Chapter 93

(**Sebastion**)

The second those words leave Gustav’s mouth, I see red and launch myself at Pavel. I tear into him with my hands that turn into claws thanks to Aries. The coppery scent of blood fills the air as I shred his chest. My goal is to rip out his heart.

However, Irina’s plea through our bond stops me from killing him. I call for the nurse to help me get him to a room, then I mindlink Flint to bring a second pair of the silver-lined cuffs. I will cuff Pavel to a bed until we can take him to the council.

His crimes are many and it is no longer up to me to decide his fate.

“Here.” Flint hands me the silver-lined cuffs.

Together we put Pavel on a bed in the secure wing of the hospital. His chest is a red ruin from my claws, and he is healing slowly thanks to the silver. He deserves to suffer for what he did to Gustav. He claims he loved him, but that is not love.

You don’t destroy someone you love.

“Post two warriors outside his door. Then please go home. If I have any more emergencies, I will call Justin and Wade.”

Flint nods his head, then leaves to go back to his pregnant mate. I watch him leave, then return to Gustav’s room. Irina is sitting in a chair next to the bed. Her voice is soft as she talks to him. I see tears slip down the man’s cheeks as he cries. He glances up at me when I walk up beside Irina.

“Is he alive?”

“For now.”

“I don’t want him dead. Even after what he did, I don’t want his life ended because of it.”

“That may not be up to you. My parents are on the Werewolf council, and they will have to bring Pavel’s crime against you to their attention. What he did was wrong. Then there is the fact that he tried to kill an Alpha the threatened to kill another. He will have to face them for judgement.”

Gustav bows his head, then sighs deeply. “I see.”

“Do you want to see my father?” Irina asks.

His head shoots up as she mentions her father. There is sadness in his eyes, but he nods his head. I mindlink Alexei to come to the clinic.

“He is on the way,” I tell them.

Irina glances back at me as I say that. Her eyes are warm as she smiles at me. She reaches her hand out to me. I take it, closing the distance between us. When I look back at Gustav, his eyes are on our joined hands. Sadness is clear on his face.

“How did you two become mates?”

Irina gives him a quick summary of how Treadstone sent her in to seduce me, but I turned out to be her second chance mate instead. She explained how I listened to her story and believed her rather than ignoring and rejecting her. Which is something I never would have done.

“What about Zasha? How did you get her back?”

“That was all Sebastion,” Irina tells him as she glances up at me.

“Well, I had a lot of help with that. I have some powerful allies that helped us locate her. We also freed the captives of Treadstone’s collection in Portland. However, none of that would have been possible without Irina telling me about it.”

“So, you not only saved Irina, but you also saved our daughter?”

I nod my head.

“Thank you for saving them both and keeping them safe when I couldn’t. I…” he swallows a lump of emotion before he speaks again. “I can see that you two love each other. Irina deserves someone like you. Someone who puts her first.”

This conversation is suddenly making me uncomfortable. I now understand how Irina felt anytime Rayne was brought into conversation. What do I even say to this man? A man I have disliked on principle just because he was her first. A man who we were led to believe cheated on her with her own brother. Now we know that was all a lie.

I can see myself becoming friends with him if he stays here in Redwood. However, unless he finds his mate here, I am not sure I want him to stay. I can feel that he is still in love with Irina and that will complicate our lives.

Thankfully, I am saved from saying anything when Alexei walks into the room.

“Alexei… you are alive!”

“I was seriously wounded, but not dead. Even Treadstone couldn’t kill this old man,” he says as he walks to the other side of Gustav’s hospital bed.

Irina squeezes my hand gently, which causes me to look down at her. She nudges her head towards the door to show we should leave the room so they can chat. Saying nothing, I let go of her hand, then walk out of the room. She joins me a minute later.

“Come with me,” she says as she grabs my hand and pulls me out of the clinic.

I follow her willingly, like I always will.

Soon we are sitting in the small garden outside the pack house. There are children running around laughing as they play tag. Some of their mothers are sitting on benches around the garden watching over their pups as they talk. This is a side of my pack that I have never seen before.

I never made the time.

There was always something or someone more important to occupy my time. Now I can see why Irina brought me here. This right here is what I fought for. These pups are the future of Redwood.

“Your mother told me about her old daily routine. Lenore used to come sit out here in the garden when the weather was good. She always tried to be as accessible as possible to her pack. I want to do that. She said I could use your old office here in the pack house as mine.”

I glance over at her as she tells me this. Memories of always being able to find my mother here or in the gardens at home fill my mind. She loves flowers and being outside. Being on the Werewolf Council has taken so much of her time over the last few years.

“When I was little, this was one of the first places would look for her. If I couldn’t find her here, I would go to the gardens at home. I wonder how much longer she will stay on the council now that you and Arianna have given her more grandchildren.”

“I think she will give it up soon. Lenore wants to be here with her family.”

“You have gotten close to my mother and sister over the last few months. I am happy that you and Arianna are friends now.”

Irina lays her head on my shoulder. “She was worried about her family and her pack. I understood that then, and we have put it behind us. We work well together on pack issues.”

I can tell she is working up to what she really wants to talk about by making small talk about my family.

“Gustav can stay here in Redwood if he wishes to, Irina. I will not force him to leave,” I tell her quietly.

“I want him here for Zasha. He is her father, after all.”

