Fury.
We were like one wave of a hot fire after someone had poured too much lighter fluid over it.
We were ablaze.
Family.
It was a word that meant so much to me it almost sacred. The thought of that wolves in the cells waiting for us killed off their own young, had a hand in it, more than infuriated me. It made me want to rip their hearts out and shove them down their throats.
Since when did people become so dispensable to each other? Since when did greed and the lust of power become a figure in your life more intimate to you than your own children? Had we completely lost ourselves and sight of what was important? What was this life if people were willing to use their own family, their own children, as the stair steps to their own personal gain?
Ethan and I shifted quickly and walked through the trees towards the barn. We found some clothes in a burrow. I pulled on a big long sleeve t-shirt and some basketball shorts that I had to roll a few times while Ethan tossed on some sweatpants and a loose black t-shirt.
Heads dipped as Ethan and I passed them hand in hand as we marched to the barn. We had no other target in mind then the two that waited for us.
Traitors.
Ethan filled me in on his father's letter and Jaxon's new findings as we hauled our asses to the cells where Levi was pacing furiously. He snapped his eyes up as I trotted up and let out a hot shaky breath.
"Get over here," he called out. I walked to him and let him hug me tightly. "I am going to kill all those bastards," he growled out.
"You better get in line," I replied darkly.
Levi kissed my hair then looked me over. His eyes landed on my bandaged leg, causing a bloodcurdling growl to tear from his lips. Ethan sighed and walked up to us. "Silver. Emmett had a shotgun with silver pellets. She got a few but Ryder got them out."
"Brother!" Lander called out. He trotted to Levi and put his hand on Levi's shoulder as Levi started to shake furiously.
"Levi," I softly said. "Levi, we need to stay calm right now. You can't kill them yet."
He let out a hot breath and nodded before kissing my forehead. "But I will have a hand in killing them."
"Uncle," Ethan sighed out before he looked at Lander warily. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch that he had carried in his mouth carefully the whole way here. He placed it in Levi's hand with a sad smile. "These belong to you."
Levi closed his hand around the bag and clenched his eyes shut. Lander half-whined to him and put his hand on his shoulder while I walked over and hugged his torso.
Levi opened his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "Let's get to work," he said, almost so calm it sent chills down my spine. He rubbed my back a little and kissed my hair before he seemed to settle down some more.
"Where are the vampires?" Ethan asked.
Levi smiled so darkly that it almost scared me. "They've been having a real good time. Got some interesting things out of both Tate and Larissa. Derek and Elliot are getting some more blood for them, should be back soon."
"Perfect," Ethan breathed out.
"What is your plan?" Levi asked as I moved over to Ethan.
He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his chest. "Ready your men, we go in the morning. I don't care if it takes all night, Larissa and Tate will talk tomorrow."
"What about Emmett and Lucy?" Lander asked, causing growls to fill the air.
"They know a lot, we need to see how long it would take for the vamps to transcribe them first," Levi said. "As much as I would like to see them die tomorrow too, we need what's in their brain. We need it for our packs."
Ethan nodded. "Let's find the vamps."
"I'll rally David," Lander added. "We'll be ready tomorrow Ethan."
Ethan dipped his head as we took a step forward. "Good. Did you wolfsbane them?"
"Jake had it done before they came here," Lander answered. "There's a chance that they could have linked someone before, but not anymore. Remi and Ryder have an eye on things; they're monitoring the packs. If anyone is making moves, we'll know. Brother, want me to run those home?"
Levi let out a breathy sigh and handed Lander the pouch. Lander nodded to him with a tiny smile. "I'll put them in my safe," he said before he ran off.
We walked towards the barn when Billy trotted to us. He flickered his eyes to me then to Ethan as they filled with anger. "Heard we're cleaning some shit out of the pack tomorrow?"
Ethan nodded. "I don't want the pack to know yet. I don't want Thomas to get spooked and either run or have time to bring in too many men of his own. Get the warriors ready and bring them here, we march together tomorrow."
