“Where is Alexa?” I almost growled.
“In my territory.”
“I want her dead.”
“Are you fucking crazy? I didn’t kill her, despite my father’s order. What made you think I would kill her for you?” He spat at me. His eyes dilated again.
“Did you know why my mother is dead? Because you...” I pointed a finger at him. “...fucking took Achilles’ daughter and you didn’t have the audacity to inform us that you had her!”
His jaw tightened before his hand flew to his hair, brushing it hard.
“Achilles wanted to abduct my sister because she’s blonde and unmarked. For some fucking reason, he wanted her to be Alexa! He almost got Bella! But now my mother is dead! Give me Alexa, and I will give you Achilles’ head.”
“No.”
“What is she now, your fucking whore?” I spat back at him.
I didn’t see it coming until it landed on my jaw. Aeon threw a powerful jab. I staggered backward and was about to throw a counterpunch when my fucking Beta stood up between us again.
“Fuck! Alphas! Can you both calm down? If you want a fucking match, I can organize one, but if you want to talk, then just talk!”
“Leave Alexa out of this. We will find Achilles together.” Aeon spoke. His chest was still heaving, but he was speaking calmly this time.
“Alexa is the fucking root of why Achilles is hunting females right now. Who knows who the next blonde she-wolf he’s going to target? I’m not going to sit here and wait until somebody gets abducted.”
“And I’m not going to fucking let you bait Alexa for this!”
“Have you lost your fucking mind? She’s the key to catching Achilles!”
“She’s my fucking mate!”
My jaw clenched at his words. That was not something I expected to hear from him. I was under the impression that he was fucking her but never thought she was his fated mate.
“Now tell me how hard your life is right now! Do you think I don’t wake up every day thinking what a fucking mess of a life I have? I have a chosen luna that I can’t abandon because she and her pack need me! And my fucking mate is a rogue! A fucking rogue! Someone my family and my pack would never approve of! The daughter of the rogue who terrorized and killed my mother! I could have just walked away and left her to die when my father ordered me to eliminate her. But I couldn’t! I can’t! Do you know what predicament she was in when we found her? She was tied to a post and about to be whipped by her own father as punishment! Now tell me, if it were Nadia there and it was her father who killed Zahra, would you leave her or kill her? Because I couldn’t.”
His chest was heaving and his eyes watered. The Aeon standing before me was different from the arrogant and confident man I was used to.
“I couldn’t.” He repeated.
I let out a deep sigh before my lips pursed into a thin line as I crouched on the floor, resting my forearms on my thighs. My chest was heaving. I didn’t know what to say or how to react. If I didn’t know how a mate bond feels, I wouldn’t care. But I knew what it could do to a person.
“I’m sorry, Zahra’s dead. I can’t tell you I understand your pain because maybe I don’t. But I lost my mother too, at the hands of the same man. If there’s someone who wants Achilles’ death, it’s me. But I don’t want to lose Alexa because she’s fucking mine! Instead of you planning to kill my mate, can we just help each other and kill the man who did this to us?” His one hand was raised to his waist as the other rubbed his face.
I looked down at the ground, thinking of the best move at this point.
“Riley, I need you more than ever because you’re the only one who knows I have her in my territory. And the moment the news spreads, every fucking Alpha will want a piece of her to get to Achilles. And I will not hesitate to kill anyone who dares to touch Alexa, or at least die trying to protect her.”
Chapter 106
NADIA.
The packhouse was stillgloomy but was swarming with warriors. Riley had stepped up the security around the packhouse and the whole territory. The vast neutral forest connecting Alpha Caspian and Alpha Darvin’s territories with us was already surrounded by warriors from all three packs.
After breakfast, Riley stayed in his office with Alpha Aeon. The Alpha arrived early this morning to pay respect to Zahra, and they’d been discussing something behind closed doors. Only the Beta and the Gamma were allowed inside, and even Jenny had no idea what was going on.
But I wasn’t worried. I knew Riley would let me know once we had our time alone. I was relieved that at least he was moving around and discussing things rather than being stuck in one place. Not that he was not allowed to mourn Zahra, but I didn’t want him to feel that he hadn’t made Zahra happy, because I knew that even in the short time that they were together, it made up for all the years that Zahra longed for him.
The warriors had arrived earlier with all the belongings that were left in the car that was hijacked. The luggage and bags were inside the private receiving room, and I was here now with the twins, Laura and Jenny.
