Chapter 39
Dante’s mate.
Nessa cleared her throat, ignoring the irate rumble emanating from Jasper. Pointing toward the empty tables in the main room, she said, “Please, come have a seat, Angela.”
Maybe she should have turned the other woman away, cursed her name for ever allying herself with Jason in the first place. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t.
There was a familiarity to Angela that unsettled Nessa. It made her heart ache. She didn’t know the woman, but that unmasked fear in her eyes, the kind of fear that took years to fully vanish, was enough to cause Nessa’s protective instincts to rise to the forefront.
Throwing a distrustful glower toward Jasper, Angela pivoted toward the next room, her steps quick and light, reminding Nessa of exactly who she was dealing with.
Not a human, but a shifter. A wolf shifter. A potential threat and a former enemy.
A brief flare of unease rang through Nessa’s head, but she steeled her resolve, determined to keep calm and collected. Jasper was here to protect her, if necessary, but she didn’t think it would come to that.
Hopefully.
Taking a seat across from the wolf, Nessa shooed Japer away when he attempted to sit at the table with them. “If you’re going to be snarly and grumpy, you can go over there.” She nodded to another table a few feet away.
Jasper hesitated, and then he curled his upper lip into a sneer as he focused on Angela. “You try anything—you so much as move one toe out of line—there’s nothing I won’t do to protect that human.” He gestured to Nessa before snarling at the wolf. “Are we clear?”
If Angela was taken aback by the threat, she didn’t act on it. She didn’t even flinch at the icy venom in his tone. “Crystal.”
Huffing in frustration, Jasper stalked across the room, dropping down into a nearby seat. He pivoted, facing them both, his back ramrod straight and his body coiled tight. It was reminiscent of a cobra just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Angela leaned forward in her seat, rubbing her palms over the tops of her thighs.
“I know I have no right to ask this,” she began, her voice wavering as she looked into Nessa’s eyes, her own full of worry. “But please, I’m begging you, please spare Dante’s life. He’s a good male. He’s my mate, and I—” Her voice broke off.
She looked down at the table, the tip of her nose turning red as she clenched her jaw.
“I’m sorry,” Nessa murmured sympathetically. For the second time today, she was compelled to reach out and touch another, to offer comfort, even though she hated when others initiated contact with her. “I have no say over what happens to Dante.”
Angela’s head shot up, tears pooling in her eyes. “You do, though, don’t you? You’re the Alpha’s mate. He’ll listen to you, if you just tell him—”
“I’ve heard enough,” Jasper interrupted, pushing to his feet.
“No!” Angela shouted, her voice shaking as she added, “Please, I’ll—I’ll take Dante’s place. It’s my fault this is happening to him. He doesn’t deserve to lose everything because of me—”
Nessa held up a hand, and Angela quieted. “I heard about what happened. I know Jason threatened to hurt you if Dante didn’t—”
“Threaten?” Angela laughed, the sound wounded and broken.
“Jason didn’t threaten to do that shit to me.
His pack killed my original one, and he took me as a gift.
He raped me for months. I tried to escape, but he always caught me, and when he did, he’d beat me until I could barely move.
It wasn’t until I finally stopped fighting back that he lost interest.”
A tear slid down the wolf shifter’s cheek and, angrily, she wiped it away with the back of her hand. “He gave me to his beta after that who was just as evil. Every day I wanted to die. I had nothing to live for, no hope … I thought about how easy it would be to just give up. To end things.”
Nessa’s mouth dried, an old white-hot rage resurfacing in the wake of Angela’s confession. She’d lived through such a similar scenario. That fear, that self-loathing. That hopelessness. Just waiting for something, anything, to end her agony.
Tony had been a horrible, twisted son of a bitch who’d done everything in his power to break Nessa.
But Jason?
Jason was worse. The day she’d met him, the day he’d attacked her and Hunny and nearly killed them both, that was the only time she’d ever felt more afraid of someone than her ex-fiancé.
“And then I met Dante,” Angela continued, wiping away an errant tear.
“And finally, finally, I felt that maybe I could live for someone else if I couldn’t live for me.
Jason and Brandon made me go with them whenever they both left pack territory.
I think they were worried I’d run away again if they ever gave me an opportunity.
They were right.” She smiled through another tear before taking a shuddering breath.
“That day, they took me to bear territory.”
Jasper mumbled something under his breath and returned to his chair, most of the anger drained from his face. Good. Nessa understood his ire and obvious prejudice against the wolf, but he was a compassionate person, and nothing involved in this situation was black and white.
Were there even shades of gray?
It seemed like an entire tapestry of color bled in every direction.
Angela gave Nessa a chagrined smile. “Dante was patrolling, and he came across us sneaking onto their territory. As soon as we saw each other, we felt it; the pull of the mating bond. It was so intense; we were drawn to each other, like two magnets.” Her smile shifted, becoming genuine as a warmth filled her eyes, the first glimpse of happiness the wolf had shown since she arrived.
“And that’s how Jason found out?” Nessa asked softly, already knowing the answer.
“Yes.” That joy dimmed in Angela’s eyes. “Jason saw his chance to manipulate our mating bond, and he took it.”
“What happened?” Jasper asked suddenly, propping his elbows onto his knees. He placed a fist under his chin, frowning as he listened intently.
The wolf made a small sound of distress, the keening noise catching in her throat. It was disarming, and Nessa felt it like a punch to the gut.
“Dante was so shocked to find me—we both were—that he didn’t realize wolves were surrounding him.
Not until they grabbed him and threw him onto the ground.
Jason …” Angela rocked slowly back and forth before stiffening abruptly.