Billy smiled and nodded. "I think I've looked forward to this day now for the last month like it's Christmas."
Ethan let out a sharp laugh and nodded. "Well meet back here in about an hour or so, Char and I need to check on the new arrivals."
Billy nodded back then trotted over to David while Ethan pulled me into the barn. Jaxon was standing next to Andrea and Caden chatting with two unfamiliar faces.
"Char?" Andrea called out. She trotted to me and hugged me next, nuzzling my cheek and letting her beast eye me over like a worried mother. "What about Lyanna?"
"She's outside I think? She's pretty beat up too, but she's fine."
"I'm going to go check on her," Andrea said to Jaxon who had a watchful eye on her.
He nodded to her before looking back to Ethan with sympathetic eyes; he had seen pain like this before. "Sorry man, sorry about all this shit."
Ethan tugged at his hair. "Me too."
"What do you need?" Jaxon asked.
"Levi's meeting us with his men tomorrow. You can come just don't bring too many men. I don't want anyone to think this is a war. The only reason I think we can get away with it with Levi is because of his connection to the situation. I do want this place locked down tonight, as well as tomorrow. No one in or out unless we say."
Caden dipped his head. "I'll handle it."
"Thanks, Caden," I breathed out.
He winked at me before trotting away while Jaxon looked back to Ethan. "Andrea got all the evidence you need together. She's been watching it like a damn hawk."
"Good," Ethan breathed out. "Evie and Barrett?"
They both had plastic ziplock bags of blood with a straw in them in their hands; sipping on them as they walked over to us. A vampire juice box.
Both of them zipped to us from where they had been standing with sympathetic smiles on their pale aristocratic faces.
"Well, wish we had better circumstances to meet under, but it is good to finally meet you," Barrett said as he walked up to me and shook my hand.
He was blonde, not like Jaxon who looked like he was carved from a mountain, but more refined. His hair was a dirtier blonde, yet it didn't look dirty at all it almost looked like a new type of gold.
His skin was pale, almost porcelain. It probably looked paler than it actually was, the loose dark gray scoop neck over his fitted black jeans just made him look the part of a vampire.
"I would have to agree, but we are happy you're here."
The next thing I knew, arms were around me hugging me tight into the scent of flowers and Channel Number Five.
Evie pulled away and beamed at me with her big brown eyes as dark tendrils of hair framed her heart-shaped face. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."
Barrett rolled his eyes while I laughed a little. "It's fine, really, it's so nice to meet you."
"We have to do a girls day soon," she replied with a big smile that lit up her rosy cheeks.
"Evie they kinda have pack to take over right now," Barrett stated, gently yet firm.
Evie rolled her eyes then looked back at me with a knowing smirk. "We'll figure something out, don't mind Queen B."
"I need a beer," Barrett said as he threw up his hands.
Ethan let out a breathy laugh and nodded. "If you find one get one for me too."
Evie sipped on her juice box. She shifted her weight in thigh-high boots over her black jeans. Her casual white cotton v-neck, loosely falling over her, almost matched her damn skin.
"Evie, I thought you were going to change your shoes?" Barrett asked with a knowing smile.
She hissed a little. "Why the hell would I change out of these? Just look at them!"
I looked at Ethan who rolled his eyes before he looked over at Barrett. "We need to get to work."
"How quickly do you think you could transcribe the new captives?" Ethan asked.
"God, I don't know, B?" Evie said as she sipped on her juice box.
Barrett took another drink of his beer and shook his head a little. "Well, they are old so besides the amount of data in there, we have to consider that they will make it harder for us."
"Harder? How?" I asked.
"If you're good at putting walls up around your mind, it makes it harder for us. It's easier when people are asleep because your mind is relaxed, but when you're awake you're on guard.
"Older supernaturals especially, usually if they're smart they have learned how to put up a good wall, even in their sleep. We can get through, it just takes more time." Barrett explained.
