Chapter 17: Execution

My memories of Mila were vague. I remembered her being fun, rebellious. She was a few years younger than mom, always getting into trouble. Trouble with the Alpha's, trouble with other packs, trouble with the human laws. She was whisked away when I was eight by Nicholas' pack, and we were told she'd gone Rogue.

Rogues weren't always out of their mind. They weren't always loose cannons. If a wolf was thought to be a danger to others, they were set out into the world - they were killed. Rogues were the special snowflakes, the ones who "didn't do well in pack settings". It was a glorified way to call them a criminals who'd broken pack laws. They were frequently aggressive towards pack members, they didn't listen to their Alphas. They'd challenged a higher position and lost, they'd done something awful, like rape or kidnapping.

We were never told why Mila was made a rogue, and we didn't ask, because it was pretty obvious. Mila wasn't some serial killer, but she was disobedient. She had a short temper, she had an aggressive demeanor. If all the rumors were true, if Nick's soldiers were as abusive as they said, she would have snapped. She would have killed someone, she would have killed whoever made her feel so weak, so broken. She wasn't the type to take shit, to take anyone's shit. If she felt she was unfairly exiled, she would have risen up like this, she would have gotten an army, she would have gotten her vengeance.

She looked nothing like mom, she never had. She didn't smell like her, didn't act like her. If you put the two of them next to each other, nobody would think they were sisters, or even cousins or friends. While my mother was tall and fair, freckled skin and auburn hair, evidence of the Northern European blood their father possessed, Mila had our Grandmothers darker complexion. The olive skin, the dark brown hair, the dark eyes, the small stature. I looked more like her than the rest of my family, though my docile personality was nothing like hers.

"I don't think you need to surrender," she mused as she strolled toward me, a smirk playing on her lips, far thicker than my own. I expected her to hug me, to have some wonderful family reunion, for her to drop her guns and pull me in. And as she moved closer, I took the quick stride between us, arms out to pull her into a hug-

And a hunk of cold metal hit me in the chest. I glanced down, staring at the gun she pressed against my flesh.

"Back up darling, or I'll pull the trigger." Her face was no-bullshit. She wasn't kidding, she wasn't lying. Her heartbeat never wavered, never slowed or sped up or skipped a beat. She was ready to kill her niece.

I stepped backwards, feeling numb and heavy at the threat, at the knowledge that the blood within our veins meant nothing.

She smiled, far more pleasantly than before, but her arm remained extended with the handgun, her finger on the trigger. "Very good, my dear. Now, listen close because you're not worth the breath I'd have to waste to repeat myself.

"You're going to open up that lovely mind link you share with Nicholas, and you're going to tell him I have you. You're going to tell him that he'll call his troops off. And, if he refuses, I'll execute you. He has until you and I are on the front lawn, and from then, he has sixty seconds. Then, I'll start killing you guys off one-by-one. First Candace, then Tyler, than little Natalia, then you."

I felt nauseous. I felt like everything I'd ever known and loved was on the edge of a cliff, like I was the only one who could pick it up and it was too heavy for me.

I sucked in a breath, feeling my chest quiver with the sob that wanted to be free. I wanted to throw a tantrum and sob and scream and cry. It wasn't fair. Sure, life wasn't fair, but I felt like I'd gotten my fair share of shit lately. I deserved this one break. I deserved to not have an aunt who was ready to kill me.

"Au-"

"Mila. Don't try to pull some appeal to pathos on me."

"Mila, I don't have a link to Nick." I said quietly, my brows furrowed."I marked him, but he didn't mark me. I can see inside of his head, but it's a one way stream." I knew she wouldn't believe me. Logically, who would? For a male Alpha to allow a one-way mark, that was unheard of.Not in the sarcastic way in which it was rare, no, it was unheard of in the most literal use of the term.

And sh didn't. She simply smirked once more, shaking her head. "Don't lie to me, Darcy.You smell just like him. I wouldn't be surprised if you're pregnant by now - wouldn't it be a shame, for the big bad Alpha to lose a mate and a pup in the same bullet?" She mused, shaking her head and waving her hand to the mass of soldiers. Four broke away immediately, lowering their guns. A pair grabbed me by the shoulders, and another pair slipped behind me to secure Natalie.

Mila turned and walked through the sea of men and women, and we followed. She didn't speak, and I'd half-hoped she'd reveal her plan to us like some Bond villain, but she didn't. She stayed quiet, navigating the building better than I ever could. Realizing staring at her back would do nothing for me, I pressed at the wall between Nick's mind and my own.

