Page 101 of Alpha Chase

“Who are you and what do you want?” I ask calmly, grinding my molars as I reluctantly break eye contact with Vienna to take in the scene before me. I sweep my gaze around the cramped interior of the cabin, my heart sinking like a stone when I see Serena and Fallon on the floor nearby, lying in a pool of blood and eerily still. I advance on instinct, freezing in my tracks when the rogue speaks again.

“If you take another step, I’ll pull the trigger,” he says coldly, and the crazed look in his eyes tells me he fucking means it. I freeze, my fingers twitching at my sides and my lungs burning as they try to drag in air.

Vienna winces as he yanks on her hair and my own chest tightens painfully. Hours ago, I told her that I’d never let anybody hurt her again. Ipromised. And I’ve failed her.

“On your knees,” the rogue snarls, and without another thought, I drop down, my knees meeting the hardwood floor with a loud thump.

“Don’t hurt her,” I plead through clenched teeth, my hands balling into fists at my sides. The last thing I want to do is try to negotiate with this maniac, but it’s not like I have a whole lot of options right now. My instincts are screaming at me to help Vienna, but that gun has me obeying this guy’s every order like a good little soldier, terrified that if I slip up, he’ll pull the trigger and plunge me into my worst nightmare.

A sick sense of déjà vu washes over me as my eyes catch the drip of blood from Vienna’s chair onto the floor below her, time grinding to a halt as I’m overcome with the resounding ache of desperation and helplessness. It’s just like that day on the battlefield- the seconds that stretched on for an eternity as I stood frozen, watching my father’s life get ripped away. Suddenly it’s like I’m right back there, powerless to stop the inevitable and moments from losing everything precious to me. Everything I took for granted.

My mind nearly retreats to that dark place deep inside myself where I resided in the months after my father’s death, but when my gaze lifts to meet Vienna’s again, the wild spark in her eyes pulls me right back out and breathes new life into me. This scenario will have a different outcome. Vienna isn’t going to die today, and once we’re out of this, I’m going to hold her close and tell her exactly what she means to me. I’m not the same man I was the day my father died, and I have her to thank for that. I have her to thank for a lot of things, and damnit, I’m going to get the chance to.

She’s going to be okay.

There’s no other fucking option- I’ll cut out my own heart to keep hers beating.

The rogue’s lips pull into a sickening grin as he stares down at me where I kneel, a chuckle sliding from his throat. “You know, I thought it’d be difficult to get to you. You keep the borders of your territory tight and you never seem to leave on your own.” He flicks his wrist, using the barrel of the gun to toy with a strand of Vienna’s hair. “But once I became aware of your relationship with this pretty little thing, it made it all too easy.”

Any other girl would be trembling right now, but not mine. As the rogue trails the gun down her cheek, she just grits her teeth, holding tough. Our outlook is fucking bleak, but Vienna’s a fighter, and if anyone can survive this, it’s her. At least that’s what I have to keep telling myself as I let the rogue keep talking, time playing the cruel trick of moving so slowly that I want to scream.

“I had to test it, though. See if I could really use her to get to you,” he says proudly, like he’s some sort of diabolical mastermind. “So I paid off that frat boy at the lodge to mess with her to see if it would provoke a reaction.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Worked like a fucking charm, too, because when I saw you pound his face in, it confirmed what I suspected, and it just made this whole thing so much sweeter.”

“If it’s me that you want, then let them go,” I grind out, my wolf thrashing wildly in my chest as I struggle to keep him at bay. “I’ll gladly trade my life for theirs.”

He tosses his head back on a laugh, cackling. “You really think it’s that easy, huh? That I’ll just let them walk after what theydid?” He swings the gun toward Fallon and Serena wildly, my heart leaping into my throat again.

Stay calm, Chase.

Ride this out.

Buy them time.

“What did Fallon and Serena ever do to you?” I hiss, trying to keep this guy talking so he doesn’t lose his shit and pull the trigger. He’s obviously unhinged, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and apparently eager to spill his secrets, thinking he’s already won.

All I’m thinking about is slashing him open and spilling his guts all over the floor.

“Are you really that fucking dim?” he snaps, whipping the gun back around and pressing it tight to Vienna’s temple again as I suck in a sharp breath. “They killed my mate. I watched her die, do you know what that does to a person?” His eyes bulge, veins protruding from his neck. “You’re about to find out. The silver bullets are going to kill all of them nice and slow, and you’ll have a front row seat to the whole show.”

His mate? Is this guy deluded, or…

The blood drains from my face as the realization slams into me and a name slips from my lips on a whisper.

“Daniel?”

Three Months Ago

“It’s… complicated.” Rob scrubs a hand over his face, looking more exhausted than I’ve ever seen him. We’re obviously both running on empty, but if I don’t get some straight answers from him, I’m going to lose my fucking mind. Hell, maybe I already have.

I keep thinking that the past twenty-four hours have been some cruel nightmare that I’ll wake up from, but waking would require actually sleeping, and I’m not sure I’ll ever manage that again. I’m not sure about anything anymore except that my life is fucked beyond repair and I’m not leaving this office until Rob tells me what I need to know.

“I don’t understand,” I mutter, raking a hand through my hair and tugging at the strands. “Why would my mom willingly join the shadow pack?”

“She met her mate,” Rob murmurs, wincing like it pains him to force the words past his lips. He stares at me from his seat across the desk, his eyes glazing over as he steels his expression. “His name was Daniel Arcos, and he conspired with Xavier behind his own Alpha’s back to help him seize their pack. Once Xavier attacked and claimed the pack, he rewarded Daniel by making him one of the shadow pack’s top officials.”

I shake my head so hard that it feels like it could fly off my shoulders. “No, that can’t be right,” I grumble, my exhausted brain struggling to grab hold of Rob’s words and rationalize them.

How could my mother go from tucking me in at night to trying to kill me on the battlefield? Years had passed, so many years where I held out hope that I’d see her again someday. Now, I wish I never had, because then maybe my dad would still be here.

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