"That and you have to remember that we are looking at memories," Evie added. "When you remember something, burn the memory into your brain, it's always your interpretation of what happened–your perspective. There's always multiple sides to a story, and we are getting really just one when we walk around in their mind.
"Sometimes too they can save false memories. Like B said, if they are older and good at protecting their mind they will have plenty of false memories in place to throw us off. Sometimes they are there as a defense, sometimes they are there because the person told themselves the lie so much that they actually believed them."
"You think we can get the truth, though?" I asked.
Evie smiled, her tiny mouth with a plump bottom lip turning into a devious grin. "The truth is always there in some form, sometimes we just have to dig some more. It may take a little more time, but we can do it."
"How much time?" Ethan asked.
"For everything?" Barrett asked. Ethan nodded to Barrett as Evie looked over at him. They held each other's gazes for a little bit before Barrett flickered his eyes back to us. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but I would say three-ish days at the minimum, four days if they really give us trouble."
"They're older wolves," Evie added. "And considering everything we need, that's a lot of data. We can work as quickly as we can but we have to make sure we're thorough so we don't miss anything.
"Alex and Leo are interested in this too, it affects all of us in some form. As long as they don't give us too much trouble, we should be able to get it all in about three days like Barrett said."
"They won't," Ethan bit out.
"So what's the priority tonight? What are we looking for? We can focus on that first and get you what you need then work on just transcribing the rest." Barrett asked.
Ethan looked at me and tugged his hair as Levi walked to stand next to him. "We need them to admit what happened on that day and the time frame around it. We need them to admit they had a hand in the attack ten years ago and have been plotting as of recently, the rest is important but I think that's what we need for tomorrow?"
"Got to get them to sing tomorrow Ethan, it's one thing to get these vamps here to dig around in their brain and it's another to get them to talk," Levi said.
"Ya," Barrett drowned out. "So far the male has been the toughest. If you don't mind me saying, a real piece of shit there."
Ethan laughed sharply and nodded. "Couldn't agree more."
"What about the others?" I asked.
"That Tate fellow wants a deal," Evie answered. "I think the young female will go for that too, she's just got a cactus up her ass."
I laughed lightly with Evie and nodded to her. "I couldn't agree more."
"Ok," Ethan breathed out. "Let's take a crack at each of them. We can feel them out and see how goes from there?"
"Sounds good, who do you want to start with?" I asked.
"Let's see if Lucy is more compilable," he replied darkly.
"I'll come!" Evie added, jumping a little as excitement rushed over her body.
I laughed and threw an arm around her waist. "We can definitely have a girls day after this."
She grinned widely then clapped her hands together. Barrett walked up to us then spun around backward. "I'm going to go take another look at that male with Levi, call if you need anything," he said before zipping away with Levi in tow.
"How long have you two?"
"Oh gosh, little over a hundred years?" she replied dreamily.
"Wow," I almost gasped out.
She nodded with a small smile as she watched Barrett chat with Levi at the end of the hall. "It goes by fast."
"You ready sunshine?"
"Let's do this," I breathed out.
You could smell her blood before you walked in the cell. Lucy was tied up in a chair sitting in the middle of the cell. Holding her head high she flickered her eyes to us and snarled.
Ethan snarled back as he walked in front of her with me next to him. "Want to explain yourself, gran?"
She looked at Ethan and her eyes softened. She let out a shaky breath and shook her head. "I didn't want to hurt him, Ethan, you have to believe me. Eli wasn't supposed to get hurt, it wasn't supposed to happen that way! I–"
She was cut off by my fist hitting her mouth. I was tired of her lies as was my wolf. The fact that she was once a luna was insulting to lunas everywhere.
Ethan snarled to her. She spat out some blood to the side and sneered at him. "So that's in then? That's how you're going to behave? After all, we did for you! Ethan Christo–"
She was shut up again by my fist. This woman didn't even deserve the right to be able to say his name. Her tongue was too filthy for that.
