Not My Alpha (Completed)

Chapter Thirty-Nine - I Have to Go

"I know who did it," I snarled.

"James?" Samuel hesitantly questioned. I knew there was more to his question, but he didn't elaborate.

I bit my lip once more, my scowl deepening. "No. He's been gone for too long."

Though James was a likely culprit, it was much easier for me to go after Riley. He was, after all, the one who threatened my family. There was holding him back from turning my brother and using it as leverage against me. Just like there was nothing stopping him from taking my mother.

Samuel pursed his lips before slowly responding. He watched me discreetly, waiting for the moment I would snap. "Like I said, Will's had this bite for a while."

"How long?" My voice was harsh, and it almost made me want to cower away from it. How Samuel stood before me, taking the full brunt of my fury, was beyond me.

"We don't know exactly. It looks like it happened a few days after we got back."

"James was gone by then."

Samuel nodded once. When he didn't say anything else, I had to hold back a scoff. "Someone would have caught him if he went to the hospital. Someone would have said something. They knew he was the one who put Will in there in the first place."

"That's something else, Samantha." Samuel closed his eyes, avoiding my burning gaze. "Riley knew when it happened. The doctors called him. They'd seen someone in Will's room and found the bite."

My heart stilled.

As Samuel's words sank in, my world began to fall to ruins. If what he was saying was true, then that meant when I went to see Will, he'd probably already been bitten, and I'd had no idea. My own brother had been suffering from a bite and I had absolutely no idea. I was naive enough to believe that he'd healed that much on his own. That some sort of kind mercy was out there long enough to allow my brother to come back to me.

I stood in stunned silence for a moment as Samuel slit open his eyes. His entire body was tensed, much like my own, but his eyes were trained on me, once more. As I stared back at him, my resolve crumbled. I tried to speak, but my voice came out much weaker than intended. I meant to sound accusatory. Scornful. Disbelieving. But, none of those emotions were made manifest. Instead, my voice was cold and dead.

"You're telling me you didn't know?"

Samuel tightly clenched his jaw. "Riley didn't tell me."

"Why not?"

"Because I was taking care of you."

Silence fell. I didn't know what to say to his words, and it seemed like Samuel had nothing else to tell me. Pieces of my heart were slowly breaking away, each one falling somewhere they would never resurface. A piece fell for my brother. A piece fell for my mother. A chunk was torn away for my sanity. Then, finally, a fraction of a piece fell for Samuel, too. I didn't want to focus on it, but I knew he was hurt by Riley's actions. They were brothers. If I guessed correctly, this would be the first time Riley hid something from Samuel, and he wasn't taking it well.

"I'm sorry," I whispered before I could stop myself.

"Don't be. This isn't about me." Samuel sighed. "But, I'm going to make sure we find whoever did this. If it was James or not."

James' name swam through my mind, and no matter how hard I tried to push the thought away, I knew Samuel was right. It was more than possible that James bit Will. Even though Riley could have set the entire thing up, and the better part of me wanted to believe this, something in me knew that wasn't the case. The small piece of sanity still left in me forced my brain back to rational thinking. The, I realized something.