Chapter Sixteen

Lillian

Grandmother grabs food out of her own refrigerator from what they have brought her. The food I brought is horrible and should have been tossed days ago. I should have paid more attention to the smell.

After we have finished eating, I stand up from the table. “I’m going to my house. There are things I need to do and check on. Do you think I’ll be okay with this on my neck?”

"Are you sure that is a wise choice, child?" Grandmother stands, her cane in her hand. She looks rather worried, and I understand why. To go back now with my neck not fully healed is a terrible idea and I know it’s not finished healing because of the look on her face.

Who knows what will happen once I step foot into the village? But the truth of the matter is, I need answers and many of them. The beast’s words are haunting me and there is only one thing I can do.”

"Grandmother, has Alpha Nigel been the one bringing your meals every day?”

"Yes, why?" She picks up the plate and heads to the sink to wash it.

"Well, the morning after I spent the night in the cell, Corbin told me he had been attacked. He mentioned his guts had been almost ripped out.”

She stops scrubbing the plate and turns her head slightly to look at me over her shoulder. "Well, I heard he was attacked, but apparently it wasn't dire since he seemed fine in a couple days."

Of course, I should expect Corbin to be dramatic. When is he not? He will exaggerate things just to make me feel bad or use it to his advantage.

“So his guts weren’t hanging out and his stomach wasn’t bandaged up like a severe wound to the stomach?”

Grandmother gasps. “No. He seemed fine when I saw him during the new moon. That is when he told me you were busy and would be in the village for a bit to take care of things.”

I shrug and then head for the door, dismissing all the thoughts threatening to consume me whole. “I’ll be back soon and if I’m not, you better come after me.”

She offers me a faint smile as I reach the door.. "Now that I'm aware, I will come running if you're not here later. Please be careful. You are all I have."

"I love you, Grandmother."

"I love you, too."

Sucking in a deep breath, I turn and open the door wide. I shut it after stepping out and ensure it clicks.

It looks like a normal day with the sun shining brightly in the sky. But then I feel him.

He’s in the woods waiting for me, just like always. I don’t know why we are connected, but I’d say neither of us chose this. Part of me is thankful for the connection, even if I do have to keep it hidden for now.

It makes the woods a little less scary.

As I walk down the path, I hear the familiar snapping of twigs, but it doesn't cause me to run. I make it to the village and look toward my house without even breaking a sweat.

After another minute, I'm at my door and pushing it open. I gasp as I take in the wreckage. It looks like someone in wolf form destroyed every inch.

As I sniff my surroundings, I pick up another scent mingled in with mine and the beast’s. Corbin.

"He will pay for this."

Nigel's voice booms behind me, causing me to jump. "There you are, girl."

I turn quickly to face him, a snarl on my lips. "Here I am. Now, what are you going to do with me?"

I’m shocked at my words because they sound nothing like me. Before this incident, I would have never taken a tone like this with him. But things are different now. He doesn’t scare me anymore and part of me knows I don’t have to listen to him if I don’t want to. My wolf slowly rises to the surface, just waiting for another opportunity to come out and play.

“Where have you been?” He asks with a smirk. “You should be planning your ceremony in a week instead of disappearing for an entire week.”

"It's none of your business where I've been." Not that I can tell him, anyway. It’s not like I can say I was running through the woods with the one they call a monster.

Suddenly, his eyes land on my neck, and my hand flies to cover the marks.

“You wench. You have been cheating on my son. Is this how you are going to repay us and our kindness?”

I scoff. "Kindness? You have never been kind to me, and you know it. I didn't cheat on him because there is no us. So, save it for someone who cares."

His hand reaches out toward my throat, and I drop my hand from my throat to catch it, but miss. He wraps his fingers around my neck, picking me up to slam me against the side of my house. "This will not stand. I have called the council and we will deal with you."

I'm flung through the air and land on the dirt a few feet away from my house before I can do anything about it.

As I rise from the ground, I dust myself off. A new rage fills me and I’m ready to beat this idiot to a pulp. "I'm not scared of you."

"You should be."

He crosses the space and then snatches me off the ground in one fluid motion by the throat again. I hang in the air as he chokes me. “We will see what they want to do with you.”

I burst into laughter as I claw at his hand with both of mine. "Like they will let you get away with this. I didn’t cheat on Corbin and I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The corners of his mouth turn up in a smirk. “They let me treat you like nothing all these years, so what makes you think they won’t allow it to continue? Your ceremony will go on as planned and you will bear his heirs.Between both blood lines, those pups will be the most powerful we've ever had. But this is just for fun because I can do what I want with you and you’re just going to take it.”

"I'm not a breeding machine, nor will I be used as one." I try to get free, but I'm stuck in his grasp. The power that I hold has vanished and only appears when it wants to, apparently. It won’t surface no matter how hard I try to make it appear.

"It's cute that you think you have a choice." He sets me on my feet, only to drag me by my neck behind him. I fight him every step of the way, but eventually, he just throws me to the ground again.

"Here she is. As you know, she disappeared from our home seven days ago and hasn't been seen since. She is supposed to mate with my son in about a week’s time and needs to learn her place. What do you say?"

The response I hear from all of them is unanimous, with each of them responding. I'm appalled as I take in their faces, noting some were friends with my parents when I was little before their untimely deaths. "Why are you doing this to me?”

There is no remorse shown in their expressions. Tears roll down my cheeks as I look at each of them again. He’s right. They are going to allow him to continue treating me like this.

Nigel takes a step closer and nudges me with his boot. "Get up."

Standing up, I am immediately met with a forceful punch to my stomach, causing me to double over in agony. They laugh, but that isn't what has my attention.

