39. Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Violet
M y heart was breaking. For Bells, for Adam, for all the people who never got to meet and witness the wonderful light Adam was in my sister’s life. Then, I heard laughter from the side before I heard the most vile words come out of a person.
“You couldn’t keep the first one alive long enough to birth it, and you couldn’t even keep the other alive for more than a year.”
Bells pushed away from us, the ground trembling under my feet as she stood.
‘What’s happening?’ Chris asked, pulling me against him as if to protect me from whatever was threatening us. But I wasn’t in any danger. Martha was.
‘She pissed off my sister,’ I answered Chris, letting him pull me to the side to give Bells some space to play.
“You did this,” Bells seethed. “You and Brandon have taken everything I loved from me. You isolated me from my family. Your son caused my miscarriage. You almost killed my son and because of you, I had to see him taken away from me. Because of you, I pushed away the only man I actually loved.”
“It was so easy to do it, too,” Martha sneered, making me growl.
Earth rose around Bells and solidified into a spear, flying at Martha and spearing itself through her shoulder. Martha screamed, and for the first time in my life, I was happy to hear someone in pain.
Chris took another step back with me, his hand over my stomach protectively as we watched more earth rising from the ground around Bells.
‘We’re okay. She would never hurt us,’ I cooed.
Another spear went through Martha’s good shoulder, forcing another agonizing scream from her
“You think that’s something I’ve never felt? You forget where I come from, girl,” Martha laughed.
“I can get very creative,” Bells answered.
A wall of earth grew slowly behind Martha, who laughed.
“Really? That’s what you’re going to do? Raise a wall. What are you, Trump? You couldn’t even do that fast enough to help Adam. Just imagine, if you were faster or more talented, you could have saved him.”
I growled and ripped myself from Chris’ arms. I ran at Martha, punching her in the face as hard as I could. The pain in my hand was high, and I could already feel it throbbing, but I had no regrets when I saw her nose bleeding. Chris grabbed me and dragged me back, his heart beating out of his chest.
“You vile fucking monster!” I growled.
‘What the hell, Violet?’ Chris scolded me via mind link.
‘She deserved it!’
‘What if you’d gotten hurt?’
‘I didn’t. She can’t say that to Bells.’
“You fil—” We’ll never know what Martha was going to say, because as Bells continued to raise three more walls in a forty-five-degree angle, she stomped forward and punched her, too, dislocating her jaw.
“No more vile words out of your mouth, bitch. I spent eight years letting your words affect me. You’re going to stand there like the little bitch you are, and feel me tear you apart,” Bells snarled.
I couldn’t hear what Martha was trying to murmur under her breath, blood dribbling from her mouth and nose in a steady stream, since her wolf was suppressed by Vesta’s silver twine. Chris pulled me behind him, afraid it was another spell, but by this point, the walls Bells was raising had reached their destination and Martha started gasping and gurgling as they closed around her neck, panic appearing in her eyes.
After half a minute, the walls retreated slightly.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” Bells asked, cupping a hand to her ear.
“You—” Before Martha could say anything, Bells began closing the walls around her again, making her choke.
There was more rumbling around us and the four walls began to rise as one. Martha’s eyes bugged out as she was stretched, the bottom half of her body still surrounded by the hard earth, while the top was being lifted by the walls. Her strangled cry began to elevate, and Bells continued raising it until Martha coughed up blood. Only then did she loosened the opening around Martha so she could take a breath but left her stretched out. When Martha’s breathing was a little calmer, Bells began to close the walls around Martha once again.
“No, wait. Stop! Please,” she begged while drool and blood flew out of her mouth.
“Please? Stop? What was it that you said the first time I asked you to help me stop Brandon from sleeping around, or hitting me and forcing himself on me when he got drunk? ‘If you could just be good enough, you wouldn’t have to ask these things of me. Be better.’ Well, Martha, if you were powerful enough, you wouldn’t need to ask me these things. Be better,” she growled and continued to cut off Martha’s oxygen.
My heart shattered for my sister. I knew things were bad with Brandon, but I never realized they were that bad. She’d refused to speak to me about them over the last few months, saying she didn’t want to relive them.
Chris and I had also heard most of their talk while we tried to figure out how to help her without causing Adam any harm. Hugh put it all at risk when he rushed in without a plan. Then, we had to act fast, throwing rocks and breaking twigs around the perimeter to make it seem as if there were more than two people coming to her help.
