by Sara Dailey
“My real brother wouldn’t have any part in this. He tried to talk me out of it, and I wouldn’t listen. He is still trying to get me to come home,” Scarlett continued.
“What was Drew’s part in this?” Aiden asked.
“As far as I was told, he was just supposed to cause trouble between the two of you, but now that just seems too simple. He must be doing something that I don’t know about.”
“Besides torturing you?” Cami added looking from Scarlett to me.
I tried to pretend like it didn’t kill me inside that this guy was messing with Scarlett. I stopped and gripped the edge of the couch before I exploded right then and there.
“What does she mean?” Teagan asked when I didn’t.
“Nothing, he’s just an ass.” She stared at the floor, and I knew there was more.
Cami’s eyebrows shot up as she spoke. “It’s not nothing. I heard him loud and clear, Scarlett. He was manipulating you, threatening you. He threatened to rape you, for God’s sake. Don’t try to protect him. I would hate to think what would have happened to you if Drew hadn’t seen me in the woods.”
Scarlett’s dejected eyes looked at me, then at Cami. “I wasn’t supposed to fall for Luke. I was just supposed to get him to fall for me. I made the mistake of telling my father how I felt.” Scarlett turned to me, “I told him how much I cared about you. That I didn’t want to be a part of this.”
“Why were you supposed to get Luke to back me and not Cade?” Aiden asked.
I didn’t think that it was possible for Scarlett to look anymore uncomfortable, but she suddenly did. “They felt that you were the weaker brother; the one that they could manipulate the easiest. They banked on the pack falling apart if you took over. I’m sorry, Aiden. I’m just trying to be honest,” she said.
I laughed. I didn’t know why. None of this was funny. Apparently, I was no longer thinking clearly.
“It’s okay,” Aiden told her.
“Are you doing something to make Marcus sick?” I asked coldly, my emotions shifting in the blink of an eye.
Scarlett stiffened. “I don’t know anything about that, but I wouldn’t put anything past them right now. Not anymore.” Scarlett stood up and walked over to where I was. She tried to reach out and take my hand, but I jerked it away. “You have to believe me Luke. I meant every word I said to you. I still do. I wanted out of this whole thing, even if it meant never seeing you again. I told my father and Drew that I just couldn’t do this anymore.”
Taking another step back, I asked, “Then why are you still here?”
She took a step back too and wrapped her arms around her waist. “They told me if I left or if I told you about us, if I betrayed them, they would kill your father.”
I turned and my hands found the couch in front of me. I held on as my world spun in circles. I was only vaguely aware of Cade ordering Gage to take Scarlett home and make sure that she was safe once she got there. I tried to focus of the back of the couch, but as soon as I did, I heard the snapping of the wood frame. Cami, Teagan, and Alli were ushered out of the house just as the first piece of sofa was ripped off and thrown across the room. The first was followed by the second, then the third. I didn’t stop until the entire leather sofa was in pieces and scattered around the living room. I grabbed a lamp and launched it at the fireplace just before I picked up the end table it was sitting on and hurled it at the floor to ceiling bookshelf.
I all but collapsed into the closest chair I could find. My hands were a bloody mess from the wood and nails of the sofa, and I was drenched in sweat. I took a deep breath and surveyed the damage I had just inflicted on the poor room. My father was going to be so pissed. My father…I pushed my way passed Cade and Aiden and hurried into the bathroom to clean up my battered hands. It was then, standing in front of the mirror, that I noticed the tear streaks down my face. Great, not only did I completely lose all self-control in front of everyone, apparently I cried too. An enforcer shouldn’t be seen tearing apart furniture or crying. EVER! Suddenly, it occurred to me that with Dad gone, and me over the age of eighteen, that I was the acting enforcer. Maybe someone should start looking for a replacement.
