Callum’s P. O. V

I could hardly believe my eyes.

When we’d met at the Mate Ball, the very idea of my mate being alive had been inconceivable, talk less of the possibility of her and Alpha Ari being one and the same. Without the knowledge of who she was, I’d only been left with what I‘d thought of as a coincidental resemblance. But now that I knew, I almost wondered how I’d missed it.

It wasn’t till Cade had gone crazy over the sudden detection of her scent and I’d laid my eyes on her, sitting in the house as if she owned it, that the realisation crept up on me. The final piece had been the unnatural strength the drive to protect her from Harry had brought out of me.

There she was, enthrallingly menacing in every way. When she’d uttered my name like it was a curse, all I could think of was how I would give anything to have her say it again for the rest of my life. I’d been a riot of emotions, with elation, relief, guilt, desire and more warring for dominance in my heart.

But now, out of her presence, I had the chance to think.

My mate, Alpha Ari, was standing over the howling wolf of our Alpha, holding up his tail like it was a trophy. Her laughter mixed with his howls in some disturbing medley that raised every hair on my body. Coupled with the blood spatters on her clothes and face, and the savage look in her eyes, my gut was screaming at me to run.

But she was alive.

She was here.

I was watching from the locker room she’d entered the arena through. I’d decided to wait for her here last minute, as opposed to sitting with my dad. Every time Harry had charged at her, it’d taken every ounce of willpower to keep me from racing in to protect her.

Evidently, that hadn’t been necessary.

She approached the Alphas, thanking them for showing up and advising them to return to their packs as soon as possible. I might have wondered why she decided to insist on that if I wasn’t too busy fretting over how she’d react to me alone.

‘She could have denied it when Harry called her our mate.’ Cade rationalized, his voice brimming with hope and excitement, ‘It’ll take all the grovelling skills you’ve gained from all that time as a puppet, but we might have a chance to be with our mate.’

This was a side of him I hadn’t seen since we’d lost her. I wanted to hold the same unadulterated hope, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the girl who’d so readily torn the tail off another would even be open to the very idea of forgiving me.

I might not have been the ringleader of her torment, but I was far from innocent.

She finished her address and began walking back to the locker room. To the very one I was in.

I panicked, the question of if being here was even a good idea making me consider bolting away. Just as she reached the room, I decided to remain, hoping she would at least hear me out.

Her scent filled the room and seized my senses as she wordlessly walked over to the locker where she’d left her phone and other things. She put her belongings back in her pockets and shut the locker door with a metallic thud.

Then she turned to me.

With her full attention now on me, every thought in my head evaporated. Splattered with blood and devoid of any expressions, she still took my breath away. Everything in me ached to reach out and touch her.

She raised a brow, “Well?”

Blinking, I wrangled my thoughts into words, only managing a breathless, “You’re alive.”

She crossed her arms, “Last time I checked, yes.”

My face warmed, “I’m sorry, I just mean- I don’t-” I paused to inhale, “I never thought I’d see you again…. I was hopeless without you.”

Her mouth twitched, “Hopeless? You rejected me then beat me up with Kylie.”

I took a step forward, “I know. I’m so sorry, for everything I did. I was trapped by all the expectations of my dad and being the next Beta, and I was scared. I was such a fool to hurt you and I hated myself for it every single day. I spent every moment regretting it, I need you to know that.”

She turned away, closing her eyes, “I spent years hoping my mate would make things better and love me despite being the omega.” She looked at me, her pain-filled eyes galvanizing everything in me to hold her, “When I found out it was you, I was willing to forgive you everything as long as you loved me. But you didn’t even hesitate, you just thew me out like a piece of trash.”

I reached for her hand. Its warmth seeped into mine as I implored her with my eyes, “I hated every second of it. Please believe me. I never should have done it.”

Tears glossed her green eyes, threatening to spill. Seconds passed with our gazes locked and her hand in mine. A tear finally escaped, leaving a single wet trail along her blood-stained cheek.

