist of murderous intent cracking his expression, though he noticeably compelled himself to steel it as he crouched to my level.
His breathing was laboured, his teeth were grinding, but a deathly cold sense of composure blanketed him, masking the wrath I knew he felt. “Are you in pain?”
I shook my head. Why wasn’t he removing my gag?
An unfamiliar beta—with no visible pack symbol—had covered my mouth with a black band, muting me entirely, but I had to warn him.
Using my eyes, I purposely gazed over Caine’s shoulder to where his brother had dropped his act and was guiding the door shut.
I squirmed in my seat, panic setting in, eyes stinging.
Caine gripped my chin with his fingers, forcing my attention back to him.
A pleading whine vibrated in my throat, and he shushed me gently.
“I will never break my promise to you again,” he claimed, at a volume only I could hear.
A tear tracked down my cheek, and he wiped it with his thumb before leaning in to kiss my forehead.
The door slammed.
I flinched.
Caine didn’t.
“What did I say about weaknesses, brother?”
Caine retreated, his face a blank canvas—the man I’d stood in front of all those months ago.
He drew up to his full height, eerily calm before turning, shielding me with his body.
But I could still see the smug look on Aaron’s face, and the gun he pointed at my mate’s head.
“I don’t recall,” he answered, his voice bereft of the emotion I’d heard only a second ago.
“Though I’m sure you’re dying to remind me. ”
“Hold that thought.” Aaron winked, fishing his phone from his pocket and pressing a button before holding it up to his ear. “Got him. Send in the troops.”
“The sentinels outside were decoys,” Caine observed. “Very clever.”
The patronising undertone would’ve made me snort in any other circumstance.
Aaron hummed. “I thought so. I’m just that considerate, offering you an appetizer, getting your blood really pumping before the pièce de résistance. Or dessert, whatever tickles your balls.”
Had Caine come alone? Where was his team? Raegan, Tobias, Brian . . . the pack.
“My squad?”
“Oh, they’ll be getting slaughtered as we speak,” Aaron confirmed, chuckling darkly.
My face paled. “The ones we killed together—great fun, by the way—were hirelings from district thirty-eight. No ties. No sentiment. The Rovina pack’s enforcers were waiting in the woodlands for the go ahead.
I’m a tad disappointed these walls are soundproof. ”
“Why?” Caine asked. “What was your motivation?”
“Father said I’d never amount to anything, that I’d never be leader as long as the Devereux pack drew breath.
” He sucked his teeth. “Guess he was right. For my dedication to the cause, Vito Rovina offered me a mating arrangement with his eldest Alpha daughter—his heir. He thought it was the least he could do. Pretty sweet deal, though, right? I just need you and your mate dead, so I can step up as regent before your daughter reaches her majority.”
The mention of Minnie had me fuming all over again, my body trembling with it. The twitch in Caine’s fingers was my only indication he felt it too.
“It was a bit of a spanner in the works, her being an omega and all, I’ll admit,” Aaron tacked on with a grimace.
“It nearly fucked everything, but your epiphany did the hard work for me. Thanks to the regulations you’ve started putting in place, I’ll have plenty of time to unite the packs, sign over the Devereux resources to the Rovinas, then kill Minnie and anyone who opposes it. Pass on the gauntlet, so to speak.”
There was a beat of silence. Heavy. Harrowing.
It had my skin creeping with a sense of foreboding.
“You are pathetic,” Caine stated, much to his brother’s obvious irritation. “This entire rigmarole because you didn’t get to be the leader? How fucking juvenile.”
“You don’t get it,” Aaron spat, thrusting the gun forward.
His finger was firmly on the trigger, one misplaced twitch and it would go off.
Why was Caine provoking him? “You have everything, people worship the ground you walk on, they fear you, they listen to you. This pack is dying, so what’s the point in hanging on?
Being taken for granted. Might as well get out before you run us into the ground. ”
“Why not just leave, hm?” He tilted his head. “Why waste your time?”
“Because that’s boring, and kinda defeatist, don’t you think?
I needed your fascination to turn into—” The gun waved, and I tensed.
