Chapter 0253
“Afraid?” Alexander’s gaze flickers toward me.
“Because she loses all control when she shifts.” Her eyes shift to Zachary. “We both know everyone battles their inner darkness differently.” She sighs. “But she did it anyway. We saw it. She consumed that deer I hit. Devoured it like it was some kind of drug.”
“And you still let her go.” Alexander shakes his head, annoyed.
“Because she will come for Julian.” Zachary tells him. “She’ll come here searching for him. He’s her mate. We can trap her. Hold her hostage. Discover what her plan is.”
“Or we could just kill her.” Alexander mutters. “What use is a plan if she’s already dead?”
Zachary nods in agreement. But I still needed answers. Answers I’d never get if they killed her.
“I need her alive.” I blurt out. Everyone’s eyes turn to me.
“Are you sure?” Alexander asks.
I nod. “She can’t be doing all this just because we share a father. That isn’t my fault. I believe there’s more to her story.”
“We can see what Julian knows.” Brianna suggests. “Where did you put him?”
“Dungeon.” Alexander answers sharply. He walks out of the office.
I follow him to the kitchen. He starts filling a bucket with cold water. Pure anger is etched on his face. He moves to the ice machine. He dumps ice into the cold water.
“Alexander….”
“We agreed no more secrets, Athena. I seem to be the only one honoring that.”
My heart drops. “I know… This wasn’t supposed to happen.” I already felt enough guilt without his reminder.
“I won’t lose you, Athena. The boys can’t lose you either.”
“I know.” I really hadn’t thought it through. “I just… I finally feel like I have some control over my choices. This isn’t how I thought tonight would go.”
He sighs and pulls me into his arms. He holds me tightly. “Come with me. Let’s try to get some answers from the bastard in my dungeons.”
He grabs the bucket of water. He hauls it out of the sink effortlessly.
“Why do you need that?”
“Something to help him wake up.”
Back in the dungeons, Julian is still unconscious. Alexander unlocks the cell. He steps in with the huge bucket of ice-cold water. He flings it all over him.
“FUUUUCCCCKKKK!!!” Julian jolts upright as Alexander steps out. He locks the door.
“Where the fuck am I?” Julian demands. His eyes struggle to focus. “Where is that bitch? Where’s Seraphina?”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to demand answers.” Alexander tells him. “What are you up to, Julian?!”
Julian bares his teeth at Alexander. As if that would scare him.
“You’ve tried to beat me multiple times. Believing you should be Alpha. You tried taking Sebastian out for the Beta position. You keep losing. So what do you want?”
“I did take Sebastian out the moment I fucked his girl!”
Alexander smirks and shakes his head. “Did you know the kids were yours?”
Julian’s eyes narrow. “Of course I did.”
“Gabriel killed them.”
He shrugs his shoulders at Alexander. Unbothered. Unphased.
“Seriously? They were yours and you don’t even care?” It bothered me. When I look at my boys, my heart swells with love. How can someone just not care?
“Natalie didn’t want me involved in their lives. She insisted your Beta believed they were his own. I thought he might have figured it out sooner.” He laughs to himself. “Idiot.”
“Bastard.” Alexander mutters.
Julian ignores him. He looks me up and down. “Was the Lycan right? Did your kids turn out to be Lycans too?”
Alexander sticks a hand out in front of me. A warning not to give him any information. Instead, I ask, “What are you and Seraphina up to?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Does it change things now that she’s shifted?” I ask. I want to annoy him as much as he annoys me.
A glimmer of fear flashes in his dark eyes. That fear quickly turns to anger before they glaze over.
“You can try linking her all you want, little brother. She’s too wrapped up in finding food to eat.”
“You’re wrong. She will burn this fucking place to the ground to find me.”