Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Liam’s Point of View:

“It doesn’t matter. You won’t see her again.”

Chloe’s reptilian voice echoed in my head, sending waves of pain rushing through my chest. From the look on Ethan’s face, he felt the same. Chloe might have been cruel and a little crazy, but she wouldn’t lie. She was smart enough to tell the truth.

I could see Ethan’s self-control slipping away, his eyes darkening as a murderous rage intensified within them.

Ethan had always struggled with self-control, rarely thinking things through. I liked to believe that’s why we worked so well together. Ethan was brutal and animalistic, while I was cunning and calculating. Two sides of the same coin, the same person split in two.

Before Chloe could open her mouth and continue speaking, a deafening crunch sounded in the house. Chloe collapsed to the floor, her head bouncing against the hard wood. For a moment, I thought Ethan had killed her. Her eyes rolled back in her head, her eyelids closed. The side of her face was red, and it was already starting to swell. Ethan had knocked her out without thinking.

Hitting women had never sat well with either of us, but this was different. Chloe had hurt Sussan, scared her into silence. As far as I was concerned, Chloe was a traitor.

I watched as Ethan’s form trembled with fury, his fists clenched into tight knots at his sides. He was losing control, and I knew that if I didn’t intervene, he would likely kill Chloe.

“Not yet,” I told my brother, my firm hand on his shoulder. “She still has useful information.”

“Are you trying to save her life?” Ethan growled, his back turned to me.

I knew Ethan was speaking without thinking. I knew he had no qualms about killing Chloe, but the timing and the place were crucial.

“Chloe deserves to feel everything we made her go through, don’t you think, brother?” I murmured, my eyes resting on Chloe’s unconscious form. “She still has information about Sussan.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Ethan’s voice was a rough growl. He was hesitating, but he managed to rein in his anger enough to listen to my words.

“Let’s leave her at Jacob’s place. He and Michael can lock her up in the dungeons.”

“We need to talk to Axel, see if Sussan really left,” I said, silently thanking the heavens when his body stopped trembling. Once Ethan lost control completely, nothing could stop him. That’s what made him so useful in battle. His rage and brutality overwhelmed him, pushing his humanity aside to kill.

“Let’s talk to her mom first.” Ethan growled. “If she’s gone, she might have stopped there first.”

“I’m not sure she would.” I frowned, remembering her strange aversion to her mom and stepfather. “But we can still go there first.”

Ethan grunted in agreement and then turned to leave the house. I picked up Chloe like a sack of flour, recoiling at the overwhelming scent of her perfume. I tossed Chloe into the trunk and slammed it shut, without looking back.

“Are you with Michael?” I asked, forming a mental link between the four of us.

“Yeah,” Jacob shouted, the sound of video games in the background. “I’m hanging out at my place. Are you guys coming?”

“We’re bringing a prisoner. We’ll need you to put her in the dungeons until we come back.” Ethan growled, regaining some control over his voice.

Jacob and Michael remained silent for a moment, undoubtedly sensing Ethan’s anger. Jacob and Michael were the only two who knew about Sussan.

They had seen her a couple of times at school, but they always kept their distance.

“We’ll meet outside,” I said through the mental link, cutting it off once I finished.

Jacob and Michael were outside in less than a minute, both with serious faces. Ethan remained in the car, struggling with the little self-control he had left.

I opened the trunk and saw surprise cross Jacob and Michael’s faces.

“Whoa, what happened?” Jacob exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Did she piss off Ethan or something?” Michael chuckled lightly, his smile fading when he noticed the expression on my face.

“This has something to do with Sussan, doesn’t it?” Jacob furrowed his brow, always quick to catch the context.

“Yes,” I nodded, anger gleaming in my eyes as I looked down at Chloe’s form.

“Put her in her own cell. Keep her weak but alive. I’m serious, don’t let her die.”

Michael visibly swallowed, looking at Chloe with a mix of anger and pity. They knew we wouldn’t show her mercy, that Ethan was slowly losing control. Another advantage of being friends with Jacob and Michael was their loyalty. They already had respect for Sussan, knowing she would be their future Luna.

Ethan and I headed to Sussan’s house, where she had lived before Axel arrived. It was hard to imagine anyone living here, with broken and withered boards, and peeling paint. The house looked almost abandoned, but Sussan had lived there for weeks.

Standing in front of Ethan, I knocked on the front door. With every passing minute, Ethan’s patience faded. Stepping in front of me, he thrust his fist forward.

The wretched wooden door splintered and broke off its hinges. Neither Ethan nor I flinched as the door fell to the ground.

“What the hell!” a gruff man dragged his words from the recliner in the living room. “Get out of my house!”

“Ethan, don’t do it,” I shook my head, gripping his trembling shoulder. I turned my attention to Sussan’s stepfather, noticing the smell of stale beer and liquor permeating the house. “Have you seen or heard from Sussan?”

“Why the hell would I know about that b***h?” Her stepfather growled, slurring his words. He got up from the recliner and stumbled towards us.

A defeated sigh escaped my lips as her stepfather approached Ethan. From Ethan’s trembling hands, I knew it was futile.

Before her stepfather could take another step, Ethan lunged forward. Her stepfather was on the floor in less than three seconds, Ethan’s thick hand wrapped around his neck. His claws were lengthening, pressing into the drunk man’s flesh.

“He’s useless,” I taunted, watching Sussan’s stepfather’s face turn red.

“Too drunk to know anything.”

“Then it won’t matter if he dies,” Ethan growled, his eyes fixed on Sussan’s stepfather. His grip tightened around his neck, thick drops of b***d oozing from where Ethan’s claws pressed against it.

“I think we should let Sussan decide what to do with him,” I said, wondering what our kind-hearted companion could do. After almost prying Ethan’s hands off the man’s neck, we left his house. His mom wasn’t there, so we assumed she would be at work.

