31. Chapter 31
Sofia
The second I hear that voice— his voice —my blood runs cold. I look over Emily’s shoulder and see him. Aidan Blackwell, smug as hell, flanked by half a dozen warriors, standing just past the tree line like he owns the place.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
How the fuck did I let them sneak up on us?
I know exactly how. Emily said she was leaving which scared the shit out of me.
Yes, I know, the girl whose parents left her has abandonment issues.
Shocker. But I was so preoccupied with Emily wanting to leave that I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, and we walked aimlessly until we got here; right to the edge of the territory. Right to him .
Stupid, stupid, Fia. I gaze down at Emily and it’s like she hasn’t even processed that he is here until she sees my expression. That’s when her body goes rigid.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper before rattling off a quick mindlink for backup to Jackson, Ryan, and Luca. I pull Emily’s tiny form behind me before facing the monster I’ve heard all about.
“This is Lunar Eclipse Pack lands. You do not have permission to be here,” I call out. The prick looks me up and down and then he laughs—actually fucking laughs.
I let out a low snarl before I can stop it.
“P… please don’t make him angry,” Emily whimpers, her voice trembling as she clutches my arm with such force that my circulation is nearly cut off. I square my shoulders as best I can with Emily’s strangling hold.
“I am Sofia Rivera, sister of this pack’s Alpha and acting Luna. I have the authority to tell you that you are not welcome here. You and your merry band of misogynistic pricks can fuck right off to where you came from.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he says, condescension dripping from his tone. “I’m just here to collect my mate, and then we’ll be on our way. ”
I’ve disliked this guy from the moment I met him at an alpha gathering a couple of years ago when he made a shitty comment about Ryan giving me too much freedom. I’ve despised him since I met Emily and heard her harrowing story of abuse and torture.
And right now, with the way he’s looking at us and casually threatening to force Emily to leave with him. I fucking loathe him enough that I could rip his throat out with my teeth without an ounce of remorse.
“Like fuck you are,” I growl. “Emily is staying with me.”
“You’re welcome to come too,” he offers casually. “I’m sure my warriors would enjoy taming an alpha bitch.”
My eyes narrow as his warriors cheer and laugh. Their gaze on my body repulses me. “Not for me personally,” he continues, “much too mouthy. But then perhaps the silver gag I brought could help with that.”
Silver. Fucking silver .
And that wasn’t for me. He brought that to use on Emily. Poor sweet Emily, who wouldn’t hurt a fly. My heart pounds erratically, like it might burst from my ribcage as waves of anger unlike anything I’ve ever felt before crash against me.
“I’m not a gentle little omega you can bully and abuse,” I hiss, extending my claws and canines. “You sure you want to go up against an alpha female?”
“Stop,” Emily whimpers. “Please, Sofia. Please don’t.”
Emily trembles as the warriors continue to laugh and eye me up like a piece of meat they could easily overpower.
And maybe they could, but I’m still not backing down.
Realistically, going up against six warriors and an alpha is not the smartest move, but I don’t have to hold them off for long, only as long as it takes for our back up to arrive.
Emily tries to maneuver past me, but I block her with one arm, pushing her back again.
Relief floods over me as I feel more than hear Ryan and Luca approaching. I don’t dare look at them. My eyes are solely focused on this piece of shit in front of me.
“Ah, Alpha Rivera, so good to see you again. I’m sure you weren’t aware, but your sister here is trying to prevent me and my mate from being together. I had offered for her to join us,” he drawls as Ryan and Luca growl and snarl. “But I’m happy to take my mate and go.”
I hazard a glance at Ryan’s face and see a pained expression before he asks, “Emily, is it true? Is he your mate?”
My stomach drops .
“Are you serious right now?” I screech. “That’s what you’re asking? He tortured her! She came to us bruised, broken—barely surviving! Don’t you fucking dare hide behind the mate bond on this.”
I know Ryan is obsessed with the mate bond, but not even he can think this is right. Emily was both mentally and physically broken when she came to us, and I know that the abuse would be even worse if he got his hands on her again. She's said as much.
“Sofia, you know how important the mate bond is,” he sighs. His face pained like he knows how fucked this is, but his hands are tied. Fucking bullshit . “I can’t stand between mates who want to be together.”
