Page 29 of Cruel Alpha Beast
“I may have married Sawyer, but I’m no traitor,” I retort. “Trust me, my heart is with the coven.”
“Then why haven’t you come home yet, hmm?” Violet questions. “Why are you married to a shifter?”
I’m starting to see red. “It wasn’t up to me,” I nearly explode. “I wouldn’t be living in the valley if I hadn’t been forced to marry Sawyer in the first place.”
A twig snaps behind me, and my blood runs cold. I can feel the presence behind me, and I fear that it’s the very last person I want to see at this given moment. Ahead of me,Monroe’s mouth is in a tight circle, while Danielle’s is in a flat line. Violet watches with a tinge of amusement, as if she’s barely holding back a laugh.
“Is that how you really feel, Lacey?”
My eyes shut, and I exhale deeply before turning around. Sure enough, there Sawyer is, wearing only his plaid pajama bottoms. His hair is ruffled, and his eyes are bleary. But his mouth is unmistakably twisted into a frown of disappointment.
Chapter 12 - Sawyer
I won’t lie, this hurts.
My heart sinks deeply into my chest as I see Lacey’s eyes widen in the warm glow of Danielle’s magic ball of light. She wasn’t expecting me to hear her, hear her true thoughts about living with me. Being married to me.
“Sawyer, I’m so sorry…” she breathes out.
She’s sorry, but she shouldn’t have to be, I tell myself. I mean, I did force her to marry me. I gave her an incredibly difficult ultimatum that she had to choose on the spot, and now she’s miserable living with me.
I did it because I care about her.
I did it because I want to keep her safe.
But I didn’t consider how she might feel about it at all. And now I’m facing the consequences of my actions.
“I woke up, and you weren’t in bed,” I tell her. “I started to panic, so I called Greg. He’s at the house in case Shea wakes up while we’re gone.”
“I’m sorry,” she says again, as if it’s the only thing she can think to tell me. “I-I had to see Danielle and Monroe. I had to tell them about… Well, I had this nightmare. There was this woman, and she was covered in flames—”
I take one step closer, finding that patch of dirt I’ve worn raw over the years. The young woman named Violet raises the red bulb of magic in her hand, illuminating the snarl on her face.
“Back away, wolf,” she threatens. “You’re encroaching on witch territory; I will not have it.”
“No, Violet, stop—” Lacey pipes up, but I don’t need her to defend me.
“Do you really think I’m the alpha of this town, but I don’t know its limits?” I challenge her. “I’m standing on my own land. You can’t tell me shit, witch.”
There’s a nasty glint in Violet’s eyes. “You say that word so poisonously,fleabag. But you don’t know the first thing about me or how powerful I am. I could gut you with one flick of my wrist. I could make your blood spill into the lake from here. But what could you do? Sniff your friends’ asses? Scratch behind your ears with your hind feet? Wag your tail? You’re a pathetic,filthywolf.”
My hands clench into fists of rage at her words. I can almost feel my fingernails turning to claws, my teeth to sharp fangs, my skin to fur. But before I can transform and show her what I’m truly capable of, Violet’s eyes glow as red as the light in her hands.
Except the light has changed, too. Now, hot bulbs of fire spin around in her palms. She lifts her arms as if she’s about to throw these fireballs at me, but Lacey reaches out and pushes her to the ground before she can do so.
As soon as the fire touches the earth, the grass and twigs catch on fire. Quickly.
Horrified at what could soon be a fiery fate befalling her, Violet’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. She quickly blows out through her lips, and soon, a large silvery bubble surrounds her, protecting her from the glowing flames that are rapidly spreading. If nothing happens, the forest will soon be ablaze. The willow tree will be the least of our problems at that point.
Luckily, Danielle is quick on her feet. The light in her hands extinguishes, and soon, all we have is the moonlight toguide us. I watch as she conjures water out of literal thin air and starts rolling her hands together like she’s kneading some pizza dough. The water swirls into a large ball, much bigger than the flames Violet created.
Danielle thrusts her hands down toward the blaze just before I have to dart away so I don’t get caught up in it. The water extinguishes the fire immediately, leaving nothing more than a loud sizzle and a cloud of thin smoke rising upwards from the scorched earth.
“Are youcrazy?” Danielle shrieks at Violet, whose protective bubble has disappeared. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s one thing to protect the traitor,” Violet sputters out, rising to her feet. “It’s another to protect that mongrel she calls ahusband! I-I’m going to tell Penelope!”
“And I’m going to tell her how you almost killed an innocent man and destroyed our forest overnothing.” Danielle counters.
