Chapter 68 HOME
VANCE'S POV
Marlena conducted the ritual and I observed. Chloe's body elevated into the air amidst the sparkling dust. When she broke the spell, I vomited the contents of the potion and it felt like my intestines were also expelled.
The cursed symbol disappeared from my body leaving me lightheaded. Blayne motioned to hold me up but I dismissed his assistance, indicating that I could manage on my own footing.
Chloe revived and as the magical tie became undone, she screamed in pain from the crevices in her soul as everything slowly severed.
For me, it was like being in a pool of darkness with a spiritual presence looming over me. I experienced a torturous pulling toward the spot where Chloe levitated in the air, but it lessened as Marlena continued to chant her spell.
"Vance, don't do this! Please!" Her voice awakened more disgust in me. I could not wait to send her to hell. My wolf's canine aggression rocketed within me, waiting on edge to tear her to pieces.
Marlena finished her last words as Chloe's body descended to the ground. That was when I felt freedom. Though something else left me and I felt death. There had been another death, and this one was very sentimental.
I could sense Sianna a little and I heard her sobbing voice send me the message.
"Vance, our son has left us."
These were words, I never wanted to hear in my lifetime. And even though it was my choice to make this sacrifice, it crumbled me like a wrecking ball. Tearing down the strength that I had to face the consequences, and to face Sianna.
"Alpha, the spell is broken and the mate bond with Sianna should revert to normal within a few hours." Marlena stood over Chloe and bound her hand and feet with her magical powers. She had exponentially improved to the point where Miriam trusted her to aid at my side. I was glad that both Miriam and Jade were by Sianna's side, helping her through.
"Vance, how are you holding up, buddy?" Blayne patted my left shoulder with concern. His tone itself was tinged with sorrow. "Sianna gave birth to my son," I tried to hold back the tears, and to sound as normal as I could. "He's gone."
"Fuck," Blayne cast his eyes to the ground to process his emotions. When he looked back at me, his eyes too had watered and his tone dull, "I'm sorry."
I nodded, but it was time to put Chloe out of her misery. I was not going to torture her, because I wanted her out of my fucking sight. So I went up to her and extended my claws.
"Please....no.....no.....don't," She shivered with fear, tears ran from the side of her eyes, and her lips quivered. "I'm sorry. Id- didn't mean......I'm sorry."
"It's too late for apologies," She twisted her hips as she fought against the witch's hold, but only in vain as only her middle body moved. I crouched down, and slowly penetrated her neck with my claws.
A fountain of blood appeared as my claws went deeper. Gasping for breath, blood came up in her mouth choking her. When my claws went right through her neck to touch the ground, with one aggressive yank, I tore her head from her body.
"Burn her body," I commanded Marlena. "Let me see nothing but her ashes."
Just like that, Marlena's next words caused a sudden fire to light up Chloe's body. The three of us watched as her anatomy turned black and then to ashes.
"Did you find out who helped her?" Blayne inquired covering his nose from the fume of the cremated woman.
"Yes, I did," Marlena telepathically sent us visions of what she plucked from Chloe's memories.
"Well blow me down. Ain't that a bitch." Blayne scoffed, "Should I go get them, Vance?" He clenched his right fist and bit down on it to control his rage. He's the hot-headed one out of the three of us, and my pain was his as well. He lost his nephew today, just as I had lost my son.
"We can get them tomorrow," My mind rested on going home to Sianna, and picturing her emotional state. We needed each other for comfort and to grieve.
"No. Don't deliberate on this one. I am going to get them." He retorted, not to defy me but as my friend who wanted revenge and to show the enemy not to mess with us.
Since I was not in the mood to argue with my friend, I dismissed him as he set off on his mission.
"Marlena, you were a great help." Under different circumstances, I would have smiled at her. However, she understood how dead I felt inside. "Miriam will be proud. Let's go home."
With her hand on my shoulder, she nodded and said, "Hold tight."