She snarled again, outrage pouring out of her. "Get that damn human out of here! How dare you let her taint our family with–"
She was shut up again. This time by the back of Ethan's hand. He dipped down low to meet her eyes; his were like a hurricane of wrath and justice slowly coming towards her. "If you ever speak of her in such a way again, I will rip your teeth out one by one and make a necklace with them for her to wear."
"It was just supposed to be the two alphas, Ethan! You have to believe me!"
"You mean your son!?" Ethan growled out. "Or was your daughter collateral too?"
Lucy turned her head away from Ethan sharply; puckering her lip while she held in a sneer. "I'm done here."
Ethan scoffed out a laugh. "I don't think so, Evie and you are going to have a little party."
Lucy's eyes widened as Ethan stormed out of the cell with me in tow and Evie smiling deviously at the old female in front of her. We walked hotly to Emmet's cell; Barrett was leaning against the bars chatting with Levi when he caught sight of us coming.
"He's tough. I can get in fine but tomorrow you may need to coax him a little more," Barrett added.
"Or we could do that now?" Ethan thought out loud.
"What do you have in mind?" Levi replied.
Ethan flickered his eyes to me Levi then back to me. "Good cop or bad cop?"
I raised my brows as my lips barely twitched. "Bad cop, obviously."
Ethan's eyes swirled, giving me a look that made butterflies erupt in my belly. He looked up at Barrett and nodded back to Lucy's cell. "Thinking we use her as bait."
Barrett nodded approvingly. His eyes swirled darkly as he rubbed his hands together. "I knew I would like you mate, let's link up, ya? I know Derek said Char could, I'm sure you can as well."
Ethan nodded. "Alright give me a second."
Soon I felt this brightness in my mind, it was bright and smooth like warm water flowing steadily into a bathtub. Someone popped in before another presence that felt like velvet against the walls of my mind joined.
"Did this work?" Ethan asked.
Barrett laughed and nodded to him. "Can hear you loud and clear. What about you girls?"
"I'm good," I added.
"Me too!" Evie replied.
"Perfect," Barrett said before horrified screams came from Lucy's cell. He shrugged casually. "Evie can be a bit of a terror when she wants to be."
"Come on sunshine," Ethan said as he walked towards the cell door, pulling me a long with him.
Evan trotted up and nodded at us. "Warriors are set."
"Good," Ethan replied as he unlocked the door.
Evan looked in the cell and snarled. "Need help?"
"Not yet." Ethan opened the door and let me walk through first. Emmett's cell was like Lucy's, and like Lucy, he was also tied up in a chair centered in the room.
Ethan grabbed a chair from outside and drug it in, letting the door click close behind him as he swung the chair around until it faced Emmett.
Emmett hissed at us but neither Ethan or I budged. Ethan sat down on the chair; cool and collected while his veins poured out the power that was in them, causing some of the warriors on guard outside the room to shudder.
Ethan patted his leg for me; I walked to him and took a seat. My beast ran forward and joined her mate as she surveyed the enemy in front of us.
"What is this, good cop bad cop?" Emmett spat out.
Ethan mused for a bit then nodded. "You could say that." Ethan put a hand gently on my waist and cocked his head. "Why? Tell me why?"
Emmett scoffed and shook his head that was still oozing blood from his eye socket. "Screw you."
My fist met his mouth; it send it head back while a pained cry tore out of it. I sat back calmly on Ethan's lap and licked my fangs that were starting to protrude.
"Char always likes to be the bad cop," Ethan teased darkly. "We can do this all night."
"So can I," he hissed out.
"I doubt that, pop," Ethan spat back. "Let's do this Barrett."
Suddenly the sounds of Lucy grew closer to us. She sounded like a crazed animal, sick and desperate as she growled, gargled, spat, snarled, and shouted while Evie literally drug her by her chair into Emmett's cell; stomping her stiletto boots with a fierce rage that channeled every bit of Beyonce.