I reached up to thumb it away and cupped her cheek. She leaned into my hand and I dared to hope.

Her eyes fluttered closed again, “I just need a little time and I don’t want to do this here, in the locker room right after a fight.”

I nodded, “I understand.”

She looked at me again, “Can we meet in the storage shed in fifteen minutes? We’ll have some privacy there.”

“Of course, anything.” I blurted.

She stepped back and my hand fell to my side, “Okay. I’ll meet you there.”

Once she was out the door, my heart began to race. The realization that our next meeting in fifteen minutes would make or break our future together gripped me.

‘Cade, what do I do?’

‘You don’t fuck it up, that’s what.’

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I found myself racing into town. I bought a bouquet of roses from a flower shop, along with the fanciest-looking chocolates I could find. Last I remembered, the storage shed didn’t have any chairs so I picked two up from the work house. Nobody was around to question me, everyone likely still tending to Harry after the fight.

By the time I reached the storage shed, twenty minutes had passed, and I was praying to Luna that she hadn’t already left. Her scent told me she was around, but when I entered the shed, she was nowhere to be found.

The storage shed was less of a shed and more of a house. It was a sturdy building, large enough to house dozens of supplies, tools and weapons with space to spare. The extra space was made into a holding cell of sorts, used to lock rampaging werewolves or discipline deviants of the pack. The large space had plenty of hiding spots, so when I didn’t immediately find her, I walked further into the building.

“Nat- um, Alpha Ari?” I called, unsure if I could even address her by name.

I carried everything with me as I walked. When I approached the holding cell, she was standing inside it, staring ahead with dark eyes. Likely remembering the nightmarish memories she had of this place.

I opened my mouth to call out to her again, but she turned to me before I could.

“You brought seats.” She noted.

I nodded, “I didn’t know how long we were gonna be here and remembered this place doesn’t have chairs. I thought you might want to be more comfortable.”

“How… thoughtful.”

I blushed and looked around, “We can sit out here if it’s better for you.”

Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when she stated, “In here is fine.”

I complied and brought them inside the cell to join her, setting them down near a cluster of chains.

Once the chairs were out of my hands, I handed her the flowers and chocolate, “These are for you.”

Slowly, she took them, looking at me with a raised brow.

I felt my ears warm to join my already flush face and found myself unable to meet her eyes, “I know it’s nothing compared to everything that happened before, but I just…” I sighed and brought my eyes to hers, “I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you and showing you how much I love you. This is just my way of trying to start.”

Her expression remained sceptical, but I thought, perhaps, I saw something soften in her eyes. The flicker of hope I’d been nursing bloomed.

Whatever softness I thought I was seeing aside, she was still sceptical, and it showed, “You rejected me so you could be Beta. How do I know you’re not just saying this because I’m an Alpha now? Being my mate would put you higher than your current– sorry, former position here.”

I winced at the sting in her words, “I don’t care about any of that. I don’t even have to be your Sol, I just want to be with you.”

She was silent for a while, and I allowed it to stretch as she turned my words over in her head. She looked down at the bouquet in her hand then back at me, her green eyes glowing as she asked in a small voice, “Do you really mean that?”

I nodded vehemently, “With all my heart.”

Moving the flowers and chocolate so she held them in one hand, she approached me slowly. Her hands raised slightly, almost like she was going in for a hug, and I raised mine too, ready to embrace her for the first time. I didn’t even realise I’d been holding my breath, till I had my arms wrapped around her.

For a second, everything that had died within me came back to life. The world was no longer a bleak, drab thing and life felt worth living. For a second, I could see my future, pouring all my love and support into her at any chance I got. For a second, I could see myself being her listening ear whenever the weight of her pack was too much to bear, and she only needed support.

But only for a second.

In the place of hope, pain bloomed, wet, and warm as the blood flowed out of me from the hole in my side. Slowly, my head lowered to look at her. Keeping eye contact, she yanked a pair of blood-covered pliers out of my side and stepped back.

