Chapter Thirty-Four

Amara

A mara was sitting on the couch with Drake while Zeke made them all dinner. The guys tried to make small talk, but she was too worried about Knox to respond much to them. Knox had disappeared a couple of hours ago, and none of them had heard from him since. Despite Drake and Zeke telling her to leave him alone for a while, she had tried calling him a few times, only to be sent right to voicemail. She was afraid that she had upset him in some way, and that wasn’t what she wanted.

As much as she hated to admit it, she agreed with Knox. Unless they did something about her father, he was always going to come after them. He would always be a threat. It was just hard to come to grips with the fact that he didn’t love her like she wanted him to. He was the only family she had left. Or, at least he had been before she met her mates.

Inside of her, her wolf was pacing anxiously. She was antsy, and she wanted Knox to come back so that she knew he was safe. Then, they could all sit down and talk about what was going on and come up with a plan. They needed to do this right.

After her father told her what was going on with the rest of the pack, she no longer feared retaliation if they were to kill him. However, he was still an alpha. They needed to make sure that nothing could come back to bite them in the ass later on.

Because Amara was so lost in thought, she didn’t hear the footsteps coming up the steps until the door burst open. She was on her feet in seconds, as was Drake. Even Zeke came out of the kitchen, startled and alert, but all they saw was Knox standing there with a huge grin on his face.

Amara frowned. A smile was the last thing she expected when he returned. “Knox?”

“Why are you smiling?” Drake asked, voicing her concern aloud.

Knox held out his arms, pride puffing his chest. “I have a surprise for you.”

Crossing the room within a few strides, Amara struggled with the desire to slap him for making her worry and hug him now that she knew he was safe. When she reached him, the urge to hug him took over, and she threw her arms around his neck. She was just so grateful that he was okay.

She squeezed him tightly. “You can’t disappear on me like that,” she whispered.

“I had something to do, and now I have something to show you,” he replied, hugging her back.

Amara sighed and released him, realizing that he had a one-track mind at the moment. “What? What was so important that you had to stress me out and make me worry about you for the last several hours?”

“Turn off the stove, Zeke,” Knox replied. “We’re going for a little walk.”

Knox grabbed her hand and pulled her from the apartment and down the stairs. It was obvious he was excited about something as she had to jog just to keep up with him. He led her through the bar with Zeke and Drake right behind them. None of them spoke as he took them out the back door and into the alley behind the bar.

On instinct, Amara’s eyes flew in the direction of where her shop used to be. The guys had been right; there was nothing left. The debris was taped off with yellow caution tape, and the alley still smelled like smoke and ash. Emotion clogged her throat as she forced herself to focus on Knox once more.

It was the middle of the night, and the air was crisp and chilly against her skin. The back lot was deserted, quiet, and secluded. It was almost peaceful. However, the sound of rattling chains pulled her attention toward the light post in the middle of the lot. The one that had never worked as long as she had been running the shop.

As they moved closer to the lamp post, Amara realized that there was someone chained to it. She knew exactly who it was before the figure even came into view.

Her father.

Knox’s disappearance suddenly made perfect sense to her.

Brad was bound to the post and gagged, a look of pure rage on his face. He was also doused in what smelled like copious amounts of gasoline. She could smell it even before she reached him.

When they did reach him, he tried to say something to her, but Knox had gagged him with a metal chain, so she couldn’t understand what it was he was trying to say. Not that she really cared.

Blood dripped from the sides of his mouth as he had clearly hurt himself trying to wriggle free, but Knox had done a good job tying him up. The chains were digging into his exposed skin, his eyes wide and wild. But for the first time in her life, she actually saw a hint of fear in their depths.

She had never seen her father helpless before. Yet, here he was, wrapped up like a present just for her, and the twisted sense of glee she got from it surprised the hell out of her. She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him.

“Jesus, Knox,” Zeke muttered before cursing in Spanish.

“How did you get onto the property?” Drake asked.

“Same way I did last time,” Knox stated simply. He folded his arms across his chest and looked proudly at what he had done. “This guy sucks at security. It was way too easy to sneak in and get him out without being spotted.”

Drake pinched the bridge of his nose. “And you couldn’t have waited for us?”

Knox shrugged in response. “You were busy.”

While the guys continued to bicker behind her, Amara just stared at her father. She had always loved him, but that love had never been returned. He had always treated her like crap, like she was less than, and he made her feel worthless and weak. Only when she found the guys did she start to believe otherwise, and now, standing before him, she felt anything but weak. She felt powerful.

Her father would always be a threat as long as he was alive, and it wasn’t just her life in danger anymore. She had her mates to think about, her children. Now, she had a life that she would do anything to protect.

It was as if, in those moments, everything finally came together, and her mind was made up. She knew what she had to do.

Without a word, Amara took the lighter Knox was twirling between his fingers out of his hand. He must have pulled it out at some point, she didn’t know. Then, with the lighter in her palm, she moved toward her father.

Her mates fell quiet as they watched her, waiting to see what she would do next. She flicked the lighter and lit it, watching the flame for a few moments. She had never had the urge to kill someone before, but now it was all she could think about. She had to protect them. She had to protect her children. The phrases repeated in her mind over and over again, drowning out everything else.

