Chapter 120 The Bitter End of Heat
Chapter 120 The Bitter End of Heat
POV Therak:
The smell of crushed moonflower with St. John's Wort fills my nostrils, leaving me nauseous and sad. Deeply sad.
"Drink it all." Felicia says, handing the glass goblet with the light-green liquid to Una.
"This... will stop me from having pups?" The beautiful female stares at me, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes." The Luna of Juneau answers for me, noticing that I can't speak. "But I promise it doesn't hurt at all and won't harm your relationship with your mates. It will just end the heat early. Next winter, you can mate again!"
Felicia even tries to seem cheerful, but the atmosphere is so heavy that it's impossible to feel any drop of tranquility.
"I don't understand. Why do we need to interrupt the heat?" Una turns her gaze to Asher, who is standing near the door of Felicia's office in Orion's house. "Therak won't take long to kill Declan. After that, we can go back to having sex."
The knot in my throat grows, to the point of beginning to interfere with my ability to breathe.
How can I tell her that I probably won't come back? That I will be killed, if not by the Goddess, then by my father and the council?
How can I tell her that these might be our last moments together?
My head throbs as if someone is using a jackhammer on my brain, and not even Begay's touch on my back makes me feel better.
When Una realizes that no one will answer her question — that we can't answer — she takes the greenish liquid in a single gulp, ending the most incredible and shortest heat of my life. I don't want to think it might be the last one as well.
Her smell changes almost immediately, diminishing the addictive sweetness that left my orsai in a frenzy, thinking about filling her uterus until it was round with our child.
The heat ends as quickly as it arrived, leaving behind the bitter taste of destroyed hope and longing. Those were the three best days of my life, but it's so unfair that they are ending like this. In fear.
"Some members of my pack, who are in Anchorage, said they saw a plane heading toward Moonclaw Ridge. They're probably the council members who hadn't arrived yet." Orion says, after looking at his cell phone screen, breaking the strange silence that had dominated the room. His irises are completely golden when our eyes meet. "I'm going with you to the trial. I know I have no political influence, but maybe that bitch of a Goddess will show up and decide to help us in this mess she herself created."
"How could she be responsible for this?" Begay questions, moving away from me to go to Una, who stood up a little shaky.
I have to fight the urge to grab the innocent omega, and my other two mates, in my lap and run far, far away. Somewhere the council can't find me, even if that would solve only one of our problems.
"She is responsible for everything that happens." Orion snorts, making it very clear his dissatisfaction at not being able to make contact with the divinity who "sponsors" his children.
We came to his house because Begay believed that Orion could break the blood pact by speaking directly to the Moon Goddess, solving the most difficult challenge to face. Unfortunately, even making sacrifices, the mother of all Lykae did not honor us with her presence, showing that I will have to fend for myself to resolve the catastrophic situation. As always.
"I'm going along, because I have the political influence that you don't." Felicia explains herself before her husband can open his mouth to refuse. "I know many of the ACS Alphas. Most of them watched me grow up. I'm sure I can convince some to support Therak."
"I already sent a message to my mother. She'll arrive soon to stay with the children." Dalton says, showing that he will also go.
I want to thank them for the support they are giving me. Apologize for having felt, for so many years, anger and envy of the life they have. The despair I feel, however, does not allow me to form almost any words, as I watch everyone debate plans that will not come to fruition.
"No one goes beyond me." I force myself to say when I see Una about to leave the room with Felicia, to exchange the blanket wrapping her body for clothes. "This matter is mine alone. I'll solve it by myself!"
"What?" The omega exclaims, radiating shock and hurt. "You promised you wouldn't leave me! That we were a family now."
"And we are!" I state, approaching to touch her delicate face, taken over by tears of a sadness that I caused. "Precisely because of that, I want all of you safe. I won't be able to bear knowing that you will see me be..." The word executed dies in my throat before coming out. I don't want to say it out loud. I don't want to make the idea real.
"You're not going to die, Therak! We'll find a solution." Asher growls, still clinging to the vain idea that everything will be resolved with a wave of a wand.
It's cruel to let them continue to have hope. My orsai says, sounding defeated in a way I've never heard in my forty-six years of life.
"The council has already decided the verdict, little wolf," I murmur, feeling my chest burn with sadness and my eyes sting from trying to hold back tears. "The trial is just theater. I will go up on the platform, be forced to listen to everyone say that my father was always right to want to destroy me, and then be killed, just like what happened to Sergei."
Now I know that my Beta didn't betray me. If he had freed Declan, his body wouldn't be so disfigured and his eyes gouged out. His death was a clear message, not only to me, but to everyone in the pack, of what would happen to anyone who stayed by my side.
I cannot allow the last image my mates have of me to be my head being torn from my neck.
"We're a family now, fuck." Begay advances before Asher, grabbing my chin brutally to force me to face him. "And a family doesn't abandon, regardless of the circumstances!"
"That mark you left on our necks isn't decoration, Therak." Asher says, also approaching. "It's a pact you made with us. A promise that we will face everything together," he makes clear, sinking his finger into my chest so hard that the spot throbs. "We may not have fully bonded our souls yet, but if you think you're going to keep us away from you, then you haven't understood anything about what it means to be a mate!"
The wolf's words cut me like a knife, leaving me raw. However, they also bring me the clarity that despair had hidden.
"If you go, we go too. It's simple." Una says with a firm voice, leaving no room for debate. "And whatever has to happen, will happen."
"There can only be one Alpha in Moonclaw Ridge. And that's you, Therak." Begay reminds me, giving me the strength I needed to get out of the sea of desolation where I had buried myself.
"You're right," I murmur, wiping the tears that had fallen and straightening my posture. "This title is mine. The territory is mine. You are mine. And I will fight for what belongs to me and take it back!"