The roar coming from the woods fills my mind. I lift my gaze upwards and allow a smirk to play across my lips. "Wrong move, Alpha."

"Why you little piece of trash!" Nigel roars and smacks me across the face.

Blood dribbles down my chin as my wolf rises to the surface, just underneath the skin. Run.

I take off without another thought and head straight for the path to my Grandmother’s, my wolf in full control and allowing me to move quicker than I ever have before in my human form.

"Get back here!" Nigel yells, but I don't stop running. His alpha command has no effect on me.

Just as I step foot onto the path between the trees, he catches me and pins me to the ground. With ease, he flips me over onto my back, holding my hands above my head firmly.

"I am your alpha, and you will obey," he screams in my face. “Obey me!”

When I speak, I realize my wolf's voice is mixed with my own. "You are no alpha of mine, but you will meet the one I call alpha.”

“What?” He asks, completely confused.

His confusion only grows as he hears the roar in the forest, and it is heard by all. I can’t see the pack’s reaction, but I know they heard him and catch the scent of fear on the breeze.

My wolf surges forward again, controlling my voice. “Meet the one I answer to.”

Something comes running from the right side of the woods and Nigel turns his head in that direction, his eyes widening with fear.

But it’s too late.

The beast in the woods is coming for him because he dared to touch me.

I blush as I realize he cares for me unlike anyone ever has besides my grandmother.

All the color drains from Nigel’s face as he screams out. “The monster!”

He jumps up, leaving me on the ground, but not before casting one last look at me. “You will pay for this.”

I watch with a twisted smile as he tries to run for the safety of the village, propped up by only my elbows. The beast comes out from the left side of the woods, soaring through the air and snatching Nigel by the shoulder, before dragging him onto the other side.

It happens so fast that I don't get a good look at him, but I hear Nigel's screams as he's dragged off into the woods.

I push myself to a standing position right as Nigel's screams die. Hobbling, I make my way to the edge of the village with a slight smile on my face. Everything feels surreal.

The council members are in all states of disarray, with some looking at me with wide eyes.

"Why are you staring at me? Don’t you want to go get your noble alpha from the beast’s clutches?”

One woman named Asella screams and points behind me. I turn slowly, only to see Nigel stumbling out of the woods. He falls to his knees, his hand covering his face. I notice his other arm is gone and his body is covered in claw marks. Blood is gushing from multiple wounds and from the socket of his missing arm.

"Help me," he pleads.

My jaw drops open because I can't believe what I'm seeing. Before he can crawl away, the beast's massive jaws come out of nowhere and grab him from behind. He's yanked into the woods, his screams filling the air once more.

I hear a commotion with the council members and turn to see what is going on. Asella has passed out with one man holding her up. The other man, Samson, looks at me with venom in his gaze. "You! You did this to the alpha."

"Me? How did you come up with that? Did you not see the beast get him?" I ask as the smile falls from my face.

I know I feel safe and I know the words that tumbled from my lips about Nigel meeting the one I answer to, but that was my wolf.

Not me, exactly.

He shakes his finger at me and takes a step forward. "You summoned that beast. It's been you all along that has kept us trapped in the woods with that beast at your beck and call. That's how you could go to your Grandmother's all these years without being attacked."

"That is nonsense. Do you even hear yourself? The beast has supposedly been in the woods for two hundred years. I’m twenty-four, so do the math.”

"Lies!" He screams. "I saw you walk out of the woods before going to your house. You must be a witch."

Right as I'm about to answer him, I hear a sickening thud behind me. Slowly turning my head to the right, I can see Nigel's headless body lying at the edge of the woods. I swallow hard as the head comes out of the woods and lands beside my feet.

"I don't control the beast." Anything I planned to say after that dies in my throat.

"It sure looks like it. Why else would it save you and throw our alpha’s head at your feet?”

Corbin comes out of his house after feeling the bond break with his father, along with his mother. She is screaming and crying. I watch as Alana runs down the steps and goes straight for her mate's body, but Corbin remains on the porch with an odd expression on his face.

It’s like he wants to mourn, but he also realizes what this means for him.

Corbin looks between me and the body of his father. "What have you done?"

"I didn't do this."

"She's a witch!" Samson screams out for all who can hear him.

Corbin looks at him and shakes his head. "She isn't a witch, that much I can confirm, but I know what she'll be doing from now on. Never fear, for I will ensure she's taken care of."

"Surely, you don't plan to mate with this woman." Asella has finally come to and is looking at Corbin in disgust. "She is not a worthy mate. She will only lead this pack to ruin.”

"I will do as my father wanted. I will break her in every way and make her a suitable mate. Our ceremony will still go on as planned.”

He must lace his words with his newfound alpha command because they all bow and reply in unison, "Yes, Alpha."

Corbin comes down the steps slowly with a calculative look on his face and doesn't stop until he's right in front of me. He shoves his fingers under my chin roughly and forces me to meet his gaze. As he bends down towards me, his lips brush against my ear, and he whispers softly, "With you by my side, we'll be unstoppable with your connection to that beast."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. There is nothing there,” I lie.

This only makes him laugh. With a wide grin on his face, he keeps his face close to mine. "I suspected, but this proves it. Hello, solid white wolf.”

I jerk away as if I’ve been scalded and stare at him with a new light. A solid white wolf hasn’t been seen in two hundred years, though white runs in my family. “What?”

His gaze shifts to his father’s lifeless body near the woods. He takes one step forward to block me from view. “Do you hear that beast? If you want her to live, then you’ll behave yourself like the good little forest monster you are. If anything happens to me, then she will meet a worse fate than you can imagine.”