Chapter 27 #2
“Why’re you defending him?” Gabriel calls back to her. “This filthy servant keeps pushing me. Keeps testing my patience. Last time I gave him an order, he ran off with you. There are consequences for a disgusting traitor like him.”
His dominant aura surges outward, heavy and oppressive. I lift my head despite the blows.
“So, what’s the plan?” I smirk through blood and pain. “You gonna kill me for this? If you are, at least do it yourself. Or is that too much to ask? Don’t reckon you’ve got the guts to dirty your own hands.”
Gabriel lets out a thin, unsettling laugh. “You do know me well, Harlow,” he says. “And you also know you’re not worth my personal effort.”
He leans forward slightly, eyes gleaming. “I’ll kill you,” he says softly. “Just not yet. I want to take my time. I want Alexa to watch. I want her to see exactly what her stubborn streak costs the people around her.”
He smiles down at me, satisfied, as if this is all just part of a lesson he enjoys teaching. With a single nod from Gabriel, my punishment continues. The guards and the Gamma resume their relentless assault. Fists crash into my ribs, my back, my jaw.
After a while, the pain stops feeling sharp. It turns distant. Numb. My body swells under the blows, skin tightening over forming bruises until everything feels heavy and dull.
“Stop it, Gabriel. Please. Alpha, I’m begging you, stop.” Alexa’s voice breaks as she sobs.
“Why?” Gabriel rises slowly from the folding chair. “Why do you care so much about him? Don’t tell me you two are mates.”
No. Stay away from her.
My mind roars with the instinct to protect her at any cost. If Gabriel even suspects we are potential mates, his fury will know no restraint.
“No, we’re not!” I shout hoarsely.
Gabriel turns toward me. His eyes scrutinizing me, confirming if I’m being honest.
“We’re not potential mates,” I force out between ragged breaths.
Alexa’s cries echo inside my skull. It’s her wolf howling in despair, the sound reverberating through the bond we still share. I squeeze my eyes shut against it.
This is better. She’s meant to be Luna. Meant to stand beside Gabriel. It’s safer for her to choose the mate she knows, the Alpha of her own pack, rather than gamble on another uncertain bond.
Silver Moon is her home. If she truly has another potential mate somewhere out there, that stranger would never give her the stability she needs. Not like this place can.
“Is that so, Alexa?” Gabriel calls out. “Just pity, then?”
“Yes...” Her voice drifts across the corridor, hollow and thin. “Please. Stop.”
“Fine,” he replies, though doubt lingers in his tone. “But I don’t believe pity alone would make you accept my offer.”
He turns back to me, as if preparing to signal another strike. Her voice trembling but steady enough to cut through the room.
“I will accept it.”
The words hang in the air. Her voice shakes, but her eyes burn. Anger and determination blaze in her gaze, her fists clenched tight at her sides.
“Did I hear you right?” he asks, one brow lifting.
“Yes.” She doesn’t look away.
Gabriel glances at his guards with a smug grin. “You all hear that?”
They nod. I lie motionless on the floor, breath scraping through my lungs.
“As expected,” he says lightly.
He leaves my cell. The guards follow, locking my door before crossing the corridor. They unlock Alexa’s instead. My vision blurs through swollen eyes, but I force myself to watch.
She steps out as Gabriel closes the distance and pulls her into a quick embrace. My chest twists violently as his arms wrap around her. The sight carves deeper than any fist ever could.
They walk away together, leaving me sprawled on the cold floor. She doesn’t even look back. Not even a pity glance or a quick goodbye wave. Her gaze stays fixed on the prison exit. She turns forward, and I’m left behind, drowning in silence.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Eldritch sneers inside my head.
“It is,” I answer. “It is.”
I swallow hard, a groan slipping out as the ache returns to my battered body. Using what strength remains in my arms, I drag myself to the wall. I lean back against the stone and close my eyes.
This is what the Moon Goddess intends.
It is for the best. It has to be.
Morning stretches into noon before the guards drag Jack back and throw him into his cell. He looks like he has been through hell, dirt streaking his face, movements stiff with exhaustion. For reasons he clearly does not understand, they lock him back in instead of keeping him outside.
He tries to speak to me, but I don’t respond. I pretend to sleep. He keeps asking about Alexa. No one answers him. The other prisoners assume she’s being judged by the elders and the Alpha. Only I know the truth, that she has left to become Luna.
The next morning, two guards enter again. They rattle the bars and wake the prisoners, including Jack. When they reach his cell, they unlock it with sour expressions.
“You’re free,” one of them says flatly.
“What?” Jack blinks. “I’m free? For real? I can leave Silver Moon?”
He turns toward me just as another guard stops at my cell. The lock clicks open, but instead of ordering me out, the guard hesitates.
“You… you’re not injured?” he asks, staring at me in shock. “Not a single wound.”
Every bruise, every cut, has vanished overnight. Jack doesn’t look surprised. The guards, however, gape openly.
“Guess you boys don’t hit that hard,” I say dryly as I rise to my feet.
I step toward the door. The guard instinctively retreats, as if expecting me to strike him.
“You’re free,” he stammers, “but you have to return to work at the main packhouse.”
I stop dead on my track.
“What did you just say?” I ask quietly, fixing him with a sharp glare.