Chapter 24
I wiped my bloody hand on the rag Alex brought me. Blood stained most of my clothes now. Even as I beat Duane and cut bits off his body, all I could think about was how she looked. She was poised and angry, such fury lined her body.
A beauty.
She’d defended me. And that puffed my chest with pride. I’d been struck stupid watching her, but once I managed to rip my head out of my ass, I knew to stop it. I didn’t want her to sully her hands with this trash.
“I don’t know,” Duane sputtered, spitting blood from his lips.
His cuffed hand dripped blood from the blunt flesh.
I’d used pliers to snap his finger and rip it off his flesh, leaving behind torn skin and fragments of bone.
“I swear. I wouldn’t have been dragged into this if she hadn’t told me to meet with that shifter while she was with you,” he sobbed out.
“If I hadn’t been with him, I wouldn’t have been the one to go after them with Stools. ”
His eyes were glazed with pain, and he no longer seemed present.
So Sheriff Stools had been involved. This ran deeper than I could have imagined.
With a step back, I studied him, ignoring the sharp pain traveling up my leg with the weight I settled on my foot. He hadn’t given me any good information, and I’d pushed him, using my dominance to make him spit shit out.
At this point, it was clear he didn’t know where Cierra was hiding.
“How long has it been?” I asked, cleaning off my hands. Slowly, I went around the chair until I stood behind Duane.
“Two hours,” Bruno said from his position near the door.
He’d been quiet the entire time, watching me torture the male he used to share a home with.
I turned to study him. He lowered his eyes, but didn’t seem anxious or suspicious.
Then again, Duane hadn’t been on my radar as a fucking traitor.
I carefully lay my rag against his shoulder.
“Duane, you should have come to me.”
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” he cried. I placed my hands on each side of his jaw and, with a quick jerk, snapped his neck. I plucked the rag up and swiped my hands to rid it of the droplets that stained my fingers.
“Can I trust you to dispose of this ?” I asked, studying Bruno’s stiff expression.
“Yes, Alpha,” he replied.
I tossed the rag on the floor and strode toward the door.
“Tell me if you come into any new information,” I ordered and stepped out.
“Yes, Alpha.”
As much as I trusted Duane, I’d always counted on Bruno more, but I’d keep an eye on the situation. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting to be stabbed in the back. Hyper-focused on getting to my mate, I crossed the backyard.
A dull pulsing settled at my knee.
Healing had been slow, but not as slow as I made Josephine believe. I milked the injury as much as possible, because I feared she’d leave as soon as she saw I was okay.
She seemed more open to me in recent days, and I didn’t want to lose that.
The way she defended me got me so hard, I almost claimed her right then and there; hard, fast, and rough, but I couldn’t worship my mate as I wanted.
And she was too careful with me, telling me not to move or sit.
It’d been a double-edged sword, playing up my injuries.
It kept her with me, but at the same time, she was strict with keeping me in line.
My mate’s human friend hovered near the shack, very obviously waiting for me. She must have come back out once Josephine settled in for bed.
“I’m not a fan of you.” She eyed me with derision.
I ignored the human. My mate wouldn’t take kindly to me murdering her. She was lucky to have the care of my mate because I would have already done away with her. There could always be accidents if she truly proved herself an issue?—
“Do you know what you put her through?”
I stopped mid-step across the lawn behind my house. “Ah, so you do care.” I sucked on the front of my teeth, the sound loud. Slowly, I turned. She kept her distance from me.
So she wasn’t completely stupid. I could also tell Alex was nearby. He was keeping out of view, but he watched. The corner of my lips twitched. Was he trying to fuck this human?
“And are you going to enlighten me?”
Verity scowled and crossed her arms, hiding her trembling hands.
“You hurt her.”
I stiffened even more. I knew that, but the only one who had the right to shame me was my mate. A growl built in my throat, but I bit it back. She’d suffered in there, it was obvious, but she hadn’t said much other than the brief snippets.
“I don’t know how exactly all this shifter-shit works, but I know you had something to do with how much she suffered.
She had random bouts of paralyzing agony and nausea, but even those attacks were nothing to her intense —” she choked out.
“The first time it happened, I remember it so clearly. Her discomfort was so obvious , but the worst came an hour after it began. It was like she was possessed. All she could do was whimper and cry.”
Her words battered against me, as sharp as a knife slicing. “Every time she felt it come on, she started a fight to get herself sent to isolation. Do you know how long you get stuck in isolation?” Her tone was accusatory. “Thirty days. She was stuck in there each time.”
I counted internally as she continued to rant. Josephine would have spent nine heats alone, in agony without me there to care for her. I was gifted a fated, and she’d had to live with that . . .
“And then you had the audacity to isolate her and lie to her? You don’t deserve her,” she spat. “You should let her go?—”
I snarled, slicing her with my gaze. She clamped her lips shut, her face stiffening.
“I don’t deserve her,” I sneered. “But she’s mine .”
My lip wouldn’t stop twitching. No one would take her, and if she were saying this to my mate, I should kill her. I stepped forward, a growl rumbling in my throat.
Verity backed away, her eyes wide. Likely sensing her impending death. Any who tried to keep my mate from me would die?—
“Enough,” Alex bit out, finally emerging from the shadow of the house. His shout pulled me out of my rage. I met his eyes, and he quickly dropped his, jogging over to step in front of the human. “I will handle her, Alpha,” he murmured.
I grunted and continued on my path inside the house. Her words swirled in my head. The reality of Josephine’s life for the last four years. For a crime she never committed. It was all my fault.
I clasped the banister, gripping it on my way up the stairs until I reached the top. Our bedroom door was open, and the sound of the shower spilled out as soon as I reached it. I nudged inside and shut it quietly.
Light spilled out of the archway leading into the bathroom. Soap suds slid down her nude body.
Josephine was such a beauty. I loved every inch. I yearned for every bit of her.
I stepped under the spray, fully dressed and uncaring of the cast. Water pelted the back of my head, plastering my hair down.
I collected her in my arms, clasping her so tight she grunted. I straightened, and her feet lifted off the ground.
My mate was incredibly strong. I buried my nose in her neck, smelling her. She would never suffer again.
Guilt settled in my gut, and it would never fade. After everything she had been through, I didn’t deserve not to feel wretched.
Maybe, at some point in the future, it would abate, but years would still be too soon.
“I’m sorry.”
She moved her shoulders as if trying to pull back, but I couldn’t loosen my grip, nor did I want to.
“Lucian?” She squeezed my shirt.
I didn’t say anything more, just held her.
It took her a moment, and she finally drooped against me, her hands settling against my sides, smoothing them in a gentle glide.