Feeling my body disintegrate and then rebuilding back each atom, in the blink of an eye I was on my porch. She had teleported us from the border back into town. My head spun slightly and my body was giddy. The environment rotated and it took a minute for the earth to stand still once more.
Miriam opened the door to my home and greeted me. "The shadow is gone but you look like shit."
Entering the living room, Jade and Dave Stone, Duke, Hailey, Keisha, Mom, and Dad were seated with their mourning faces.
Jade made her way to me. "Sianna is upstairs sleeping. Try not to wake her. You smell like that woman so could you freshen up in another room, please?"
Being told what to do in my own home would have pissed the hell out of me. My Mom and Dad agreed with Jade's suggestion, though I did not like it. Yet, her words made sense so I complied, she was my mother-in-law after all. My wolf nagged me to see our mate but we were home with her, and a shower was crucial before we went to her.
Not being a good host, nor talking to anyone, I went to the room on the left of the stairs. Robes should be in the closet so I removed my sports shorts and left them on the floor in the center of the room. I jumped into the shower, washed my hair, and quickly scrubbed myself clean.
Today was a total mess. Letting down my guard put my family at risk. The irony is that I was very consumed with keeping Curtis away from Sianna, and overlooked that one of my ex-lovers would have even been a problem. Miriam warned me and I was blind -sighted to brush it aside, thinking it could have been Esme or Gail, or anyone else except Chloe.
Facing Sianna was hard for me. We loved our unborn child as though he was already here in the world. Chloe, that monstrous bitch, took both Hailey's and Sianna's children. I felt an emptiness that I have not felt in a long time. Not since Sianna came into my life.
Happy to be done, because I intended to go straight into the master bedroom to hug my sleeping mate. I grabbed the towel and blotted my wet body. I was hoping that after grieving our loss, we will be able to move on and have other children later.
Mentally, I was not in a good place, but it was reassuring to know that Blayne and Duke could take care of most matters because I was going to be spending the next week at home with Sianna.
I didn't care for the people in my home. Though, they were here to support us while we dealt with losing our son. I wished they would go so that I could get my thoughts straight and focus on how to proceed. Securing my future with Sianna took precedence over all, and whatever I said to her would be detrimental to our relationship.
Sianna was standing in the middle of the bedroom as I opened the bathroom door, sniffing the sports shorts in her hand that I had left on the floor.
"Who was she?" She demanded, and she took another whiff, "I know this scent, so talk now." Her face was flushed and her eyes red. She was breathing hard and I ached to hug her and be close to her. "Was it Chloe?"
The sound of that woman's name on Sianna's lips twisted my soul. I didn't want to discuss her right away. I would rather tell Sianna that I love her, now and forever more, and try to excavate some positivity out of this dark time to help us heal.
Standing there, waiting for my reply, she stared intently at me. For once in my life, I felt weighted down by someone's intensity. Lying or trying to get my way out of this would make her angrier and cause more damage, but due to her state, I was not going to tell her everything tonight.
"Yes, it was her." I took three steps toward her but she retreated. The impression when I came home was that she was asleep. I assumed that due to restlessness, slumber could not hold her down for long. My gaze drifted lower because the pain and distrust in her eyes jabbed at me.
She scoffed, and replied with a sharp-edged tone, "Another one of your fucking bitches, right?"
Was that bitterness that I detected in her voice? Easing forward a bit more, I was almost close enough to touch her. But her murderous gaze stopped my hands in mid-air.
"Why were you with her?" She dropped the shorts to the floor, her hands shaking at her sides. Then she impatiently brushed a silky strand of hair from her cheek, taking a deep breath and defiantly looking me square in the eye.
We paid no heed to the crowd of people who gathered at the room door. It was Mom and Jade who ventured into the room. Jade placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders, urging her not to be stressed.
"Come on, honey, you just gave birth. You ought to be resting." Attempting to lead Sianna to the master bedroom but she would not budge. "Please think about your health. You need to recover your strength."
