CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - WHICH ALPHA WILL WIN?
In the morning, I walked out into the living room where Scarlett was situated on the couch, recovering. All of her wounds had been bandaged, a wet rag rested on her forehead, and one of her legs was propped up with a pillow. Upon seeing me, she extended a hand, her eyes softening. I was so angry that Roake had hurt her - and despite what she said, I felt guilty.
Scarlett pursed her dry lips. "Chloe."
"How are you doing?" I asked, slowly approaching her side. There was a table next to her and I noticed the glass was empty. I poured some water from the pitcher into the glass, then handed it to her with gentle hands. "You should drink."
"My wounds are healing," she told me, taking the glass from me. "Finally." She carefully changed her position on the couch, sitting more upright. I watched as she took a sip of the water, wincing. "I need to apologize to you."
I frowned. "For what?"
"I used you," she admitted, quietly. "I used you to enact my own revenge. When you came into Roarke's life, I knew I could hurt him by getting to you." I dropped my gaze, just as she coughed into her arm. "You needed to know the truth about Roarke, but I encouraged you to challenge him. I wanted him to submit and lose his reputation. It was the least I could do for Luna. I'm sorry."
With a sigh, I kneeled down. "I'm not mad at you."
"Really?" she countered, in disbelief. "I'm at my weakest right now - if you want to hurt me, now is the time to do it."
"Scarlett, I appreciate you telling me the truth," I responded, shaking my head. "Even if you hadn't encouraged me to challenge him, I probably still would have."
Her eye seemed to light up. "You're going to change everything, you know that?" I stared at her in confusion as she took another sip of her water. "I wanted Rudy to come here with me. After he saved me from Roarke, I tried to make him come with me - I knew Julius would accept him. Julius has always been kind to me since Luna's death."
"Why didn't Rudy come?"
"Because, he's angry at me," Scarlett said, relaxing back. "He cares about me too much. Because of me, he's been kicked out of Roarke's pack."
I hesitated. "I don't think that's your - "
"It is my fault," she interrupted, scolding herself. "I knew he wouldn't just watch Roarke kill me. I knew he wouldn't - I knew he would interfere." She turned her head, pondering for a moment. "I really hope he's okay."
"Yeah, me too," I murmured, followed by Julius hurrying into the room. When his eyes settled on me, relief crossed his face, followed by an indistinguishable emotion. His blond hair was messy, untouched for the day, and his shirt was partially unbuttoned, as if he had raced to get dressed.
"Uh-oh," Scarlett blurted, looking at him. "I know that face."
"Roarke is attempting to cross onto my territory as we speak," Julius said, quickly walking to me. "We need to get you out of here."
Scarlett narrowed her eyes. "Can't your warriors hold him off?"
"His warriors are more skilled than mine," Julius grumbled, extending a hand to me. "Come, I'm having you taken somewhere safe."
"No, I'm not leaving Scarlett," I said, grabbing her hand instead. His eyes darkened and his shoulders tensed at my words. I turned my head, looking at Scarlett who was staring at me in disbelief. "I'm not leaving you behind."
"She will be kept safe - "
"I don't believe you!" I hollered, suddenly angry. "Roarke already tried to kill her once. If he reaches your home, he won't hesitate to try again. I'm not leaving her." I was daring him with my eyes. I wasn't budging on this. I didn't trust anyone, but at this point, Scarlett was one of the few people I liked.
"She won't leave without her," Weylyn said, entering the room. "I can carry Scarlett."
"Your focus should be on Chloe," Julius argued, spit flying from his lips. "You need to protect her."
"Quite honestly, Chloe is safe," Weylyn countered, calmly. "Roarke doesn't want to harm her. I can watch out for them both." Julius gritted his teeth together, debating in his head about what to do with the situation. I could feel his anger and stress through our bond. "I'm the best one to keep them safe. Despite what happened with Luna, you know that."
Julius hesitated. "Fine, get them out of here."
Weylyn rushed forward, carefully picking up Scarlett. She swore under her breath, muttering about how weak and pathetic she felt. As he tried to get Scarlett comfortable in his arms, I turned to Julius in concern.
"What is going to happen with you?" I asked, shakily. "Are you going to challenge Roarke?"
He raised his chin. "Most likely."
"I-I think you should come with us," I stuttered, feeling nervous for the challenge. I would feel deep grief if Julius died. But, I would also feel something if Roarke died. "I want you to - "
"An Alpha never runs," he interjected, coldly. "I got this, Chloe."
"The bond is doing this," I said, dragging my trembling hands through my hair. "It's making me feel anxious. I feel scared for you - I can already feel the grief coming."
Julius exhaled loudly. "Yes, you're feeling a lot right now, I understand." I opened my mouth to speak, but he grabbed my shoulders, looking into my eyes. "You need to go with Weylyn. I will see you when all of this is finished."
I was sputtering for words when he gently kissed my forehead, as if I was a small child. Weylyn headed towards the door, saying, "Come on, Chloe."
I followed after him, looking over my shoulder at Julius. He gave me a small assuring grin, then headed into the next room. I started thinking about if that would be the last time I saw him as I rushed outside and sprinted into the trees behind Weylyn.
An Alpha never runs.
Most of the trees were unfamiliar with smooth trunks and few branches. The earth was very black and damp underfoot, hidden by treacherous roots and long weeds. While the sun was sweltering, the air was cool enough to prevent me from sweating too much as we bolted through the trees. "Keep up, Chloe!"
