Sense My Silent Alpha's Heart

Chapter 4

Gideon’s Pov

I stilled, carefully holding the girl that’d just crashed into my arms. She was holding me tight, and her shoulders were shaking as tears poured out of her eyes. There was blood on the side of her face, and her own sister was standing there in shock, arm raised with a whip in it.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe properly as my eyes took in the scene. Anger raged beneath my skin. I was still holding my mate one moment, and the next moment, I moved swiftly across the room, ripping the whip out of her sister’s hand.

I didn’t think. I couldn’t. Memories from my childhood flooded my head, of how my own father would hit my brother and me until I was near death’s door.

The whip cracked once. And again. And again. Her sister was screaming, curled up on the floor, trying to shield herself as she begged me to stop, but I wouldn’t. I couldn’t stop.

Rage pulsed through my veins like nothing I have ever felt. When I thought about my mate’s fear stricken face, the blood on it, something primal snapped within me.

The world drowned out of my ears, and only her voice remained. Soft, shaky, filled with shock as she called for me.

“A-alpha Gideon—”

I froze. Her voice was somehow able to calm the bloodlust within me. And when her hands touched mine, carefully, as if she was unsure if she could touch me, I melted and let her pry the whip out of my shaky hands.

I stared at her sister curled up on the floor, shaking, bleeding, and crying loudly, and for a moment, I wondered what I’d just done. I almost killed her, and the beast within me was saying it wasn’t enough. I wanted her to beg for mercy.

Evelyn bit her lips, looking down at her sister as she told her. “Briar, he wants you to apologize, and you can leave.”

I turned to my mate and I wondered how she’d known to say that.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Briar choked, and yet I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to break her, because I knew this wasn’t the first time.

How long has my mate had to endure this?

“It’s okay,” Evelyn called out, voice still shaking as her fingers curled tightly around mine. She looked up at me with big glossy eyes and asked. “Can you let Briar go now?”

Once I gave my approval, Briar hurried out of the room without wasting another second.

Suddenly, the silence crashed in on us, and I stood there, wondering what I’d just done.

“Alpha Gideon?” She called again, and I looked at her, raising my hands to touch the cut on her cheek. It was deep and healing slowly. I stroked my thumb over it, gently. She shivered, nuzzling into my touch as her eyes flashed with her wolf’s color, loving the way I touched her. My lips lifted with a grin, and suddenly I could not wait to take her back home.

I took out my notebook and wrote. “Have you packed yet?”

She shook her head, and it was then that I finally took a look at the room.

I’d followed her, thinking something was wrong when I saw her go through the back of the house, only to walk into that scene.

I was sure we were in the basement. It was so small, so stuffy, and smelled so much like rust. It wouldn’t even be fit for a pig to live here, but the small, worn-out bed sitting in the middle of the room told me someone actually lived here.

No way.

I stared at her with the question in my eyes.

“This is my room.” She answered me, as if knowing my thoughts, and then unlinked our fingers and went past me. “You can have a seat there. I just need five minutes to pack.”

“Take your time.” I wrote on my notepad and sat on her tiny bed.

When I’d heard the priest call her Evelyn, I thought she was familiar. If I was correct, she was the adopted daughter of the Moonfall Alpha. And this was how they treated her?

I tried not to let the rage consume me again and focused my gaze on her, my mate. My eyes followed her every movement as she packed some items into a small bag. She was beautiful. And I’d never seen someone with such long hair, reaching her waist. She looked frail and tiny and even though I knew that was about to change, i couldn’t stop my heart breaking for her.

I couldn’t help slipping into my own childhood nightmare as I watched her. I was back to one of those nights when my father would always come back home late and drunk. He’d give my brother and me a two-minute head start to hide, and then he’d hunt for us all over the house. It was like a game to him.

Sometimes, we hid under the bed, other times, beneath the fireplace, while we heard his ugly whistles as he approached, enjoying himself. He’d always find us, and he would hit us, and burn us, and sometimes he’d even try to drown us, enjoying the way we struggled underwater.

I forced back the thoughts of those dark days, blinking only to find that Evelyn had been trying to get my attention.

“Are you okay?” She asked, looking concerned, and I gave her a nod, eyeing the small bag she now held in her hand.

Was that all she had?

“Let’s go.” She pulled me forward, holding my hand as if this were natural. But I guess the bond makes it feel that way. It felt like I’d known her for years.

And though she was smiling, I could see the pain she hid behind her eyes. She’s not had it easy, probably her whole life. It made me think about me and my brother, Kael.

When my mother died, and my father married his fated mate, our lives became hell. Father’s mate made him a monster, and that was part of the reason I never wanted this bond. I never wanted to be responsible for someone’s heart when I barely knew what to do with mine.

But walking beside her now, her tiny hand curled inside mine, I wanted to make her forget her pain. I wanted to protect her and destroy everyone who’s ever hurt her.