Chapter 91

[ 1,334 words ]

Aria

Hazel is a hunter.

The sight of her with those men chasing down Liam felt like someone had sliced into my chest and twisted my heart.

My eyes lock on the woman trapped in Liam’s grip, and the world stops breathing.

My best friend’s golden curls spill over Liam’s arm as she struggles against him, silver flashing from the knife still clutched in her hand.

Her chest heaves, and she tries to stab him, but he reacts too quickly, stopping her hand and twisting the knife out of her grip.

He dragged it into a thick brush, disappearing from view.

No, no, no.

I swear I can feel my wolf whine behind the fog.

I look away and am faced with Kane’s priggish, toothy smile.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to find her. She is why you came, isn’t she?”

Memories crash into me one after another.

Movie nights in my room.

Hazel is laughing while putting cornstarch into our boss’s coffee.

How she fought and worried beside me.

The life we carved out together.

All.

A.

Fucking.

Lie.

Every moment we shared suddenly feels poisoned.

Kane steps closer with the calm of a man who has everything under his control.

His pristine suite a physical reminder of this being just another Tuesday to this mother fucker.

The fake sympathy in his expression makes me bare my teeth through stinging eyes.

Kane rests a hand lightly on my shoulder, and the contact makes me stiffen.

“This is why you should be more careful. You never know who to trust, do you?”

I jerk away from him instantly.

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

His smile falters for half a second.

“Aria, it pains me to have to show you the truth, but you insisted on being stubborn. You see that nothing around you is ever like it seems. You were always a sheep, being herded exactly where we wanted you to be.”

His voice is like nails against the cracking borders of my mind.

All I want to do is scream.

Lash out at the delight darkening his serpentine eyes.

“Shut up!” I shout.

Aldren grabs me by the hair, yanking me back to look at the screen as the view changes.

His claws scratch against my scalp, and I grit my teeth against the scream that wants to bubble out of me.

“Keep your eyes open,” he snarls.

“If you’re going to resist, then you should see the price of your choices.”

Felix is being tied up to an erect, crudely put-together wooden plank.

He’s dirty, wet, and covered with blood.

A few cuts are visible beyond the dirt, but what hit me most is the disoriented look in his eyes.

Then I spot the darts.

Three of them stuck out of his shoulder, his thigh, and his chest.

They drugged him.

“All this proves is what a bunch of pussies you are,” I hiss.

“No,” Aldren’s hot breath ghosts over my ear.

“What it does is show what you’re willing to sacrifice for your ego.”

Once Felix is firmly secure, the hunter laughs manically.

One of them pulls out a knife, taunting him.

He says something I can’t hear and then stabs him.

The others laugh and jeer and egg him on.

I try to look away, but Aldren forces me to watch.

“What about Aria? Have you made your choice?” Aldren says.

“Go fuck yourself,” I spit.

Stab.

Felix’s body jerks, the pain twisting his features.

“You could stop this. Stop all of this,” Aldren says.

Stab.

“The hunt. The banishment. The war. It could all stop now if you agree to side with us.”

The hunter stabs him again, and I whimper.

Felix isn’t going to last much longer like this.

The cuffs are stunting his shifter heel.

If he doesn’t get help soon, he might bleed out before they are done playing with him.

“Time is running out for your friend,” Kane says, eyes impassive.

Blood rushes in my ears.

I feel the tears sliding down my cheeks before I’m aware that I’m crying.

The screen goes black

I can’t give in.

I can’t.

If I do, there will be more lives at stake.

I lock down my heart, remembering the plan.

Remembering that somewhere out there, Ronan and the others are ready, lying in wait to come in and change the course of our future.

So I need to be strong.

“The answer is no,” I say.

Aldren stands to his full height, irritation flashing in his eyes.

“What a disappointment.”

He flicks his hand and a hunter I recognize steps forward, holding a small wooden chest in his hands.

“Ransom, I can’t say I’m surprised,” I seethe.

“You can’t be too surprised,” he says casually as Lame opens the box and pulls out a few non-discreet items.

“After all, you let me live in your house knowing what I am.”

“How did you—”

“Oh, please, Aria,” he cuts me off.

“ Your mate knew exactly who I was.

“I know they told you.

Imagine the surprise when I found out you knew my cousin.

She was loyal to you, you know.

Did want to believe what you were at first.”

“Let me guess, you made her see the error of her ways,” I say dryly, even though the thought is like rubbing salt on open wounds.

He holds my gaze, and it’s like he’s trying to subconsciously force the words into my mind.

“You know how she is, once she believes in something, she jumps in headfirst.”

His eyes soften a fraction.

In a heat that tends to make tenderness go, leaving me wondering if I really saw that at all.

Kade ties a piece of cloth with foreign ruins on his wrist.

“Well, you can’t say we didn’t give you a chance.

He approaches my chair, stopping behind me, and ties a matching piece of cloth to my wrist.

“Stop,” I say, shocking so hard the chair rocks back and forth.

“What the hell are you doing?

“Lorain, come,” he says

Toy dismay, my mother comes forward like a trained dog.”

I fight harder.

“Remove your hands before you lose a finger.

He only laughs at my outburst.

The bastard.

“Since you refuse to do this in a civilized manner, I’m going to have to move on to more hands-on means.”

Ransom catches my eye again, and I know he’s trying to convey something.

But what?

“Eat shit,” I deadpan.

“We’ll see how smart your mouth is when you’re bound to me.” I breathe in a sharp intake of air.

“Who knows, maybe I’ll have some fun with some of your pack mates just to teach them a lesson.”

“Bet you trip blind people, don’t you big man,” I say venomously.

He chuckles like this is all a huge joke.

“Well, at least you’ll have ample time with your mother now.”

Two warriors came, undoing my binds and holding me between them.

My legs felt numb, and I knew that if they weren’t holding me up, I would fall to the ground.

My wolf pounded against the barrier with renewed force, my fire beating in tow with her.

The helplessness, the dread, the darkness dripping from Kane and Aldren wrapped around me, linking like the threads of a nose.

And my mother’s words were the knot wrapping, tying them to me.

They will bind you.

But if they were going to bind me anyway, why would they waste time trying to convince me of anything?

My mother came up to me, and my eyes widened.

She took the fabric wrapped around my wrist and linked it to the one wrapped around Kane.

I struggle against it.

Fought against the hand holding me hard enough to bruise.

“Stop, Mom, stop. You don’t have to do this,” I begged.

She avoided my gaze as blue sparks burst from her fingertips.

Kane handed her a blade, and her power infused into the steel, making it glow under the harsh yellow light.

I fought harder as she stepped close.

My bucking shook one of my hands off of me, and I took my opportunity, elbowing the warrior in the ribs.

My actions caused the cloth around my wrist to loosen.

“Secure her,” Aldren yells.

More warriors clamp down on me, holding me still.

“No!” I screamed, but nothing I did could shake them off.

Time seemed to slow as my mother came closer, blade in hand.

She retied the cloth, looking me in the eyes, and she positioned the blade over my heart.

I glared at her through my aching heart.

She stared back, a steadiness in her gaze that pierced me deeper than anything they could do to me.

“I love you, Aria,” she whispered.

Then she turned and buried the blade into Kane’s chest.

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