I was running as fast as I could, watching Scarlett bounce in Weylyn's arms. She was flinching in pain, her eyes squeezed shut.
Then, a thundering, familiar roar shook the trees.
I jerked to a stop.
Weylyn noticed, stopping as well. "Chloe."
"That was Roarke," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. A chill traveled down my spine at the thought of returning to him.
"Yes," he agreed, beckoning for me to continue with his head. "We need to keep moving - you should shift into your wolf. You'll be able to keep up better." Unfortunately, he couldn't shift into his wolf because of Scarlett. She was too weak at the moment to hang onto him if she rode his back. His strong arms were keeping her pinned to his body.
"I-I don't think Julius is going to win," I said, stumbling backwards. "I have this feeling. It's a very bad feeling. . ."
Weylyn hesitated. "He's not going to win."
My eyebrows scrunched together. "Isn't he your Alpha? Aren't you supposed to believe in him - "
"I'm looking at the facts," he said, as Scarlett moaned painfully in his arms. "Roarke Farkas has a scary reputation for a reason. He killed his family - did he tell you that?" I couldn't forget it. He walked to me, glancing around through the trees. "Julius is skilled, yes, but he's not a monster. Not like Roarke."
"If Julius dies, I will feel great grief."
"You will survive it," he told me, calmly. "We need to keep moving." I stared at him for a long minute, hearing the howls and yells in the distance. Julius was going to die. The bond was making a decision for me - I couldn't let that happen. I stepped backwards, shaking my head in regret. "Chloe, don't do this."
"The bond won't let me leave now," I explained, holding back tears. "I need you to keep Scarlett safe."
Weylyn growled. "Chloe!"
As he hollered after me, I took off sprinting back to the house. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and my knees were trembling. All I wanted was freedom - all I had to do was run the opposite direction and disappear. Yet, the bond was forcing me to run to the battle. I couldn't let Julius die; this bond made me feel as if he was everything I had.
However, as I neared the house, I was suddenly grabbed from behind. A hand slapped over my mouth, muffling my scream, and I was held tightly against a warm body as I thrashed around. "Stop."
I chomped down on the palm of their hand, causing them to curse under their breath. I ripped myself free, whipping around to attack, only to freeze. "Rudy?"
He nodded once. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You speak?"
"You need to run," he grunted, ignoring my comment. He was such a large man - this was the deadliest warrior of Roarke's pack. He was also assigned as my Defender at one point. "I can't have you returning to Roarke."
"Why not?"
"This is bigger than you," Rudy told me, vaguely. "You need to go back and disappear with Weylyn and Scarlett."
I frowned. "You've been watching us."
"Run."
"I can't," I replied, wiping underneath my eyes. "The bond is making me go back to Julius. He's not going to survive Roarke."
"I know, so you need to run."
I was getting frustrated with him. "You're not understanding me. I can't run. The bond is too strong - just standing here and wasting time talking to you is causing my skin to itch."
"That's unfortunate," he said, his voice hoarse. I gave him a look of confusion, right before his fist swung up and he nailed his knuckles into my cheekbone. My vision swarmed with black spots, eventually turning completely black, as Rudy caught me in his arms.
Here we go again.
-
Opening my eyes, there was a throbbing pain in my cheek. The thought of opening my mouth to speak sounded awful. The pain easily affected all the nerves in my face - when I remembered how I got that pain, I stiffened. There, pacing back and forth across the room, was Rudy. I was tied in a chair, unable to move, and by the looks of my surroundings, we were in an abandoned place.
I was cold. "You're a real jerk, you know?"
Rudy turned his head, seeming a bit relieved that I was awake. He approached me and I tensed, leaning as far back in the chair as possible. "I didn't want to hit you - I didn't have a choice. I needed to get you out of there."
"I'm tired of getting punched in the face," I said, wincing. "Why are you doing this?" I looked down at the rope tying me to the chair. I was having some déjà vu to when Roarke first captured me.
He crouched down to my level. "Roarke hurt Scarlett."
"I know."
"He can't have you," Rudy said, rather bluntly.
"Well, I don't want him," I responded, confused. "Do I really have to be tied up right now? Is a war happening?" I focused on the bond, on the emotions that I was feeling. Besides the pain in my cheek, I wasn't feeling any pain or grief. "Julius is alive. I would feel if he wasn't."
"Yeah, he's alive," he clarified, nodding once. "So is Roarke."
I was cautious. "So, what happened?"
"Roarke won the challenge, but he didn't kill Julius," Rudy informed me, watching my expression. "He wants to persuade you into returning for the sake of Julius's safety - I, however, will make sure that doesn't happen."
"Why?" I asked, still not understanding. "Because, he hurt the woman you love?" There was a flare of emotion in his eyes at my words. He truly did care for Scarlett.
"I think you might be able to take control of the pack," Rudy said, quietly. An obnoxious laugh escaped my lips, but as soon as I realized he was serious, I began panicking. "A Farkas has never submitted, not until you."
"I-I won't be able to defeat Roarke," I stuttered, looking at him as if he was crazy. "I don't want to control a pack! I just want to be free! What aren't you people understanding?" I shook my head, squirming in the chair. "I'm tired of all of this - I just want to be human again."
He suddenly bowed to me.
"Rudy," I blurted, staring at his head. "What are you doing?"
"I pledge my loyalty to you, Alpha."
Alpha?