They had arrived here with such hope and confidence that they would win the fight, bring their children home, sell their daughter, and make their son’s Alphas. They believed they would succeed so highly, so confidently.
And yet here they were, dead, on the floor of the pack they wanted to destroy.
My eyes graced over Gabby. How could this all have been written for her? How could so much pain be meant for one single person? A person so kind and pure-hearted she would lay down her life to protect anyone.
The warriors that the Santos had brought all went down on one knee in front of Nick. For he was now their Alpha. He was next in line to take over the pack and the title had just been passed over.
“Rise.” He said and they stood, albeit looking profoundly confused.
The Beta was standing with a much too disapproving look on his face. Nick cast me a look.
“Come in.” Nick said and everyone turned their heads.
Flashback…
“Hey, can I come in?” Nick was standing by the door to my office. I had just visited Cole in the dungeon, my mind was a fucking mess and I could not handle any more at this moment.
I placed the picture of Cole on the table and nodded my head.
“What’s up?” I asked. Nick sat down on the chair in front of the desk. He raised his head and looked around at the surface of the table. His eyes landed on the picture I had just placed down.
He picked it up and scanned it.
“I spoke to him.” He said and looked up at me.
clenched my jaw and leaned forward.
“Why?”
“I heard he was one of the people who hurt Gabby.”
“He was.”
“We got into some interesting..history,” I knew what he was getting at but I didn’t appreciate him fishing for answers.
“Why don’t you just cut to the chase, I have a lot on my mind right now.” He nodded his head and placed the frame down.
“I have a plan, one that you cannot tell anyone about.
Including my brothers and sister.” I was getting intrigued and at the same time, a feeling of dread filled the room. I didn’t want to keep secrets from Gabby, I didn’t want to lie to her or in any other way hurt her again.
I had promised, both her and myself, that I would keep everything honest.
“Sorry, I can’t promise you that.” He sighed and bit down on his lip: His eyes rose and I could see the intentions in them.
Whatever plan he had was going to be a whim.
“Please, it’s for their safety.” He said and lowered his head.
Shit.
What do we do?
‘We promised her no more lies’
I know but something is up
‘And we have to find out what it is. Aiden, we also promised to protect her, we have been beating ourselves up trying to figure out a way to do so. Maybe this is the way’
I looked at Nick and bowed my head.
“I promise.”
“Cole told me much about your past. How you edged him into this life of hypocrisy and douchery. You were the devil on his shoulder, shouting louder than his common sense. He told me about the person he used to be before you affected him.” I clenched my jaw even tighter and was hoping he’d get to the point before my patience ran over.
“He seems like a good man, deep down. I know what he did, to both Gabby and Cassy so I’m proposing a way for him to showcase his other sides and simultaneously make up for the bad he has done.”
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that? How is he going to make up for raping a girl?” Nick raised a brow and leaned his elbows on his knees.
“How come you didn’t give two shits about the allegations until Gabby came along? That girl, Casandra, she walked on these grounds, seeing the face of her tormentor every day.
Why didn’t you do anything sooner?” This a question I had asked myself for a long time. Since the morning that Cassy came out of the bedroom with Cole. I knew the truth, why hadn’t l acted on it?
“I was messed up, played by my brother, and more protective over my friends than the innocence of a girl,”
“Who used to be your friend, no?” My eyes started glowing and I growled.
“That, right there, is why I cannot trust you with my sister.” I was taken aback by his comment.
I leaned back in the chair and blinked several times.
“You’re unreliable, you cannot own up to your mistakes and you blame your pain on everyone else. The second someone pushes up against you, saying something you don’t like, you fall back on that default setting that was put in you so long ago.”
I shook my head and scoffed. Defensive, I knew that.
Where the fuck were my words? Why was I quietly sitting and letting him lead the conversation?
‘Because now you’re talking to an actual Alpha’
I looked up at Nick. My blood was boiling but it wasn’t at him, my anger was directed at myself.
“Tell me what you want.” I said and tried pushing back the anger.
“I want you to release Cole, not yet but soon. Something will happen, it has been quiet for too long. You will know when it is time and then I’m gonna need you to send a guard and let him out of the cellar. He will be ready and on my command, I will instruct him further.”
“What is it he will do?”
“I don’t know yet but he will do it, that I can promise you,”
End of Flashback…
His face was bruised and dirt covered it in patches. His eye was swollen. His clothes had been changed and he was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Dried blood on his arms and his neck.
Cole looked around the room and Gabby gasped. I looked at Nick, the plan had been set in place the second we heard about their parent’s arrival. In the car on the way back to town, Nick told me what Cole would be doing to clear his name, or at the very least he would clean it a bit.
” Warriors, meet Cole Askon, your new Alpha.” Everyone was looking around in shock but I met my father’s gaze and he calmed.
The warriors kneeled.
“Before he takes his place as Alpha of the pack, he has a mission. Have you been informed?” He asked Cole who bowed his head.
“What…what is happening?” Gabby asked. She turned her head and looked at me. A pang of guilt hit me in the chest.