Chapter 91: Unleashed

OLIVIA

“Alex is going to kick my ass, isn’t he?”

“I won’t let that happen.”

Maya’s lips tightened into a thin line.

“Normally, I wouldn’t believe that. But if there’s anyone who can get through to that stubborn man, it’s you. But Livy, I’m not taking the fall for this.”

“I won’t let you.”

“And I’m staying right outside the door.”

“That’s okay.”

Right now, Maya could have demanded anything of her and she would have agreed. She needed to see Lina. Nothing else mattered.

She held a crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

~Everything’s different now~.

Was it for the better? Or worse? She didn’t know and frankly, she didn’t care.

Her blood was simmering, and a thirst for revenge was gnawing at her. It was a feeling she’d never experienced before. Her fingers were tingling, the heat spreading from her core to the rest of her body.

Being human felt ~wrong~ in this moment. She wanted to be a beast.

“If you need any help—”

“Maya, I’ll be okay.”

“Alright, no need to snap.” Maya’s shoulders sagged as she reached into her back pocket, pulling out a key.

Their usual victims probably wouldn’t be contained by a simple lock, but Lina was human. She couldn’t escape a locked room. Her mate ~could~.

What had they done with her mate—no, she couldn’t get distracted.

She needed to stay focused.

“Still not going to tell me why you need to see her?”

“Let me see her first, then I’ll tell you.”

“I’m calling bullshit on that, but okay.”

Maya turned her back to Olivia to unlock the door, and once the key was removed, she stepped back and gestured towards it. “She’s all yours. Just leave some leftovers for the rest of us.”

Normally, she would have chuckled, but not now. Now, she wanted to both rush in and run away. Her stomach was churning, making her feel sick.

No matter how many times she licked her lips, they remained parched and cracked.

She had to do this.

It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t fix this. But it would help her understand.

She needed to understand, otherwise she didn’t know if she could move forward. She could have understood why Lina did what she did.

~Really~.

Olivia had been in tough spots herself.

She could have forgiven Lina, even if it was clear that Alex wouldn’t trust her and wouldn’t want her around Olivia. Maybe she could have defended her.

But this? This heartache? How could she explain that?

How could she justify it?

She gripped the doorknob, yanking it open. On the other side, she found a surprised Lina. She had been sitting at a kitchen table, a plate of food in front of her.

But now, the fork she had been holding clattered onto the wooden table.

Olivia took a few steps in, enough to close the door behind her.

“Why?”

“Pardon?” Lina’s hands fell to her thighs as she locked eyes with Olivia.

“Why?”

“I—I already told you.” Her lower lip trembled. “I didn’t have a choice.”

There was always a choice. She didn’t have to go to such lengths.

Why do this to someone?

Olivia lifted her hand and dropped the crumpled piece of paper on the table, allowing Lina to see it.

“What is this?”

“Read it.”

“Olivia, I don’t—I don’t understand.”

“It’s a simple piece of paper that says my hCG level is zero.” She clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Do you know what that means?”

As Lina’s lips parted and her face turned ashen, Olivia knew she understood.

“It means I was never pregnant. Because even if I had miscarried, there would still be hCG in my blood. But there isn’t.”

She had asked Maya to help her with another blood test. She couldn’t involve Ale; she couldn’t drag him into this until she knew what was going on.

She hadn’t told Maya why she was doing it. She hadn’t told Maya what the results revealed.

“I had a feeling something was off about the bleeding—it just didn’t seem right. I thought, maybe it was just me. Maybe it was just me not wanting to lose my baby. But there was never a baby to begin with.”

She had found courage in that unborn child; she had battled to keep that child safe. She had never seen it, never felt a kick, never heard a heartbeat, but she had loved it.

It was all a lie.

She thought she had this life growing inside of her—and it was ripped away from her.

Even though she wasn’t miscarrying because there was no child, it felt like she was. The child she thought she’d have was never there.

Lina had done this to her.

“So, I’ll ask again…WHY?”

Lina brought a hand to her chest, rubbing at her neck. “He—he asked me to—to trigger your heats.” She sucked in one of her cheeks, likely biting it from the inside.

“It worked a little too well—I couldn’t—I don’t know why you had so many. It was supposed to be once or twice, enough to—enough to…” She swallowed hard as if she was choking down bile.

“Enough to lure the other pack…”

Olivia’s eyes widened, revealing the whites, as she started to pant. She was barely holding back the urge to bare her teeth.

Lure?

She manipulated her.

She played the victim in this, someone who had no other choices, someone trying to save someone she loved…

“I—I panicked, so I gave you shepherd's purse to stop—to stop your period…and then… you had the fever and Alex panicked… I thought—I thought I changed the blood tests. I got them. I got the mail.

