Bite the hand

Chapter 12: Cruel kindness

The cold pavement was a jagged reality beneath my bare feet, but my mind was miles away, tucked into the silk-sheeted safety of a life that had ended in blood.

I ran. My breath came in ragged, burning gasps, and the midnight silk of my gown snapped against my legs like the wings of a dying bird. The neutral zone was a maze of neon-streaked puddles and rotting garbage, but I didn't care. Every street light was a beacon, every shadow a hunter I had to outrun.

Just a little further, I told myself, my vision blurring with tears. If I reach the border, the guards will recognize me. They’ll take me to him. Darius will fix this. He has to.

"Lila!"

The roar shattered the quiet of the alleyway. I didn't turn around. I couldn't. If I looked back, the ghosts would catch me. I pushed my legs harder, my lungs screaming, until a massive shadow eclipsed the flickering street lamp ahead of me.

A wall of heat and muscle slammed into my path. I tried to dodge, to slide past, but heavy arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off the ground with terrifying ease.

"No! Let me go!" I shrieked, clawing at the dark suit jacket, my nails catching on the expensive fabric. "Darius! Help me! Darius!"

"Lila, stop! It’s me. It’s Finn!"

He pulled me against his chest, his heart thundering against my ear, but the sound only fueled my panic. To my fractured mind, he was just another hunter sent to drag me back to the executioner’s block. I thrashed, my bare feet kicking at his shins, a raw, guttural sob breaking from my throat.

"I’ll tell them everything!" I screamed into his neck. "I’ll confess! Just let me see him! Please!"

"She’s completely gone," a second voice said—cold, sharp, and dripping with irritation.

Leo stepped out of the shadows of a nearby dumpster, his green eyes scanning the ends of the alley with lethal precision. He didn't look worried; he looked disgusted. "Look at her, Finn. She’s running back to the man who slaughtered her life. We’re risking our necks for a woman who wants to be a martyr."

"Shut up and help me," Finn rasped. He was shaking, his grip on me trembling with a mix of fury and devastating grief. He adjusted his hold, pinning my arms to my sides as he began to walk back toward the safe house.

"Let me go!" I begged, my voice cracking, my strength finally beginning to fail. I looked at Leo, pleading with my eyes. "Please... tell the Alpha I’m coming. Tell him I’m sorry."

Leo didn't even look at me. He just spat on the ground and kept his hand on the hilt of his blade. "The only thing I’m telling that bastard is how much I’m going to enjoy watching his empire burn. If she keeps screaming, I’m going to have to gag her, Finn. We have three pack patrols within two blocks."

Finn didn't answer. He just tightened his hold, his face buried in my hair as he hauled me back into the dark. I fought until my muscles turned to water, until the only sound left in the alley was the rhythmic, hopeless sound of my own weeping.

They threw me back into the concrete room, the heavy steel door slamming shut with a finality that felt like a coffin lid.

I collapsed in the corner, the torn hem of my midnight-silk gown wrapped around my legs like a shroud. I didn't look at them. I only saw the floor, the dust motes dancing in the light of the single flickering bulb.

Finn was kneeling a few feet away, his massive hands reaching out, then twitching back as if he were afraid I’d shatter. "Lila," he whispered, his voice thick with a tenderness that made me want to scream. "Drink some water. You’re shivering."

"I have to go back," I said, my voice small and thin, the sound of a woman who had spent years learning how to apologize for existing. "If I’m not there when the sun rises, the Alpha will think I’ve run away. He’ll think I’m guilty. I can explain about the pups, Finn. I know he’ll listen this time."

Finn flinched as if I’d struck him. "He won't listen, Lila. He’s the one who sent the hunters."

"No," I whimpered, shaking my head so hard my hair blinded me. "He was just confused. He was hurt. He loved me."

"Love?"

The word was a whip-crack. Leo was standing by the door, his arms crossed over his chest, his face a mask of cold, sharp disgust. He hadn't touched his weapons. He just watched me with eyes that felt like needles.

"Leo, not now," Finn warned, his shoulders bunching.

"No, Finn. Look at her," Leo snapped, stepping into the center of the room. "Look at this pathetic, whimpering thing. This is what you’re protecting? A woman who wants to crawl back to the man who put a price on her head?"

He walked toward me, and I pressed my back into the rough concrete until my skin burned. He looked down at me, his lip curling. "You’re a joke, Lila Voss. You’re just a weak little pack-wife who’s too scared to admit she was never wanted. You weren't a mate to him. You were a footstool. A quiet, obedient little doll he could kick whenever he felt like it."

"Stop it!" I cried, covering my ears. "Darius is my husband! He's my Alpha!"

"He’s your executioner!" Leo roared. He leaned down, his face inches from mine. "Do you think he's crying for you? He’s probably in that garden right now, laughing with his mistress while they plan their new life. You're nothing but a bad memory to him. A dead girl."

Finn was on him in a heartbeat. He slammed Leo against the wall, his claws extending. "I will kill you, Leo! I swear to God—"

"Do it!" Leo challenged. "Kill me! Then wait for the hunters to find this place. Because she isn't going to fight them, Finn. She’s going to walk out there and offer them her neck. Is that the mercy you want for her? To let her die believing she deserved it?"

Finn froze, his chest heaving. He looked back at me, and I saw the devastating realization in his eyes. He slowly let Leo go, his head dropping in defeat.

Leo didn't waste a second. He reached into his belt and pulled out the two obsidian daggers—my daggers. He threw them.

They hit the concrete at my feet with a sharp, metallic clang.

"Pick them up, Lila," Leo said, his voice dropping to a deadly, mocking whisper.

I stared at the blades, my eyes filling with fresh tears. "I... I can't."

"Pick them up," Leo repeated, his thumb hovering over his phone screen. "Pick them up and remember who you are. Because if you don't pick up those blades in the next ten seconds, I’m calling the Silverfang estate. I’ll call Darius myself and tell him exactly where to find his 'dead' wife. I’d rather see him kill you than watch you whimper like this for one more minute."

"Leo, no!" Finn shouted.

"One," Leo counted, his eyes merciless. "Two. Choose, Lila. Be the Queen... or be the victim."