Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Beck

“You could try to forget her, you should, you know. She’s gotten into your head, just reject her and it will all fade away,” she promised. I didn’t blame Misty, I didn’t want to watch either, but I walked over and turned the radio on for Cricket’s sake, just in case. Misty nodded a thanks before closing her eyes as we listened to the events going on in the office of Adelaide's unhinged mate.

“Shut the fuck up, Trish, and make her pay,” he growled.

“You're going to let her ruin you, ruin us all,” the woman protested.

“I said shut the fuck up,” he said, grabbing her by the hair and forcing his cock into her mouth. The woman struggled just for a moment before complying. I turned my eyes away, but the sounds continued in the background.

“I thought the idea of mates was supposed to be some beautiful fairytale,” Misty mumbled tossing the mug of liquor back in a long swig.

“Sometimes the moon goddess gets it wrong,” I said quietly.

“Tell me more El gran olo malo \[big bad bear\].” Her expression somber as she attempted to ignore but still keep track of what she had pulled up.

“So Ads rejected this piece of shit, now he’s trying to hurt her by doing this? How the fuck do we stop it and how do we dampen the impact on Ads? I thought mates were sacred, you said he’s sucking the life out of her. What’s this going to do?” she asked, cringing.

“She doesn't know what’s happening to her. It will come across in nightmares, depression, an overwhelming need to make the pain of the soul stop. The only way to break a bond is for him to willingly accept her rejection, die, or for her to choose another. His death would harm her though,” I added.

She winced. “I don’t know if right now she can take that,” she insisted, closing her eyes before looking at me. “You can’t do that, not right now, she’s not…”

“I know,” I told her. “But she is suffering.” I gave her the reality.

Tears pricked her eyes, and I realized I couldn’t relieve Adelaide’s suffering without harming Misty. I had helped set up Adelaide into the best situation I could to survive it. Whomever this Sheriff Carter was, if he couldn’t hold her pieces together it was all completely fucked.

“How could your all-powerful goddess get it all irrevocably wrong?” she asked.

“Our souls are born into probabilities, theirs just didn’t pan out. He became a monster. If she is lucky there will be another opportunity out there that finds her soon, if not, she has to be strong enough to grasp at the threads of life to survive. Without her wolf, a human woman can’t hope to fight the turmoil of a partially broken bond.

“Shit,” Misty cursed before taking a long sip. The sounds of sex ended and Misty turned, clicking a few keys.

“What are you doing over there?”

“Compiling the means to that male’s end,” she told me. “I’m going to make him lose it all. Adelaide will fight, if we give her the chance. If there is anything he holds so much dearer than the mate he defiled, that's where I will strike.”

My baby girl was out for a different kind of blood and I would be here for it every step of the way.

I set my mug down, the contents wouldn’t hinder my ability, but Misty’s current state of gauging life was at odds with her own circumstances.

I sat back watching her work, dropping the file into a folder and moving on. I watched her, numbing her torrent of feelings. My fingertips tapped the glass. I was so tempted to drink, to join her in the numbness; I found myself pulling back, finding sense. She ran her fingers frustratingly through her short hair pulling at the roots and I tipped half of my glass into hers. She needed a damn break, and she would get it. But I wasn’t giving this opportunity up; there were things I needed to know.

“What did Adelide do that makes you so sure she will never forsake you?”

“She did the one thing I couldn't do, she saved us, before Cricket was even born; I owe her everything.” She slurred her words a bit, the whiskey starting to get to her. The picture came into focus. She didn’t need to tell me, all the information was there, Adelaide alone as a lone human woman had taken out the menace of a bear that threatened her friend. My body tensed.

The broken woman I had encountered was so much more than she portrayed. Adelaide may be slowly dying, but she meant so much more to this woman who sat before me.

“I’m so scared for her,” Misty admitted. Her fears laid out on the table. I found my chest aching.

“We will save her,” I promised. Because it meant that much to her.

“Don’t you fucking  dare promise me things you cannot keep,” Misty spat. Where was the determined woman from a few moments ago? She was diving into the pit of her reckless emotions, second guessing her ability and Adelaide's as well. I couldn’t say she should keep the possibility of this also all going to shit off the table.

I sighed. "I am not your enemy, we will do everything in our power to save her,” I promised. She shook her head, “I don't know you from Adam,” she supplied. That wrenched me to my core. She had no idea what she was doing trying to pry all my secrets from me but if that was what it took, all she had to do was ask and I would relive every broken woeful bit of it for her. She deserved to judge me against my darkest hour; the part of my life that still stained my soul.

“You don’t know because you are not asking the questions you want to know. You're afraid of the answers,” I prompted her.

Her eyes flared before narrowing with a challenge. “What happened to your mate, Beck?