It almost didn’t work, and when I thought she was going to hurt Chris, I was surprised to see my shields dropping not only on me, but on Chris and Bells. That was the time we needed for Vesta to come to the rescue. Something I’d eternally be grateful for, even if it meant we would never see Adam again.
I was pulled out of my thoughts and grief when Martha’s screams turned desperate. Instead of the walls that had been surrounding her, she was now covered up to her neck with hard dirt. Looking more closely, I could see the dirt undulating up and down her body, crushing different parts of her body.
“I don’t think she can breathe, Bells,” Chris called out, making me look at Martha’s face. She wasn’t speaking anymore, but if I looked closely at the lips covered in blood, they were turning blue.
“Are you feeling sorry for her?” Bells asked, and the calmness in her voice worried me.
I felt like she’d gone to a dark place she might not be able to return from.
“Hell, no! But you won’t be able to do what you want, if she falls unconscious,” Chris answered, making me look up at him in surprise. ‘She needs to get all her rage out, so she can grieve,’ Chris explained via mind-link when he saw my reaction.
Bells nodded at his words, and the dirt appeared to breathe outward around her upper chest, allowing Martha to gasp as her lungs got the first breath of air.
Bells continued playing with the dirt around Martha’s body, as if it was the clay we used to play with when we were little girls, alternating between cutting off the air supply from the neck, constricting the chest cavity until she went blue in the face and then breaking her bones while she let her breathe.
The sickening sound of bones breaking and her garbled screams made me sick to my stomach, but I refused to cover my ears or throw up. I refused to look away. Bells needed us here with her, and I wanted Martha to see who she had messed with.
My phone kept ringing with calls and texts from Cory, asking what was happening to Bells. I finally decided to text him back, letting him know that it wasn’t a good time, and that Bells was safe now. I promised him I’d explain later. I turned off my phone when he called after my text. I loved my brother, but Bells needed me more, right now. After my phone turned off, Chris’ phone began to ring. He pulled it out and turned it off, having seen the text I sent my brother.
Bells continued crushing every bone in Martha’s body until you couldn’t hear the breaking of bones anymore. After a particularly close moment, when Bells compressed her chest to the point where Martha’s eyes rolled back into her head and she almost passed out, Bells allowed her a moment to breathe, before she asked.
“Any last words?”
If Martha was smart, she wouldn’t answer. Bells was ready for her big finale, and anything Martha said would only kick it up a notch. She was barely conscious, now depending on the earth around her neck to lift her head. Still, she licked her lips before she answered Bells’ question.
“It doesn’t matter what you do to me. It doesn’t matter how many of us you kill. Tezcatlipoca will find a way to make it into this world and then your family will pay. Then everyone will see how strong he is.”
Bells walked up to her and hissed, “I hope he does, because I’ll be waiting to return all the pain he’s caused me.” When she stepped back, the ground trembled all around us.
Chris held me to him, spreading his legs a little to keep us stable. The earth beneath Martha started dropping until only her torso, legs and waist were encased in solid earth. Her legs were a nasty color of ground beef covered in flesh, and I wondered for a brief moment if I was going to be able to continue looking at her. I held onto Chris tighter, depending on his arms around my waist to keep me standing.
A spike of hard earth began to appear beneath Martha, growing slowly, and Bells turned around to look at us.
“Chris, don’t let Violet watch. I don’t want this to trigger her,” she ordered.
“I’m not looking away, Bells,” I growled at her. “I want to watch this woman die for what she did.”
‘She’s going to impale her, Violet,’ Chris warned me.
‘I know, and I want to watch that woman’s face twist in pain.’
I made the mistake of looking down when Martha let out the first scream, seeing the blood begin to flow down the spike as it tore her in half. My knees buckled, but he held me upright. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that Martha was a part of what happened to me, too, and my resolve strengthened. I didn’t look down again, but I kept my eyes firmly on her face and the way she screamed in pain.
Right before she passed out, Bells encased her face in dirt, muffling her screams of torment and panic. Once there were no more sounds, Bells removed the dirt around her head, and I saw the top of the spike poking out through her neck. Still, whether out of anger or to make sure she was dead, Bells sent a spear through her head, pieces of brain matter dripping from the end. Finally, Bells let the dirt fall from around Martha, and the woman fell to the ground in two sickening piles of flesh.