CHAPTER 47
Scarlett
The cold air hitting my tear-streaked face as we walked out of the house made me shiver uncontrollably. Pulling my coat tighter around my body, I had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. All I wanted to do was curl myself into ball and cry until I had nothing left. Gage put his hand on my arm, and I stopped and turned around to face him. I didn’t want to look at Gage, but I couldn’t stop myself. He was Luke’s best friend in the world and he must hate me now too, but when our eyes met, there wasn’t hatred in his eyes. Instead of yelling at me like I expected him to, he pulled me to his chest and let me cry into his sweatshirt.
When a small hand touched my shoulder, I looked up to find Teagan giving me a sympathetic smile. She pulled me from Gage, trying her best to console me. I didn’t know why she bothered after what I did to her family, but she did. I heard a loud crash from inside, and my head jerked up. Alli flinched as she stared through the window. I peered inside just in time to witness Luke completely destroy his living room.
Seeing the destruction caused my knees to buckle. I did that to him. This was all my fault. He’d finally let someone in, and I fucked him over. He would never heal from by betrayal, and I’d never forgive myself for hurting him. Underneath all that intimidating muscle, Luke had a huge heart with so much love to share. Knowing that he would probably never trust someone enough to love again completely ruined me. There on the porch, I sat on my knees, covered my face with my hands, and sobbed.
“Omigod!!” Alli shrieked as she grabbed my arm and dragged me back into the house.
In the middle of the demolished living room, Cade and Aiden were going at each other for real. A series of punches and grunts was the only sound heard as skin met skin repeatedly. This was no alcohol-fueled fight. Both were at their full power and neither was holding back this time. They were both were bleeding heavily as they wrestled each other to the ground. Without warning, Aiden freed himself from Cade’s grasp, backed up, and transformed in the blink of an eye. Seeing the change, Cade transformed in midair as he launched himself toward his brother. The two giant wolves battled in the already annihilated room, hell-bent on destroying one another.
“Where the fuck is Luke?” Gage yelled as he backed us all up against the wall to keep us from getting in the way of the two battling wolves.
Gage shouted at them, pleading with them to stop, but it seemed to only fuel their desire to tear into each other. Then Gage seemed to realize the fight was impossible to stop and gave up to let the two brothers battle it out.
I flattened myself against the wall and watched in disbelief as they clawed and bit at each other’s body. Alli and Teagan were clinging to each other, fearing for the safety of their mates. They cried out repeatedly, begging them to stop. Needing to comfort my friend like she did for me such a short time ago, I reached out and rubbed my hand up and down Teagan’s back.
Aiden swiped his paw out and his claws made contact with Cade’s chest. With his claws driven deep inside, he dragged them forcefully down the length of Cade’s chest, and instantly, Cade let out a yelp as blood began to ooze from his fresh wound. Alli hid her face in Teagan’s arm. With Cade clearly injured, Aiden appeared to have the advantage, but then Cade caught Aiden’s shoulder between his massive jaws. He sank his teeth down into the flesh and jerked his head back. It was Teagan’s turn to scream and hide her eyes from the bloody scene.
As if it was just any other day, Luke casually walked out of the downstairs bathroom and leaned against the wall as he watched the fight. With no sign of emotion on his face, he appeared completely indifferent. He simply crossed his arms over his chest and watched on, never looking my way.
As soon as Teagan noticed Luke, she grabbed Alli’s arm to get her attention and together they rushed over to beg him to pu
t an end to the fight before it was too late.
Without taking his eyes off the fight, Luke shrugged. “Sorry, but I’m sick of the bullshit. Let them fight it out. This has to end one way or the other. Now’s as good a time as any.” There was no hint of feeling in his voice. It was flat and monotonous as if he couldn’t have cared less, but I knew the truth. He did care, and it was killing him to watch this whether he chose to let it show or not. And I couldn’t blame anyone other than myself.
Teagan and Alli continued to frantically beg Luke to stop the fight. His eyes softened as he took both girls into his arms and whispered something to them. Whatever he’d said appeared to be gentle and reassuring and somehow managed to get both Alli and Teagan to calm down a little.
