Chapter Twenty-Six

Drake

D rake was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he, Zeke, and Knox stood outside Amara’s bookshop, waiting for her to show up. She had promised them that morning before they left that she would gather her things and tell her father that she was leaving the pack for them, and they wanted to see how it went. They knew he wasn’t going to be happy about it, but there was really nothing that the guy could do. They were fated. However, he still had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach that just wouldn’t go away, and he needed to see her if only to be sure that she was okay.

If he was being honest, he still had no idea how he had been able to deny the bond between them for so long. Now that he had accepted it, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest. He felt better than he had in years, and even the weather seemed to reflect that.

It was a beautiful, bright, and sunny day. The weather was warm with clear skies and a gentle breeze that rustled his hair as they stood on the sidewalk. The town square was filled with the sounds of happy, squealing children, who were running around, chasing bubbles or playing tag, and there seemed to be more people out and about as well.

Unfortunately, though, there was still no sign of Amara, and the bookshop was supposed to have opened over an hour ago. To his knowledge, she had never been late like this before, and that didn’t help his already fraying nerves.

“Where is she?” he asked no one in particular.

“Maybe we should call her?” Zeke suggested, his eyes focused down the road where she would be coming from.

Drake shook his head. While he was worried about her, he didn’t want to risk making a call to her right now. “Probably not the best idea. What if she’s still talking to him?”

Knox crossed his arms, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I have a bad feeling about this, and I’m about to gut someone with a butterknife.”

Normally, Drake would disagree with Knox’s assessments, but he didn’t think it was such a bad idea at the moment. Maybe it was because the bond was now solidified between the two of them, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was really wrong.

“Maybe she accidentally slept in? We did keep her up pretty damn late.” He was just throwing suggestions out there at this point. Mainly because he didn’t want to admit the truth to himself.

Amara had always said that she didn’t think her father would let her go. There was a very real possibility that he was holding her captive now that she had told him she was leaving. That would cause some problems but wasn’t going to work out the way her father hoped. They would get her back; it was only a matter of how much blood was shed before they did.

“Let’s go inside the bar and wait for her there,” Zeke muttered as a group of women walked by them and gave them some curious looks.

“Fuck that,” Knox retorted. “I’m not moving.”

Zeke sighed. “But –”

Drake’s shoulders sagged in relief as he spotted Amara’s car finally coming down the road, stopping for some passing kids. “There she is.”

The three of them moved toward the car as she pulled up to the front of the shop, but when she began climbing out, they stopped short and took in the sight of her. Despite the warm weather, she was dressed in a baggy sweatshirt, the hood pulled up over her hair, and a pair of large sunglasses. Her hair framed her face from beneath the hood in a weak attempt to hide what was clearly growing bruises on her jaw and cheek. There was also a large split in her swollen lip.

As she moved around the front of the car, she didn’t even look at them, and he could tell that her injuries extended further than he thought because she was moving delicately.

For a moment, the three of them were frozen in their spots. Then, rage took over when he realized what had happened and what had been the cause. It took every ounce of strength he had not to completely flip his lid, which wouldn’t do them any good out here on the street. He noticed that both Zeke and Knox seemed to be dealing with the same thing, and he knew they needed to get inside before one of them lost control.

Amara said nothing as she passed them and moved toward the door, unlocked it, and then went inside, leaving the three of them standing out on the street.

“Oh, fuck no,” Knox declared, yanking the door open and rushing inside after her. He and Zeke followed behind him, but he paused long enough to lock the door. They didn’t need an audience for this.

“What the fuck happened, Amara?” Knox asked as he stomped after her while she made her way toward the office.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she muttered, still not bothering to look back at them, which was how he knew that was a bald-faced lie.

He and Zeke stopped just inside the doorway of the office, Knox between them but a few steps behind, as she set her purse down in a drawer at the bottom of the desk. The wince that crossed her face as she righted herself did not go unnoticed and only fueled the rage bubbling inside of him.

“Princesa,” Zeke breathed. He moved to her and gently took her chin between his fingers to examine her face. “What happened?”

Drake already knew what happened, and there was no way Zeke and Knox didn’t know either. But maybe they wanted to hear the words from her before they took action. Because they were definitely going to do something about this now. Her father had taken things too far this time.

Amara sighed and removed her sunglasses. Beside him, Knox gripped the door frame, causing the wood to crack and groan beneath the stress when they all got a look at the bruise on her eye.

“I got a reality check, okay?” she replied, her voice thick with emotion. It sounded as though she had been crying for the last several hours. “Look, we… we need to talk.”

“Can I murder him now?” Knox growled to him. “Say the word, and I’m fucking gone.”

“Talk about what, Amara?” he asked her, ignoring Knox for the moment.

He was barely holding it together as it was, and he was pretty sure he knew what she was about to say. Drake was inclined to agree with Knox this time. The words were on the tip of his tongue. He was seconds away from giving Knox the go-ahead to murder the asshole who dared to put his hands on what was theirs.

Stepping away from Zeke, Amara ran her fingers through her hair. “This. Us. We have to end it.”

None of them said anything for a moment as the weight of her words settled heavily in the air around them.

“What did he say, Amara?” he ground out through clenched teeth. “What did he tell you?”

When she turned to him, her eyes were full of tears, and the sight broke his heart. He had never seen her look so broken. “What he said doesn’t matter. We have to end it. I have to… I have to reject you guys and the bond we share.”

“Why?” Zeke whispered.

“Over my dead body,” Knox said at the same time.

