“Sister?” I whispered, my gaze settling on Callan. His expression remained stoic, his lips thinning to form a line.
Thick silence lingered in the air only interrupted by Grace’s sniffling and I could see her for the child she was, the child she wanted to remain, one that had been snatched from her.
“What are you talking about?” Callan asked, his voice greatly strained.
Isla shook as demeaning laughter escaped her, rocking her body. “Ahh, I see, a little detail you must have missed. You had your suspicions, Alpha, but did you ever ask why I was doing all of this?”
“It's the one thing that didn't make any sense,” Callan admitted.
“Of course, you must have been too young, too young to remember that your father was a tyrant, a bastard, and a despicable rapist!” she barked.
“And that has nothing to do with Sophia, I won't ask you again to let her go,” he warned, his voice dangerous, and when my eyes met Sephora's she conveyed something to me with her eyes before slowly edging her way behind Grace.
I steeled my back and held my breath.
“It has everything to do with her! Can't you see?” She screamed louder, pressing the blade further into my neck. I fought back a cry. “Your father killed my sister and he never showed any sign of remorse for what he did and I knew he had to pay! You were going to marry Amelia, she was going to be Luna in part retribution for your father's sins…”
“And then what? You would have killed me afterward?”
I felt her shrug. “Only then would we rule the Black Tide Pack, its leadership falling to our thighs. The very women Demetrius ruined, can you imagine anything better than that? Your father’s spirit would forever be haunted to see us now rule the pack he had so cherished, he had been willing to burn the world to protect it.”
“You killed him, didn’t you?” Callan asked in a quiet voice I didn’t recognize. It was the first time I’d heard him speak about his father and I could tell Demetrius wasn’t a good man.
“A slow death with poison over seven years did it. A pain well deserved for what he put Margaret through…” she faltered, her voice choking with tears. “The suffering he caused to Margaret’s children. Your father killed my sister, Callan, she was dead because of him, because she was trying to birth his child!”
Margaret - that must be Amelia’s mother and if she was Grace’s sister it meant that Isla wasn’t Grace’s mother like she had led everyone to believe.
Margaret - the woman Demetrius had raped.
Margaret - the woman who had borne a child for her rapist.
I didn't know her but all at once my heart broke for her, broke for Amelia who had known the truth and had to keep pretending. It wasn't a justification for what she and Isla were doing but I understood the hatred for Callan’s father and the truth that Amelia had never truly loved Callan. I too would never love the son of the man who raped my mother and caused her to die.
I felt something wet fall down my face.
“And Radley?” I asked in a bid to keep her talking and distracted until Sephora did what she had to. “What part did he play in all of these?”
“He thought himself smart, didn't he? The Beta was equally a sick bastard who believed himself in love with Grace but that was a part that had to be played unfortunately until he was no longer useful and tried to blackmail me.”
She patted my head before continuing. “I am grateful to your uncle for helping me get rid of that one. He had become a menace to me.”
I hadn't been wrong about Radley, after all, he had been against Callan and had gone on to take sexual advantage of Grace. He was a sick bastard like Isla had called him, that was something we could agree on. Perhaps in the face of being caught by Callan, he might have threatened Isla with revealing the truth.
I was glad he was dead.
I felt Sephora’s presence closer just as Grace’s voice rang through the house.
“Isla, watch out!”
I swung my elbow as hard as I could backward, slamming it into Isla’s stomach and causing her momentary distraction enough to drop the blade. From behind Isla, Sephora threw a punch that landed directly at the back of her neck sending her staggering forward and the warriors rushed forward to grab her.
A shot of arrows flew into the manor once more and I ducked pulling Sephora with me.
“Get the shooters!” Callan barked out his orders and a few of the warriors ran outside with Isla’s laughter ringing out even when the warriors had her in their custody.
It happened too fast, too suddenly. I saw one of the men holding Isla captive stiffen, his eyes rolling backward before he collapsed to the floor revealing Amelia with a bloodied blade.
Swiftly, like she had when we had fought out in the field, she moved as one with the wind, barely noticeable, one of the two swords she held in her hands gliding with her and striking down warriors.
The other one remained unused as she made her way to where I and Callan stood and I knew immediately.
The second blade was long, carved beautifully and it shimmered, its sharp end glowing amber. I didn't need to be told it had been laced with the wolfsbane stolen from Callan and seeing as she wasn't using it, it was meant for one person.
A wolfsbane that could kill an Alpha.
Luther stepped forward immediately and struck her, his dagger cutting through her and slashing the sleeve of her clothes causing her to drop one of the swords. Her eyes set ablaze with anger.
“Stay here,” Callan said to me, pulling out a blade from the inside of his coat.
“It is you she is after, Callan. You should leave now, let us go,” I urged but he ignored me, his eyes on Amelia, waiting, and I could see the anger his gaze held - he wanted to kill her himself.
Sephora glanced at me with compassion and said nothing but I saw her take in a breath, her blade ready in hand and I felt useless.
Unlike them all, I had never been taught how to fight or use a sword as they had. In Alexander’s pack, it had been a training meant for the men alone but here, they all wielded it perfectly and I thought it must be the same with my sisters.
Metal swung and Amelia darted, dodging it just as two arrows flew in, one catching Luther in the chest and the other just below his ribs. To my right, Isla had managed to free herself and was currently in a fight with some of the warriors and I watched her swing the dagger Amelia had dropped, severing the head of a warrior.
“I was unable to kill your father with my own hands,” Amelia announced as she marched forward in quick strides. “But a son’s blood is just as good as the father’s.”
Callan struck first and he caught her right in the shoulder, his sword slashing her but she didn't falter and she planted her feet to the floor, thrusting the knife. Sephora jumped in, her own blade this time cutting Amelia across the thighs. This time, she stumbled but only for a second before she pushed forward with a cry, rage in her movement.
She didn't try attacking Sephora and I realized in horror what she was doing, she was saving her blade for Callan. Without a second thought, I grabbed a discarded sword from the floor, its heaviness surprising me, and like I noticed they did, I wrapped my fingers around its hilt and steadily held it, waiting for the right time to strike.
Amelia barely noticed me and that was a good thing, I presumed.
She slid closer to me, unaware of my presence, and when she made to strike once more, I brought the sword upon her, tearing through flesh. With an ear-piercing scream, Amelia fell to her knees, still gripping the knife.
I glanced at Callan to see the genuine surprise in his eyes and just as I attempted to smile, my peripheral vision caught movement and I snapped my head toward it in time to see Isla grab the sword from Amelia and plunge it toward Callan.
“No!” A yell escaped me, burning through my throat as it made its way out.
And right before the blade struck him, Sephora jumped in, placing herself between the sword and Callan and I watched in horror, the scene unfolding slowly as the blade went through my sister, plunging itself into her neck for a while, she remained still, her eyes wide with fear before the blood gushed out and Isla drew the blade back, the glow on the sword fading into nothingness.
Sephora collapsed to the floor against Callan and I rushed forward, reaching her just in time for Isla’s severed head to come rolling on the floor next to my sister’s dying body.
Natalie stood behind Isla’s headless body, covered in blood and I watched her once more strike her blade into Isla or what was once Isla’s torso.
“Sephora, please, please.” My heart was hammering as I pressed both my palms to her neck in a pathetic attempt to stop the blood but I knew deep down it was futile, she had been struck with a blade laced with wolfsbane.
“I’ve always regretted…” she started painfully. “Regretted not protecting you, Sophia,” Sephora managed, tears rolling down the side of her face.
“I hope this suffices as an apology.” She whispered just before the light in her eyes died down and she went still.