Zara emerged first, her shoulders squared and head high as she glared at Linden. Bella was slower to get out, her head ducked and hair hanging down to block her face. She hugged her arms around her waist, and I realized how little she really was. The clothes she wore were baggy and massive, dwarfing her tiny frame.
“Zara,” I greeted before turning to her daughter. I softened by tone, trying not to spook the skittish girl, but Bella still jumped when I said her name.
“You don’t have to do this,” Skye said softly, gingerly wrapping an arm around Bella’s thin shoulders.
Bella’s head lifted, her big green eyes saucers on her face. “Yes, I do.” Her voice warbled with emotion or from not being used. From what I understood, Bella didn’t go out or interact with anyone outside of her family. Zara even homeschooled her so she wouldn’t be around others.
“Will you c-come with me?” Bella stammered, looking at Skye.
Skye nodded. “Of course.” She turned Bella towards Linden, but not before glancing over her shoulder and meeting my gaze, letting me know she was okay.
I exhaled.
“Thank you,” Nikolai said from my right.
I blinked and realized he was talking to Zara.
His hand splayed low on Addie’s back as he spoke to her best friend. “You helped save them both. I owe you a great debt for that.”
“You owe me nothing,” Zara said firmly. “I’m just sorry it went on as long as it did. I should’ve strangled him in his sleep.”
“I wouldn’t have objected,” Nikolai agreed with a smile.
None of us would have.
I kept my eyes on Skye as Bella talked to her father. Or, rather, tried to talk. The small girl couldn’t seem to stop shaking long enough to stammer out a sentence. At one point, Linden actually rolled his motherfucking eyes at her.
Bella dissolved into sobs and Skye immediately pulled her back, propelling her back towards us. At the last second, Bella balked at seeing all the people watching her and she spun, running for the car and all but diving into the backseat.
Skye let out a frustrated sigh, and I could see she was fighting tears herself.
My hand curled into a fist, knuckles cracking, as I resisted the urge to beat the shit out of Linden.
“Addie, can you check on Bella?” Zara asked, her voice oddly detached as she looked at her husband. “I need to say one last thing to my mate.”
She spat the last word with so much venom I almost shuddered. Instead, I wrapped an arm around Skye who was now in front of me.
“I hate him,” she seethed, her voice shaking.
Addie headed for the car as Zara headed to Linden.
I glanced down at Skye. “What happened?”
She bit down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. “Bella just wanted to know why. That’s all she kept saying. Why. And he just … fucking laughed at her. Like she was some insignificant wrench in his life.”
“He deserves a slow death,” Nikolai hissed, watching Skye.
“I could do that,” Lulu offered. “I mean, I could literally keep him alive for years while everyone he hurt took turns carving him up like a Halloween pumpkin. We could even have Linden-carving contests.”
My jaw dropped, but Dimitri started to laugh.
“You’re seriously twisted, Lu,” he muttered, but he was grinning as he said it.
Even Nikolai and Skye cracked smiles.
Skye cleared her throat. “I think maybe—”
“Zara, no!”
Addie’s cry made us all jump. My head whipped around in time to see Zara plunge a knife deep into the side of Linden’s neck. She ripped it out, slashing his throat open in the process.
“Oh, fuck,” Skye swore, her nails digging into my arm.
Linden’s knees buckled, cracking against the blacktop as he went down. His hands uselessly pressed to the gaping wound on his throat as Zara lifted her hands and stepped back, letting the knife fall to the ground.
“Holy shit,” Lulu whispered, shaking her head.
Linden pitched forward, his body hitting the ground and not moving as blood pooled around his head.
Addie reached Zara first, grabbing her shoulders and twisting her away from the grotesque scene.
“What did you do, Zara?” Addie gave her a shake.
Zara stared back with glassy, empty eyes. “He’ll never hurt anyone I love ever again.”
The others ran up, asking what had happened, but Linden’s body and the blood sprayed across Zara made it pretty obvious. Skye’s hand clenched around mine before she dropped me to hurry to Bella’s side. The younger girl was staring in horror at her father.
Or, rather, what was left of him.
Nikolai finally cleared his throat and turned to me. “So, Alpha, are we still thinking we need to bring him with us? Or will just his head in a box suffice?”
43
Skye
Not much had changed in the six months since I had run away from Long Mesa. The land was still barren, the air was still stifling, and the sun was still blazing high in the sky, making the desolation and worn structures look all the more broken.
I was surprised we had made it this far in the cars without being stopped. It’s not like we could hide the caravan of eight black SUVs. It looked like we were on an FBI sting or some shit I had seen on TV.
I was in the middle of the caravan in a car with Remy, my parents, Lulu, Dimitri, and Alexei.
And a cooler that held my uncle’s head because my father hadn’t been kidding when he said we should bring it to show their Alpha was dead. When he pointed out that Zara had done half the work hacking his head off, I walked away.
It was weird as hell, and I had told Nikolai he was sitting in the backseat closest to the cooler.
Which he didn’t seem too disturbed by.
But Mom was plenty disturbed, and becoming increasingly agitated the closer we got to Long Mesa.
I could feel it, too. My wolf was frustrated by my human fear, and trying to reconcile the two was like waging a war in my soul.
I rolled my neck, trying to work out some of the strain pressing down on my shoulders. After a second of that, Remy’s hands came up and started kneading and massaging the knotted muscles.
We hit a pothole and Mom jumped, practically landing in Nikolai’s lap and scampering off just as fast with wide eyes, elbowing Lulu on her other side.
I turned and looked at her. “Mom, you can stay with the cars. We’re leaving people with them anyway—”
Her lips thinned. “No.”
Nikolai leaned towards her, his arm resting along the back of her seat. “Skye’s right. You can wait, love. There’s no need to torture yourself.”
“I need to—” Mom cut herself off, squeezing her eyes shut for a minute. “I need to see him dead with my own eyes.”
I reached over the seat and covered her hand with mine. “I know.”
Allan. We both needed to see him dead. He was the only one who would assume the Alpha role after Linden’s death or absence. He was probably already in charge.
I glanced at Remy, letting worry creep into the edges of my thoughts.
Allan was a brutal fighter. He went for cheap shots and didn’t play fair. I hated the idea of him hurting Remy.