Chapter 16 - Tough Conversations
Alyssa's POV:
My mate, a man that stood over a foot taller than me, an Alpha, had his head in my lap sobbing and my heart was shattered. I had never met Maci, but I already hated her for the pain she had caused this amazing man. I carefully thought of what to say next as I softly ran my fingers through his hair.
"Brent, look at me, please," I murmured softly. He picked his head up, still kneeling on the ground, his red rimmed eyes met mine slowly.
I placed my hands on either side of his face, "listen to me, our mateship will never be contingent on having a child. Ever. If the Moon Goddess blesses us with a child, then so be it, but it will not change the way I feel about you if we never have a child." His whole body softened as he wrapped me in his arms, mine wrapping tightly around his neck. "Believe me, I know the stress trying to have a child can bring." I began to choke up at the memory, not expecting the emotions to hit me quite this hard, it's been years now. I should be over this, shouldn't I? Brent pulled away from me, his face contorting into concern.
"What is it, my love? What's wrong?"
I dabbed at my eyes, taking a deep breath to calm my emotions, "it's nothing, it's been so long I'm annoyed at myself for even getting emotional. Besides, we are talking about you and what has you upset. I don't want to make this about me." I gave him the very best fake smile I could, but I could tell by the look on his face he was not buying it.
He smirked, "I feel exponentially better hearing you say that you are head over heels in love with me, now spill it."
I laughed, rolling my eyes at his banter, "I don't remember saying I was head over heels exactly?"
"Oh please, semantics, now talk," his stare became more intense as he became increasingly worried, not knowing why I was so emotional all of a sudden.
"It's.." I sighed, "It's going to make you upset. Why don't we just head to bed?"
He dropped his shoulders, giving me his best puppy dog eyes, "please, I will be fine."
"I very much doubt that," I warned him.
He silently stood up, grabbing the chair he had overturned a while ago, and set it upright. He pulled it over to the edge of the bed and calmly took a seat, leaning forward to grab my hand, "try me."
I knew with every fiber of my being if I told Brent I didn't want to talk about this, he would drop it. However, I also knew I wanted to tell him. I desperately wanted to speak about something that had been plaguing my mind for years now. Having evidence at how light I have felt the last couple of days, I knew telling him this would free me that much more and I decided to go for it.
I let out a slow breath, "okay, we can talk about it,” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts,” I want to talk about it..."
Brent was, once again, the sweetest mate. He stayed silent and waited for me to continue.
"Dalton was horrified that our firstborn was a girl..." Despite my best efforts, tears began to fall on our intertwined hands and Brent quickly grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and handed it to me.
I dabbed at the corners of my eyes, "he was so, so mad and told me I had done it on purpose to disrespect him and that I was responsible for giving him a male to keep their Gamma bloodline going."
Brent interrupted with a scoff, "Gamma bloodline? That's not a thing. You do know that's not a thing, right? Alpha's may choose to keep the current Beta and Gamma or choose their own Beta and Gamma, as it ensures their closest allies are loyal to them and only them."
"Yes, I told him that too, which enraged him.." I paused, lost in my thoughts. At that point I hadn't yet seen the darkest sides to him and I couldn't have known how much that one statement would cost me.
"He told me that I was to give him a male heir immediately," my voice now barely above a whisper.
Brent's eyes turned pure black as he mulled over my words, letting me know his wolf was beginning to surface, "what do you mean, immediately?" He growled out.
I knew I was taking a gamble on his reaction, but I needed to get this out, "he had his mother take Tenley for the night, telling her I needed a break."
I sadly looked down at our hands, anxiety flooding every fiber of my being, "he raped me over and over that night, I had just given birth three days before.." I took a deep breath and continued, "he proceeded to try and get me pregnant over the next several months, and nothing. It never resulted in a pregnancy."
Brent's hold on my hands tightened, I could see by the glazed look he was fighting a shift. I knew this would be difficult for him to hear and he was at war with himself. Maybe this was a bad idea.
"Brent, you're hurting me," I whimpered, making him look down as his claws began to scrape across the skin of my thighs.
He stood up suddenly, sending the chair clattering to the floor once more, and then he was gone...
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Brent's POV:
"He raped me over and over that night. I had just given birth three days before..."
My mind went numb with furry, my promise to remain calm long forgotten.
'Kill him,' my wolf howled.
'I know but we told her we would remain calm' I fought hard to stay in control, but I wanted nothing more than to head to the cells.