Bells used her power to remove the dirt from beneath both piles of human garbage and then sealed the bitch’s remains with more earth over her.
“Let her rot there. She doesn’t deserve to have her spirit sent back to Selene,” Bells spat.
Bells began walking toward us, and we rushed to her when we noticed she was wobbly on her feet.
“I spent too much energy,” Bells explained in a tired whisper, allowing us to help her walk back to the pack house. Before we could get too far, though, she made us stop.
“We should go get Hugh and give him a proper send-off. He may have been foolish, but his heart was in the right place,” she told us.
I wrapped my arm around Bell’s waist when Chris nodded at me, and he went to retrieve Hugh. We cleaned Hugh’s broken body and wrapped it in a shroud while Chris built the pyre, as he refused to let either of us near an axe.
After we watched Hugh’s body burn, we went up to the alpha floor. I hesitated at the landing as I watched Bells walk away.
“Go. She needs you, right now,” Chris bent down and whispered in my ear.
I turned, grabbed his face in my hands and kissed him hard, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world for having found him.
I turned from him and headed to take care of my sister. I walked into her unlocked room, finding her already in bed. She hadn’t bothered to change or shower. My sister was just done with the world at the moment, and I didn’t blame her. I closed the door and crawled under the covers behind her, wrapping her in my arms.
It was a few minutes before she finally let go and sobbed. After twenty minutes of being unable to stop, I had Chris bring me up a chamomile tea to get her to calm down and sleep, worried about her pups and the stress on her body.
Eventually, the tea did its job, and she calmed down enough to fall asleep.
Once I was sure she was in a deep sleep, I got out of bed and walked to the little living room. I pulled out my phone, turned it on, and called Cory. I wasn’t surprised when he answered on the first ring, even though it was past midnight.
“What the hell is going on, Violet? No one is answering their goddamn phones! I’ve got the plane ready. I’m three minutes from driving out of here with twenty warriors to catch it, and find out what the fuck happened. I felt her, Bug. I felt her pain. What happened to my sister?” His voice cracked at the end and I felt for him.
It was hours of not knowing what happened when he felt her extreme emotions, as if it was a pseudo mate bond. So, I sat down and told him everything I knew, as well as I could, without falling apart myself.
Somehow, maybe he had the door open and he heard me talking, Chris knew what I was doing and came to sit next to me, pulling me onto his lap, and rubbing a hand up and down my back to soothe my heart. When I was done speaking, I buried my head in his neck just to calm myself with his scent.
“I’m coming out, now. Bells needs me,” Cory’s voice was full of pain, but I stopped him before he continued.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cory. Give her time to process what happened. Ask her tomorrow if she wants everyone here right away, but I think she needs a few days. Chris and I are still here. We’ll make sure she’s okay. I was sleeping in her room before I came out to talk to you.”
“But—”
“Let her make the decision. We’ve only got a few more days before we go home,” I interrupted him. There was silence for a minute until I heard a deep sigh from Cory’s end, and I knew he was listening to my words.
“Okay. I’ll talk to her in the morning. I’m glad you’re there for her, Bug.”
“I’m not leaving her side any time soon,” I assured him.
“And you? How are you dealing with all of this?” he asked, and my lip from trembled as I pushed past the knot in my throat so I could speak.
“I’m sad. I love Adam. I’m going to miss him a lot, but it’s nothing compared to what Bells is feeling. I’ll be okay.”
Chris’ hand splayed over my stomach and inhaled deeply as he rested his forehead on my chest, likely thinking about what it would feel like to lose a pup.
“Okay, I’ll let you get back to Bells. Make sure you get some rest, too.”
“I will. Love you, big brother.”
“Love you more.”
“Let’s go to sleep, Little Warrior,” Chris whispered once I hung up.
“I’m going to go back to Bells,” I reminded him.
“I know. I brought pillows and a blanket. I’ll move the couch near the door to make sure no one gets in.”
“You’re always protecting me.”
“It’s the best job I’ll ever have.” He kissed my temple. “I want Bells to know I’m there for her, too. After everything she did for us... She needs us in her corner right now.”
“I love you,” I told him.
