“No, Damien, it’s really me, please” I tell him looking toward the door. I see him move out of the corner of my eye and see him lunge at me. I try to fight him off, but he is quick to pin me face down on the ground. I feel the sting of the needle as it stabs into my neck, instantly feeling woozy.
“I don’t understand,” I tell him, trying to get out from under him. My body feels heavier and heavier as I struggle, the room getting darker as I try to fight the fog that’s taking over. I feel him roll me onto my back before lifting me off the ground. His lips going to my head as he kisses me. I hear another voice and recognise it as Natalia’s.
“Is this really necessary, she seems cognitive?”
“I don’t care, I won’t take the risk. She nearly killed her. What if it happens again and she kills more of my men?” I hear Damien speak.
“You can’t punish her for what might happen. We don’t even know if she is telling the truth. This isn’t the answer, Damien. And since when did you care for your mother, the bitch deserves death” Natalia spat.
“I don’t care for her, she can rot in hell for all I care. You let her out, and I will banish you, understand?” I hear him growl.
“You can’t do this; it isn’t right, why can’t you see that?”
“You don’t tell me what to do with my mate” He spat at her when she growled angrily at him.
“She may be your mate, but she is my Luna. You can’t treat her like this” Natalia yelled angrily back at him. I could feel Damien fiddling with my wrists and I felt something go around my neck. My entire body feels heavy before I lose feeling in my limbs.
“What are you going to keep her locked up for the rest of her life?” Natalia asked.
“She is unhinged, I won’t risk my pack. Now get out” he bellowed, his voice echoing through the room. His words slapped me in the face. I have heard that term from everyone else, I never expected it to leave his lips and it suddenly hurt more coming from him. The one person who was meant to love us, made to accept us. It would have hurt less if he did slap me, his words cutting deeper than any wound I had ever had.
I heard Layla whimper in my head before it left my lips. I could feel tears run down my cheek and I just wanted him to leave. I feel him wipe my tears and I feel him move away from me.
We should have known better than to believe he would accept us; I should have ignored Layla when she begged me not to reject him. That would have hurt less, would have hurt less than hearing those three words leave his mouth.
She is unhinged. His words replayed in my head over and over as I slipped into unconsciousness. I no longer fought to remain conscious, instead I willed it to happen. Praying I wouldn't wake up and for once Layla didn’t argue. For once we wanted the same thing. Death would be better than feeling every piece of my heart shattered by those three words that taunted me all my life, now taunting me worse coming from him.
We would never be good enough, always known to be the unhinged Alpha. The unhinged one, the one no one wanted around because she couldn’t be trusted.
Damien’s POV
I hated seeing her like this, hated myself for doing it to her. Tucking the blanket around her I walk out, locking the door and pocketing the key. Walking down the stairs, I see the thing that is supposed to be my mother wandering into the hall.
“Why did you come back?” I ask her. I couldn’t stand the woman, and Darian was pressing beneath my skin, wanting nothing more than to rip her to pieces. Yet as much as I hated her I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. She was my mother after all, even if she didn’t protect me. Even if she fed me to the wolves literally. My body was littered with scars from my old man and all she did was watch, letting me take the beating so she wouldn’t have to. What mother does that? What mother can sit back and watch her child be beaten till the brink of death, only to heal him and let him do it all over again.
“I missed you?” She says looking at her feet. I scoff at her words.
“How much?” I ask and she looks up, anger in her green eyes.
“Come on, mum. How much do you need this time, what shit do I have to dig you out of this time”
“It’s not like that son, I heard you found your Luna, I just want to be a part of my future grandchild’s life”
“You will never come near any child I ever have; I will skin you alive before I let you near any future grandchildren”.
“Wow, you really are your father’s son, aren’t you?” I growled at her words; I was nothing like my father. He was cruel and merciless on his pack and on me. I treat my pack right; I look after them. He just tortured them for his own sick amusement. To inflict that sort of pain on a child, on his own pack members and to claim you are an Alpha is simply wrong. Alpha’s look after their own, not destroy them, not sell them off. They certainly don’t kill them for fun.
I must admit though, she does look better than last time I saw her five years ago. She didn’t look like your typical rogue, her long dark wavy hair flowing seamlessly down her back and she had gained weight, was no longer frail and her olive skin had fewer wrinkles. She no longer looked like a corpse.
“I met someone, he looks after me” She said looking at me hopefully like I could just forget the past and let her in my life again.
“Good, that means you don’t need me” I tell her before turning my back on her. I mind link my Beta and tell him to get her off Pack land. She had caused enough damage already. My mate forever stuck in a padded room because I could no longer trust her around my pack after what she did. Darian said we shouldn’t trust my mother, he said that Layla wouldn’t just attack her for no reason, my mother was many things, had done unspeakable things, yet she had no reason to lie about Lily. She didn’t know her, didn’t know she was my Luna. So, her lying didn’t make sense.
Darian and Aria pleaded with me to listen, that it was out of character for her to do those things. Yet I could also see the doubt of her own words as she spoke them. Aria truly didn’t know what Layla and Lily were capable of because no one knew what the mutated genes did to her. What the effect they had on her was. How could we when we weren't even sure what she was anymore. Aria left promising to get answers but until then I have no choice but to keep her locked up.
I feel terrible that she missed her own father’s funeral, that she didn’t get to reconcile with Aria. I felt terrible for Ryker as Aria hauled him away kicking and screaming for his aunty. But it doesn’t undo what she did.
But I couldn’t take that risk, not after what she did downstairs, not after what she did to Aria. If she would attack her own family, how could I trust her not to attack my pack? And the fact that she was able to resist Aria’s Lycan voice and my own Alpha voice had left me with more questions. What was she? I knew she was a wolf, but wolves don’t drain people of their blood, they recognise their own pack, yet she killed three of my warriors already. I won’t let her hurt anymore people. I won’t let her kill for pleasure. I loved her but love isn’t enough when you're an Alpha.