Lust For Revenge

Deafening Silence

ALETHA POV

"Are you alright?" Sophie asked for the 4th time.
It had been 3 hours since Ace left and he has yet to return. A part of me is glad because I know what comes next after he returns. The same pain I went through years ago with Zander. No wolf in their right mind would want a infertile mate, let alone an Alpha.
I could feel the walls Ace had taken down brick by brick around my heart building up again.

Have a little more faith in him.
Zelda tried to convince me with a voice that didn't sound convinced itself.

"I'm fine" I lied staring at the same spot on the floor I had been 3 hours ago. I heard light footsteps make their way to me. Sophie sits on the floor across from me the smell of vanilla, her perfume i'm guessing, and a smidge of burnt wood, the smell  all witches have,  rushing across to me.
"Would you like to talk about it?" her soft voice asked.
"No" I lied again.
"Tell me" she coaxed and whether it was the calm ambience of  her cottage, her soft aura, or her beckoning voice, I spilled my secret to her like it was my only redemption at  salvation.

"When I was 16 I was rejected by my mate who was the Alpha of my old pack, I left the same night with the clothes on my back and a bag. I had no survival instincts so I depended on my wolf and she helped a lot...but it wasn't enough." The words rushed out my mouth the way water rushed down a waterfall.
" It had been my second week in the wild. I was sleeping on a tree branch, Zelda had been asleep when I chose the tree so... so I didn't know that it was beginning to rot." I looked up from the floor and found Sophies bright eyes looking into mine.

"It was around the middle of the night when I woke to the sounds of growling beneath me. A pack of hyenas danced around under my tree, circling each other, waiting for me to come down. I was high enough that they couldn't jump to me then they began climbing  and falling but they got  closer with each try so I decided to move up the tree. My first mistake." I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"The second I stepped on the end of the branch it snapped and I was suddenly falling into a pit of hyenas. Before I could hit the ground Zelda came out. She fought them off for 2 hours before they got the best of her. So I took over and I tried to run but I was too hurt. I felt a bite on my ankle and my body slammed into the ground face first, blood pouring out so much i could feel it all over my face. Then they decided to stop playing with me and finish their dinner" I smiled a humorless smile remembering how they tore into my stomach and fished out my organs.
"I should've been dead. I should've been in bits and pieces in their stomachs."

"Why weren't you?" Sophie asked with interest.

" I don't know. I blacked out after they tore into me, but I woke up and it had turned night. I looked down expecting to see half of myself missing but I was in perfect condition, it was like nothing happened, like I had hallucinated all of it and I might have believed I did if there hadn't been hyena fur and blood all around me from the fight. I got up and everything felt fine. Except it didn't all feel fine. We could tell something was missing, Zelda and I, we could tell that something was wrong internally and in an instant we knew. We knew that something was wrong. we could feel it. We could feel the lack of an organ. Whatever had healed me hadn't been able to fix everything."

"I'm so sorry Aletha"

I shrugged away the apology.
"It's something i've come to terms with"

or at least I thought I had.

Him.

The front door to the cottage opened and there Ace stood sweaty and reeking of raw meat. Deer to be exact.

I avoided eye contact as he walked past me and to what I presume was the shower.

Sophie flicked her wrist up, finger pointing up, then down.
Noticing my questioning gaze she whispered
"clean clothes"

I got up from the floor, bones cracking, and headed to the door.
"my turn" I answered Sophie's question before she could ask and closed the door behind me.

Time to sweat off this day.

ACE POV

Through the sound of the water both my body and the tub I could hear Aletha leaving. My wolf wanted to run after her, lick the scent of pain she had away.
I was still angry. Angry at the universe, the goddess, and Aletha.
Being unable to have children is something you tell your mate immediately. Why didn't she tell me?
Doesn't she think that's something i'd wanna know?

After about an hour I turned the water off and got out the shower, noticing my once bloody and muddy clothes have now been cleaned. I made a mental note to thank Sophie.

Donning the clean clothes I made my way out the shower.
I would give Aletha the same amount of time I had before I started worrying about her.

The scent of a delicious dinner hit my nose immediately once I left the restroom. I walked into the kitchen to find Sophie and Alexandria sitting at the table whispering while the dinner... cooked itself? Spoons were mixing inside pots by themselves and plates were being set by themselves.
"How was the shower?" Sophie asked, snapping my attention back to her.
"Great" I grumbled pulling out a chair to sit.

It felt empty without Aletha. I might've been mad at her but I still miss her. We still miss her.

"You're angry with her" Sophie stated.
I gave out a grunt.

"You have a right to be" Sophie said.
"but she also had the right to keep it to herself"
I let out a growl letting her know it wasn't really her business.
"You have some things you're keeping from her, no?"
"For the right reasons"
"That's what you think"
That's what I know" I growled.
"All i'm saying is that everyone has a reason for keeping secrets. Let the one without secrets be the first to cast the stone" she spoke.
ding!
"ah, dinners done. Call Aletha will you"
"no need" I said just as Aletha walked in.
I noticed the lack of smell coming from her. She hasn't hunted.

She avoids eye contact with me and sits across the table where Sophie puts a plate of deer and rabbit soup down.
"Thank you" she whispers.

My wolf and I are frazzled. We've never seen her so... submissive and quiet.

I can feel my heart clench in pain.

Sophie's right.

Just before I can speak up a knock sounds on the door, a knock that grabs both Alethas and I attention.
"are you expecting someone?" I ask Sophie.
"no."she whispers.

" I can't smell them" Aletha says and i quickly realize that I can't either.

Shit.

I'm not gonna make a promise that i'll update frequently cause life's been hectic but I can promise I haven't abandoned this book or you <3