"Brent, you're hurting me," I heard my mate's scared voice through the fog.
"Shit," I said under my breath, damn it, I couldn't stay here. I stood up, knocking the damn chair over again.
I paused in the doorway, "I'm sorry," I muttered as I stepped into the hall .
I stalked through the hallway, anyone in my path quickly jumping out of my way. I couldn't blame them, my demeanor was hardly pleasant. I rounded the corner and threw the door to the stairway open. Taking the stairs two and three at a time as I jogged down all five flights.
I continued my journey toward the cells, specifically the one that held the despicable excuse of an existence. Leaves and twigs crunched and snapped under my feet and I couldn't help but imagine that his bones snapping would make a similar sound. I darkly grinned at the thought, I couldn't wait, my claws beginning to elongate with the gruesome plans I had for the Gamma.
Finally, I reached the entrance and slammed my palm onto the reader that would allow me entrance. After a few seconds the door opened and I continued my charge forward. I quickly maneuvered the hallways of white cinderblock, the fluorescent lights making it even brighter than necessary. I arrived at the high security wing in minutes, pressing my palm to yet another panel. I quickly entered as the doors closed behind me, the others opening only when the ones behind me had latched firmly. An intercom came to life and a wolf asked me to state my name, "Alpha Brent O'connor," I said, annoyed that this was taking so long. Soon after, the sound of a buzzer alerted me that I was allowed to enter. All of these security measures were necessary, but all it did was give me more time to stew on what I was going to do to that piece of shit.
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Dalton’s POV:
I could sense the angry alpha through the silver coated cell door. I chuckled darkly as I pulled myself up to sit against the wall. I had wondered when he'd show. The locks began to creak as the pin code to my cell was entered. I took a deep breath as he entered my cell, my wolf noticing the entangled scents.
I scoffed, "ah, so you're the one she fucked in the hospital room. Tell me, what's it like to take my sloppy seconds?"
The Alpha came closer, inching step by step, "huh, interesting word," he said as he continued walking toward me with his hands in his pockets.
"What word?" I sneered. I would not be intimidated by this so-called 'Alpha' playing mind games in the middle of the night.
"Take," he said, coming to a stop just feet from me, his hand rubbing his chin.
I laughed at his ridiculousness, "what the fuck are you talking about?"
Ignoring my question he continued, "let's talk about what you took. You took her freedom of choice, you took her body, you took her innocence!" He roared at my face.
"Hm," I smirked, "that slut had her innocence taken away a long time ago. She had an odd scent about her that never settled well with me. Clearly she had already been taken prior to me meeting her," I spat.
The Alpha lunged at me and grabbed me by the throat, lifting me from the ground and pinning me to the wall. I grinned at him, enjoying the rise. It was much too easy to anger him. He barely knew the bitch, what did he care?
"You took everything from her, and you will pay."
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Anderson's POV :
'Anderson,' I heard timidly through a mindlink.
'Luna?' I questioned.
'Yes, have you seen Brent?' She worriedly asked.
I jumped to my feet throwing clothes and shoes on, 'no I haven't what's wrong? Did something happen?' My wolf picked up on the distress of our Luna, going into fight mode.
'Well, kinda, yes. I told him something upsetting about Dalton and he took off. He was so angry and I'm worried something bad is going to happen if we don't find him. He has me completely blocked.' I could feel her panic through the mindlink as if it were my own.
I was already out of the pack house and running toward the cells, 'Don't worry Luna, I will find him.' I said as I shut the mind link. If he was where I thought he was, the cells were a sure bet.
After getting through every checkpoint I was finally running through the last stretch of hallway as the metallic smell of blood hit my nose and the sounds of fists hitting flesh met my ears. I pressed the numbers into the keypad as quickly as I could and entered the dark room. Using the enhanced vision of my wolf I was able to find the Alpha quickly. Using every bit of my strength I pulled him back, but it wasn't enough, he easily got out of my grip and jumped on the Gamma once more.
I adjusted my stance and pulled him back once more. This time yelling, "ALPHA! YOU HAVE TO STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO RUIN THIS INVESTIGATION!"
"GET OUT OF HERE ANDERSON! YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HE HAS DONE!" He roared back, fighting the hold I had on him. We trained often together, I knew his tactics well, but unfortunately he also knew mine and pulled away again .