I can’t believe this. This is beyond ridiculous.
“Get here now,” I tell Jack through the mindlink.
The salty scent of Emily’s tears as she silently cries behind me is a constant reminder that I can’t let Aidan take her.
This was always her worst fear, but I’m not letting her believe for a second that no one cares even if the pack Alpha doesn’t seem to give a fuck.
I’m so fucking disgusted by Ryan right now.
“Does she look like she wants to be with him? Don’t you remember the state she was in when she got here?” I plead. Ryan has the decency to at least look like he hates this, but why the fuck is he behaving like this? This is so unlike the big brother I’ve grown up with.
“Your sister needs to learn respect for her betters, Alpha Rivera. I told you she needs to be gagged and leashed,” Aidan sneers as he looks at me like I’m dirt under his shoe. Luca growls and steps forward in front of me.
“You don’t fucking talk about her! Don’t fucking look at her,” Luca snarls as his claws extend and fur erupts along his arms, but Aidan just laughs. And Ryan still remains silent. I don’t get it. This is not the brother I have spent my life looking up to.
“What about Jack?” I ask, my tone begging Ryan to see sense.
“They aren’t mates. I wish they were, but they’re not.”
Aidan doesn’t even blink. “Who the fuck is Jack?” he demands, and suddenly the thin veneer of civility cracks to make way for barely contained anger. His eyes darken and his claws extend.
“You know what happens when you embarrass me,” he says to Emily, ignoring the rest of us.
His voice is deceptively calm, but Emily’s whimpers and the scent of her fear and shame peak.
She knows exactly what he’s referring to, and the thought has my stomach churning.
“Enough stalling, Emily. Get your ass over here now.” He applies his alpha tone to the word now, and Emily automatically steps forward .
“No!” I scream, grabbing her around her waist as Jack’s sandy brown wolf bursts into the clearing, landing between Aidan and us.
His growls are so loud they reverberate through me, and Emily collapses in my arms, sobbing. “He’ll get hurt,” she sobs. “I can’t let him get hurt… he’ll get killed…”
“Jack, shift,” Ryan commands. Jack backs up closer to Emily and me before shifting into his human form. Ryan places his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “They’re mates,” he says solemnly. As if that matters with someone like Aidan fucking Blackwell. He doesn’t deserve a goddess-given mate.
“I don’t fucking care, he can’t have her,” Jack roars, shaking Ryan’s hand off.
Aidan’s face contorts into something monstrous. Something closer to what lurks beneath the handsome mask he wears so well.
“You fucked him,” he hisses at Emily. “Of course you did. Fucking whore .”
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Jack growls. With his fists clenched and muscles taut; rage pours off of him. “Don’t fucking talk to her at all!”
“Emily, I’m going to give you one chance and one chance only,” Aidan says. He restrains his anger, but it simmers beneath the surface, like he’s keeping score of all the things he plans to make Emily pay for. “See what happens if you don’t.”
His eyes flick to Jack, and I swear Emily stops breathing completely.
“Over my dead body,” Jack snarls.
“That can be arranged,” Aidan says coolly.
Emily pulls her shoulders back. Her tears have stopped falling, and it’s as if she is in a trance. She pushes at my arms to release her before telling me to let her go. “I need to go to my mate.”
“No!” Jack and I shout simultaneously. “You can’t do this,” I cry, clinging to Emily as she tries to go to the monster of her nightmares. “We won’t let him take you, we can’t let that happen,” I sob, glaring at Ryan, imploring him to see reason.
“He’s my mate,” she insists, peeling my arms off of her. When I glance back at her, it’s like a mask has slipped over her face. Emily no longer looks like the sweet girl who is terrified of her own shadow. She has wiped away her tears to reveal a version of herself that I can barely recognize.
“Emily,” Jack says. “What are you talking about? You can’t possibly want to go with him. ”
“Of course I want to. He’s my mate. We’re fated to be together, and I’m lucky he still wants me after how I’ve acted.” She glances in his direction briefly before dropping her gaze to the ground.
“I’m so sorry, Alpha,” she whispers, and he smirks at how defeated she looks. I feel like I’m watching a train wreck.
