Chapter 42
I stood up on shaky legs, watching as the other alpha wolves moved forward as a joined pack while Knox and his men moved to intervene. I rattled my chest violently, baring my bloodied mouth to them until they stepped back. Knox watched me, his gaze filling with something akin to dark lust as a smile curved his lips. His rattle echoed mine, and the pack turned, staring at him before sliding their gazes back to me. His eyes told me he’d known I wouldn’t lose the fight, but he couldn’t have known the outcome.
I stepped back, wiping the blood from my mouth as angry tears filled my eyes. I’d taken down the leader of the alpha pack, and I’d done it easily. I lifted my hands, staring at the claws that had pierced my fingers; they were razor-sharp and mirrored talons, and I had pushed them into Fallon’s flesh like a hot blade cutting through butter. The rattle in my chest filled the room, echoing as Knox’s sounded as if he sought to calm me.
Spinning around, I stared at my sisters, watching the horror that played out on their faces as they took in my bloodied mouth and hands. I backed up slowly, staring at each one that gaped at me before stepping back as if they feared what I was. Mouths opened and closed as if they searched for something to say—but I didn’t wait to hear the judgment or horror.
I started for the stairs, rushing from the room as the sound of alpha’s tearing into Fallon filled the air. I felt on fire as if, at any moment, I’d erupt and implode. Wet screams tore through the room as I rushed out the doors into the cool evening air, not stopping until I was at the creek, diving into the water as everything within me erupted.
Beneath the water, I watched the bubbles rising as the water begun blistering around me. I didn’t leave the depths until my lungs burned and forced me to the surface as a scream ripped from my lungs. My chest rattled with the screams, causing my entire body to tremble violently as if the thing within me felt my pain and cried out with me. I clapped my ears over the rattling noise that thumped up from my chest. It was violent, raw, and horrifying as it filled the night with my pain. I didn’t stop until the trees felt the rattle from within me, staring at the moon as I shook in horror at what I was becoming. Steam rose around me, and a sob tore from my throat.
I was a monster.
I wasn’t safe to be around my family.
I screamed until my lungs ached, and tears rolled down my face as sobs rocked through me. I slapped the water, hating everything that had happened since we’d come back to this town. My screaming ebbed, and I exhaled, sucking air into my burning lungs as tears slid down my cheeks.
My dress floated on the surface of the water that bubbled around me. I held my hair, closing my eyes as everything inside of me started to become too much to bear. I could still hear the alphas relishing the kill of one of their own. The howls of victory ignited, filling the night as they signaled Fallon had succumbed to another alpha who had claimed his position.
Rattling started around me, and I turned, finding Knox and his men watching as they set up a perimeter around me, and I wasn’t sure if they did so for my protection, or for the safety of others. My sisters stood with my aunt, watching my mental breakdown playout.
Music started, and I turned, listening to Breaking Benjamin’s Ashes of Eden. Luna stood on the balcony, staring down at me as she cradled her stomach with her hands. I shook my head as everyone remained silent. Water splashed, and I knew without looking that Knox had entered the creek and stood behind me, close enough that his power slid over my flesh.
If I moved, he would subdue me because he was something bigger than I was. I knew because I carried his mark on my flesh. I had felt it in the alphas’ house, the beast within me had known right where he was through the entire fight. The entire night, I’d felt him on a deeper level than I could understand.
Someone rushed through the backyard, stopping at the edge of the water, and I lifted my gaze to Dimitri. His blue stare took in the sodden dress that clung to my curves, exposing the marking on my shoulder, where Knox had bitten me when I’d been incoherent, and a monster had been leading my body around.
“Are you okay?” Dimitri asked softly.
I didn’t look away from him as he stood there, covered in blood and other body fluids from the wolf’s celebration of their slaughtered alpha. It covered his mouth, along with his claws. My own claws had mirrored his, and yet I wasn’t like him. I was something strong enough to subdue a high-born alpha.
The man who had dominated an entire pack of alphas violently had fallen to my fangs. I’d made him look weak like he was beneath me as he’d gyrated into the floor until he’d come on it from the intensity of my bite. My beast had made his submit in the most basic form. I’d violated him.
“Dimitri,” I whispered through tears as I searched for the words I needed to say.
“He’d have raped you, Aria. He’d have thrown you down and taken you by force and then let us all have a turn when he’d finished with you. It’s a tradition he ensured remained from the Nine Realms.”
“I made him…” I couldn’t say the words past the lump in my throat.
“You dominated him, and you saved yourself. No woman has ever dominated the head alpha, but you did tonight.”
“You need to leave, little boy,” Knox hissed behind me as his mouth brushed against my shoulder, touching his bite. Hatred dripping in his tone made a shiver race through me.
“I’ll leave in a minute.”
“You’ll leave now. I am the King of Haven Falls and I just gave you a fucking order,” Knox warned barely above a whisper, which was definitely a threat.
“You may be the king, but Aria isn’t your queen, now is she?”
“Who is the new alpha?” I asked, interrupting them to end the argument.
“I am. You’re not to be touched or hunted by the alpha pack, sweet girl. I have issued a warning for anyone stupid enough to try for you. Normally, you’d become a challenge we craved, but I forbid it tonight when I took the throne. I just wanted to be sure you were okay.”
“I am,” I said what he needed to hear, even though I was anything but okay.
“Leave, I won’t ask again,” Knox growled, and his men turned from their posts, waiting for the order to kill the new alpha.
I could see the intent in their posture. The way their heads tilted down, hiding the fangs I sensed had exploded from their gums. Knox grabbed me, pulling me against him as his lips brushed my shoulder, where his bite was no longer covered by the makeup I’d applied to conceal the mark.
“Aria,” Dimitri whispered, watching me. “You know where to find me, and if you need me, just say it.”
“She doesn’t need you, mutt,” Lore growled.
“I’m okay, Dimitri. Thank you for checking on me. I will be all right.” He nodded his dark head, staring over my shoulder with a glare before he turned, moving through the yard.
No one moved, not until I turned and pushed Knox away from me. He hadn’t prevented the fight from happening. He had known if Fallon had won, I’d have been legally his until he chose otherwise. Knox had let it play out and decided to place Fallon’s death on my soul.
I glared at him, shaking my head. “Get away from me. I’m sure your date is waiting. Go enjoy her.” I started back toward the bank.