Page 71 of Alpha's Revenge Luna
In the dining hall, tension fills the room.Emery, oblivious, looks around for Tara.I pat my lap, offering her a seat.She doesn’t hesitate and settles down, eager to be out of the room.However, my unease grows; the room is heavy with unsaid words and a feeling of injustice.
When Tara brings out the food, Emery stands upawkwardly.She’s worried Tara is angry with her.Tara, perceptive as always, rolls her eyes and wraps Emery in a hug.I overhear Emery’s mumbled apologies just as Annabelle comes in with the rest of the servers.I watch her, but she does not appear to notice Emery when Kyrio sits next to me and leans over to show me some documents.
“Wait till after dinner, Kyrio,” I tell him, my attention divided.
A sharp scream escapes from Emery’s lips.I instantly turned to see her covered in hot soup, and Annabelle right behind her with a look of utter rage.Annabelle goes to hit her and in a flash, I’m on my feet and grabbing her wrist.
“Touch my Luna and see what happens,” I snarl, my voice harsh and threatening.
Annabelle opens her mouth to retort, but the intensity of my glare stops her short.My grip tightens around her wrists as I press into them with all my strength, and I feel her wrist snap.She whimpers and squirms in pain.
A murderous rage fills my veins as I stare down at her.My voice brimming with a deadly warning, “If you even think about touching her again, I’ll end you without a second thought,” I snarl, and she grips my wrist, tears spilling down her cheeks as her mangled arm bends further in my grip.
“Am I clear?”I ask her and she nods hastily.
Letting go of her, Annabelle scurries away while Tara takes care of the distraught Emery.I turn to check on her, but Emery runs out of the room, escaping me before I have a chance to check her.Fuck!I need to calm things down here first before all hell breaks loose.
Looking around at my pack members, they all eye me warily.I’ve never hurt one of my pack members, more so given where most of them have come from.Nor do I take pleasure in punishing them, but Annabelle went too far and left me no choice.She may be a pack member, but Emery is my mate.
“What?”I snarl angrily, and it takes me a few moments to realize, in my rage, my fangs have split my gums and are showing.
Everyone snaps to attention when my hand bangs on the table, making them jump.But as I speak to my pack, all I can think about is Emery being in pain.It takes me and Kyrio a good twenty minutes to calm everyone, only for me to lose my temper once more when a pack member sticks up for Annabelle.I get they’re hurt and upset, but our pack won’t survive this divide in it with us at each other’s throats.
Becoming impatient, I glance at Kyrio; he gives me a short nod, and I know he will help calm things down, so I start searching for Emery.Upon returning to the room, I discovered the door was closed, so I turned the handle to find it still locked, and then pull the keys out of my pocket to open it.The realization dawns on me that she could not be in the room if I had the keys.In trying to think of where she would go.I head toward the kitchens.
“Emery?”I call out to her, pushing the door open.Despite the fact the room is empty, I still check the entire place.Then moving back into the hall, I proceed to Tara’s room, praying to no one in particular that she has gone there.When I approach that door, I find that it is also locked.As I approach that door, my stomach sinks, but I do not want to accept the fact she would run again so quickly in mere weeks from the last time.
“She has been locked in that room for weeks, Dion,” my wolf reminds me.
“And the first time she is allowed out, a pack member attacks her,” he adds.
Moving out of the bathroom, I notice a huge commotion in the communal bathroom on the floor above, and I rush upstairs, knowing it must be Emery.Hurrying upstairs, Tara, Kyrio, and a few other pack members stand around.
“Dion?”Kyrio murmurs.I push my way in, fear gripping me, only when I do I am met with the site of Annabelle, lying dead surrounded by a pool of her own blood.
Chapter 23
I bolt from the dining room, hot tears mixing with thesearing pain on my skin.Their stares are like arrows pointing at me, blaming me for the tragedy I never meant to cause.
My feet pound against the cold floor, leading me back to the bedroom, but the door is locked.Panic swirls in my chest, a cyclone of fear and regret.Turning, I go to the only other place I know, the communal bathrooms.I push the door open, the cold metal handle biting into my skin, and I’m met with the silence of the room.White tiles gleaming under the overhead lights offer no comfort, yet finding no one here does offer some relief.
My reflection in the mirror is a stranger, eyes red and swollen, skin marred by the soup, and blisters covering one side of my face which copped the brunt of her attack.The shower’s cold water is a brief relief.Each drop feels like tiny icy fingers, pulling away the heat of my burns, the heat of my shame as I push my head under the stream.
The door swings open, a sinister creak announcing another presence.At first, I think it is Dion and I spin around, water dripping from my hair.
“I’m fine,” I stutter.It’s not Dion’s face that meets mygaze, but Annabelle’s.Her eyes are red and puffy, echoing my own.
She steps closer, her voice a poisoned dagger.“You’ve never been fine, Emery.You’re a curse.”
“No!I didn’t mean to hurt you, Annabelle.Please believe me.”My voice is a ragged sob of desperation, only to be swallowed up by her seething rage.
“Liar!”
“Please, you have to believe me!”I tell her.
Annabelle’s laughter echoes ominously in the cold silence of the bathroom.My breath hitches; each cackle sends icy spikes of terror down my spine.
“Just like your parents!A sick, vile monster!”she spits the words at me with venom I can almost feel.
