Chapter 19 #2
All those years we’d thought her dead, Rielle had been closer than we’d ever expected, existing and hunting on the fringes between Alpha Matt’s territory and mine, incapable of returning to her home, yet unable to leave.
Alpha Matt’s sentry must have happened upon her, and she’d killed him. Matthew had tightened the border security after that incident, leaving her no recourse but to flee into human territory. And thus the murders began.
Alpha Matt collapsed to his knees at her bedside, silent tears falling.
“I failed her,” His voice broke on the words, as he reached out to take Rielle’s small hand in his. “Twelve years, Damien. She was out there for twelve years. All alone.”
I bristled.
“There was no way we could have known she didn’t die with Tyler.”
His name left a bitter taste on my tongue.
Tyler was Rielle’s older brother. For years, he had been the presumed heir to the Sky Pack’s alpha seat.
But power unmuzzled is dangerous. The pack saw through him…
his excess, his arrogance, his appetite for blood.
In time, they chose Matt instead, Rielle’s adoptive brother. A steadier hand.
Tyler didn’t take it lightly. What followed was no mere tantrum. It was a coup. He didn’t just try to take back the Sky Pack. He dragged us all into it, my pack included, reigniting a war Matt and I had tried so hard to end. And Rielle stood by him. She stood against me.
That betrayal carved itself into me. Tyler met the end he earned, violent, final. And for a time, I thought Rielle died with him.
“I should have known,” Alpha Matt interrupted sharply, his tone self-flagellating, but in between those words was an emotion, a love that had nothing to do with love between siblings.
I nodded once, my words leaving me stiffly.
“I’ll inform the human authorities tomorrow morning. You can say your goodbyes tonight.”
I turned to leave, but Alpha Matt was on his feet faster than I could draw a breath, standing between me and the door.
“No,” he said firmly.“I will take care of the human authorities.”
I frowned, beyond confused.
“What are you saying?”
There were no signs of tears on Alpha Matt’s face now. His semi-permanent hateful sneer returned like it had never left.
“I entrusted my sister to you to be your mate,” he spat out, index finger jabbing at my chest. “I want her returned the exact way she left us.”
I stared at him.
“Her mind is broken, Matthew.”
“Fix it,” Alpha Matt growled, his tone holding a thread of bitterness as he continued. “I heard she only lets you touch her. Your mate bond is still strong despite the rejection. If you take care of her, she will recover.”
I stiffened, my mind flashing to that moment Rielle had broken our bond and betrayed me.
“I can’t.”
“You will,” Alpha Matt took another step closer to me, desperation sparking in the depths of his gaze. “You owe me a life debt, Damien, and this is the payment I want.”
I shook my head.
“I can’t.”
Matthew let out a broken laugh that held no mirth.
“All these years, you were so hung up on her that you never took another mate.” His eyes fixed on mine, dead serious. “Don’t act like you don’t want to know why she did what she did.”
At the sound of his words, the scene that had haunted me for years rushed to the forefront of my mind. In a blink, I was back to that bloody day and to the moment where I knelt with the body of my older sister cooling in my arms, the cries of my people fighting and dying a dark symphony in the air.
Rielle stood barely a few feet away after rejecting me. So close I could have reached out and crushed her throat for her betrayal, but I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
“Don’t hate me too much for this, Damien,” she’d whispered, tears sparking in those eyes I’d fallen in love with. “Please.”
Back in the present, I stared at the sleeping woman who’d broken me once. Matthew stood still, watching me with eyes as dull as flints, already knowing the decision I would make.
Raven was waiting when I returned to the pack house, bone weary and tired. She drifted towards me, the smile on her lips fragile and shy from our new intimacy, yet impossibly radiant, and I felt the darkness on my shoulders lift and my worries ease at the sight of her.
For a moment, I wanted nothing more than to embrace her, to hold her, to take in her scent, secure in the knowledge that all would be right in the world if I just held her.
“You’re back,” Raven shifted on her feet almost abashedly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. A flush rose to her cheeks as she stared anywhere but at me. “I wanted to talk—”
I saw the moment Raven noticed. The moment her beautiful smile slipped, her movement stilling as she caught sight of the person who’d pretty much tucked herself behind me, seemingly terrified of anything that moved.
I wish I had kissed Raven one more time. I wish she had finished that sentence. More than that, I wished I weren’t so consumed by the past. By my hatred.
“Raven, this is Rielle,” I said. “My former mate.”