Page 57 of Unforgivable Fate

He would want to inflict as much pain, deliver as much torture as he could before he landed the final blow. He would come for Nova. He’d made that clear. But he would also be coming for Leo and Darius since they had stood with Griffin, stood against him. He had no illusions that his half-brother was any less of a power-hungry psychopath than Maddox had been and he’d made it clear from the moment he took over the Clariden Pack that he was only leaving Griffin alive so that he could punish him and when he tired of that, when his value waned, he would end him and ensure that Tyrell’s was the only Clary bloodline left so nobody could ever claim his throne.

It didn’t matter that Griffin had never wanted to lead a pack. He had never wanted power. Not like Maddox. He’d only ever wanted a quiet life where he could live comfortably, to find his mate and create a family, one that honored and cherished one another and would never, ever consider murder a valid option for claiming more than they had.

He’d found all of that here but now Tyrell had come to take it all away and there was only one thing left for Griffin to do.

He had to run again.

“Griffin.” Nova snapped, moving in front of him as he rushed into their home to collect his things. “Griffin, stop.”

“I can’t.” He stepped around her.

“You have to. You have to stop and talk to me. Tell me what you think is going to happen. Tell me why you think you have to leave.”

“I don’t think it, Nova. I know it. He’s going to hurt you.”

She scowled at him, “He can try but he won’t succeed.”

“You don’t know him.” He shook his head as he opened the closet and found the weathered bag that he’d been toting around for longer than he could remember. He tossed it on the bed and went to the dresser to start pulling out his socks and underwear. “He doesn’t play fair. He won’t issue a challenge and go through the proper channels. He’ll take what he wants and he’ll hurt or kill anyone who gets in his way.”

“So he’s a lot like Maddox then.” Nova shrugged, “We dealt with him and we’ll deal with Tyrell too.”

“Maddox only wanted the power of a Pack Alpha. Tyrell is a Pack Alpha. He’s the firstborn. He was always the True Alpha whether my father saw him as a bastard or not.”

“We have a True Alpha too in case you’ve forgotten.” Nova countered, pulling clothes out of his bag as quickly as he could toss them in.

“Leo will die.” Griffin stopped and stared at her, trying to convey that he understood how much that would hurt her. “Leo will die because he’s a good man. He won’t cheat. He won’t stoop to Ty’s level. He’ll be honorable in a fight and it will get him killed. I can’t let that happen. I can’t let him hurt any of you.”

“You need to have more faith in your Pack Alpha.” Nova frowned.

“Nova.” He ripped his socks out of her hand and threw them on the bed. “Please, listen to me. Tyrell is worse than you can even imagine. He’s worse than Maddox because Maddox only wanted power. Tyrell already has power and he uses it to hurt people.”

“What did he do to you? Tell me. Help me understand why he scares you so much.”

Griffin grit his teeth and looked away. He’d been hoping, praying, that he would never have to tell Nova the truth about the worst parts of his past. He’d given her enough information to help her understand what he had left behind but not so much that she would pity him. He swallowed hard and collapsed to the bed, sitting on the edge with his head in his hands.

Nova sat down beside him and put an arm around his back. She stroked in soft circles. Her nearness calmed the worst of the panic he was feeling but also reminded him of all he had to lose now that he had found his fated mate. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let anyone or anything harm her.

“I told you I was five when Maddox murdered our family.” He spoke slowly and felt Nova nod. “I’d been sick and our pack didn’t have a healer so my mother took me to our neighboring pack. By the time we returned, my father and uncle, my brothers and sisters, they were all dead and Maddox was gone. Tyrell was in power and instead of taking us in as the last surviving members of his family, he locked us in the prison and interrogated us for days on end.”

Nova’s hand stopped moving but remained on his back, “Interrogated?”

“Tortured.” He answered plainly. “He beat me, broke my bones, nearly drowned me, held a gun to my head, all while my mother watched and screamed that we didn’t know anything about whatever plan Maddox had put in motion and certainly not where he had gone when he left.”

“Oh, Griffin.” Nova leaned her chin on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“When he couldn’t get my mother to talk, he turned the torture on her and asked me the same questions.” His voice caught but he pushed on, “I had to watch as my mother was beaten and assaulted, knowing that I couldn’t give Tyrell the answer he wanted to stop it. I couldn’t help her.”

“Of course you couldn’t. You were five, Griffin. You never should have been put in that position.”

“You’re right. I was five and I couldn’t stop Tyrell from hurting my mother. But I’m not five years old anymore and I know exactly how to stop him from hurting the people I care about now.” He turned to face her and sighed, “I have to go, Nova.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Her voice instantly hardened again. “Stop saying that. This is your home and you’re not leaving it, or me, just because that monster showed up here and made a few threats.”

“If I leave, he’ll follow me. If he’s really been looking for me all these years, and trust me, I believe that he has, then he’ll leave to come after me and you and the pack here will be safe. He’s only a threat to you if he thinks you mean something to me. He doesn’t want me to be happy, to have a home or a family or a mate. If I prove to him that I don’t care about you, if I leave you behind, he won’t bother harming you.”

“Griffin.” Nova’s voice cracked on his name and it was enough to make him pause and really look at her, to see the hurt on her beautiful face. “Do you hear what you’re saying right now?”

“I’m trying to protect you.”

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