Sapphire Nightborne
"Karmen."
No wonder no one detected her entering the stronghold and Amelia claimed that her scent was strange... she was no longer a wolf, something that I had made sure of.
"Surprised to see me, Sapphire? Surprise that, in your words, *a weak pathetic human* managed to get through your defenses and kidnap Chloe..."
I began to tune her out as I focused my attention of Chloe whose her were squinted shut as she whimpered in pain, the front of her dress a darker shade than the rest. The shock from the kidnapping must have pushed her to start labour earlier, I needed to get her away from Karmen to somewhere safe.
My planning was interrupted as a whizzing sound caused me to look back up, my hand catching the bolt in the nick of time, just an inch away from my face.
"This time I am not going to be ignored! You will listen to what I have to say!"
Karmen waved the crossbow in the air, eyes wild as she spoke. If this was any other time, I would have just tackled her to the ground and wrestled the weapon from her... but I could not risk her shooting Chloe. I held up my palms, dropping the bolt, and slowly walked towards Karmen who backed away from me, aiming the crossbow right at my head.
"Karmen, I am listening to you now, okay? You did all of this to get me here, and here I am now. Just let Chloe go--"
"No! Do you really think I am that stupid? I know how this plays out, I let Chloe go and you attack me once she is out of danger! You are not going to win this time! I made sure of it!"
I could not help but gasp as she produced a vial from her pocket, its red contents sloshing precariously within its glass walls.
"This might not affect you or me, but I am sure Chloe would disagree. If any of you attempt to escape or mindlink your pack, I will break this vial and you, Sapphire, will have to watch Chloe rip her children from womb."
Chloe let out a sob at Karmen's words before doubling over in pain... I needed to do something, but I could not risk the vial breaking as Chloe had no way of escaping... shifting now would mean the demise of her children.
"Karmen, just let me help Chloe, please. Let me help her and leave this place. I promise that you will never ever have to see me again, you can have Damien all to yourself. Just like you wanted, right?"
I spoke each word slowly with caution, monitoring Karmen's expressions. Her erratic behaviour made her dangerous and unpredictable, so the best thing I could do now, so that Chloe and I could leave here with our lives. was say what she wanted to hear. I looked over to Chloe, who was now bracing her entire weight against the tree as her head swayed from side to side, I needed to buy time to get her out of here if I wanted any chance of saving her and her children.My body tensed even further as Karmen let out a hysterical laugh at my words before walking closer to me, stopping just inches in front of me and placing the end of the crossbow directly against the skin of my forehead. I could feel it cut into my skin as she pressed against it harder.
"That is what you want, isn't it, Sapphire? You want me to let you go so that you can save this
pack, be the hero and live out your little happily ever after with that smitten mate of yours! Well, guess what? That is not going to happen! I can't let it happen!"
The crossbow trembled against my forehead as the hand that held it shook. Chloe had gone silent which caused my heart race.
"Karmen, you can have Damien, I am not in the way anymore..."
She did not let me finish before screaming at me, my lips pursed as I felt her spit against my face.
"You still are! You always are! Look at me, Sapphire, look at what you did to me, look at how you ruined me!"
I watched tears start to run down the scars on her face as her hand shook even more. The scars on her face still looked as ghastly as they were when I first gave them to her, even though they had scabbed over. They ran down from the top of her left eye to her chin, permanently twisting her once full luscious lips into a thin permanent frown.
"Because of you Sapphire, Damien will never love me again. You took his love away from me, and made sure that he would always seek comfort in the arms of someone else!"
The arrogant mask that she had so carefully constructed had started to crack, revealing the insecure girl beneath it... the girl that she tried tp hide from Damien and the world. She looked so vulnerable, so sad, that I could not help but feel pity for her.
"Karmen, if Damien does not want you just because you are not as beautiful as you were last time, it means he is not the man for you."
My tone softened as I spoke to her, she needed to believe that I sympathised and understood her.
"You are lying! Damien is the only man for me! He promised me himself that he was going to marry me and make me his Alpha Female, but you ruined it! You waltzed in and suddenly, I did not matter anymore, you took him away from me!"
Her tears never seemed to stop as they flowed freely down her cheeks before collecting at the tip of her chin and dripping to the ground.
"Without him, I am nothing. Do you know how my life was before him? I was nothing, the lowest in the pack ranking, always the last to eat or have anything, but because of him, I was treated better. He saved me, he gave my life meaning. You don't think I know what I am called behind my back, *"The Alpha's Whore"*, *"The Alpha's Plaything"*, but I did nothing about it because I knew I was more to him than that. He would tell me every night that I was *'The One'*, but every morning he would leave."
Her voice grew quiet as the last few rods left her lips, I risked a look at Chloe to see that her eyes were now open as she took deep breaths to offset the pain. I wanted to turn my head towards her, but Karmen pushed the crossbow harder against my skin.
"But I understood because he told me that as an Alpha he was busy and could not afford to constantly stay by my side, and I accepted that as a good mate should. I was aware that he had other women but I did not care, after all, it was me who he loved, me who he promised to marry.. they were just for fun."
Oh how wrong she was. Damien saw her in the same light as he did with all his other flings... easy and temporary distractions.
"But everything changed after you entered our lives! You blinded him and made him forget about me! He still visited me at night but he left, not to tend to the pack but to see you and soon, even his visits grew few! I thought that by accepting the challenge of the Bloodbath it would prove to him that I was still worthy of his love and that I had the makings of an Alpha Female, that you were just a passing infatuation, but lo and behold, you won."
How could she put herself through that just for him?