Amara sighed. “I told you guys from the very beginning that this would never work. You didn’t believe me. And this?” She pointed to the bruises on her face. “This is because I believed you all when you said that it would be okay. That it would work out.” She wrapped her arms around her middle before moving to look out of the window. “I was naive to believe that he would ever let me be happy.”

Drake shook his head, refusing to accept her rejection. He wasn’t going to do it. He didn’t go through all of the things he did just to lose her now. “We aren’t just going to let you go, Amara. Tell me what he said to you.”

Her head dropped, and her shoulders slumped as if she were trying to make herself seem smaller. “He said he would kill you, Drake. He said, if I don’t end things with you guys, he will execute you and force me to watch. I’ve seen what he’s done to rogues in the past, and I… I won’t let that be you. If the only way to save you is to reject you, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

“That’s never going to happen,” he said, his fists clenched at his sides. If he thought that his rage was bad when he first saw the bruises, that was nothing compared to what he felt now after what she said. No one threatened his friends or his mate.

“Not if we get to him first,” Knox chimed in. This time, he could understand his friend’s anger and his desire to kill. He was feeling the same thing.

“I’m sorry,” Amara whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I thought I was strong enough to stand up to him. But I’m not. I tried. It just… it didn’t work. I can’t risk anything happening to you guys because of me. I would never forgive myself. We have to end this.”

Zeke pulled her against his chest carefully, knowing she was more injured than what they could see on the surface. “Giving in isn’t an option for us. You’re it, Princesa, and no one is going to take you away from us. Give us a minute to come up with a plan. Hmm?”

Despite Zeke holding her, she stood stiffly with her hands at her sides. It was so unlike her. She was usually warm toward them, and she didn’t even sound like herself when she said, “There’s nothing you can do, Zeke. He won’t let me go. He will kill you. Don’t you get that? You all mean too much to me to let anything happen to you.”

Drake crossed his arms and looked to the floor, his jaw clenched. She seemed determined to cut things off with them, and he could understand why; she was scared. In her mind, she was trying to save them, but he couldn’t stand the feeling that was growing in his chest. Like it was cracking open at the very idea of her letting them go. Being gutted with Knox’s butterknife would feel less painful than this.

Didn’t she know how much she meant to them? Didn't she know that asking them to walk away from her would never happen because of how they felt about her? They would kill for her. They would burn the world for her. All she had to do was ask, and it would be done.

The room was quiet again before Amara cleared her throat and stepped back out of Zeke’s arms. He knew the only reason Zeke had let her go was because she was hurt, and none of them wanted to add to that.

“Look, I will always cherish the time we had together. It was the happiest I have ever been, and I will never forget it, But,” Her eyes met his eyes then as if what she had to say was directly at him. “I should have listened to you from the very beginning. I should have rejected the bond between us from the moment I discovered what you guys were to me. I knew my situation, but I was selfish and listened to my heart instead of my head. I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am.”

“Don’t you get that I fucking love you?” he growled once he’d had enough. He wasn’t going to let her do this, he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough to survive it. He needed her like he needed air to breathe, and it was time she knew that.

Amara blinked at him, her lips parted as she was clearly surprised by his admission. But then, she pressed her lips together and shook her head. For a moment, he didn’t know if she just didn’t believe him or if she didn’t want to believe him, but it was the truth. It may have taken him a while to admit it, even to himself, but he meant every word.

“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t do that. Don’t make this harder, Drake. Please.”

He finally managed to get his feet to move and closed the distance between them in a few strides. She continued to shake her head and back away until her spine hit the wall behind her. He towered over her, one hand braced against the wall next to her head, as he gently pressed a kiss to her lips.

“I am doing this, Amara. I love you – we love you – and you’re not going anywhere.”

“But my dad –”

“To hell with your dad,” Knox stated, also crossing the room toward them. “We love you, little bunny, and we will handle whatever that fucker throws at us. He’s lucky he isn’t already dead for laying a finger on you.”

It was working. He could see that her walls were beginning to crumble. She had shown up determined to end things with them, but now he could see the doubt and hesitation in her eyes. She didn’t want this any more than they did, and they were so close to convincing her to choose them. She was only trying to protect them, he knew that, but she didn’t need to protect them because they knew how to handle themselves.

“He’s not going to stop,” she told them. “If I go back and he finds out that I didn’t end things with you guys…”

“You’re not going back,” Zeke replied as he reached up and brushed his fingers down her cheek.

She blinked again. “I’m not?”

Knox scoffed. “Hell no.”

Tracing his fingers down the side of her neck, Drake smiled at her. “You are staying with us. We will get you what you need, clothes, shoes, the necessities. You don’t need to worry about anything else. Least of all your father.”

He watched as she swallowed hard, her eyes looking between the three of them, but none of them were backing down. This was what they all wanted, and they would be damned if they let her father come between them or put his hands on her again. As far as he was concerned, if he ever saw her father, he was a dead man. He crossed the line, and Drake had killed people for much less.

After several moments, she let out a breath, wringing her hands in front of her. “Okay.”

Their combined relief filled the room as Zeke took her hand in his. “Come on. You are in no condition to work today. Let’s go home.”

“Okay,” Amara muttered again softly.

“Oh, and by the way? I love you too. Can’t let these guys be the only ones to speak the truth,” Zeke added, beaming at her.

A small watery smile crossed Amara’s lips as the four of them headed out of the bookshop and back toward the apartment so that they could get their mate situated in her new home.