At least until a loud yelp reverberated from Aiden’s chest. All of a sudden, he was pinned under Cade, and Cade’s mouth was holding him down by his throat. I sucked in a deep breath, fearful that Cade had gotten so carried away that he would bite down, but Cade held his position just long enough for Aiden to divert his heated gaze. Just like that, the fight was over. Cade slowly released his hold on Aiden and watched as Aiden rolled over, then slowly backed away.
Cade Walker had staked his claim as the future alpha of this pack, and Aiden had no choice but to step aside.
As both brothers shifted position, for a moment no one in the room moved. Then their mates rushed to their sides. Seeing the love between them shattered what was left of my heart and caused my tears fall all over again. I took one more look at the love of my life and turned and ran out the door.
CHAPTER 48
Luke
The fight was over, but I just stood there. I couldn’t move. I’d never felt more detached. I’d just stood by while the two guys I was supposed to protect ripped each other apart. And I didn’t care. I didn’t stop them because I didn’t care enough to do so. I was done. In my head, I knew I should have been disappointed with my behavior, but I couldn't seem to feel anything at all.
Completely impassive, I stared at the front door for long after Scarlett had left; something inside me was lost the moment Scarlett walked into my house to confess that everything between us had been a sham.
She was gone. Whatever we had was over. I was alone. It was odd to feel this way because I had kept myself alone my whole life, but now I felt empty.
I pushed off the wall and walked away to give the guys a few minutes alone with their mates. After chugging a beer, I grabbed some sweatpants from the laundry room to give the guys something to wear. By the time I walked back into the room, the girls were gone and the guys were finishing up tending to their wounds. Luckily, it wasn’t anything that a few dozen butterfly bandages couldn’t handle.
The tension was still thick in the air, but the decision had been made. Cade was the next alpha…end of story. I always knew that if this came to blows, Cade would win. Marcus was going to shit a brick, and I couldn’t even find it within myself to be happy about that. Whatever. I no longer gave a shit who became alpha. Hell, Aiden could take over as enforcer if he wanted to. At this point, I’d gladly hand over the position on a fucking silver platter.
I walked over to a sulking Aiden and a smirking Cade and tossed them the sweats. Assuming I should being doing something, I continued into the kitchen, grabbed three more beers and said, “Let’s go into my dad’s office.”
“What are we going to do with this information?” I asked as soon as we were all seated. Neither of them answered.
My eyes shifted back and forth between the two of them, waiting for one of them to speak up, knowing it should have been Cade since he’d just secured his position as alpha. To my surprise it was Aiden who opened his mouth first. “Do I even need to be here?” Aiden finally muttered, drawing a growl from me and one hell of a dirty look from Cade.
Cade turned to face his brother and said, “I know you don’t believe this or even want to hear it right now, but we need you. Just because I will become alpha doesn’t mean that I can do all of this on my own. I need my enforcer and my brother by my side. So Luke, you need to get your head on straight, and Aiden, you need to get over this shit quick because, like it or not, we are in this together.”
Knowing Cade was right and seeing the doubt on Aiden’s face, I added, “Those assholes have my father, and according to Scarlett, he’s still alive. We’re not going to sit here and behave like scared little bitches. I need to get my father back and then I want to make the Crescent Hills Pack suffer. Cade’s right, we need your help.”
Aiden sat back in the chair and was obviously trying to take it all in. “Well, we can’t take this to our father. He’s just not himself, and I don’t trust the elders to keep this from him either,” Aiden said.
“Agreed,” Cade replied. “I need to get Dad home and tell Mom that he shouldn’t have visitors. It is completely possible Brian is the one causing Dad’s episodes.”
“Should we at least warn Marcus about Brian though? I’m not the asshole’s biggest fan, but I hate leaving him so vulnerable,” Aiden pointed out.
I looked to Cade, who looked back at me. “It can’t hurt to warn Mom. She’d be more willing to listen than Dad,” Cade added.
“Marcus is going to be fine. He’s one tough son of a bitch,” I said before finishing off my beer. “But don’t tell him I said that.”