"Do you know how humiliating it was to be rejected by him in front of everyone else, everyone who already assumed I meant nothing to him? I could feel my heart break each time he cringed away from me after looking at my face. Do you know what it feels like to see someone who said he would love you for the rest of your life cast you aside for some pretty thing that just came into his live for less than 2 months!"
She used the same hand that held the vial to reach for something in her pocket. My heart sank as I saw the silver liquid being poured on the bolt. Could this situation get any worse?
"I have to kill you, Sapphire. Your death would prove to him that he was wrong, that I am worthy enough to be his love. He might mourn your death for a moment, but you will soon be forgotten when I deliver his sister back to him."
Her words were unbelievable, she was so blinded by Damien. He had successfully manipulated her into his bed by playing on her insecurities of not being loved. He twisted her so badly that even now she could still believe that he could love her, care for her. He moulded her to that she would always devote herself so wholly to him.
"We are all given second chances, so take it. Leave now and leave Damien. You are still young and I am sure your mate is just waiting for somewhere, don't give up your chance at happiness for Damien. You were never meant to be his..."
I was trying to get through to her, to get her to snap out from this toxic dream she had put herself in. No woman, no matter how badly they treated me in the past deserved to go through something like this. I wanted her to see the light, and hopefully dissuade her from killing Chloe and I.
"Don't you get it? I only have Damien left, who else would love me? My mate is dead, Damien killed him because he knew that our love was true, that we were always meant to be together."
My eyes widened even further as I processed her words. How could someone still be with the person who killed their mate?
"He was from one of the packs that Damien conquered, but he was a threat to our love so Damien killed him. He told me that he was sure that the Moon Goddess had made a mistake and that he was my mate. He told me that no man would love me like he did and he promised that he would kill his mate when he found her to be with me."
She was lost, blinded by a monster.
"Karmen, wake up! Damien does not love you, he does not love anything! He does not love me, his sister, you or even his pack! Don't you see Karmen, Damien does not see us as living things but rather just objects that can benefit him."
A sob escaped her throat as the crossbow against my forehead trembled even more, my eyes closing as droplets of silver dripped from the crossbow tip onto my skin. I forced myself to look into her eyes.She did not want to kill because she hated me, she wanted to kill me to get Damien to notice her and 'love' her again. I grabbed the crossbow, which came loosely from her fingers and threw it to the side, it clattered as it hit the ground and I soon did the same with vial, but placed it softly on the ground before nudging it aside. Her arms limply fell to the side as she sobbed, her body shook as she brought her arms around herself as if to hold herself together from breaking apart.
I took her distracted state of mind to gesture at Chloe to leave. She caught my gaze and gestured for me but I slowly shook my head. She gave me one last look before getting up, eyes squinting shut once more, and slowly waddling away from the tree.
*"Angel, I need you to get to your parents' tree as soon as possible, Chloe will be around there and needs urgent medical attention."*
*"What about you?"*
*"Don't worry about me. Just come on your own and find Chloe."*
I ended to link and brought my attention to Karmen, I needed her to focus on me instead of Chloe. I had no idea what else she had on her.
"Don't waste your life chasing after a man who would never do the same for you. You gave everything you couls to him and what did he give you in return? Just broken promises and an empty bed. Karmen, I can't promise you that you would find anyone who could love you as eternally and truthfully as your mate could have, but I can promise you that anything would be better than staying with Damien and wasting the rest of your years on him, knowing that you are nothing but just a convenient outlet for his urges."
My words were harsh but they were nothing but the truth, she had to wake up before she allowed herself to be dragged back into that toxic nightmare. It was not her fault that she became who she was. She was manipulated at a vulnerable time in her life by a man who knew just how to play her like a bass by letting her hear what she craved most at that time in her life, words of love and security. I watch as she gave me a watery chuckle and small smile.
I relaxed for a moment before I felt a searing pain in both my calves. Chloe let out a soft scream before ducking behind a Black Pine tree, Karmen just stood rooted to the spot.
I looked down to see a bolt had made its way into the back of each of my calves, I tried to stand up but I could not feel my legs. My mind was giving the instructions for them to move, but they did not obey.
There was a whizz and a scream as Karmen fell in front of me, a bolt sticking out of leg... but she was able to still kick out her legs in pain. My body tensed as I heard footsteps come from behind me. All I could was a leather clad and dark hair as this woman walked in front of me and bent down to grab Karmen's neck. She picked Karmen up easily with one hand, and stood up. My view was now of just this woman's and Karmen's legs... Karmen's kicking aimlessly in mid-air.
"Damien was right, you really are useless."
My eyes widened at the voice before a sickening crack was heard and Karmen's legs stilled their movement. My eyes stared at her body as she crashed in a heap. I wanted to see the owner of that voice, but I could not flip my body around.
I stiffened as the woman placed her hands on my shoulder before turning my around so that I could see her face... and my heart almost stopped when I did.
It couldn't be, not after all those nights of mourning and crying, of praying for vengeance, blaming myself for my incompetence as Head Warrior Commander. My vision blurred as I stared into the very blue eyes that I once looked at to feel safe, to feel secure.
A scoff escaped her lips as she bent down to look over me, clicking her tongue in annoyance as she surveyed my paralysed body. I made no move to scream as my throat tightened with every passing second, my mind unable to process that she was here right in front of me, the person who I had once called my protector.
Her lips formed a smirk before she lifted her hand to my cheek, slowly dragging her hand against my skin.
"Why the long face, *little sister*? Did you not miss me?"
That was the last thing I heard before I felt a pinch and the whole world around me turned black.