"I have an idea," she said. "Trust me? I won't kill her."
"Do it," Ethan replied.
Evie brought Lucy forward; she's sat her behind us, caddy corner, but right in Emmett's line of sight. Barrett's watched closely from a corner with a little smirk tugging at his lips while he his mate worked, a ghost smile on her face.
She sat the chair down then pushed some hair out of her face; walking slowly around Lucy, hissing while the she-wolf continued to squirm wildly in her restraints, she stopped behind her and eyed Emmet with a cool smile plastered on her lips that made him start to still a little in his seat.
She flickered her eyes down to Lucy's neck, then back to Emmett. "You know, vampire venom in small doses won't kill a wolf." Her voice that was once sweet and full of youth was lower, almost sharp like her fangs that were starting to poke out of her lips.
She took Lucy's head in her hands; feeling through her hair and caressing her cheek before looking back to Emmett who was clenching his jaw so hard that I thought it would break. "It will paralyze you though. Enough of it. Which will make this easier, searching through her brain. You see, you don't have to talk at all. We'll find out what we want to know."
"That's right Emmett," I added. "You're getting a chance you sure as hell don't deserve. Speak now, tell us, and maybe I'll make sure that it's only Ethan that kills you instead of Levi."
Lucy let out a shaky breath and looked to us before looking at Emmett. His eyes looked torn. There was a stubbornness, a need to preserve what he knew, yet his beast couldn't resist the need to protect his mate.
"You got the recorder ready B?"
Barrett nodded as he clicked his phone on. He walked over to the bars and propped it against one of the ledges before turning back around to watch Emmett who was still warring with himself. "Oh, this is going to be fun."
Emmett snarled at him then spat at Ethan. "Do what you want."
Ethan shook angrily then snarled at him. "Evie?"
In a flash, Evie bent Lucy's head to the side and bit into her neck. She bit down hard, without mercy, and let her fangs marinate in her flesh before pulling them out as Lucy screamed out in outrage and a pain that seemed to be wildly consuming her.
"It burns a little," Evie said nonchalantly, licking the blood that was dripping from her lips like it was a sweet wine.
Emmett clenched his eyes shut then looked back at us while Lucy started to quiet. Her body started to grow limp but her eyes, oh her eyes knew exactly what was happening. Wide eyes where her emotions seemed to beat at the door to be let out; but they weren't going anywhere and neither was she.
"What really happened that day?" Ethan asked.
Emmett started to snarl. He started to snarl but my fist met his face. Evie nodded to Barrett and looked down at Lucy from behind her; her eyes swirled a little and her pupils dilated.
"They were gone, they took the three children shopping. They argued all morning about Eli. She wanted to take him but he said no. He said Eli was onto them and would have to be taken care of later. That they would have to do it eventually," Evie stated out, almost like she was in a trance. "They had to come back, they needed to make it look like they were saving the kids. They were saving the kids. Lucy begged him to let her save them. They were young and didn't understand. It wasn't their fault that Chris had raised them wrong.
"Emmett agreed. He was angry, though. It was taking too long, Thomas was supposed to have linked him earlier. He was growing angrier, snapping at her and the children. Ethan was worried. She was worried that he would find out. He was just a kid but he was sharp.
"Emmett didn't think so but the fact that he could feel the danger even from that far away was concerning. He thought about just letting Ethan go after Eli, letting the rogues finish him, but she wouldn't let him. She made him promise to keep Ethan safe. She was still furious over Eli and made him compromise. 'I'm loosing my pups, let me keep these,' she said over and over to him."
I slammed another fist into Emmett's face while Ethan let out a blood-curdling growl. Jaxon was pulling Levi back while Evan paced in front of the cells.
"How was Thomas involved?" Ethan asked, his voice lower and dark. So dark that if it was a color it would have made black look too light.
