Emilia
"My eyes dropped to the ground as his voice rumbled through the hospital. "Where has Jesse gone?"
"Uhm…!"
"I said, where has he gone? I don't want to repeat myself again."
I opened my mouth wide with no words coming out. I intend to tell him that I didn't understand, but I have no chance to speak.
"I met no one there, Emilia. No one." He said, fixing his glares on me. I could feel it.
That didn't make any sense. How could there be no one?
"There was no one in the pack house. All the homes are empty. Where have they gone Emilia?"
I became totally confused, as I shook my head. "Did you go to see my brother?" I said, still refusing to meet his gaze.
"Was this all a lie?" He gestured to me. "A set-up so you could get dirt on me?" His anger increased. "What does Jesse want?"
I close my eyes, just as it is usual with me. It was easier if I didn't see the beatings coming.
"Emilia, I didn't mean to scare you. I said you will never have to fear me." His fingers grabbed my chin. "But that was when I believed I was helping you. Open your eyes and look at me"
Tears creep out of my closed eyes. But Theresa was wrong. This was going to be the end of my life. Opening my eyes, I caught his crimson eyes staring right at me. Gradually, his face began to brighten up, as the anger on his face began to vanish. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"
"No." I mumble.
He lets go of my chin. "The pack is empty!" He added.
"Abandoned?" I said with my voice barely above a whisper.
"No, nothing is gone. Everything is still in place, but the wolves were nowhere to be found. It's almost like they all disappeared and trust me, we searched everywhere for them. You told me they don't pack runs, but they clearly do something.
"I can't tell. I have never left the pack until yesterday." I gulp. "I…I never went further than working around the gardens." I frown. "But sometimes, the house would be empty. If I wasn't locked away, I would have to steal bits of food."
"What! How often?" He asked.
"It was nearly every week, I think."
If it were not for the times the house was empty, allowing me to steal food, I probably would have died of starvation years back.
"No one talks about it?"
I nodded my head.
"Are you sure, Emilia?"
"They might, but that is not just when I'm around."
He suddenly holds a hand out. "Come, let's go home."
His large hand envelopes my small hand as he pulls me up from my chair and against his chest. His arms lock tightly around me, squeezing the air from my lungs.
"Emilia, I would advise you not to lie to me, because I have zero tolerance for liars."
"I promise." I said, trying to ignore the pain from my wounds, and instead of looking away, I couldn't help but stare at him. Even without my wolf right now, I could feel his power and it was overwhelmingly intoxicating.
***
Anker
I could sense her confusion through the look in her eyes. She was more confused, or at least as confused as I was. She walks next to me, jogging at some point to keep pace with me as we head back to the house. Her head was still lowered, focusing on her feet as we moved.
"Take a seat." I tell her as we get into the office. She doesn't hesitate like she did at Moonshine and takes one of the empty chairs. She sits, crossing one leg over the other. Her face turned down in submission.
"Emilia!"
Her back immediately straightens as I say her name, shocks run down her spine. Her heart starts to race. The last time it did that, she almost passed out.
"I don't really know. If I did, I would have told you, I swear." The words tumble from her mouth as though she is battling for survival. She speaks as though those words were what would keep her alive. Something I hadn't felt in years flooded my veins, and that was guilt. She doesn't have to feel that way, no, not around me.
'you are upsetting her.' Anton growls.
"Uhm, I shouldn't have shouted at you." I whisper while sitting on the stool beside my office table. "You didn't deserve that." I paused, frustrated over the other things she told me. "You stole food?"
"I had to." she said.
The more I find out about that pack and what they did to you, the more I get to hate them. When the time comes, the entire pack will be killed.
'Finally, something we can agree on.' Anton murmurs.
Emilia's eyes flash on to mine, she bites her lower lips. I will eradicate her entire past.
Every single contract I have drawn up, they always favour me. Contracts were simple. The other side was always too far up their asses to bother to read it or negotiate, and they always lost out. And this time, it would be Jesse and his pathetic pack that would lose everything.
"Tell me about Charlotte." I speak softly, aware that my Alpha tone puts her on edge.
There was a flicker of rage across her face. It goes as quickly as it comes. I had seen it before, when the stupid bitch called my mate a rat.
"You want to know what?"
"I want to know everything, don't mix it up with lies. How long has Charlotte been with Jesse?"
She shrugs her shoulders. "She has actually been with Jesse for as long as I can remember. Jesse is about 7 years older than me. They both studied in the same school."
"Is she his true mate?"
Emilia nods her head. "She used to be very nice, not until I accidentally killed my brother. She used to get me presents, mostly toys to play around with. It all changed after she became Luna and I became nothing."
"You didn't kill your brother." When will she accept that it was a lie? "By the way, you are not nothing." Not anymore."
She puffs out her cheeks, and her eyes furrow.
"So, tell me." I muttered, ignoring Anton's rumbling.
"I will be nothing when you cast me aside for a new bride."
"Theresa?" I asked as I rolled my eyes.
She nods her head.
"Theresa has to learn how to keep her mouth shut." Grinding my teeth, I stare at her, I had asked her for the truth, it would be partial if I didn't tell the truth also. "Theresa isn't wrong. There have been other brides, but none of them really interested me. I have not really wanted any of them by my side."
"You killed them?"
Theresa really needs to keep her mouth shut. She was the one that freaked out my other brides by telling them the same shit as she had told Emilia. She was the cause of some of them running away.
"Some of them."
She nods, keeping her eyes low.
"I didn't kill them because I was bored of them. Some of them pass information back to their packs. Others were money grabbers, or desperate to be hanging on my arms all the time. If I had to attend to anything, or run errands, they would always whine at me, that they weren't getting enough attention."
"Oh, really!"
"Theresa likes doing this. She likes testing my brides. Do you know what they all had in common?"
She shakes her head, as if to say no.
"I never marked them. I could never bring myself to do that. Something held me back." Emilia was the only one I had considered marking and I still couldn't figure out what it was that drew me to her.
'She's perfect.' Anton sounds smitten.
Grabbing the cup of cream, she automatically stands, pulling up her top to show me her wounds.
She lets out a little gasp as my fingers brush against her skin, and I hear her skip a beat as she closes her eyes. She has a habit of always doing that. Afraid to witness what was happening, or maybe it was a fear of looking into my eyes. I couldn't tell though.
My fingers pause over her stomach and she holds her breath.
"You don't have to hold your breath, Emilia. Breath out." I said and her heart skips a beat again.
She lets her lungs expand, and tears creep out of the corner of her eyes. "I don't want to die." Her eyes flash open, locking on to mine. This was actually the first time she truly locked her eyes in since meeting her. Her breathing hitches and her lips part a little.
Looks like I'm getting to love her the more, as I feel the more need to make her mine before others will claim her, I can feel the growing need. How the hell could she make me feel this way?
'Mate?' Anton growls.
'That isn't possible. Her wolf isn't present.' I told him.
'Mate!' He repeats a little louder, growing more agitated.
Emilia's blue eyes are still steadily locked on mine, the tears have stopped, and her brow dips a little as she stares at me.