(3) Painstaker

Twenty-Three: Betrayal

"Beta Crystal?" A familiar voice, soft like honey, filled my stirring senses. I shifted, feeling blades of grass brush up against my naked skin. "Beta Crystal? Can you hear my voice?" A delicate hand, small and nimble, brushed against my scorching forehead.

My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was the glow of the morning sun spreading yellow light against the puffy white clouds. Then, I noticed Flower's face on one side and Sam's on the other, both hovering over me. Groaning, I planted both of my hands on either side of my face. "How'd you find me?"

Flower grimaced. "We followed Zeke. He led us to you."

"Zeke?" My voice croaked. I blamed it on the dryness in my throat, but it may have had something to do with how sudden my nerves spiked. "Where..." I cleared my throat. "Where is he?"

Flower winced, something so unlike her. She usually had a sparkle of mischief in her eyes, but that was long gone. She looked... worried. Instead of answering verbally, Flower's eyes flickered up, past my head. I craned my neck to see the silhouette of a man sitting against a tree trunk.

"Did you do it, love?" His voice sounded deeper than before. Darker. A sliver of the sun's rays must have found its way to his eyes; when he shifted his head, I saw a flash of deep, dark blue. "Did you willingly steal the amulet from me and give it to not only my enemy, but your packs enemy?" Zeke pulled himself up to stand, revealing the many cuts and bruises on his skin. They were fresh wounds. One step in my direction, then another, with those emotionless eyes burning into my skull. "I thought you were reckless, sure. Among many things. Head strong, independent, and opinionated Crystal Westwood. A girl who goes for what she wants, despite how hard it is to obtain. Not once, since the day I first laid eyes on your beautiful face, did I think of you as an idiot."

I couldn't help it; the anger boiled my blood. I stood up so quickly, Flower and Sam nearly fell over in the process. "You killed my brother," I accused through clenched teeth. "You murdered my brother, and you expect me to... what? Lay on my back and beg you to rub my tummy? The moment you ended his life, you became my enemy."

The laugh that escaped his lips unsettled me. It wasn't lyrical, like usual. It was dark. So, incredibly dark. "You act before thinking. You lash out before knowing all of the details."

He was calm and cool, but me? I was a livid mess; surely there was steam coming out of my ears. "The details? The freaking details? Why don't you enlighten me on those details?"

"He was going to kill your precious Alpha."

I paused a moment. "What? No. Donovan would never do that. He's loyal."

Zeke shook his head, allowing the flash of his darkened eyes to become pronounced. "A curse was placed on him with a magic more powerful than I had ever seen. The only way for him to break it was to kill Carter. When I ran into him, he asked me to kill him, so I did."

My lips parted, yet no words came out. That couldn't be true. It couldn't... could it? It didn't matter that I had nothing to say, because he just continued what he was saying.

"And now you've given the enemy the one thing he truly needs to bring hell onto this entire planet. When those innocent people die, Crystal, you will remember this moment. All of the lives that will soon be lost? They will all lay on your conscience."

My eyebrows pulled together. "Mel said that... they could..."

"Bring you brother back to life?" Another laugh, that one sending chills down my spine. "It won't be your brother coming back to life. It will be something even the most vile of nightmares can't compete with." In a flash, Zeke was in front of me.