“I’m human—I run some errands and—and I—I thought it might stop.

“He didn’t want you pregnant, might change the scent, so I thought…I thought maybe you’d stop having sex with Alex for a little while…or that he wouldn’t knot you… I—I was trying…”

~Slam~!

Olivia’s arms were trembling, her palms stinging against the table. It had happened in an instant.

There was a growl building in her chest, threatening to break free as she wondered how the table had not shattered from how hard she slammed it.

“You were trying to make sure I’d be their little breeding bitch?”

It was one thing to help out of desperation, but this… Will wouldn’t have known how much she did or how much it worked. Lina didn’t try to protect her; she didn’t try to make this easier for her.

She tossed her to the wolves—~literally~. She acted out of selfishness, pure selfishness.

“I had to…”

“No, you didn’t. You could have refused to do everything he asked. You didn’t have to be his little bitch.”

“Oh because you never obeyed him?”

~Wrong words~.

Before Olivia knew what she was doing, she had her hand wrapped around Lina’s neck as she slammed her into the nearby wall.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the table had flipped over, one of the legs broken. Had ~she~ done this? Just her? With her strength?

But she couldn’t think clearly.

She could feel her muscles straining against her skin as everything on her body was tense. She wanted to see blood.

~She doesn’t deserve to live. She was supposed to be pack. Pack protects.~

Yes, packs protected their own.

~Traitor~.

She would do it again. She would always protect herself first.

She couldn’t be trusted.

Her pulse was racing, her throat parched from the rapid breathing.

Her nostrils were flaring with each breath she took, and her grip on Lina’s throat tightened. She watched as the words Lina tried to speak became nothing more than gurgles…

And then, it was breaths.

She was trying to inhale the air, but she couldn’t. Olivia lifted her even more until her feet were dangling in the air.

She was fed up with it. Why did everyone think they could decide for her and construct a false narrative.

~Why were they all fucking liars~?

The same tainted blood flowed in both of them.

They were the same.

“YOU DON’T DECIDE MY LIFE. YOU DON’T GET TO TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM ME ANYMORE.”

No more lies. No more pretense. No more false narratives. No more control. No more ~anything~.

She was in control now. She decided. She made her own decisions.

~Bang~.

Olivia used her grip to slam Lina’s head into the wall. Once. Then again.

“NO MORE. ENOUGH.”

Lina’s complexion was shifting, her face flushing a vivid red. She was struggling for breath. Yet, Olivia couldn’t make out the sounds she was producing. All she could hear was the thumping of her own heart in her ears.

All she could feel were her own breaths.

Inhale.

Exhale.

“Livy.”

His voice reached her before he did. Before she could fully process his arrival, he was enclosing her.

His muscular arms enveloped her, pressing her against his torso. His hand gripped her forearm, forcing it to loosen its hold on Lina.

She resisted; she really did. But then she couldn’t.

Her fingers slackened, and before she could blink, Lina crumpled to the ground. She was motionless. She wasn’t attempting to breathe. She wasn’t trying to flee.

~Dead~. Was she dead?

Olivia didn’t resist Alex’s grasp. She didn’t attempt to wriggle free. Instead, she leaned into him, beads of sweat falling from her nose, landing on Alex’s hand.

She might have killed her. ~She could have killed her~.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears, but she didn’t know if they were born of sorrow or fury. Why? Why did everyone else get to dictate her life? Her destiny? Why did everyone else get to play God with her existence?

Was she so naive that she couldn’t see it? Was she so fucking dense that she couldn’t grasp that her life had never truly been her own?

She yearned to control something. ~Just one thing~.

Her heats, they were a sham.

Her life before Alex was a sham.

Her baby was a sham.

The only truth was that Will was gone. And Lina should be too.

She’d entered, hoping to preserve lives. Now she wanted to take a life with her own hands.

“Did she try to harm you?”

Alex’s voice was a gentle murmur in her ear, much softer than she anticipated.

Olivia shook her head.

“Why are you here?”

“There’s no baby.”

“What?”

“There’s no baby,” she echoed, her words muffled against his arm. “There never was a baby. It was ~her~.”

She lacked the energy to elaborate, the strength to make it clear to him.

She felt her knees give way, and Alex’s arms were the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor.

“No baby. It was a lie.”

She let out a breath.

“A lie.”

But she was done with lies. And she was done with second chances.

~An eye for an eye.~

~She needs to die.~

~She stole from you.~

~She must pay.~

Yes. Alex had been right all along. ~Her wolf~ was ~right~.

Every action had a consequence.

It was only fair.