Alpha Epiales

XIV

She saw him, standing there drenched in sweat, breathing heavily alongside his warriors and she fought the urge to run and throw herself into his arms and tell him how much she missed him. Instead, she simply stood in the doorway, her eyes following his every move. The 4 days she had spent missing him made her forget how horribly he had treated her.

"Alpha! What are we going to do?" One of the warriors asked frantically, trying to catch his breath.

Amora immediately tensed up, millions of thoughts raced through her mind.

"I don't know!" Epiales grumbled out, hunched over, still breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Amora couldn't help but ask, drawing everyone's attention to her in an instant.

"Luna the Alph-" a young warrior began before Epiales growled, making him shut his mouth.

"Epiales, you are scaring me! You went on this life-threatening trip and anything could have happened!" Amora exclaimed, her voice high-pitched with anxiety.

Epiales said nothing, he simply stared at the floor in anger, his body shaking with fury.

Amora stood there for a few more moments before she could not take it anymore.

"Everyone out, go rest," she ordered, her gaze never leaving the angry man in the middle of the room.

"We are sorry Luna," they all said, bowing their heads as they left, scaring Amora further, the anticipation becoming impossible to bear.

"Please Epiales, talk to me," she whispered, leading him to the large couch.

"I failed," he croaked out.

"You did not kill the King?" Amora gasped, dread filling her but she clung onto the small hope that Epiales was not caught.

"I was so close, I was so damn close!" He suddenly shouted, causing Amora to flinch, "one of my fucking warriors sold me out at the last minute."

Amora's hand flew to her mouth, her whole body shook in distress, he had been caught, "but how are you back here?"

"I ran, the guards were no match for us and I ran like hell, but they will be here soon, they are on their way."

"Epiales...what have you done?"

He stood up, pushing Amora away, "god, I know! I know!"

Amora became silent as she watched him destroy the room, throwing the small glass table into the wall and breaking everything in sight.

She stood up cautiously, grabbing his arm just as he went to throw another glass cup, causing him to instead crush it in his hand.

"You need to stop, we need a plan Epiales!" She begged him to calm down.

"No, there is nothing I can do, there is nothing you can do, just get out," he replied roughly.

"Epiales, there has to be som-"

"Get out Amora!" He suddenly shouted, dragging her to the door and shutting it once she was out of the way, too ashamed to bring himself to face his mate any longer, he no longer felt like the strong and worthy Alpha he used to be. He did not deserve her comfort nor her love.

He paced about the room, he had a matter of hours before his life was over.

___________________________________

Amora sat numbly, staring at the clock tick by for the third hour. The King's guards would be here any minute. She felt like a young girl in the cellars again, helpless and desperate, trying to prolong the inevitable. She would go back, she would spend another 100 nights in those cellars if it meant Epiales wasn't taken away from her, but she could not pray for the impossible like she had all those times before.

"Goddess, why is this happening?" She cried weakly.

The loud thudding she had been dreading to hear suddenly pounded in her eyes, she shot up from her seat to look out the window, only to see a large pack of wolves running towards the packhouse, followed by the infamous prisoner carriage trundling behind them.

A shrill shriek left Amora's mouth as the tears started to pour down her face once more, she felt as though she could not breathe, it was almost as though she was flung into the ocean and left for dead.

She bolted down the stairs and into the room where Epiales had last been, bursting through the doors while crying his name.

He sat there motionlessly, his head in his hands, Amora only now realised how he was dressed. He was not in one of the expensive suits she had always seen him in but rather tattered and ripped clothes, she felt as though she was staring at a different person, someone open and vulnerable.

"They are here," she whispered.

"I know," he croaked, lifting his head to meet her eyes.

He stood up and walked to the door, allowing Amora to follow him as he walked towards his doom.

He stood at the door, the thudding becoming increasingly louder, matching the radical beating of Amora's heart.

Epiales was numbingly calm on the outside but inside he had truly never been so afraid, not in many years. He knew he was walking to his death, but he refused to frighten Amora like that.

Seconds later the guards began banging on the locked door, incessantly pounding on it, making Amora jump in fright. The pack members kept their distance, peeking around the walls to see if what the warriors told them was true.

Epiales frantically looked to Amora, who continued to let the tears cascade down her face, as the guards began to shout.

"Please, I need to hear it, please let me hear it one last time," he begged, not ready to be dragged away from her forever.

Amora knew she should have made him beg more, made him get on his knees and say it to her instead but her heart was too heavy and she had no fight left in her.

"I love you," she whispered, her voice hoarse and unsteady.

The guards knocked down the door, walking closer to them as if they were hunting their prey.

"I love you too, don't you ever forget that."

Amora stilled, she did not move a muscle, she could not even breathe. Did she hear those words right? He loved her. He was in love with her. Did he truly mean it or was this his way of apologizing and leaving her with all he could? All she wanted to do was fling herself into his arms and never let go but all she could do was stand and stare as her mate was dragged away in shackles.

He stared into her eyes, never breaking his gaze as he was roughly thrown into the barred carriage, they stared at each other until he was gone.