"DUDE! STOP! YOUR MATE IS LOSING HER SHIT WITH WORRY!" That did it. He paused. His back was to me as he took heavy rapid breaths, but he didn't make a move back toward the Gamma.
"Alyssa mindlinked me scared out of her fucking mind, man," I continued in a softer tone. Trying to get Brent to come back from his wolf having clearly taken over.
He turned toward me and I could see that he was covered in blood, "man, go back to my room at the pack house, shower, and change. I'll take care of this."
He quietly nodded. I could see his pupils retracting back to normal size, his blue irises coming back, showing me that Brent was regaining control, "and don't fucking take any of my good clothes either. Your big ass will rip them."
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Brent’s POV:
I walked out into the bright hallway. I looked down and could see the blood covering my arms, hands, and torso. I had blacked out. I had no clue if the good for nothing Gamma was alive or not, at some point he had stopped talking, and I didn't fucking care. I didn't give a shit about a single consequence this could have. I wanted revenge on what was done to my mate and I got it.
I lost count of how many times my fists connected with his face. I broke each one of his fingers individually. The sound of his screams only fueled me further. Punch after punch and one satisfying crunch of his bones to the next, I got revenge. I fucking got it and I had no regrets.
I was quickly pulled from my thoughts as the pack house came into view. I had no regrets, but that didn't mean I wanted to walk into a house full of wolves covered in the blood of one of their own. I was trying to decide my next move when I looked to my left, a pond. That would do. I walked quietly. Trying to avoid any detection and slipped into the water.
I began to rinse all of the evidence from my skin. Digging into the mush of the pond bed to replace the blood under my nails with dirt for the time being. I would scrub them clean once I got to Anderson's room. I knew the smell of the pond and earth would mask my scent to a weaker wolf, but I would have to shower completely for a higher ranked wolf not to detect his scent on me. I got out and looked over my body, doing my best to search for any places missed with only the moonlight to guide me.
I began the trek to the pack house. I searched for a back entrance and found it easily. Thankfully it was unlocked. I found myself in a mudroom and quickly shed my soaked jeans, having no clue where my shirt got lost in all of this and pulled on some shorts from a bin labeled "clean." I found a sack and wadded my jeans up into the bag and continued my walk to Anderson's room. I allowed my wolf to come forward to help me sniff out enough of Anderson's scent to figure out where his room was located. I knew to go to the foor where the ranked wolves stayed, but had no clue which room was his. However, my wolf found it easily and I slipped in the door completely undetected.
I quickly entered the bathroom to shower, very much ready to get back to my mate... I had still not let my block down, very much wanting to talk with her in person. I knew she would have so many questions and I would be lying if I didn't say I felt guilty for leaving the way I did, but again, no regrets for having done what needed to be done.
I stepped into the hot stream of the shower and scrubbed my skin and hair two times over, taking care to make sure every inch of me was clean. I got out in search of clothes and opted for sweatpants and a hoodie, they were tight but somewhat forgiving. They’d work until I got back to Alyssa’s room.
I quickly left the pack house and ran the entire way back to the hospital. I planned to quietly enter my mate's room, hoping that she might be asleep. However, I realized how wrong I was about that as the salty smell of her tears and the sounds of her soft cries flooded my senses as I neared her door. I hesitantly opened her door and my heart shattered. Okay, maybe I had regrets.
Alyssa was laying in the fetal position, facing away from me. I made my way to her, my name tumbling out of her mouth as she choked out a sob and fell into my arms.
She pulled back from me, "why, why are you wet and why do you smell so much like Anderson?" Her tears slowed slightly.
I rubbed my thumbs over her swollen red cheeks, mopping up the last of her tears as the bond calmed the both of us, "today has been far too eventful for someone in your state and you need to rest. Why don't you sleep, and I promise to answer all of your questions in the morning?"
She nodded her head, stifling a yawn as she shifted to allow me to squeeze in behind her, her back tucked into my front as my arm encircled her waist pulling her to me, as she snuggled closer.
She stiffened and turned her head back to look at me, "what is it, my love?"
"You smell far too much like Anderson, it's not terrible, but I prefer you," she explained sleepily.
Laughing softly, I sat us both up slightly and pulled the hoodie over my head, settling back to my original position. She rolled over and pulled me close, burying her face in my chest, "I'm assuming that's better?" I asked, smiling at her reaction.
"Much better," she replied and within minutes her breath evened out and she was fast asleep. I wasn't far behind her.