Page 21 of The Alpha's Betrayed Mate

“Sure, but—listen.” Yara exhaled. “I’m sure there’s a more diplomatic way to put this, but I’ve been fighting all night and I’m exhausted, so—Alpha, the demons were there for Venna. It was obvious. Every single one of them went right for her, like she was a magnet.”

“What are you saying?”

“Look, back when that attack came on the road, I had my suspicions, but I was the first one to acknowledge that I wasn’t thinking straight. I’d just lost half my family, of course I was irrational. But this is different. Every single wolf who was there last night can back me up on this, Alpha Belmont. Venna’s drawing those demons. Every single one of them went straight to her.”

“And she killed them?” Belmont asked, holding down the rising panic.

“Oh, yes. She killed them. At least a dozen of them—just like she did on the road, making sure we all saw what a hero she was.”

“What exactly are you saying? Are you accusing Venna of drawing the demons intentionally?”

“I can’t accuse anyone of anything, I’m too tired. All I know is that the demons are coming for Venna,” Yara said simply. “But I suspect that none of us are safe while she’s still here.”

“Thank you for your report, Yara,” Raske said, clearing his throat. “You’re dismissed, with my thanks. Get some rest. We have much to discuss with the Alpha.”

Great, Belmon thought faintly as he took a seat at the table with his grim-faced trio of senior advisors. This was exactly what he needed—evenmoreto worry about. .

Chapter 12 - Venna

There was nothing like killing a few dozen demons to get the blood pumping.

Venna felt almost giddy as the sun rose over the quiet settlement of Kurivon, content in the knowledge that the warming rays of the sun would accelerate the decay of the heaped demon corpses that lay outside the building in which the children of Kurivon were safe and sound. It had taken a bit of arguing to convince Rylan to stay inside with the other children instead of coming out to join the battle—as one of the settlement’s older kids, Rylan wasn’t thrilled about being told he was to join the toddlers and babies of Kurivon now that the demons were on their way. But in a stroke of genius largely inspired by Syrra, Venna had assigned Rylan the very important task of minding the twins and making sure they felt safe. He’d clearly have preferred to fight demons alongside her and the rest of the adults, but at least he’d been given the role of a protector rather than someone who needed protecting. Venna allowed herself exactly thirty seconds to feel warm and soppy about what a good older brother Rylan was going to be. Then she’d put that subject firmly out of her mind as she joined the wolves who’d been assigned to guard the creche.

There were definitely more demons than they’d been expecting, but it almost felt like a luxury, having other wolves beside her to help defend the building. The night passed faster than she’d imagined it would, and sunrise surprised her through the haze of adrenaline-related time dilation. She helped mop up the last of the surviving demons, putting a blade through any monstrous body that still twitched and snarled at her approach, then headed back to the creche while the rest of the wolves went to make their reports to their respective Alphas. There was something nice about the shared work of protecting Kurivon. Nobody was an outsider when it came to the settlement—they fought beside one another regardless of which pack they were a part of (or not a part of, in her unique case.) She was also grateful for the opportunity to actually show her fellow wolves what she could do. After the number of demons she’d put down last night, they’d think twice before they thought of her as just Belmont’s nanny.

Rylan was still asleep when she slipped into the creche to collect him, settled in on a camp bed that had been set up close to the twins’ cots. She sat by his bed for a little while, reluctant to wake him, but it wasn’t long before the background noise of other children stirred him, and soon enough he was sitting upright in bed, rubbing blearily at his eyes in between peppering her with questions about the fight. She showed him her knives, stained with demon ichor, and hid a smile at the way his mood instantly brightened.

“Are they all dead?”

She nodded. “Every last one.”

A flicker of unease. “Did anyone get hurt?”

This was a question she’d made sure she got a clear answer to before she came back to the creche, checking in with a few wolves who’d met the main assault to the north of the settlement. “Not badly,” she said. “A couple of minor wounds, nothing that won’t heal in a day or two.”

“And the demons are all dead?” Rylan asked again, halfway up the stairs. She could feel his anxiety about the subject.

“The ones that attacked us are,” she said, reluctant to get him too excited about exactly how decisive their victory had been. “The thing about demons is that they’re not really—like us. Wolves are born, they grow up, they have their own families… demons don’t really do that, not in any way we recognize, anyway.”

“Where do they come from, then?”

“We’re not sure. It’s complicated. They come from—places.”

“What kind of places?”

“It depends. Some people think they come from places where bad things happened. Places where people got hurt, or killed. As though their pain and suffering soaked into the ground there, and demons came out afterwards, like mushrooms when it rains.”

Rylan frowned, huddling a little closer to her, and she wondered if that had been a little too much. “Does that mean bad stuff happened here?”

“Maybe,” she said softly. “A long time ago. But that’s why we’re here. That’s why we moved here, instead of just coming to fight the demons then leaving again. By living here together, by taking care of each other and building homes and lives and families here, we’ll make it harder and harder for the demons to feel comfortable here, to grow. And one day, they’ll never bother us again.”

They were walking through town now, slowly, Rylan taking in their surroundings with wide eyes. The remnants of some of the larger demons hadn’t quite dissolved yet, and though she’d wondered for a moment if it was a bad idea, she wanted Rylan to see the bodies firsthand, to know that the creatures who’d taken so much from him could also be vanquished. He stood by a heap of charred black matter for a long moment, looking down at the faintly smoking mess with his brow furrowed.

“This is what demons are made of?”

“That’s all that’s left,” she agreed, standing behind him. Rylan wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t know why Dad’s always so worried. They’re not so tough,” he muttered, and Venna found herself laughing.

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