Emmett looked at Lucy who was sweating now; her eyes screamed out for help but he blinked hard then shook his head at Ethan.
Evie moved back over Lucy. "Thomas was easy, always wanting what he couldn't have. Good parents but idiots, it was easy for Emmett to take him in and twist his mind. He was the perfect pawn. There were days when Emmett wished that Thomas was stronger, as strong as Chris. He would have had the perfect son then, a son who could have stood with them and for the cause instead of a son that kept trying to rip everything involved.
"He didn't have to tell Thomas to do it. Thomas came up with it on his own like Emmett knew he would. Thomas had asked so many times before; he asked for their permission to challenge Chris. Emmett knew Thomas was strong, but he wasn't that strong. Chris had Everette blood in him and was too much like Ezra, but even Ezra eventually turned to ash.
"But they used that. They told Thomas that there was a better way, a way they could both have what they wanted. They introduced him to the new 'Pure Seven' and initiated him as a pup, a 'suckling.' They worked for over a year on it. Careful planning that at times Thomas would screw up on, but Emmett believed.
"Thomas was so consumed with himself as was Miranda. They just wanted Chris and Margaret's seats, they just wanted power. They were always with the cause but Lucy knew they liked the power it gave them more, the pack it would give them. With them they could be free to maneuver the pack how they liked, it would be so easy."
Ethan growled loudly at Emmett who looked to Lucy again. Lucy's eyes were spilled tears but he said nothing. "What has your involvement been now?"
We didn't wait for him to talk. Evie looked down at Lucy, eyes dilating before her breath hitched in the back of her throat.
"They saw it coming," she said. "Ethan was strong, so strong. Thomas and Emmett tried to keep a lid on him but they couldn't, he was too much like Chris.
"Emmett was growing irritated with Thomas. He was growing careless and lazy. He let his arrogance cloud his judgment and was making risky decisions to better himself rather than help the cause. He started to lose interest in the cause, he wasn't committed enough. He just cared about his seat. Being alpha of Mangata was enough for him–lazy, that's what he was a wolf that got fat and lazy.
"Emmett thought at first he could sway Ethan. He was so broken as a kid, he thought it would be easy. They both did. But it wasn't. Ethan was too much like Chris. After while Emmett changed his mind on Ethan, because he knew there was no swaying him.
"He wanted the pack, he wanted the pack back that his son had stolen from them. They had things to do, they needed to start phase two of everything and Thomas was now in the way. Emmett wasn't sure how to take him out at first, there were so many options.
"But then Lucy heard a rumor from Evangeline. Levi had adopted a girl. A human. She shifted and was an alpha female. He took her in as his own and claimed her as his pup. She thought it was crazy, she thought Levi had gone crazy, they had seen to that.
"Emmett wasn't sure about any of it and he had the right to be. He called The Serpent and had him look into it. Rogues poked around for them and it was true. They had seen her at Wal-Mart with Levi's nephew, Liam. She was strong. They said that she could have easily killed them herself.
"Emmett had an idea, had a hunch on something but he wasn't sure. She knew what it was. She asked Evan one day more about the Thorne girl, apparently, she had shifted in the beginning of April, around the same time they noticed a change in Ethan.
"He was growing more restless, more testing. He was starting to get the pull, the pull to take the pack. Emmett could spot it from a mile away. All the males in their family always got it when it was rightfully their time to take the pack. He had seen Chris get the pull with him, he knew that look in Ethan's eyes that was starting to brew. She didn't know if the two were correlated. She knew she had seen the same things Emmett had seen, but it was all so crazy. How could they–"
"Oh my god," I breathed out.
Ethan was frozen behind me as realization poured in while Emmett stared past us at Levi with wide eyes that knew, they knew his death would not be a quick one.
Evie took a breath and looked back to Lucy. "Emmett said he was going to poke around, investigate it. She agreed, it was worth investigating at least. He had rogues sent to Levi's, they just happened to find her ex-husband by chance. Complete chance which made it all better.
