Chapter 0153
Zachary
They shift regardless of my command. Alexander keeps his hostile glare fixed on me. Questions will come later. I’ll handle them then.
They match my pace for only minutes. They’re fast. I’m faster. I glide effortlessly between the trees.
I race through the forest. Tracking his scent. Hope flares when I catch traces of strawberries. It means he didn’t ditch her. He didn’t hide her like he normally does. This is a game to him. A game he will lose.
The canopy grows dense. It darkens the woods despite the high sun. He could be anywhere here. The Wolves would never find him. Hiding in the shadows. Watching. Waiting. Picking his moment like the predator he is.
“I know you’re here,” I shout. “I smell you. I smell her.”
No answer. I didn’t expect one. This is how he operates. Silent. Observant. Choosing his moment like his life depends on it. Today, it might. Can I finally end my brother?
“Why her?” My voice echoes in the dark forest. “Because she’s my mate? Is this payback for the others? That’s pathetic!”
More silence. He’s watching me. Deciding whether to reveal himself. Part of the fun is the victim never knowing where you are.
“Did you hurt her?” I demand. Only forest sounds answer. Creatures going about their day. Unaware of the coming fight. I smell no blood. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t harmed her.
“She doesn’t deserve this,” I tell the trees. “She’s innocent.”
My eyes scan the shadows. Searching for anything out of place. Like at the hospital, everything seems normal. He blends in perfectly. Too perfectly.
A whimper pulls my attention behind me. I lunge forward. They’re already gone. Vanishing deeper into the woods.
He’ll punish her for giving him away.
“Stop this, little brother!” I growl.
“We stopped being brothers long ago!” His voice rasps from somewhere ahead. “I could snap her pretty neck. But where’s the fun in that?”
I charge forward. Laughter echoes above me.
I look up. He’s twenty feet up a tree. Isabella dangles from his claws like a ragdoll. Her eyes are closed. She seems unharmed, just asleep. Thank the moon.
“What did you do to her?”
“A little nitrous oxide.” He garbles a laugh. “Remember, Zachary? You used it on me when I became a risk. I never forgot. People leave such useful things lying around.”
“You killed for it!”
“Haven’t you done worse?” He glares at me. Then his gaze shifts to the sedated Isabella. “Did you tell her? Did you explain your cruelty? How her Alpha is nothing compared to you?”
“What do you want? These people did nothing to you. I kept you safe. I fed you. I gave you a home where you wouldn’t be hunted. I taught you to survive!”
“Look where that got us!”
“Whose fault is that? You made me this way.” He growls. He drops Isabella a few inches. Catches her by the foot. He swings her like a pendulum.
“That’s your excuse for taking her? Why wait, huh?”
“I’ve waited years for this, Zachary. You took everything from me! Now I take something of yours.”
“Everything? You blame me for what you became? You wanted this. Tired of your pathetic human life, you asked for it. You knew what she turned me into. You still went to her. Did you think it would magically fix your problems?”
He growls. He always hated the truth, even as a human.
“You didn’t have to become this. You chose this path. Blame me all you want. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“Never thought I’d see you soft over a girl.” He mocks, still swinging her.
“What if I mark her?” He pulls Isabella up. Holds her neck near his sharp teeth. “That would be more interesting.”
“We both know you can’t mark her.”
“A pity. I could rip her throat out. What do you think?” He licks her bare neck. “Delicious!”
A feral growl rips from my chest. He ignores it. Bad enough he has her. Violating her in front of me is too far.
He spins her around. “Or maybe a chunk of her thigh? Would you still want her then?”
“Let her go!” I snarl.
“No.” He leaps to another tree. Tightens his grip on my mate. “Want her? Come get her!”
I charge up the nearest tree. Close behind him. He laughs. Leaps through the branches like a giant monkey. His claws grip Isabella tightly so she won’t fall. His weight cracks branches underfoot. Making it harder to track him.
He stops suddenly. Spins to face me. “Enough games. You took what was mine. Now I take something of yours. You like to suffer. Let’s see how you cope without her, brother.”
Isabella’s eyes flutter open. He sinks his teeth into her leg. A blood-curdling scream tears from her as he rips flesh from bone. Blood sprays from the wound. He laughs.
He stares at me. Slowly chews her flesh.
“I will fucking kill you, Gabriel!”