2 more chapters coming. Editing now
“You never should have said that about the betrayal pains,” Killian tells me in a dead whisper, his pain too great. “You should never have mentioned the pain you felt. You should have fallen to her feet and begged for her forgiveness. Why?” He groans. “Why did you have to try to compare pain?”“I don’t know,” I tell him, my insides shattering with each breath I take as what Lira said plays over and over again in my head. “I’m an idiot.”“You are an idiot,” he agrees, then curls inward on himself, “Mate,” he whimpers, “My poor mate.”She went through too much. Her pain is something that would have destroyed anyone else. Thinking about how she suffered, I wish I could bring back every single one of those men we killed and kill them all over again, making their pain last weeks, just like hers. I am going to kill Wayne. There is no doubt about it. I will destroy him for what he did to her. “Who are you to bring up rejections at times like this?! You have no idea what he has done for her
Jack POV That bastard. My entire frame is shaking. Oisin, my Lycan, is snarling loudly, wanting blood. That bastard, Alpha Lachlan, basically called me a coward. Me. Cowardly is something no one has called me before. Oisin’s pride is critically damaged, and it’s taking all my strength to keep him at bay. Alpha Lachlan was the one who harmed Ela. He was the one who betrayed her endlessly for two years. He was the reason she ran away from him, not once but twice. Why am I the one who feels ashamed right now? He said I ran away? I’m a runner? He insulted not just me, but all my men. Running is what we all had to do. It was the only way of life for us after our packs were destroyed. He doesn’t know what it’s like being overrun but Alpha Wayne’s forces…. But that’s what he was trying to protect himself from. The thing he told Ela about thinking she was a trap sent by Wayne comes back to mind. Maybe he has an idea, but he doesn’t know what it feels like to have your mate raped and
12 HOURS EARLIER…. Elelira POV “We have a visitor,” Beretta nods in the direction of the treeline as she gets dressed. We just shifted back and she is slipping back on her pants after cleaning off in the stream. “I noticed.” Val sniffed him out the second he got there, but she was too focused on fighting with Beretta to stop and ask why he followed us. I’m glad it’s him and not Lachlan. That would have just angered Val more. Cherum was more than welcome to follow me around all he liked as long as he didn't try pulling that babysitter nonsense on me like he did before, have an army stalk me everywhere I go. Val would tear through any army he sent. Even the thought of taking on that many warriors in a fight excites her. She doesn't want to be overlooked or underestimated ever again. He didn't call an army, though. Cherum just watched, wincing when the fighting got heavy, and twitching like he wanted to step in several times. Val was winning the entire time, her aura and larger fra
I bite my lip, fighting back the heat building behind my eyes. Val got most of our aggression out while fighting Beretta, leaving us with mostly sorrow and despair from everything that has happened and was said earlier. If it was anyone else but Cherum that followed us out, I wouldn’t like feeling this vulnerable. I’d probably lash out and let Val take over, like I did with Lachlan earlier. I can’t lash out at Cherum that easily, though. He is still my Delta. My ultimate protector. I feel safe with him, even now. I know I can physically handle myself, but I also know emotionally I can still be a mess, and I trust Cherum to help me through that mess right now. “There is too much damage there,” I whisper, welcoming some of the calm he is trying to pour into me. “When I thought he was someone different, it was easy to consider that kind of life with him. I didn’t know he was the same man as before. Now….” I shook my head.“Ela,” Cherum took my hands. “He is not the same man as before. I
Beretta POV What an informative and insightful evening. So, so insightful. I thought that maybe Ela was ignorant of the Captain’s feelings because she was so young, and she was just jaded from her mate. It happens often. I didn’t want to even think about men after what my mate put me through either. Hearing that she truly just thought of Jack as a brother and nothing more was almost as much of a shock as seeing her confess to still loving her mate. She said she didn't want to, but that was as much of a confession she loved him as if she outright said it. I thought she had gone through what I once had, suffering from betrayal as well as being abused by the one fated to love you. Even though after hearing all she went through, I was sure she went through worse than even me, I was also sure she had no desire for our captain. More important than me being sure, so was my Lycan, Bella. Bella and I always cared for Jack. Deeply. He was our savior. What started as admiration and trust
Lachlan POV “Alpha!” Cherum’s voice echoed in my head through the mind link. “Alpha. Help!” I was instantly on alert. “What’s wrong with Lira,” I asked, knowing that was the only thing that he would be needing this late at night. He was with her at the brothel. I was sitting in the parlor in our old bedchamber after meeting with her father, staring at the rowdy ships in my harbor and waiting for news she was somewhere safe for the night, praying it wouldn’t be in that grimy pirate’s presence. “The lass is drunk as a skunk, and Val is making this harder than it needs to be.” Drunk? Lira doesn’t get drunk. “Where are you?!” It’s Killian’s voice snarling at Cherum now, not just mine. “Meet me at the packhouse gates. She’s flailing like a flippin’ fish. Gah!” The mink link cuts out, and I race towards the entrance to the packhouse. Why would Val take over for Lira? Why the hell did Cherum let her get drunk in the first place? When I saw Cherum start stumbling up the path towards
Elelira POVLast night was a blur. I never get drunk, but Cherum fed me a few of his special coffees before we headed to town, and then Lady Vera insisted on giving me free drinks all night to celebrate my coming back. I wonder how I got back to bed? Cherum was there, and Val was on alert, so I'm sure everything was fine.Stretching in bed, feeling well-rested, despite my hazy night, I stop when my hand lands on something hard and warm, and sparks shoot up my arm. My eyes fly open, and there he is. Lachlan. Sleeping bare-chested in the bed we used to share.He’s bare-chested, because I’m in the bastard’s shirt. Just his shirt. The scent of him is so overwhelming it makes my entire body buzz. “What the hell?” I muttered, backing away from him as far as I could, taking the sheet with me. He still has on his pants, thank heavens, but his chest is completely bare. Val stirs awake in my head, and when she sees our mate through my eyes, she growls furiously, not just in my head but out
Lachlan POV “That was brutal,” Killian mumbled. “That’s better than I expected her to be.” At least she didn’t slit my throat. I think if she tried to physically hurt me it might hurt less than seeing how badly my mistreatment of her in our first lives affected her. She was never open about it before. There were signs, but she never told me. Now that everything's out in the open, she doesn’t have to hide her pain. I lean against the wall across from our room for a few minutes, gathering my thoughts and settling my heart before I go and knock on Niomi’s door. “Mimi?” I yelled to her after knocking, not hearing her moving around. All of us have taken to calling her Mimi when addressing her, since it was the nickname she loves given to her by my wife. She asked us to do it herself. I knock again, but there is still no answer. I’m about to mind link her, but then I hear her voice along with Cherum’s drifting down the hall. When I looked up, they were rounding the corner, Cherum c