"After they heard what happened, how she and Levi along with the vampire killed them all, they watched. They watched Ethan who grew more unsettled. He told them it was the general idea that rogues were there, that they were so close to their borders, but both of them knew that look in his wolf's eyes even if he didn't. They were lucky that he was still so haunted by his own demons to see the truth.
"So they waited. They waited to see what would happen. Emmett had a feeling that Ethan would challenge Thomas eventually, he just wondered if the Thorne girl would speed it up–if she had something to do with it? If she could be perhaps his mate?
"It was perfect. That day she crossed the border they saw it, they saw Ethan grow restless like he hadn't let his wolf out for weeks. They had a rogue kidnap a small boy in the group so they could watch her; she would work perfectly.
"She pushed Ethan. Lucy and Emmett both saw it, saw how she forced him to have a reckoning with himself. A reckoning that would lead to a challenge; he and Thomas would not co-exist in the same pack after Ethan finally came into himself.
"So they stood back and let him do the dirty work. They had rogues attack her home, which pissed Thomas the hell off. It just sped things up, so they did it again. They wanted to force Ethan's hand, they needed him to challenge Thomas quickly so they could move on.
"They had rogues attack her and the blonde in the woods. The blonde was supposed to die, Larissa was to see to that, but she failed. She was useless to them, as dumb as Thomas and clouded by hatred.
"If the girl would have died it would have sent the pack into a frenzy, and it would have forced Ethan's hand. Chaos. Within the Chaos they could easily stage another attack and take Ethan out, take Charlotte out, and take their pack back. The Pure Seven would be strong again. Wolves would be strong again."
"Ethan," I breathed out. He was so stiff behind me I thought he was going to shatter.
I had to hold onto Ethan's legs to keep from lunging at him, if his hand wasn't around my waist, I would have. I would have torn his heart out from his throat.
Levi was a pulse of rage behind me. I could feel it in waves; consuming us and almost suffocating us. Jaxon and Caden were trying to talk to him while Lyanna held Evan back, burying her face in his neck to keep him from coming straight through the bars.
"What else have you been planning then pop?" Ethan growled out. "They were your pups! This was your goddamn pack! Are you out of your mind?! Your grandchildren! Three of your grandchildren slaughtered like animals!"
"They were animals! Buying into that shit that the Thorne's poisoned their brains with, do you not see?!"
Before I knew what was happening I hit him in the mouth hard, then I reached forwards and pulled out a fang. Levi was roaring loudly behind me, his anger spreading over us like it was the scent of a female in heat sending us further into a pit of rage.
Emmett let out a wild cry, eying me like I was a crazy heathen as I looked at him in dark satisfaction while the fang rested in my palm. I was probably as crazy as a heathen in that moment, but I didn't give a shit. My wolf lashed out, she wanted to rip the male's tongue out, the tongue that had cut down this pack just as much as his fists had.
I handed it to Ethan who rumbled in approval before wrapping his hand around it. "What was your plan? What were you going to do?"
"Mmmmm!" Lucy hummed out, but her words wouldn't work. The poison was still working its way through her veins.
Evie backhanded her hard then hissed at her. "I told you to keep your mouth shut, now do I have to remind you again?"
Lucy's eyes widened. She shook her head quickly with pleading eyes before looking back to Emmett who blinked hard again. He knew he had lost. There was no maneuvering his way out of this.
Evie looked back at Lucy, her fingers digging into her jaw as she forced her to look up into her eyes. "They wanted to merge with the north. They had been working for ten years to build up enough rogues and rally the old rebels so they could finish what they started.
"They wanted to expand. They would take out the alphas that didn't get on board and take the other ones in that did. They would go for Lusa first. Jaxon killed Jeremiah. He killed Emmett's best friend, he was like Chris. He may be a strong pup, but there were always bad pups in a litter–sick ones that needed to be put down.
