Five

Kiel's pov 

Leave? 

The heavy silence of the chamber was suddenly deafening . I stared down at the battered, fragile woman standing before me and for a split second my wolf howled in primal protest at the words uttered from her lips. Like the very concept of them was absurd. 

I despised her. I wanted her to suffer for what he had done to her own sister. But the thought of her walking away, of another male catching her scent…

My fingers twitched as I watched her eyes- not used to seeing them lifeless, it felt strange, like something else had taken control of her. 

My jaw clenched hard. "You’re rejecting me?" I laughed in her face. "To go where? Blue Crystal pack belongs to me now and you have no one else."

I loomed over her, desperate to see her cower again, that teary desperation in her eyes that aggravated me, for her sudden defiance to shatter. "You have nothing Rivette. After Alpha Darius died, your evil mother and your cowardly brother took everything of value and ran. They abandoned you. You currently have acquired debt. Even if you walk out of this packhouse, you are still in my land. You have nowhere else to go."

She slowly lifted her chin. There was no tears in her eyes. Only a haunting dead emptiness that sent an unsettling chill down my spine. "I would rather be a wandering rogue, hunted and starved than spend another second looking at your face. "

There was another round of silence, but I didn't give her the chance to know she had gotten a reaction out of me. Instantly snatched her wrist, ignoring the tugging tightness in my chest. 

"Fine," I turned to Liam at the doorway. "Bring it." 

Liam smirked as he walked in, pulling a small glass of dark liquid from his jacket. As he took the cap off, the whole room was filled with the thick concentrated dose of the poison. 

"You want your freedom right? You want to leave my territory. Then atone for your sins. For trying to murder your own sister, Justice will be duly served under the witness of the moon goddess. If you survive, you can walk out of here. If you don't, I'll bury your body in the darkest part of the rogues territory since you so badly want to join them." 

"Kiel please- " Ruby starts, but Liam is the one who holds her back. 

I snicker as I turn to Rivette, still holding the vial out. "Can you imagine? She's still pleading on your behalf. Twice you've tried to kill her and - "

She suddenly snatched the vial from my hand and in seconds, raised it to her lips and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp. The now empty glass crashed to the floor, shattering. 

My heart stopped.  

For a second, she swayed, her face draining of colour as her breathing turned ragged, but she didn't fall. Even though every inch of my body screamed at me to reach forward, I stood there and watched as she walked out the door without a word. 

Pure, suffocated panic and rage surged in my throat as I watched her retreating back. 

"Kiel,” Ruby's frantic voice snapped as she clung tightly to my arms. "Oh Moon Goddess! Kiel please you have to go after her. I understand you were angry, but I can't watch my sister die. Please." 

I looked down at Ruby, at her tear streaked face and trembling lips and forced my erratic heartbeat to slow down. It's a trick. A desperate manipulative plot by Rivette to gain sympathy for her evil doings. She was already trying to drive a wedge between us by taking advantage of Ruby’s empathy. 

I wrapped my arms tightly around Ruby, pulling her close though my eyes couldn't help but stare into space as I stroked her hair. 

"No, " I whispered, finally closing my eyes. "I will never let you go again. She made her choice. I will show her no more mercy. "

Rivette's pov 

'Hold on', I pleaded silently, pressing both hands tightly against my lower abdomen as I stumbled through the dark night. 

'Please baby, just hold on a little longer. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I didn't leave when I had the chance.' 

The poison was already sending a raging fire through my system like I had swallowed a bucket of coals. I dragged my feet through the dense gathering of trees, bypassing the border patrols using the old hunting trails my father had shown me as a child. 

If I could reach my friend who ran a hidden apothecary for hidden rogues in time she could give me an antidote to flush the poison from my system. She was my only hope. 

By the time I reached the highway, my vision was already darkening as cold sweat drenched my clothes, torn from the branches. 

The sound of a horn exposed a battered pickup truck driving down the road. It slowed down the moment it saw me limping across, waving my hands frantically. 

As it screeched to a halt, inches from hitting me, I was already scrambling into the passenger seat. The driver was an old human man wearing a baseball cap. "Lady, are you out of your mind?! I almost hit you."

"Please," I gasped, almost passing out from being out of breath. "Drive. Just drive to the next town please."

He took one look at my face and slammed his foot on the pedal, cursing under his breath. I closed my eyes, sighing as I hugged myself, fighting to stay conscious and not yield to the poison . 

Almost there. I rubbed my stomach pressing my lips tight. 

A sudden blinding light flooded the truck from behind. I jerked up, opening my eyes to see a massive truck towering over ours by a few feet accelerating aggressively behind us. 

My eyes widened. From the rear view mirror I sighted the driver just before he rammed into us from behind. The impact lunged my head forward. 

"Hey! What the fuck!" My driver yelled, wrestling for control, panic in his voice. The truck slammed into us from behind again just as the driver glared at me. 

“What the hell is going on?”

My heart sank to my stomach. I’d recognize that jagged scar running down the jawline from anywhere.

"Look out!" I screamed. 

But it was too late. The truck slammed into us from the side this time. The sickening crunch of our vehicle buckling filled my ears. Our truck was lifted off the the ground and shoved towards the edge of a cliff. 

Time seemed to slow down as the metal barrier of the cliff snapped and the vehicle plummeted down. 

My last conscious thought wasn't the smell of fire and thick blood hung in the air or the truck crushing me under its weight. It was an apology to the life fading inside me.