Chapter 164
Lexa's POV
I wasn't tired of fighting....not yet. I had faced worse than this in the woods during my years as a rogue, surviving on scraps and hiding from hunters who saw wolves like me as nothing more than animals to be captured or killed. They had starved me for days at a time, beaten me with iron chains because they knew I was just a slave, someone whose pain didn't matter to anyone. So this wasn't anything different from what I had endured before.
But the moment I sensed Kyle's presence approaching the dungeon, my knees grew weak with a mixture of relief and shame. I didn't want him to see me like this....chained, broken, reduced to begging for mercy from men who saw me as nothing more than an obstacle to their plans.
The beta who had been tying the ropes around my legs suddenly stopped, his hands trembling as he looked toward the entrance of the cell. I could see the conflict in his eyes, the way his wolf was fighting against what he was being forced to do.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to me, his voice filled with genuine anguish. "I don't want to do this, but the Luna threatened my mate. She said if I didn't follow orders, she would have my Sarah killed. I have no choice."
Before I could respond, Kyle's growl filled the dungeon....a sound so animalistic and terrifying that even I, who loved him desperately, felt a chill of fear run down my spine. The beta actually whimpered and tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go in the confined space.
"Get away from her," Kyle snarled, his voice barely recognizable as human. "Get your fucking hands off my mate before I tear you apart."
"Alpha, please," the beta stammered, his hands raised in surrender. "Your mother, she said...."
Kyle didn't let him finish. His fist connected with the beta's jaw with a sickening crack that echoed through the stone chamber. The beta went down hard, blood streaming from his mouth, but Kyle wasn't finished.
He punched him over and over again, each blow fueled by a rage so pure and deadly that I could feel it radiating from his body like heat from a fire. The sound of flesh hitting flesh, of bones breaking, filled the air as Kyle unleashed months of frustration and betrayal on the man who had dared to touch me.
"Kyle!" I screamed, my voice hoarse from hours of pleading and crying. "Kyle, stop it! You're going to kill him!"
The sound of my voice seemed to penetrate the red haze of his fury. He turned to look at me, and I saw something in his eyes that broke my heart....a pain so deep and raw that it made my own suffering seem insignificant.
Without saying a word, he moved to the chains that held me to the wall, his hands gentle despite the violence he had just unleashed. The metal gave way under his Alpha strength, and I collapsed into his arms, my legs too weak to support me after hours of being stretched and bound.
He carried me out of that hellish place, his entire body vibrating with an anger that seemed to consume him from the inside out. I could feel the tension in his muscles, the way his jaw was clenched so tightly I was afraid he might break his own teeth.
"I'm sorry," I whispered against his chest, my voice barely audible. "I'm so sorry you had to see me like that."
"Don't," he said, his voice rough with emotion. "Don't you dare apologize for what they did to you. This is my fault. I should never have left you alone."
We made our way through the pack house, and I could see the shocked faces of the pack members we passed. Some looked horrified at my condition, others seemed calculating, as if they were already planning how to use this situation to their advantage.
When we reached the main entrance, Kyle's father was waiting for us, his expression carefully neutral in that way that powerful men used when they were trying to control a volatile situation.
"Kyle," he said, his voice carrying the authority of an Alpha who was used to being obeyed. "I think we need to talk about what just happened. There are explanations that need to be given, and decisions that need to be made."
Kyle's response was a roar that shook the very foundations of the house. "Fuck off!" he snarled, his eyes blazing with a fury that made his father actually take a step backward. "Just fuck off with your explanations and your political games!"
"Son, you need to calm down and think about what's best for the pack...."
"What's best for the pack?" Kyle laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "You want to know what's best for the pack? Having a Luna who was chosen by the Moon Goddess herself, not some political arrangement designed to make you more powerful!"
His father's face hardened. "That girl is a maid, Kyle. She has no breeding, no training, no connections that could benefit our people. You're thinking with your heart instead of your head."
"And you're thinking with your ambition instead of your soul," Kyle shot back. "I'm done with this. I'm done with your schemes and your manipulations and your complete disregard for what actually matters."
"If you walk away from this pack, you'll have nothing," his father warned. "No title, no territory, no future worth having."
Kyle's smile was cold and deadly. "Then I'll go back to being a Pack Commander in Mudiville Pack. At least there, I'm valued for who I am, not for how useful I can be in someone else's political games."
"You would give up being an Alpha for a slave?" his mother's voice came from behind us, filled with disgust and disbelief.
"I would give up everything for her," Kyle said without hesitation. "Because she's worth more than all of your titles and territories combined."
The finality in his voice seemed to hit his parents like a physical blow. I could see the moment they realized that they had pushed too far, that their son was truly prepared to walk away from everything they had planned for him.
"Kyle, please," his mother tried one more time. "Think about what you're throwing away."
"I'm not throwing anything away," he said, adjusting his hold on me as he prepared to leave. "I'm choosing love over politics, happiness over duty, and the woman the Moon Goddess chose for me over the one you tried to force on me."
As we walked away from the pack house where he had grown up, I felt the weight of what he was sacrificing for me. But I also felt the strength of his conviction, the absolute certainty that he was making the right choice.
"Are you sure about this?" I whispered against his neck.
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," he replied, his voice filled with a peace that hadn't been there before. "You're my mate, my
Luna, my everything. And I'm never letting anyone hurt you again.”