"They would take Lusa back and do right by Jeremiah. They would cleanse this world of the vampires and cleanse their species of humans that dared taint their blood. They were tired of been seen as weaken than vampires, the vampires would learn. They would learn what terror really was."
"I want a deal," Emmett bit out.
Barrett walked over and forced Emmett to look at him. His eyes dilated as he held his gaze for a few tense moments before Barrett growled loudly at him. "I wouldn't lie if I were you wolf, I will see what's in your memories whether you want me to or not," Barrett hissed out.
Emmett snarled at him again but Barrett just landed a fist to his jaw before he looked down at him again. He held his gaze for a long while before he let out a horrified hiss. "This one is sour Ethan. They both are."
"Do it then," Ethan bit out.
Barrett smirked down at his victim then sunk his fangs into Emmett's neck, paralyzing him as well, and rendering him helpless to Barrett and Evie. They would have the knowledge in his brain, as would we.
Ethan snarled again at him and leaned forward. "The only deal you'll be getting is the one you make with your maker when you meet him which I anticipate will be fairly soon."
Ethan stood us up then walked us quickly out of the cell with Barrett and Evie cautiously behind us. Levi was hugging Evan, who was shaking so furiously with rage it almost looked like he was going to have a seizure.
Ethan and I were wordless. He turned over his shoulder to vampires and gave them a tired smile. "Can you give us a moment?"
They nodded. "We're going to get another blood bag. Just link if you need anything," Barrett replied with a kind smile.
Ethan pulled me into a small room, a tack room of some sort and closed the door. He slid down against it and buried his head in his hands while he let the anger pour off if him in angry hurricane-blown waves that were coming out of his mouth in hot pants.
I let out a shaky breath and walked over to him, crawling in his lap and letting my beast come out to reach for his.
The anger was so strong inside me it hurt; it felt like a beast of its own trying to force its way out. Ethan pulled me close to him, holding me silently while we tried to compose ourselves.
"I'm sorry Ethan. It shouldn't have had to happen this way. I'm so sorry."
He let out a shaky breath and nodded against my hair. "They raised us. They took us in as their own. I looked and helped with the investigation with po–Emmett after the attack." I looked up at him and saw more than anger in his eyes, it was hurt. It was betrayal ripping through a bond, a familial bond. It was the realization that your own blood did something so vial and so horrendous; something that they felt little to no remorse over.
"It makes so much sense, they knew about you. They saw it. I guess from his point of view I could too," Ethan breathed out.
"Hindsight is twenty-twenty Ethan, we couldn't have really known for sure."
"But he did. He did and he knew. They were going to kill you, he was going to use me to destroy the pack again! His own grandchildren, his own pups. How can you do that to your pups?"
I leaned against him while my wolf whined. She whined as our heart ached as the pain from the betrayal burned like a corrosive acid. "It's like Barrett said, he's a sour wolf Ethan. They both are. Don't blame yourself, this was so out of your control baby. I mean look how far their planning went, you were just a kid, it was out of your hands.
"Even now Ethan, I mean there are things that make total sense now, but we couldn't have really known for sure before. They're your grandparents. No one wanted to believe it. We're going to make it right Ethan, it will be right."
"What do I do with them?" He breathed out before looking at me, pain in his eyes battling fiercely with anger. "I want to kill them, but they're my grandparents. My goddamn grandparents. I feel sick about not killing them but then I feel sick about killing them. Doesn't that just make me as good as them? Killing my own family?"
"Ethan you're not them," I stated firmly as I took my head in my hands. "You're not them baby. We're not them. As angry as I am, I don't know baby. I don't know what to do either. I think that's a good thing though in its own way."
"But what do we do Char? What do we do tomorrow? What do we do with them?"
"We need Barrett and Evie to transcribe. We need what's in their brains, let's work on getting that out first. Let's try to calm down as much as we can and then figure it out, ok? We'll figure it out."