“He hit me a few times. Touched me while a few wolves had Dante pinned, forcing him to watch. Then Jason told Dante he would torture and kill me if he didn’t do everything he wanted. ”
She shook her head, meeting Nessa’s gaze. “Jason told him he’d let everyone in the pack rape me, over and over, until I was too damaged to do anything but die. And then he said he’d force me to shift, so I could heal and they could start fresh.”
“Oh, my god,” Nessa whispered in horror, sliding her hand over her mouth. She’d known about this part, about the threat Jason had lain at Dante’s feet.
She’d even sympathized with Dante, knowing if the roles were reversed, she would have done whatever she could to save Murphy. But hearing Angela’s side, understanding the torment she’d faced daily for so long, only solidified her belief that Dante didn’t deserve to die.
She’d voiced a similar sentiment to Murphy only days ago. But he was adamant that Dante face justice for his crime, that he pay for the pain and suffering he’d inflicted on others. The decision was eating her mate up, but would he rescind Dante’s death sentence if she asked him to?
Nessa bit her lower lip as indecision warred within her.
She didn’t want to overstep. Murphy was a bear shifter and an Alpha—she didn’t know exactly what all that entailed.
His responsibilities were vast and complex.
He worried that being lenient would sew the seeds of discord within the shifter community, that it would make him look weak and easily overthrown. And maybe it would. But this …
“Nessa,” Angela called, snapping her from her thoughts. “I’m sorry that I’m making this your problem. But this has impacted Dante so much. He feels horrible for what happened to you.”
The shifter’s gaze hovered on Nessa’s shoulder, almost as if she could see those scarred claw marks through the material of her shirt.
“He refused to complete our mating bond.” Angela released a shuddering breath. “He doesn’t want me to feel the pain of his death when the killing blow lands. He won’t even come live with me. He stays close to you, to protect you. He believes he failed you both.”
“What?” Jasper and Nessa exclaimed simultaneously, though his voice cracked through the air like a whip while hers was confused.
Dante had been watching over her all this time?
She tried to process her feelings on that revelation, but she felt oddly detached from it.
He was imprisoned, and clearly his goal hadn’t been to harm her—he had plenty of opportunities over the last few months when she and Murphy were avoiding each other.
Nessa shook her head as another thought occurred. “Murphy would scent him if he was close, wouldn’t he?”
“No.” Angela grimaced, running a hand through her dark hair.
“Jason had a lot of scent blockers. I took them after he died and gave them to Dante. He uses those to stay under the radar. Until now. The guilt was too much, so he called Marcus to turn himself in,” she spat out angrily, clearly upset by his decision.
You would be, too, if you were standing in her shoes.
Sighing, Jasper pushed back onto his feet. “This has all been enlightening, but you need to go.”
“Jasper—” Nessa began.
“Murphy is on his way,” he cut in, sending her a long look. “And he’s pissed as hell that Angela’s here. She needs to disappear before he shows up.”
“You told him Angela was here?” Nessa asked indignantly, jumping up from her seat like the damned thing was on fire. It pissed her off that he’d ratted them out, but as quickly as that swirl of anger came, it deflated.
Of course, he called Murphy. What else should he have done?
The wolf shifter quickly pushed to her feet.
“Hell yes, I did, Nessa. Murphy would skin my hide if I didn’t tell him there was a threat in your damned teahouse.” Jasper winced in Angela’s direction. “No offense.”
Angela shrugged. “None taken. I have to get back to my pack anyway.” She moved toward the front door, sending Nessa a beseeching look. “Please, just … talk to your mate. He’ll listen to you.”
“Wait!” Nessa cautiously reached out tentatively, giving the wolf shifter plenty of time to dodge her hand.
When she didn’t, Nessa gripped her forearm, giving it a small squeeze of reassurance.
“You’re going back there? To your pack? I can help you find a safe place to live where they’ll never find you again, shifter or not. ”
It was a tall order, but she’d disappeared before. She still had plenty of money to do it all over again—or to help someone else disappear from a bad life.
The wolf paused, staring at Nessa in stunned silence. Then she cracked a sad smile. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
Nessa’s eyes softened. “Of course, I do.”
She placed her hand over Nessa’s. “I’m okay now. The pack … A lot of the wolves in it were victims in one way or another. Taken from their old packs, their old lives, and made to be less than. When Jason died, all of that ended. The bad wolves were killed or run off, and the rest of us took over.”
This time, when she smiled, her melancholy disappeared. “We have a new alpha now. He’s a kind male. He’s the leader we need after all the horror we endured.”
“So … You’re okay?”
Angela nodded. “I am. Thank you. For asking, and for listening,” she added. Letting go of Nessa’s hand, she said a brief farewell and then hurried to the front door, rushing through it like … Well, like an angry bear was hot on her heels.
If Murphy’s as furious as Jasper claimed, that’s exactly what’s happening.
Jasper and Nessa shared a small, silent moment.
“So Murphy’s really mad?” she drawled.
“Oh, yeah. He might actually murder me when he gets here, so be prepared to clean my blood off the walls.”
“Ew.” Nessa wrinkled her nose. “I’m not cleaning up your mess.”
“Well, if I’m dead then I’m sure as hell not coming back to life to clean it up.”
Nessa snorted, and then paused, her eyes widening. “Wait—can you actually do that?”
His brows rose. “Do what? Resurrect?” He shrugged. “I’ll let you know if Murphy kills me within the next five minutes.”
“Five—” Nessa’s voice cut off as the front door wrenched open, the bell chiming wildly as Murphy burst into the teahouse.