She goes to walk towards him, but Jack stands in her way. Aidan watches with a smug grin as Emily transforms from the girl we have been building back up to the one she was when she first got here. Closed off and numb; trying to survive.
“Emily, I told you I would kill him before I let him take you,” Jack says, gripping her forearms and forcing her to look at him. She takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
“You had your chance. You could have left with me when it was an option. But I’m glad you didn’t.
You aren’t capable of keeping me safe. Now stand back and let me go to my mate.
I don’t want a Delta who can’t even keep his own family safe.
” Emily’s voice is cold and calculated as she stomps on Jack’s heart.
His face shatters and his hands drop from Emily like her skin burns him. He watches her like he has no idea who she is. Maybe he doesn’t. This isn’t right. I feel like we have all stepped into the twilight zone where up is down and right is wrong.
I’m going to be sick. This can't be happening
“Ryan, do something!” I yell through my sobs. “Please, you have to do something. Anything!”
“She’s made her decision,” he responds and I don't know that I'll ever forgive him for this. “The relationship between mates is our most sacred bond. No Alpha can interfere.”
Emily has made her way over to Aidan, who gazes down at her like she is both nothing and everything simultaneously.
“You know this will be your worst punishment yet,” he says calmly before a sadistic smile stretches across his face.
“You’ve been gone two months. That’s two months of public humiliation I’ve suffered. ”
“I’m sorry, Alpha. I will, of course, accept whatever punishment you see fit,” she says, her head turned down and her shoulders hunched.
“Yes, you will.”
Aidan puts on gloves before reaching into duffle bag by his feat. My stomach lurches and time slows down when I see him pulling a silver gag it. How can anyone be so monstrous?
“I understand, Alpha. I don’t deserve you, but can I please accept the mate bond first?” Emily begs and my heart breaks. Once the bond is accepted verbally, it will be almost complete. We’ll never get her away from him.
“NO!” Jack roars as he seems to wake up and realize what is happening. He moves toward Emily, and I step forward to join him, but Luca restrains me, wrapping his arms around my upper body in a bear hold.
What the actual fuck?
“Get your fucking hands off me,” I grit out, trying to step out of his arms. The anger and frustration already coursing through me builds, further fueling the fire within me. My body temperature rises, and my skin tingles.
“Can’t do that, princess,” he grits out. “Not gonna let you get yourself hurt.”
“I'll fucking hurt you if you don't,” I snarl before throwing my head back. The crunch of his nose breaking would be satisfying if he had loosened his hold at all. But he didn’t.
Aidan’s warriors move to protect their Alpha, and Jack shifts into his wolf form as I watch, unable to do anything to save Emily.
I strain against Luca, stomping on his feet, kicking back into his shins and tearing into every part of his skin I can reach with my claws.
But no matter how much I hurt him, he doesn't let go.
His blood pools at our feet and tears stream down my face.
But he just holds me tighter, letting out grunts of pain but no words.
Ryan urges Jack to retreat without using his alpha command. I guess it’s because that would leave Jack completely vulnerable, unable to defend himself. Three warriors lunge at him, tackling him to the ground. Ryan glances at me briefly before he shifts and jumps into the fray.
Finally, living up to his role of protecting others. Too fucking little too late.
I can't make out what Aidan is saying over the brawl, but I definitely picked up on the word ‘accept’.
Emily is nodding and saying something back to him.
She glances at me, and something flashes across her face.
Something like determination. She pushes her shoulders back and stares up at Aidan.
She steps closer to him and places her hand on his chest, caressing upwards until she reaches his shoulder.
My blood runs cold, realizing Jack is going to be too late. She’s touching him because she has to in order to accept the bond.
We’ve lost her .
But faster than I can process what I'm seeing, she extends her claws and slices at his neck. He chokes and gurgles as arterial spray lands all over her. Aidan staggers, eyes wide, hands flying to his neck as blood pours down his chest.
“I, Emily Grant, of the Blood Moon Pack, reject you, Alpha Aidan Blackwell of the Blood Moon Pack,” Emily says, her voice calm and sure.
As soon as the words are out, they both collapse to the ground.