"Please, let us take you back. Why don't you wait until tomorrow to talk about this." My mom offered tenderly, giving her support to Dr. Stone.
During this, her stare never left me. Then she sighed heavily and turned to both women to address them. "No, Vance and I should talk. Because he almost fucked his ex, which lead to my son being the sacrificial lamb and he's going to pay for that."
Our mothers looked at me with worry embedded in their eyes. Everyone stopped in their places, and no one dared to breathe, fearful of the garroted atmosphere that plunged through the house.
"It's okay, I will take Sianna to our room," I told them.
"You most certainly will not," She hissed at me, the venom prominent in her tone. Then she addressed our visitors, "Could everyone wait downstairs, please?"
After exchanging final glances, they agreed to Sianna's request for seclusion. Sianna took a seat on the bed when we were alone, shivering, and my wolf howled to be there for her. For a few seconds, her mind wandered off to another place. I couldn't read her thoughts since our mate bond felt like burrowing through rice grains. The nasty side-effect of the spell.
"I was under a spell, baby. She...."
"What were you doing with her?" She interrupted me in mid-sentence by demanding to know what she had already asked. Her head slanted as she locked her brutal gaze on me.
"She was hurt, so I rushed to her but it was all a ruse to get me trapped under her spell." In my explanation, I was at a loss for words. There were no words to make this hurt any less.
"I told you to come home early and you chose her over me?" Tears welled up in her eyes and flowed down her pale cheek as she blinked.
"It wasn't like that, baby. I felt her pain and I had to go." She bowed her head, violently stomping her feet on the floor. I knew she probably wished that I was the hard floor right now to stampede on me. "I would have done it for any pack member."
"No, you did not have to go. You could have sent Blayne or Duke but instead, you went to be at her side while you sent Duke here! " She screamed at me with her hands vigorously pointing at me. "I was in hours of pain and you were with her the entire time! I delivered our son on my own! I needed you and you weren't there!"
I wished that she could have known how much it hurt me to miss being there to protect her and our baby. She was right, he died because of me. Sianna was all that I wanted and needed, and I felt like my worst nightmare was manifesting each time her bereaved eyes met mine.
"I'm sorry, Sianna. I....." In all my Alpha years, I have never struggled to put one sentence together except now, in the presence of my fiery Luna who blamed me for the cleft in our family.
"Who killed our son?" She slogged toward me. "Who cast the spell? Why was he a sacrifice?"
I wanted to provide the answers but saying that it was Chloe would trigger her wrath and who knows what she might want to do
to me. As far as the others, who were guilty, Blayne and I were going to deal with the others who were responsible. "I will handle them and serve you justice."
"Can justice replace our son?" Her contempt could be heard in her raspy voice.
"It cannot but at least they won't get away with it." I tried to console her. I genuinely wanted to alleviate her suffering, especially because I felt guilty. "Chloe is dead."
She returned to the bed and sobbed again, burying her face in her hands. "Why does it seem like you are remorseful over her
death?"
"No, I am not," shaking my head, "She deserved to die."
"It should have been you, Vance." It was a whisper, but a very vicious one that stabbed deep into my heart, and she repeated " Since you created the problem, you should have been the one to die." 2
I stood transfixed in disbelief at what she had said. My injured heart was causing internal hemorrhage. Breaking the spell was one thing, but mending my marriage was another.
"Make sure that you don't stop until every last one of them who had a hand in our son's death is dead." She ordered in a firm slow tone, "But right now, I want you out of this house."
I blinked at the sudden outburst of her throwing me out of my own damn house. "Baby, we need each other. Staying away is
not......"
"I want you to leave or I will!" She parroted, "I will send over some of your things to the pack house. Duke can pick them up, but please get out!"
"Sianna, please," I was terrified and drew nearer to touch her, but she swatted my hand away.
"I don't want to see you." She squirmed and gritted her teeth.
After the disbelief simmered, I murmured while cursing silently and left. Once outside, I shifted into my wolf and decided to go
witch-hunting.