Chapter 112 - Alex, don’t do this

EMMA

Fury burns in her eyes and it sears the forest green until it almost diminishes. *This is bad, really bad.* Everything I tried to protect for months is on the edge of collapsing and it’s all my fault. The structure of lies started crumbling when Carter and Alex found us in the forest.

Alex runs away. I act on the first thing that comes to mind and I run after her. My hands dig into the dirt and leaves. I push myself from the ground. I run as fast as I can, but Alex is taller and has better endurance. She’s pulling away with ease.

The forest is dark and her form disappears behind the trees. I call her name, but I don’t get a response. The ground is black beneath my feet. My voice is the only thing I hear in the dark. I stumble over broken branches but eventually make my way to town.

I find Alex running in the distance and follow her back to the house. I heave deep breaths and push my body forward. I clutch the doorframe and my nails dig into the wood as I catch my breath.

Loud voices come from the living room. “Get the fuck out!” Alex yells and her voice is laced with fury. It runs over my spine and I fear going inside.

“Wow relax, what’s your problem?” My brother calls out.

Alex is on a warpath and Lucas is in her way.

“My problem is that your fucking in my living room.” Her fury burns bright and lights everything around her on fire. I push myself inside and the voices get louder.

“We weren’t fucking.” Lucas says and the annoyance is clear.

“Jeez Alex, who put you in this bad mood?” Kelsey clamors in defense.

I walk into the living room and her back is turned to me. Lucas and Kelsey are sitting on the sofa with their hair disheveled and clothes rumpled.

“Alex, please—”

Alex freezes when I say her name. She swings a hand my way. “This backstabbing bitch.” Her features hold so much hurt and disappointment.

Lucas steps between me and Alex. “Don’t— fucking— talk to my sister that way.” His normally light-hearted presence is gone as anger lights up within him too.

Alex steps closer to him and rises to his height. “You better stay out of this Golden Boy.”

I grab my brother’s arm and pull him aside. He steps away but his scowl is not leaving Alex.

“Alex, please, let me explain.” I look at the other two people in the room. There’s confusion and hurt apparent in Kelsey. She received an onslaught and did nothing wrong.

Alex crosses her arms and steps towards me. “Okay, go ahead.” Her full height towers over me now and I feel extra small in comparison. She directs the full brunt of her scrutiny my way. Her green eyes are piercing and I’m at a loss of what to say.

“I— we—“ I try to formulate words. I try to make up an excuse for what she has seen. “We connected and—“ The lie gets stuck in my throat like my body dispels the dishonesty and won’t cooperate anymore.

Her scowl gets deeper and her mouth turns down in disgust. “Don’t even start telling me that you love him.”

But that is the truth and one I cannot tell. It will only reveal who Hadrian really is. That is if Alex doesn’t already have an inkling of suspicion.

“Love who?” Kelsey asks, her eyes are wide as she looks around the room in confusion.

Lucas’s shoulders tense and he slowly turns his gaze to me. His blue eyes are wide with shock as realization dawns on them. “What did you do?”

“I found her fucking Jack in the forest.” The words seem to echo through the room, repeating over and over in my ears.

“You did what?” Kelsey shrieks, her voice sharp and high-pitched.

“We weren’t—“ I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to save this. Maybe I should just confirm what she’s already thinking. Her believing that I was about to have sex with Hadrian is better than her knowing the truth.

“It’s not even the fact that you were fucking the guy I had my eye on.” Alex paces back and forth as she waits for my explanation. “It’s the fact that you lied to me.”

Her anger and disappointment immobilize me. Telling more lies will only make her hate me even more.

“It just happened—“ My thoughts jumble in a mess and I don’t remember the lies I’ve told. “Hadr—“ Fear locks my vocal cords when my mouth nearly blurts his name.

Alex freezes and turns towards me. “Hadr…Hadrian?” Her eyes move back and forth like she’s searching for missing puzzle pieces and placing them in the rightful spot. Alex grits her teeth and I can see her breaking before me. “As in Crown Prince Hadrian?”

She is quick to draw her blade and push me against the wall. “Do you have something else to tell us?”

The stone wall is unmoving and relentless as my back slams into it and is followed by my head. An agonizing throb builds at the back of my skull and black spots obscure my vision.

“Alex!” Lucas shouts.

Her blade presses onto my throat when Lucas jumps to intervene. “I said, stay away.”

Lucas holds up his hands and his eyes cloud with fear.

“Alex, don’t do this,” Kelsey begs in my favor. Her round eyes are trembling with fear too.

“I-I misspoke.” I choke the lie out and the blade is sharp at my throat. I push at her arm, but Alex is unmoving. I can feel it slice my skin when I breathe. I can feel the drops of blood trickle over my collarbone.

Alex is erratic and unstable as she pins me down. “Stop. Lying.”

“Let her go,” Lucas says, but there is hesitation in him as he keeps a careful distance from Alex. He can see the same instability I see.

Alex could end my life in a single second. A single stroke of her blade can cut through vital veins and organs. I don’t think I would heal from beheading.

Tears blur my vision as reality hits me. I fear for my life even if I’ve accepted my death a long time ago.

I lived to protect the blue-eyed women and girls around me. I did everything in my power to save them. It's easy to accept that it would be the cause of my death too.

But Hadrian. I don’t want to leave him. Leaving behind Hadrian is making me afraid. I know there is still a connection between us. I could feel it earlier when his energy flowed through me.

What would a werewolf do when they lose their true mate? I think of Callum and his emotionless view of the world. I believe that he once was charming with a playful view of the world. I’ve seen a glimpse of it. But losing his mate changed his personality.

I don’t want Hadrian to suffer any more than he already has.

“Tell me, is it that monster?” Alex spits out between gritted teeth. Her blade doesn’t relent an inch.

My hands are gripped around her arm and my nails dig into her flesh, but Alex doesn’t flinch. The betrayal, the hurt, the fury, It’s all clear in her eyes that are only inches from mine.

The need to defend Hadrian is engraved in my soul. The months of enduring the insults, the preconceptions and animosity towards him have been building to this breaking point. “Hadrian is not a monster.” The truth spills out when I can’t hold the lies in place.

“I cannot believe this.”

“And I do love him,” I say and it rolls off my tongue with ease. It lifts a weight from my shoulders even if it might be the last words I speak.

“Did he brainwash you?” Alex draws her gaze down to the blade at my neck.

“You…” She pulls away and steps back with shock now lacing her features. Her eyes bounce from me to my neck at a rapid speed. “What the hell.”

I raise my hand to my neck and blood coats my fingers, but there is no wound anymore. It has already healed and Alex sees it too.