“I know,” he whispered and then smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
I rolled my eyes. Why did we watch Star Wars together? I stood so we could go to Bells, but he tugged on my arm and pulled me between his legs for a moment. He buried his head in my chest and added, “I love you so much more than I could have ever imagined loving someone, and it only keeps growing every day.”
I kissed him and when I pulled back, I told him, “That’s better.”
Chris chuckled, and we went into my sister’s room. He moved the couch to the door, making sure it would only open a crack without it hitting the back of the couch. I helped him set up the pillows and blankets, and then crawled under the covers with Bells again.
I t was three days later, and I was getting really worried about Bells. She was only eating because we kept reminding her that she had the twins to think about, but aside from letting me drag her into the bathroom to shower the morning after Vesta took Adam, she wasn’t leaving the bed.
The soil engineer dropped by yesterday, and Chris and I showed him around and let him take the samples he needed. Cory was calling me every day. Bells was barely responding to his mind-links, and he was worried.
“We need to do something,” I grumbled to Chris as we prepared lunch. “I’m getting really worried about her.”
Chris dropped his paring knife and walked over to me. He pulled me into a hug, and rested his head on the top of my head, inhaling deeply.
“I—” Chris stopped, pulled back then pulled me up and sat me on the counter. He stepped between my legs and buried his face in my neck. He inhaled once, then twice and groaned, his breaths tickling my neck, and making me giggle.
“What are you doing?”
“Your scent changed,” Chris explained, taking another deep breath.
“Oh! What do I smell like?” I asked excitedly.
“Hazelnuts. Pecan pie and hazelnuts,” he murmured from his place in my neck. “It’s like someone drizzled warm Nutella all over you, mate.”
I shivered. I loved it when he called me his mate. I wrapped my arms around him and let him inhale and sniff as much as he wanted.
I felt him getting hard between my legs. It’d been three days since we slept in the same bed together, and it already felt like too long.
“Chris,” I whimpered desperately, feeling the need pooling in my lower abdomen.
“I know, Little Warrior. This is going to have to be fast,” he groaned, picking me up, walking us into the pantry and pressing me against the shelves. “I need you so bad.”
The pantry was mostly empty now, most of the surplus having been donated to the women’s shelter a few days ago. Chris put me down reluctantly, and I started removing my leggings, kicking them to the side while Chris undid his belt and pulled down his pants, his erection springing free. Despite the relief I needed between my legs, I dropped to my knees, pulling him close and swirling my tongue over the head of his cock.
Chris’ head snapped back and he let out a string of curses, bracing his arms against the shelves. I took him into my mouth, hollowing my cheeks to take him back as much as I could. I worked him to a frenzy, feeling like the most powerful woman in the world, when I brought a man like Chris to his knees and snap his steel control. After a minute, Chris pulled back with a snarl before he could cum and dropped to his knees in front of me. He kissed me hard, then pulled me up until I was straddling him.
“Ride me, Violet,” he begged, lining his cock up to my entrance.
I sank down on him, making us both moan. Chris rested his forehead on mine, breathing heavily. I pushed forward, brushing my lips against him, before I lifted and sank down on him again.
His hands gripped my hips, helping me rock on him, urging me on faster. My hands gripped his shoulders and I started bouncing faster on him. I whimpered as I quickly teetered on the edge of an orgasm. I tried to move faster, but Chris held me still and started thrusting up into me. His lips were on my neck, sucking and licking as he brought me so close to orgasm, I wanted to sob.
“I can’t wait to mark you,” Chris groaned against the crevice of my neck.
I felt his blunt teeth nipping at the skin and I burst into flames with one more thrust of his powerful hips. I cried out his name, and I felt his warm seed covering the walls of my channel.
“I love you,” Chris whispered, his face still in my neck. “You’ve filled my life with so much light and joy.”
I hugged him tighter, unable to speak after his words. I could only hope he understood how much he meant to me.
We remained wrapped around each other for a few minutes, before we stood and cleaned up. We washed up and I thought we’d continue to prepare lunch together, but Chris kissed my temple, and took a step around the counter.
“I’ve got an idea. I’ll be back. Reach out if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
Chris was gone for about twenty minutes and when he came back, he called out that he was back inside the pack house and would right back down, as I heard him running up the stairs.
“What were you doing?” I asked him when he walked inside the kitchen a few minutes later.
“I’ll show you after lunch,” he answered, leaning down and kissing me hard before taking the tray of food from my hands.