Someone approached her side and brushed a hand against her elbow. “I can do it, Princesa,” Zeke told her gently, holding his hand out for the lighter.

“No,” she said firmly, shaking her head and clutching the lighter tighter. “I want to do it. It has to be me. He’s put me through hell long enough.”

Knox approached her other side, nipping at her earlobe. “Do it, little bunny,” he whispered. “Make the fucker pay for what he did to you.”

“We’re right here,” Drake added from behind her, his hands brushing her hips.

With the guys by her side, she had everything she needed. She would never need anything else as long as she lived.

Amara met her father’s gaze as she flicked the lighter again. His eyes widened in both surprise and fear, but she didn’t say a single word as she tossed the lighter at his feet.

The flames climbed quickly until he was fully engulfed. From where she stood, she could hear his muffled cries over the roaring fire, and the stench of burning hair and flesh stung her nose. She had to resist the urge to gag.

The four of them watched in silence as her father burned. It seemed fitting since he had tried to burn her earlier that evening, and she figured that was what Knox was going for. She had thought that she might have felt a twinge of sadness or regret, but she didn’t feel anything other than relief. Knowing that Brad could never hurt her, her mates, or her children ever again was like a huge weight being lifted off of her shoulders.

Amara watched her father burn until the flames completely disappeared and only smoke rose from the char of his skin. Only then did she look away and back at her guys.

“What do we do with the body?” she asked.

She had never done this before. She never had to get rid of a body. It should make her feel something vile, but it didn’t. That was how she knew that she made the right choice.

“Knox and Zeke will take care of it,” Drake replied, taking her hand. “We should get you back inside to rest.”

Amara assumed she was a bit in shock as she allowed Drake to pull her back toward the bar without a fight. Just before they went inside, she glanced back over her shoulder to see Knox pull a large duffel bag out from beside the dumpster while Zeke began removing the chains from her father’s corpse. She didn’t get to see what they did next as Drake took her inside and back up the stairs to the apartment.

Both of them were quiet as he led her into his room. It all seemed so unreal. She had spent her whole life looking over her shoulder, afraid her father was going to be there, and she wasn’t sure what to do now that he was no longer a threat. It didn’t seem to faze her that she had just killed someone either.

Drake sat her on the bed before he went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. He handed her the glass as he sat next to her.

“Are you going to tell my old pack that he’s dead?” she asked, surprised that her voice didn’t break at all.

“If you want me to.”

Amara shook her head. “The news would be better if it came from me.”

Drake slowly nodded in understanding. “Think they’ll be upset?”

“No,” she replied truthfully. “I think they’ll feel free. Just like I do.”

As she sipped her water, Drake covered her free hand with his. “Are you okay though? You did kill someone tonight.”

“Weirdly, yes,” she admitted. “He was a threat to us, to our children. He was a tyrant, and the world is a better place without him in it. I don’t regret making that choice, and I don’t regret doing it myself either.”

He chuckled softly and kissed the side of her head. “You sound like me after the first time I killed someone.”

Amara looked over at him then, tightening her grip on his hand. “Are you okay? You’ve been a little different since the fire. Especially in the hospital.”

The smile he gave her gave her butterflies, and he reached up with his free hand to brush his knuckles down her cheek. “A lot better now that no one is trying to take you from me.”

“That’s what scared you?”

He nodded. “I’ve never had anything worth worrying about it being taken from me before, and I have never felt that kind of fear in my life. Especially since I was the last one to see you before it happened.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen now that he’s gone,” she told him reassuringly.

His shoulders slumped as he turned toward the ground. “You don’t know that. The guys and I… we still have a lot of enemies.”

“I figured as much, but we can deal with that as it comes.”

If this situation was anything to go by, the four of them were survivors. They would continue to be survivors too, and nothing was going to stand in the way of them being together as a family. She was determined to make him see that, one way or another.”

“Marry me,” Drake said suddenly.

Amara blinked. “What?”

He shifted on the bed so that he was facing her. He then took her glass and set it on the nightstand before taking both of her hands in his. “I know I fought this in the beginning, but I am in this now. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I want you to be mine in every possible way. I want you to be my wife, Amara.”

While it wasn’t typical for wolves to take on human traditions like marriage, she could understand where he was coming from. This was a big step for him. It was his way of showing her how important she was to him. For anyone else, it would be far too soon to even think about marriage, but they had already been through so much together.

“Okay,” she whispered with a smile. “Okay, I’ll marry you.”

Drake grinned before crushing his mouth against hers, stealing her breath. He rested his forehead against hers and said, “We will go get you a ring tomorrow.”

She shook her head, loving how excited he seemed to be. It was all sorts of insane, but she didn’t care. Nothing was standing in the way of their happiness anymore, and she was going to take full advantage of it.

“What about Zeke and Knox?” she asked curiously. “They’re going to want in on this too, you know.”

Drake just laughed. “I was the first to ask, so it’s my name you will be taking.”

A laugh escaped her lips when she thought about the drama that was going to cause. “It’s your funeral then.”

“At least, I’ll die a happy man.”