My hands came up to cover the hole, the slick blood leaking through my fingers. The future I’d imagined shattered, leaving in its place the cold, satisfied smirk on her face.

“I thought…” I croaked, unable to finish the sentence.

She giggled, a sound that should have made my heart flutter making it tremble instead “You thought what? That I’d forgive you and we’d live happily ever after in my pack?”

I could only stare in pained silence, too ashamed to admit it out loud.

She put the bloody pliers in one of the many pockets of her blood-soaked pants. “You and my wolf must have the same kind of delusion to think that.” She said as she opened the box of chocolates and took one out, “Oh, white chocolate. My favourite.”

Her eyes locked with mine as she plopped it into her mouth and chewed it slowly. With a smile, she licked the melted chocolate residue off her index and thumb, along with some blood.

Her smile suddenly dropped, and she let the chocolates fall to the ground, scattering everywhere. The bouquet in her hands caught fire, burning to ashes within seconds like the flowers had never even existed.

A gnawing, hollow emptiness consumed me.

She walked back over to me, not caring that she was crushing balls of white chocolate under her boots. Standing almost chest to chest, she raised a hand to caress my cheek, and ran it down to rest above my heart. Then she pushed and I was falling backwards.

I landed on my back with a thud and a groan, still pressing my hands to the wound. Before I could get my bearings and try to stand, I heard the metal click of one of the shackles locking around my ankle. Then she forced my hands to either side of me and straddled me, pinning them to my body.

“While you always joined in, you never instigated anything. I could have forgiven you for that, after all, I did forgive Kirstin. What made me hate you was the rejection.” She stated, “You didn’t have to mark me first, but you did and that made the pain of it so much worse.”

“I’m sorry.” The apology was weak, but it was all I had. Every ray of hope in me had winked out of existence, leaving nothing but a deeper regret than I’d ever felt when I thought she was dead. It was so deep, I thought I’d drown in it.

“I know.” She snapped.

I winced.

“I was a little stumped on how I’d pay you back for everything.” She continued, “Brittany’s a vain bitch so I burned half her face to disfigure her, Kylie’s an opportunist with no real power of her own, so I reminded her of that by hunting her down in the woods where her mate couldn’t save her, and Harry’s got a swollen ego and a chip on his shoulder, so I beat and humiliated him in front of other Alphas. But you? You’re just a coward with no mind of your own, a pathetic, toothless thing of a werewolf.”

She took the pliers out of her pocket and waved it in her hand, “So I decided to make you what you are: toothless.”

Natalia’s P. O. V

The taste of chocolate and blood lingered in my mouth as I forced his open.

He looked up at me with nothing but heavy sadness. He didn’t plead, didn’t beg, didn’t demand to be spared. He only screamed.

One by one, I relieved him of his canines. Each time I yanked one out with the pliers, he thrashed around in pain, but got nowhere with me pressing down on him with my thighs. I wanted to enjoy it, wanted to embrace the primal savagery of it all as I had with the others.

But only part of me did.

Candy and Kirstin must have gotten to me. The knot of pity in my belly refused to unwind, leaving a bitter taste in the back of my throat. It didn’t help that Candy’s whimpers echoed louder with every passing second. By the time I was down to the last canine left to pull, my head was throbbing from both of their noise.

“Will you shut up!” I roared, holding my head.

Candy’s whimpers reduced to heartbroken mewls, and he forced his screams into guttural, agonized groans.

With the last tooth out, I rolled off him and got to my feet. Sighing, I dusted my pants off, which did little to help, really.

His eyes were closed, tears streaming down the sides of his face as he held his jaw with one hand and his side with the other. I threw the pliers down near him, along with the key to the shackle around his ankle.

“You can let yourself out.” I said, turning on my heel and leaving him on the floor of the holding cell.

I grazed my hands on a few of the weapons and supplies on my way out, setting them on fire. In about ten minutes, the whole shed would be ablaze. He had till then to get out.