Aiden offered to stay and help me clean up the mess, but I wouldn’t let him. I did ask him to apologize to the girls for me if I scared them with my crazy tearing-apart-furniture bullshit. They both attempted to play down the situation assuring me that it was their fight that upset their mates, but I knew my behavior had started it all. And if I had done my job, Aiden and Cade would have never been able to take it that far. But now that a decision had been made, maybe it was all for the best.
Except for the part where Scarlett Reed held my heart in her hand and crushed it all to hell.
Aiden headed out, but for some reason, Cade asked to stay for a while longer. We hung out at the kitchen table and had another beer. Cade downed half the bottle, then said, “Scarlett promised that she wouldn’t let her father or Drew know that she told us.”
“And you believe her?” I asked.
“Yeah, I do, and to be honest man, the more I think about this whole thing, the more it just doesn’t add up. There has to be more to the story.”
I didn’t know what to say. She’d screwed me over. I couldn’t get past that in order to wonder if there was more. But then my thoughts turned back to what Cami had said about Drew, about how he’d threatened Scarlett, threatened to rape her, told her if she didn’t follow orders that he’d kill my father. Maybe there was more to it. My vision blurred, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry or break something.
All I knew for sure was that I wanted to kill Drew Barnes.
Cade stood up, sucked down the last of his beer, and chunked the bottle in the garbage. “Well, listen. It’s late. Tomorrow morning at sunrise we’ll meet here and figure out how the hell we’re going to get your dad back.”
I shook my head. It was all I could manage. The day had drained me of every ounce of energy I had.
As Cade was leaving, I felt like I should say something to him about the fight. So even though it felt awkward as hell, I reached out to shake his hand and said, “I’m not sure if congratulations are in order or not. Either way though, I’m glad it was you. I have always been your enforcer. Any other way wouldn’t feel right.”
“Thanks Luke. That means a lot,” Cade replied, pulling me in for a man-hug. “And thanks for not stopping the fight. Aiden may not agree, but it was better this way. Behind closed doors, you know?”
I nodded and Cade left. I closed the door behind him, turned out the lights, grabbed another beer, and headed to my room. I tried to think about the positive parts of today. My dad was alive and we knew where he was. We knew what to expect from the Crescent Hills Pack so we couldn’t be ambushed, and best of all, we finally had our new alpha.
I could only focus on
the positive for so long. The damage I'd done to the living room could be repaired, but my heart had been broken. The ache in my chest kept reminding me of what I’d lost today.
All of those sappy breakup songs suddenly held new meaning for me. I’d always avoided relationships because I felt like I’d be the one to screw it up, the one to hurt someone else. I never considered what it might feel like to be the one who got hurt. Now I’d be sure to never let it happen again. This kind of pain wasn’t something I was likely to forget anytime soon.
CHAPTER 49
Drew
Last night Brian told me that he needed my help getting Marcus home from the infirmary today. I thought that seemed weird. I mean, why me? Why not Cade or Aiden? I guess Brian didn’t want them to know how bad off Marcus really was.
I didn’t realize how bad he was either. Marcus was a fucking wreck. He looked like a shadow of his former self. Thin and pale, he definitely didn’t look like the alpha I met just a short time ago. The pack doctor seemed puzzled by Marcus’s mysterious illness though he didn’t admit it.
“Cade came by earlier, but Marcus was asleep. I told him that we should have some answers soon,” the doc told Mrs. Walker.
“Answers?” Mrs. Walker asked.
“Yes,” the doc replied. “I sent a sample of Marcus’s blood out to a friend of mine for testing. Hopefully, we’ll at least be able to rule some things out if not figure out exactly what is causing his affliction.”
Mrs. Walker smiled, but the smile appeared forced. “That’s great news. Thank you, Dr. Walters.” When she turned around, the glare she shot Brian was hard to miss. What was I missing here?
Marcus was sedated for his own protection but just until he was safely at home. I wasn’t complaining because it made him easier to move, and we didn’t have to listen to him rant about bullshit nobody wanted to hear. I still wasn’t sure why Brian wanted me there to help, but I didn’t ask. As soon as he was settled, I got out of there.