“Whatever this is, so I could leave my mark. You know me, brother, I’m not one for a quick and painless kill.
I like slow, drawn-out torture. It brought to light how weak you really are, and Vito leapt at the opportunity to take you down. ”
“Hm, no.”
Aaron scoffed, taken aback. “What the fuck do you mean, no?”
“You had no choice but to humour yourself,” Caine defined, his tone pitched low.
Cutting. It wasn’t directed at me, but fuck, it set me on edge regardless.
“If you’d severed your bond to join another pack, they’d have killed you at their borders.
You had to be patient, invent entertainment until you could guarantee you had a boon to offer.
No pack worth their salt would have claimed you on your own merit—not the beta brother of the supreme leader.
You needed proof you were capable, loyal.
You needed me. My resources, my power. You had to stake it out until you’d raked in enough chips to negotiate your place. ”
“That’s not—”
He hummed, his head shaking vaguely. It was barely a hair’s breadth of motion, but his disapproval was crystal clear. “You created this bullshit plot, played the jester for two years, envied me for longer, just so you could pay to be the bitch of another Alpha.”
“Shut the hell up,” his brother snarled, spittle flying from his teeth. “I give them the Devereux pack, I give them what they need to take the top spot, and I get to be joint supreme leader in return.”
Caine huffed a mocking laugh. “I knew you were unpredictable, but I never took you for such an imbecile.”
“Shut. Up.”
“Your resentment wasn’t a secret,” he persisted, and my terror was bleeding into every atom of my being, my eyes boring into him, willing him to stop talking.
“You put on a front: the carefree attitude, the ‘big brother’ act, but I was aware, deep down, that part of you longed for my demise. Of course you did; you’ve always desired what I have.
It’s laughable. If you understood half of what I’d sheltered you from, you’d detest the thought of my position.
You’d be worshipping at my fucking feet. ”
“You didn’t do shit.” Aaron’s voice cracked. “Father preferred you, even with your defect. How am I worse than an Alpha who can’t even knot?”
“You always were a fantasist,” he remarked—if he felt even an ounce of grief for going head to head with his own twin, he wasn’t showing it.
“An indulgence afforded to you among many others. The pack would have collapsed years ago if you’d become leader.
Your skills were better suited exactly where I put them. ”
Aaron breathed heavily through his nose, his nostrils flaring, but a switch seemed to flick and his eyes gleamed with winner’s delight. “It doesn’t matter what you think. You’ll be dead, and I’ll be out there, proving you all fucking wrong.”
“You predict you’ll still be alive after signing over the pack?” Caine’s eyebrow rose. “Best of luck to you, brother. I truly hope it doesn’t blow up in your face.”
The door swung open and Aaron’s grin widened. My heart stopped. “Is it done?”
No answer.
He rolled his eyes, sighing exaggeratedly. “Can’t get the staff these days,” he griped, and swivelled to peer over his shoulder, lowering his gun a fraction. “I said, is it—”
“Done?” Caine finished for him, and I leaned to the side for a better view of the doorway.
It was Raegan.
She nodded at my mate in agreement. “All clear, boss.”
An overwhelming rush of confusion and relief swept through me, my gaze snapping back to Caine. I could see his face clearly—the untamed bloodlust swarming in his eye, and the fierce smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. His mask was gone.
Aaron sputtered, and in his distraction, Caine pounced, lightning quick, one hand seizing his brother’s wrist, while the other clamped his throat tight enough to make him choke.
“In case you hadn’t grasped it,” he growled menacingly, lifting him from the ground.
Aaron flailed. “This is it blowing up in your face.”
There was a gunshot, and plaster cascaded from the ceiling.
Caine’s head charged forward, striking Aaron’s nose as he twisted the wrist in his grip, the bone snapping.
The gun clattered to the floor, and my heart raced as I watched my mate tackle his brother to the ground, pinning him, looming over him.
His fists rained down on his face, over and over and over as he snarled, a rampage unlike any I’d ever seen overtaking him.
He was all power, all of hell’s fury and fire, as he defended.
Protected.