We arrived at Axel’s house driveway. Ethan jumped out of the car before I could park it. My heart pounded in my chest, a feeling I was unfamiliar with.

“She’s here, she hasn’t gone. She’s here, she hasn’t gone,” I repeated incessantly. I swore Ethan’s frantic thoughts matched mine. Duty and respect had long disappeared, leaving behind a frenzied need to find Sussan.

If we were to do this by the book, showing up at another Alpha’s house unannounced was a sign of disrespect, regardless of the territory. We hadn’t called Axel beforehand, nor did we knock on his front door.

A plump blonde woman emerged from the kitchen, her eyes widening as she noticed Ethan and me standing in the foyer.

“Where is Alpha Axel?” I asked, ignoring Ethan as I walked into the house. Ethan didn’t wait for her response but headed for the stairs.

“His office: second floor, third door on the right,” the woman stammered, clearly taken aback by our abrupt behavior.

Ethan climbed the stairs before the woman could utter her last word. Axel’s office door was open as I rushed up the stairs and crossed the hallway. Ethan stood at the open door, hands clenched into fists.

“Where is Sussan?” Ethan growled under his breath, still trying to maintain a semblance of control over himself.

“She’s here, of course,” Alpha Axel sneered, standing up to adjust his impeccable suit.

“We were told otherwise,” I added, my face hardened as I noticed the similarities between Alpha Axel and his daughter.

“And who gave you that information?” Alpha Axel sneered, shaking his head as if he were dealing with two delusional children.

The expression on his face tested my own patience, anger glinted in my eyes as I looked at the man. Ethan and I rose to the position of Alpha as soon as we could. We trained and studied for countless years. We weren’t children, nor would we be treated as such.

“Show us her room or get out of our territory,” Ethan snapped, visibly trembling as he looked at Alpha Axel.

“If you force me to leave, I’ll take her with me.” Alpha Axel’s tone was calm, composed.

I wanted to laugh, to laugh in his face. If only he knew, he had no right over Sussan, not as long as we were her mates.

I knew what my brother was going to say before he even opened his mouth. Alpha Axel clearly had an inflated sense of personal importance, and it was about time to bring him down a notch.

“You won’t take our mate anywhere,” Ethan retorted, relishing the look of surprise on Alpha Axel’s face. “You have no claim over her, and now you never will.”

“Mates?” Alpha Axel scoffed, his eyes wide as he looked between the two of us. “The two of you?”

“The two of us.” I nodded grimly, piercing him with my gaze.

Alpha Axel reluctantly complied, leading us down the hallway to where Sussan’s room was. I could practically hear the gears turning in his head, see him struggling to come up with some kind of plan. His high and mighty position was crumbling. Whatever his plans had been, they were clearly failing.

“She’s right here.” Alpha Axel gestured towards one of the many doors in the hallway. “Although I don’t think she’s interested in any company at the moment.”

“She will be once she sees us,” I almost shouted, narrowing my eyes at Alpha Axel.

Ethan had regained enough control to knock on Sussan’s door, but that was all his dwindling patience achieved. When ten seconds passed, Ethan grabbed the doorknob and pushed. With a disgusting creak, the door swung open.

Ethan shot Alpha Axel a deadly look, daring him to speak.

I hurried into the room and opened the bathroom door to check inside.

“Unless she would have liked to play hide-and-seek, Sussan was nowhere to be found in that room.”

Her bed was still messy, as if she had just slept in it hours ago. When I looked in her closet, most of her clothes were gone. All that remained was an old t-shirt and a pair of worn-out shoes.

I grabbed her comforter in my hand, bringing it to my nose and inhaling deeply. If she had left, her scent on the comforter would still be strong. As I inhaled her scent on the comforter, a wrenching pain pierced through me. Her scent was faint, almost gone from the fabric. Wherever she was, she hadn’t slept in her bed the previous night.

“She’s gone,” I said, my voice low but coming out as a growl.

Anger coursed through my veins, but who was to blame? A fear that stopped my heart pierced through me at the thought of Sussan alone. I understood the ugliest parts of the world, but I didn’t know how to protect her.

“I should have known,” Axel sighed, capturing Ethan’s and my full attention.

“What did you do?” I spat out each word as if it were a weapon capable of piercing his skin.

Now I could see how Ethan felt when he lost control. My skin felt uneasy and itchy as fur threatened to burst forth. My human teeth felt disgustingly uncomfortable, my canines yearned to break through my gums. My body was like a vibrating cellphone, trembling as I refrained from moving.

“I showed her the truth.” Axel spoke plainly, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong. “She needs to know who she is and what the future holds for her. I have no patience for coddling.”

“Coddling?” Ethan scoffed, but the sound was akin to a growl.

“She was absent her whole life, stolen from two people who clearly don’t care about her, and then you told her she’s not human? And you’re surprised she reacted this way?” Despite the burning anger, I wanted to laugh. Alpha Axel had the audacity to look at us as if we were children, and yet he had driven away his own daughter.

“I did what I thought was best.” Alpha Axel shouted, his eyes hardened as he looked at my brother and me.

“We’re going to find her, Axel.” Ethan mocked his name, deliberately forgetting to use his title. “And when we do, you’ll never see her again.”

“She’s my daughter and heir.” Alpha Axel snapped. “I have the right to see her. She knows nothing about leading a pack. That’s why she finally came back for Sussan.”

I wondered if Ethan had caught the hidden meaning in his words.

“She doesn’t need to know how to handle a pack.” I lied, letting my lips curl into a cruel smirk. “She’s our mate, which means your pack will soon be ours.”

Alpha Axel’s face contorted in fury. I knew then that I had truly angered him.