“Irina, I understand. He is welcome here. However, if he keeps giving you those looks, I may not be able to hold Aries back from hurting him.” When she opens her mouth to speak, I hold my hand up to stop her. “I understand that for him, it is still very much the past in so many ways. That is why I will tolerate those looks for now. He still loves you, Irina.”

“I don’t love him, Sebastion. Not that way. Gustav was a friend of my family long before he became my mate. I will always love him like family, but I am not in love with him anymore.”

“That I know. I can feel your love for me through our bond. There is no doubt in my mind about how you feel.”

Before she speaks, I lean down to kiss her. I would have deepened the kiss had we been alone instead of out here in the garden with children running around. I break the kiss, then cup her cheek with my hand, my thumb stroking softly over her skin.

“You are my everything,” I whisper.

Justin’s voice in my head breaks the mood. *Monroe would like to see you and Irina in the dungeons, Alpha.*

“Monroe is ready to speak to us,” I tell Irina when she frowns at me.

She jumps to her feet instantly, which makes me chuckle. I am just as eager to learn what Monroe got out of Treadstone. We rush to the back of the pack house, where Wade is waiting for us at the door to the dungeons.

His face is pale and from the smell coming from a nearby bush, I can tell he recently lost his lunch. Wade is normally very stoic, so it must be bad down there. I pat him on the shoulder and tell him to go get changed, then take a break.

“I will call for you if we need anything more today.”

He nods his head, then walks away swiftly.

When I open the door, the rich coppery smell of blood hits my nostrils, causing Aries to stir in my mind. He is upset that he missed out on torturing Treadstone. I don’t blame him, but now I am more curious than upset. What did Monroe do to the man to have the smell of blood so thick in the air?

Only one way to find out.

I walk down the stairs and through the dungeon until I reach the door to the last set of stairs. Irina presses herself against my back as I stop to open the door. This time, the scents that hit me are mixed. Blood, urine, and feces are all mixed. The combination is enough to make me gag.

A shiver slides down my spine as I proceed down the stairs. The sight that greets me when I step into the room makes me blink rapidly and stare. My mind struggles with what it is seeing. I have never seen this kind of carnage in my life. There is blood everywhere.

It is all over the walls, pooling in puddles on the floor, even dripping from the ceiling. That is what I see before I focus on the red ruin that is now Vicktor Treadstone. Monroe has done a number on him.

There isn’t a scrap of skin left on his body. One of his legs looks like it was torn off his body at the hip. His left arm is nothing but bone. How the hell did he stay alive this long? This kind of mutilation would have killed a normal human before they were reduced to this state.

“He was very resistant at first,” Monroe says from the corner of the cell Treadstone is in.

My eyes focus on him for a moment. His entire body is covered with blood. So much so that his hair is plastered to his head with it. All I can see is the whites of his eyes as he stares at me. His irises are so black that I feel compelled to look away. I can’t help but look back at what he did to Treadstone.

“Holy shit!” Irina says in a breathless voice.

“He eventually gave in and told me more than I expected. Unfortunately, he is now dead. I am sorry that I took that kill from you, Irina.”

Monroe’s calm tone of voice sends a shiver down my spine. How can he be so calm after what he just did? Until now, I haven’t been afraid of the man before me. I am now.

“Do not fear me, Little Alpha. I would never harm you or anyone else that didn’t deserve it. This pathetic being deserved everything he got and more. I saw those videos. I know what he put his captives through. If he were still alive, I would do it all over again.”

The rage in his voice makes me back away from him. I never want to be on this man’s bad side. Now that I know what he is and what he is capable of, I have more respect and fear of him than ever before.

“I will shower, have my men clean this mess up, then I share everything all his secrets with you.”

All I can do is nod my head before I turn around and follow Irina out of the dungeons. When we reach the door to the outside, we both rush to the nearby bushes and lose the contents of our stomach. I never want to see anything like that again.

“I want to hold my babies. I need to see their sweet faces to get those images out of my head,” Irina says as she walks away.

“That is something that I would love to do. I have a feeling I will see what is left of Treadstone again the minute I close my eyes to sleep tonight.”

We head straight home to find the comfort of our children. Their sweet scents, soft skin, and the peace that comes over me when I am holding them is what I need right now. When we reach the front door, I stop Irina from going inside by pulling her into my arms. I hold her close and just breathe in her scent.

I am much calmer when I let her go. She smiles up at me, then turns to the door and walks into the house. In the atrium, my mother and Arianna are sitting on lounge chairs chatting with each other. Arianna has Danae in her arms as she sleeps. My mom has Theo while Oksanna is in the bassinet.

Katarina and Natalia are sitting on the other side of the room. They are talking quietly as they look over something on the tablet in Natalia’s hand. The smile that blooms on Katarina’s face lets me know I made the right decision by bringing her here now.

Jace, Zasha, and Calista are on the floor doing a puzzle. I stop in the doorway as I take in the scene that they all present. Irina wraps her arm around my waist as she just stared at them like I do.

“Thank you for giving my family a home,” Irina whispers before she walks away from me.

Soon I am on the floor with the older children, listening to them chatter as they work on the puzzle. Zasha moves to sit on my lap as soon as I sit down. Irina is on the lounge chair next to my mother, with Oksanna in her arms.

This is the peace I needed.

*Author's Note*
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