He was fighting. He was winning, pretty easily. They shot at him and he dodged, landing effortless punches. The bullets that hit felt like mosquito bites - he hardly noticed. I knew I wouldn't be as lucky, should the silver pierce my own skin, but I tried not to imagine it.

His consciousness faded between the now and the then. The fight he was in currently, and the fight's he'd fought before. Just as soon as his hands gripped either side of his head, twisting until the neck cracked, I pulled myself out.

He'd just killed a man.

It wasn't some revelation. It wasn't "oh shit someone was just wiped out of existence because of my actions". He'd just killed a man, and it had hardly resonated with him. It was another enemy down, nothing more. It was almost nauseating, feeling that ease seep into my mind. I knew I should figure out where he was, make sure he was okay, make sure those around him were okay, but I couldn't stomach the idea of going back into his mind, seeing that again.

As I focused on my surroundings once more, I realized we were walking down the stairs of the house. It'd been a few days since I'd gone outside, and it was momentarily overwhelming, the sunlight blinding.

I did my best to focus. Focus on the massive enemy army. Focus on the dead bodies of Nick's pack, of my pack now. I focused on my brother and sister, bound and gagged on the front lawn. They were kneeled down and a man stood behind each of them, pressing a gun against each of their heads.

They weren't going to shoot them. They were going to publicly execute the mates of the Beta and the heir on the front lawn. Then, they'd shoot the heir and the Alpha female.

I felt overwhelmed, my chest tight as they shoved me beside my brother, heavy palms pressing against my shoulders to force me to my knees. As if this was normal procedure, they tied shoved a rag in my mouth, tying another cloth around my head to hold it in. It tasted like tap water and bleach and the faintest bit of blood. These rags had been used on other people before they were killed.

As he put my hands together behind my back, using silver handcuffs, I turned my gaze to my aunt. I glared at her, and her eyes only briefly skirted over me before moving on. She didn't care. She didn't love me, she didn't worry about my safety. She wasn't bluffing.

"Your Alpha has fifty seconds, Darcy." Mila said, dark eyes shifting to the watch on her wrist.

I was terrified. My gaze skirted to Candy, who didn't look afraid. She didn't look like she was staring down death, she didn't look like she was going to cry. She sat there, shoulders squared, strength playing on her features. She looked like she could fight a bullet to the back of the head and win. She looked like the big sister I'd always admired.

"Twenty seconds, Darcy." Mila mused, pulling me from my admiration. "How much do you really love your big sister?"

I felt my heart pound faster. I felt numb and heavy and weak and helpless. I couldn't lose Candy. She was too young, she had to do so many things. She had to make me an aunt, she had to be my Beta, she had to help me figure out how to be a person. She'd always been there, I'd always loved her, I'd always needed her. I'd always need her, for the rest of my life. She was my second parent. When my mother wasn't strong enough, when she broke down, when she had days of depression, missing my father, Candy was always there.

"Times up."

She wouldn't do it.

Mila raised the gun, her lips set into a frown that would have been beautiful in any other circumstance.

She wouldn't do it.

One thin finger pressed itself against the trigger.

She wouldn't do it.

She faltered for a moment, as though she was remembering this was her niece.

She wouldn't do it.

As though she was remembering that this was the little girl who's diapers she'd changed, who she'd helped get her first bra.

She wouldn't do it.

But she did.

She pulled the trigger, and I watched the insides of my sisters head become outside. I watched everything that was Candy, everything that was Candace Christine McGreggor, pour out of her head. I watched everything that made up Candy disappear.

I jumped to my feet, on instinct, charging at Mila. It didn't occur to me that my hands were bound and my teeth were rendered useless by the gag; all I saw was red. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could smell Nicholas approaching, I could hear him scream my name. But I didn't care.

I didn't care about my life, the one I still had to lead. I didn't care about the mate I still had to know, about the pups I still had to have. I didn't care about my mother or my brother or my sister-in-law. I didn't care about the fact that I'd never gotten marked, never gotten married, never gotten more than a kiss from Nick.

All I cared about was my dead sister on the front lawn, executed like some animal.

I didn't care when Mila raised her gun once more and pulled the trigger. I didn't care when pain seared through my forehead.

I didn't care when my world went dark and numb and everything became quiet.