ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Thirteen | Part I*

Chapter Notes: Caleb's POV

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- 'And my heart is a hollow plain, for the Devil to dance again. . .' -

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'He's going to be fine.'

Stryder's words replayed over and over inside of my head. It was a truth. A fact. But I refused to accept it. I refused to understand their meaning. My attention was far too focused, instead, on the memory of the blood. There had been so much blood. Too much blood.

Declan.

My delta. My youngest brother, who I swore to always protect, was now safe and back in the den's infirmary, when only hours ago he had been lying in a crimson red pool of his own blood. Stryder was keeping a close eye on him—he was the closest thing to a medicine man in my pack, coming from a long line of healers. Hours ago, Declan's injuries had been so severe I was certain that death was going to claim him before we made it back to the den. But he did make it home. He was alive. His wounds had already begun to heal, his flesh repairing itself at a much faster rate than an average human's.

'He's going to be fine.'

My delta had just called to confirm, yet the ache in my heart had not eased in the slightest. Images of the blood soaked grass still haunted my vision. Images of his battered and bloodied body laying atop the earth—the very element that coursed through his veins, that was suppose to protect and strengthen him—remained ingrained in my mind. Declan, the most innocent member of my entire pack, had been delivered a punishment he had not deserved. And it had been delivered not by the pure bloods but by the hands of my mate.

My mate, who I had told to stay put.

My mate, who I had told not to engage Jennifer.

My mate, who always thought she knew best and almost got both herself and Declan killed because of that belief.

My mate, who had just hand delivered herself on a God damned silver platter to the pure bloods.

My mate, who clearly could not understand inside that stubborn head of hers that this was my world. My rules. And if she refused to play by them, she was going to end up wishing she had. Rules were not always meant to be fair. They were not made to even the playing field because they were not set in place in order for both sides to be made equals. My world did not consist of fairness and equality. It was harsh. It was dark. It was cold. And if you could not adapt to the chilling temperatures then you'd surely freeze to death because this world was not governed by the sun but by the moon.

I turned from the condo's window when I sensed Ava-Rain's presence as she entered the living room. She had showered and changed after me and now her brown skin no longer carried the slightest trace of Declan's blood. We had come back to the condo to collect all of her things to bring back to the den because I could no longer keep her at the condo. Now that it had been confirmed that Jennifer couldn't be trusted and the pure bloods were now involved, Ava-Rain was no longer safe staying at the condo.

Refusing to meet her gaze, I stormed towards her, took the suitcase from her hand and opened the door. "Let's go." The words came out harshly but I couldn't bring myself to care.

I wasn't going to be kind or pretend as though my love for her should have outweighed my anger. Not while thoughts of what could have happened to her raced through my mind, or while the the image of her seconds away from being attacked by one of the pure bloods still lingered within my memory. Not while my mind couldn't forget the fact that if I had showed up at that park a second later, Ava-Rain could very well be gone. Dead. Especially not while I knew that no matter how mad at her I was—no matter how stupid, careless and reckless she had been—if I allowed my love for her to conquer all other emotions, it would have led me to forgive her. And I was not yet ready to do so.