Page 69 of Alpha's Redemption

My eyes blur as I open them to see her bashing its head into the earth with brute force. Her clothes are stained with blood, her arm bleeding from where she’s been bitten. But even covered in blood, she is beautiful as she fights. I catch sight of Zoe's small, white wolf protecting Marcus, who is trying to protect her.

My heart thumps and feels like it’s left my body as I try to get to my feet, staggering as the venom takes hold. Macey screams. Only, it isn't a scream of pain, but a war cry as she flings her bat at the wolf ripping into Alpha John. A grunt is knocked out of her when she’s tackled from behind, only for Kalen to rip the wolf off her. I’m delirious from the venom. As I try to find my footing and get to her, I feel my surroundings flip and turn on their axis before I succumb to the nothingness.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Everly

There are no winners in war. Either way, somebody loses. Even the winners lose; they lose friends, family, humanity, and themselves. We may have won the battle, but no one truly wins the war because no one walks away the same after witnessing such carnage, such loss, and it always ends in grief.

Grief shows you how valuable life is, but also how cruel; how precious life is, but also how short; the darkness of loss and how torturous it can be when you lose someone you can't imagine living without.

Yet, somehow you do. Somehow, you're still breathing, even when the pain of grief is so intense you believe it will kill you—sometimes wishing it would, just so you don't have to know the pain of losing them. Nothing will kill your soul more than losing a loved one. Nothing will break you down more than realizing you will never hold them again, never hear their voices, never see them.

Standing in this hall with hundreds of faces staring back at us, you can see their grief as if they wear it like armor; as if it’s branded into their very being like a tattoo, screaming their anguish. You can hear their gut-wrenching wails as they realize the pain they are feeling isn't hurt loved ones but broken bonds, broken families.

Just broken.

We stand on a podium while Valen calls out the names of loved ones, needing them to come forward to claim their dead sons, dead mates, and dead parents. He does this while trying to mask my grief, trying to keep the bond blocked. I witness theirs, feel theirs, with each broken tether.

The way Valen calls out the names, it’s almost as if he’s desensitized to death, expressionless, emotionless. Yet, through the bond, I know he’s barely holding it together as their screams and pain ripple through him like a stone tossed in the lake, that rippling tide on repeat. I don't know how he bears it. He’s doing his best to block it all, but those emotions that sift through, I feel those. I feelthem—our pack—and I feelhim.

We won the battle, but we lost too. One hundred seventy-six lives were lost, and ninety-one bonds were broken. Most of those deaths were men, and she-wolves rarely live without their mates, meaning a possible ninety-one more lives will wither away until either they die slowly or their bond does. Seeing my father sitting staring vacantly ahead, I know he wishes it had killed him instantly.

It feels surreal, like a nightmare, a loop of horror that we are desperately trying to wake up from. When Valen finishes, we make our way out and meet with the council investigators. They were raiding my father's house when the war started and were quick to jump in to help. Then, while we were cleaning up, they raided Nixon's pack.

A vast majority of the forsaken turned out to be from his pack, his own people, unbonded males that apparently volunteered in the name of science—they put up their hands for their own suicide. Half his pack gone, and for what? The other half is shocked.

Nixon used the attack as a distraction to escape from the city, while his pack was left abandoned. As each forsaken shifted back after their death, we were left with their true identities. He killed his people.

Those that weren’t from his pack were the missing rogues. They were promised money, a cure, and a pack for their sacrifice. A sacrifice that ended in their deaths. Some thought it was worth the risk.

We were shocked to find that his daughter is dead. He had apparently switched off her life support before fleeing the city, leaving his son behind in a padded room—the man that holds the cure in his veins. His blood is the key needed to save them.

The investigators told us that Carter is shocked by his father's plans, that he had nothing to do with it or knew anything of it. That he, too, is a victim of his father's cruelty.

Nixon had moved all his money and taken every cent the pack had—the pack that is now left to Carter to deal with—before killing Carter's sister and running away like a coward, leaving behind his mate and son. I thought I knew evil, but Nixon proved he’s more than evil. There isn't an accurate word to describe what he’s done to this city, to his people and his family.

Carter handed his blood samples to Slasher and Valen's packs for testing. He’s a miracle. Nixon had accomplished something, at least. He managed to find a cure for the incurable. Of course, we also learned that he had intended to infect the world and then sell the cure to them.

Zoe is standing by the car with the kids and Kalen. I touch Valen's arm and he looks over at me. I nod toward Zoe, and he gives a swift nod before I make my way over to them. Valarian and the girls are sitting in the back of the car with the heat going; the night has turned terribly cold.

Cold. Just like the emptiness we all feel. I check on them before leaning against the hood next to Zoe when my father wanders out, looking rather lost. I’m about to go to him when Kalen grips my arm.

“I'll go check on him,” Kalen says, and I nod gratefully.

“Macey is still with Tatum. He’s gone in for surgery to try to save his leg,” Zoe whispers to me.

“And Macey? She was bitten, wasn't she?”

Zoe shakes her head. “She isn't infected. She called me before; her blood tests came back clear. Tatum is riddled with venom though, and they aren't sure if he’ll make it.”

“Marcus?”

She nods toward him where he’s walking over to Valen, who is still talking to the council investigators.

“He’s fine. Beta blood. He’s stronger than most, but so many are infected. Hopefully, Carter's blood really is the cure that's needed,” Zoe says, and I swallow.

“Have you seen Ava?” I ask her.

---