Chapter 122

Enzo:

“Are you okay?” I asked, looking at Alaria who was quiet.

She looked down at her feet, and nodded. I took her hand in mine, gently squeezing it, and she smiled as she looked at me.

“Thank you for defending me and Ashton.” She said, and I smiled at her.

“You don’t need to thank me, Alaria. You are my family, both of you.” I said, and she squeezed my hand gently before I let her hand go. “We are going to need to go out. Yasmin is still within the city, and I don’t want to risk him trying to take her out. And I know that Katherine is not going to be stupid or foolish to try and do something that would risk her getting hurt. The one issue that we might have is the fact that she would put Matias in a tough situation.”

“There is nothing that concerns me, Enzo, but our son’s safety. I don’t want him to get hurt. I know that Matias is worried about Yasmin, but I don’t want to risk Ashton’s safety. I would rather I die than put him in danger,” she said, and I nodded, taking her hand in mine. I squeezed it gently, and I couldn’t help but find myself purring at her.

“Don’t worry, neonata, I would be putting myself in the face of fire.” I said, shaking my hand at her. “You and Ashton are not going to be harmed. I am going to put everything on the line for you, and trust me, I am not going to put you in the face of it, not while I am alive.

“You know that things are going to be complicated, Enzo. The pack is going to need you here, and…”

“If they are going to need anyone, Alaria, it is you.” I said, stopping her. “You might not realize it, but it is the truth. The pack, our home, and we are all going to need you. You are just going to need to understand it somehow. And I know that despite everything, you eventually will.”

I turned to look at her, and though I knew that it might not be right for me to do so, not yet anyway, I cupped her cheeks and made her look me in the eye. “We are going to leave in a bit, and I am going to leave the pack in your care. Viktor is going to be with you in case anything happens, and though I know that you are very much capable of protecting the pack yourself, I would be more comfortable with him being by your side for whatever reason that comes.”

I kissed her forehead, letting my lips linger there for a moment. Alaria didn’t move, and leaning in, I pecked her lips gently, smiling when she kissed me back. The kiss was quick and gentle, and though I knew that I didn’t deserve it, I was thankful for her being willing to kiss me back.

“Just come back safe and alive, everything else would be handled from there.” She said, and I nodded.

I looked up at the staircase where I knew Ashton was in the room.

“Stay safe,” I said, and she nodded as she watched me take a step back. I let out a low growl, calling for the men. Viktor’s eyes met mine and I nodded. The man stood beside Alaria and though the two of them didn’t say a word, their eyes meeting one another’s told me that they knew what was to come.

They were going to have a lot to do, and the pack being in their care was only going to mean that so much could possibly happen. Amidst the war that we were getting into, I knew the responsibility that they were going to have to follow.

Leonardo’s eyes met mine for a moment, and the anger that I saw in his eyes was one that I couldn’t explain. The man wasn’t saying a word, and though I couldn’t blame Matias for being as furious as he was, I didn’t understand what was going on with Leonardo.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, making me frown in question. “We’ll talk about it later. Because right now, trust me when I say, there is a lot on my mind and I don’t even know how to form the right sentence.”

He looked at Matias for a moment before looking ahead. “And I think that Matias is going to need us to be strong for his Dreame sake. The man is already in conflict, and I know that he is going through the conflict of his life.”

“Yasmin was his jewel. Everyone in the pack knew that, and if Katherine had the idea of kidnapping her, then she has crossed more limits than would have been known to me. Even I am surprised that I never saw her this way, and that idea alone is enough to make me wonder who the fucking hell I was living with through all this time.” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“A woman who can make you think that the boy that you’re living with is your son when he is not is more than capable of doing anything, Enzo.” He said, and I nodded.

“And that is why I am worried about what else she can do.” I said, looking at Matias. “Let’s just hope that she doesn’t end up doing something that would have us getting into a deeper war than she is going to want to deal with. Because judging by where things are going, I can assume that she has failed to make her calculations correctly.”

“And when that happens, I know that we are going to be in deeper shit than we are going to want to deal with.” I said, walking toward the car. “For now, let’s head off to the demon’s den. It’s time to start the first part of this stupid bargain…”