Chapter 99

Alyson

It happened too fast to comprehend. One moment I'm a prisoner in Olivera's room, and the next I am in the next life, before the moon goddess again, her sentient presence almost intoxicating to the sight. I bow my head, sobbing at her heals.

I fucked up everything, again! As usual! I should've never tried to help him!

She cocks her head, leaning forward to brush the hair off my shoulder, her fingertips caressing the underside of my chin until I am forced to peer upward at him. She offers me a light smile, so hopeful and kind; but so disappointed.

You did the best you could. Some souls are too far in the dark to see the light.

He is in the dark by choice! He doesn't care about me. He doesn't even understand that Ryan went to the palace to help him! I trusted him too, I told Ryan it would be okay to leave me with that asshole Alpha and Olivera betrayed me!

She gives me a puzzled look. Why does this hurt you, child?

I swallow hard, my chest heavy with the millions of answers I want to give but not knowing which is actually truthful. I don't—I don't know…

Is it because you feel the need to help those who hurt because no one helped you when you were hurt?

My eyes fall to the floor yet again. Maybe. I don't—I don't know why I have to help him. I know he is hurting and he sees that I just want to help. Why would he betray me again? Why would he turn on me so quick?

It could be what he is used to, child, she says, soothing me with her tone. Maybe Olivera James is used to being betrayed so he does it before anyone else can do it to him.

I cough slightly, feeling my existence in this worth wither slowly. I must be healing, or something similar, and I look to the moon goddess one last time for guidance. She nods me along and I am yanked from her embrace again, sent back into the mortal realm of backstabbing betrayal and being a pathetic captive.

Olivera is standing over me as I lay on the floor, soaked in my own gritty, salty sweat and forced to cough for air while nothing but bile is brough up through my lungs. I shiver, freezing cold in this world and wishing I was safe with the moon goddess yet again but I can't rely on her.

I look to the rogue Alpha, his worried eyes pacing the length of my body; he no longer looks like the scary, evil monster who anticipates using me for war bait. Instead he seems concerned, attentive, and wiping the blood off my arm where I stabbed myself with his poisonous needle.

I have half a mind to expect him to taste the blood, seeing as he is back in his mighty Alpha stance again, but he wipes it away carelessly, his hand pressing gently to my cheek.

"Stupid girl," he mutters. He grabs for me, yanking me to his chest, and I aim to fight him but I cannot. My head falls off the edge of his arm, lazily swinging as I'm carried to the bed that wreaks of his scent. "Here you go."

I struggle slightly, nauseous and weak from the wolfsbane.

"Don't pretend like you give a damn about me," I grumble, burying my face into he pillow. "You're nothing but a traitor. A user. And I should have never helped you."

"I suppose you're right," he says, the bed weighing down beside me where he sits, his hand resting peacefully but unwelcomed on the lower of my back. "I have to do what is right for my people."

"I was trying to do right by you," I groan. "I shouldn't have even bothered."

I hesitate to say more, to yell at him more than I already have. I have put my mind and body into too much stress to continue on. For some reason, I give up. I listen to the words of the moon goddess, and her preaching of this man, this wolf, that has wounded me so. I have to believe that she knows him more than I ever will.

"Is Ryan still okay?" I ask simply; calmly.

"Lover boy is fine," he grumbles.

"Why did you start this war with a man who wanted to help you, Olivera?"

He hesitates, a sign of remorse, maybe. "I want the elders to suffer."

"Use me, then," I groan. "not for the suffering of Ryan to fight the elders, but for the elders to face you and your pack directly. You want revenge, right? Take it out on them yourself. Get your revenge. Leave my mate and my pack out of it."

He doesn't answer. I know he wants this ordeal to be done with, just as much as I do, but I can't allow Ryan to fight Olivera's battles. I brought him to my mate, I made this battle worth fighting, and he betrayed me and used my kindness for granted.

"Tell the elders I'm dead," I breathe, the thought aching my soul. "They will come for you. You can fight this war with them, not with Ryan. He was just trying to help and you brought him into this trouble."

"Why not just continue the way it's going? I have lover boy fighting this war for me."

"Because you want your revenge. It's personal. And Ryan will eventually give in and make amends with the elders. They were there for our mating ceremony. They care for us more than they will ever hate you."

"I want to keep you," he hums simply, an admission I had a feeling he would make eventually. "I want you to stay with me, Alyson. I will lure the elders from your mate, spare him the battle, but only under the condition that you stay here as my consort."

I swallow hard, feeling heat rise into my throat. "You are not my mate."

"You don't know who your mate is," he says. He brushes the mark on my throat, running a long touch across my neck. "I will cover this with my mark; your body with my scent, all in exchange for lover boy out of the war. Deal?"

My throat burns with acid.

"Deal."