Chapter 41 Defiance
Landon’s POV
Sarah stood at the far end of the hallway, her chin lifted high, her gaze dared to meet mine still head-on.
“I said,” she repeated, each word rolling out of her mouth without a second thought. “I’m going into the forest to find Isabella.”
“You’re going nowhere…because no one dares to leave this house for that rogue filth.”
My voice dropped to a low, dangerous whisper, carrying the weight of an Alpha command so terrifying that the walls themselves seemed to tremble underneath it.
Most people would have already bowed their heads, already on their knees begging me to spare their lives right now.
But this…this fucking bitch did neither of them.
“She is not a rogue filth!” Sarah’s voice cut through the heavy tension, taking one bold step toward me. “Whether you choose to accept it or not, she was the woman carrying your heir. The same woman you didn’t think twice before banishing for a crime she didn’t commit.”
“You know nothing!”
“I know enough,” she snapped back. “I know you condemned an innocent woman…you threw her outside those gates and left her all alone to rot. And I know if something happens to her, her blood will be on your hands.”
My wolf snarled violently inside me with every word that left her mouth.
“Watch your fucking mouth when you speak to me, Sarah!”
“Or what?” she shot back, still meeting my gaze head-on. “Let me guess? Will you punish me too? You’ll drag me by my hair as you dragged her?”
The memory struck me like a blade instantly.
Isabella in tears, begging me to believe her as I slammed the gate shut in her face without even thinking twice.
I forced the image away.
“You are crossing a line, Sarah.”
“No,” she said, her trembling now—but not with fear. “You crossed the line the moment you chose cruelty over truth—“
“Shut the fuck up!”
The power of an Alpha flooded the hallway instantly like a storm, pressing down on everything in its path. Still, Sarah stood there, her face had gone pale, but she did not look a bit afraid of me.
“This is the last time I’ll repeat myself,” I growled, taking a slow step closer to her until there was no space between us. “You are not leaving this house to find that…that thing!”
“Oh! I will,” Sarah fired back, tears burning behind her eyes now, “I am going to find Isabella whether you like it or not.”
“You dare defy me?”
“I dare do what is right!” She snapped back, her voice rising above mine now. “Isabella trusted you even with how cruel you treated her…and yet you didn’t think twice about destroying he—“
“Enough!”
The roar ripped out of me so violently that the windows shook. I was in front of her before she could blink, forcing Sarah to stumble back in fear, but still she lifted her chin at me.
“You can shout all you want,” she said hoarsely. “But it won’t change the truth about what you did.”
“Stop speaking to me in that tone, you little bitch!”
My hand moved before my brain could think twice, It rose halfway into the air. For a split second Sarah’s eyes widened in utter disbelief, but she quickly masked it away.
Then another hand caught my wrist.
“Alpha!”
I jerked my head to the side immediately to see Owen standing between us now, his chest rising and falling heavily as if he had run the length of the mansion. His grip on my wrist trembled, not from weakness—but from fear.
“Let. Go. Of. My. Hand,”I said coldly.
His grip loosened instantly, and dropped his gaze to the floor, before parting his lips to speak.
“My Alpha… please.” Owen swallowed hard, forcing the words out. “Sarah is upset. She isn’t in her right mind…please don’t be angry, I’ll speak to her. I’ll calm her down.”
“Are you serious right now, Owen?” Sarah stared at him in disbelief, “I’m not in my right mind? Owen—“
“Shut your mouth,” he muttered to her under his breath, panic clear in his voice.
I looked at him with disgust.
“You beg for her?”
“No, Alpha, I only—”
“I don’t care for any stupid explanations,” I cut in coldly before he could finish the sentence, stepping closer until he was forced to lower his eyes further….
“…the only reason she still stands here speaking to me this way is that she is mated to you. Or else I would have ripped out her throat for daring to even breathe the same air as me.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” Owen said quickly.
“Don’t thank me yet.”
My voice dropped lower.
“If she continues this foolishness… if she takes one step toward that forest…” I let the threat hang in the air between us, my gaze flickering to Sarah, then back to him. “I’ll have no choice but to punish her the same way I punished Isabella.”
“Landon!” Sarah snapped.
Owen turned to her in horror. “Stop, Sarah!”
“And if you still plan to marry this woman,” I said to Owen, ignoring Sarah like she never even existed in the first place, “then teach her obedience before she disgraces you again.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Sarah parted her lips to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, she just stood there, staring at Owen as if she no longer recognized him.
“You’re agreeing with this?” she asked, her voice cracking with every word. “You’re standing there while he threatens your Luna?”
Owen reached for her hand.
“Sarah, please. Just calm down for now.”
She yanked away from him.
“No.”
“Sarah—”
“No!” she shouted, the tears spilling down her face uncontrollably now. “An innocent woman may be dying somewhere, and all you care about is keeping him happy!”
Her words struck him harder than any blow, but all I could do was watch the exchange between the two lovers with cold impatience.
Pathetic.
Both of them.
One ruled by emotion.
The other ruled by weakness.
“I’ve heard enough,” I finally said, my voice cutting through the heated tension. Before either of them could say more, I turned sharply and began walking away.
Behind me, I could hear Sarah’s breathing shake with anger, her voice ringing through the hallway.
“All your threats won’t stop me from finding her, Landon!”
I stopped.
Slowly, I looked over my shoulder.
She stood tall despite the tears on her face.
“But you cannot stop the truth…and one day…just one day, you’ll beg for Isabella’s forgiveness when it’s too late.”
The instant she said those words, a strange sensation hit my chest.
Hot.
Sharp.
Unwelcome.
I crushed it instantly and walked away without uttering a word in response, my boots echoing on the marble floor with hard, measured steps as I moved deeper into the mansion.
But her words followed me.
Ridiculous!
I would never beg any woman in my entire lifetime… especially not Isabella.
Yet no matter how many times I repeated it in my mind, something ugly twisted in my gut.
What if Sarah was right?
What if Isabella truly had been innocent?
The questions made me so lost in thought that I almost bumped into one of the servants holding a tray. He nearly dropped the tray on me.
“Get out of my face,” I snarled.
He fled immediately.
“Fuck this!”
I dragged a hand through my hair in frustration, cursing under my breath.
Why the hell is everyone acting as if I had committed some unforgivable crime?
I made a judgment as Alpha.
I did what had to be done to fucking traitors like her. So why did it feel like the walls themselves were closing in on me?
Down the hallway, I could still hear Sarah and Owen arguing, their voices barely registering to my ears.
Good.
Let them tear each other apart.
Maybe then Sarah would stop speaking Isabella’s name in this house. I resumed walking toward my office, forcing every trace of hesitation from my mind.
Isabella was gone.
She meant absolutely nothing to me.
That was the truth.
Wasn’t it?