Word Count: 1967

~Meara

I storm up the steps, trying to force some calm into my body.

He doesn't need to die. He doesn't need to die.

I repeat my mantra over and over under my breath, trying to keep to my morals. As much as I would like to see Carran suffer for detaining my best friend, and causing her physical injury, I can't give into the temptation when there is so much more at stake.

Sire was more than willing to oblige my angered intentions. I've managed to calm down within the hour. Enough, at least, to decide that no harm will come to Carran unless he instigates it.

Or if he causes Hazel any more harm...

I slam my fist into the door rapidly. His guards let me into the property with nothing more than a murmur of greeting.

Carran knows I'm coming. He's betting on it, I assume.

The door opens moments later, and instead of it being one of his staff like I suspected, it's Carran. He gives me a lopsided grin, propping the door open for me to storm into the foyer.

"I assume you know why I'm here," I growl, whirling around to face him.

He looks out the front door before slowly closing it. "Alone, I see."

"Was someone supposed to accompany me?" I quip, resting my hands on my hips.

It wasn't easy to convince Sire to let me march through the front door alone. Eventually we agreed that I would distract Carran, while he snuck in through the back to try to find Hazel, and get her out before anyone notices.

I'm trying not to think about everyone he may harm on his way through.

"Why yes, I suspected you would be joined by your mate," Carran notes, raising his brows. "The man you have since freed from the tomb."

I shift, clearing my throat. Despite knowing he would have come to learn of Sire's release, it still frightens me a little. Next time, Carran won't be entombing him. He will be killing him.

"Keeping him in there was cruel. It did nothing to resolve the curse," I tell him sharply. "What would your Pack members think if they knew the truth?"

Carran's eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. They will learn, once Carran is sufficiently out of the way enough for us to inform them.

"I warned you about what would happen if you released him," he growls, advancing on me.

I hold my ground, not wanting to let him in on any of my fear. "We can come to some kind of agreement, I'm sure. Especially since the curse has not ended, as I'm sure you know."

He laughs bitterly, brushing past me. I follow on his heels as he circles behind the stairs where his private office is.

"Mmm, a witch informed me mere hours ago that a ceremony had taken place where you and I were supposed to complete the ritual. Then, someone told me there were no more deaths. Overnight, it seemed as though everyone recovered, so I put two and two together," he mutters, shaking his head.

I linger in the doorway as he falls into the chair behind his desk, looking tense. He isn't behaving how I suspected him to.

Is he hurt by my rejection?

"You're welcome for saving the members of your Pack," I tell him plainly. Sire and I did more in one instance for the people than Carran has managed to the entire time he presided over this Pack.

"There will be no one left to save if your mate kills them all."

I frown. "He won't."

"No? He was a murderous monster, just like a father when he ruled over his Pack," Carran snaps, shaking his head at me like I'm the ridiculous one.

Like many people in this Pack, Carran has been fed a false lie. Many before him would have altered the history books, and he would have grown up thinking there was only one reality.

"That sounds like one side of the story," I remind him flatly.

"It's the correct one, Meara," he sighs, rubbing his face. He looks like he's been under an unusual amount of stress, which is strange, considering the curse is now gone. "You just wait. If you don't do anything to stop him, he will slaughter anyone who gets in his way."

He's purposefully leading me astray. He wants me on his side.

"You know nothing." I stride forward, planting my palms against his desk, staring down at him.

"I know that he loves power more than he loves you," Carran challenges, his eyes darkening. "You're nothing to him. He would easily cast you aside so he can rule this Pack on his own."

My jaw tightens. I don't believe him. Sire has shown me that he cares, that he wants me to rule beside him. Carran knows he is being pushed into a corner, and that I am an easy way to get to the core of Sire's vulnerability.

I refuse to be a pawn in two Alpha's games.

"Where is Hazel?" I seethe.

Carran taps his finger against the desk, a smile playing at his lips. "Bring me Sire, and I tell you."

By now, Sire should have Hazel, as long as she is actually being hidden here. As long as I can get out of here on my own, I should be okay.

But in case he doesn't have her, I need to know she is okay...

"She was bleeding. I need assurance she is fine," I insist. I saw the blood on the carpet. If he has hurt her, I'll kill him myself, before Sire can get to him.

Carran leans back in his seat, watching me with a triumphant smirk on his face that I would love to wipe off with my face. He knows he has me in the palm of his hand.

"She isn't dead. Yet," he muses, tapping his chin. "But how long that lasts remains to be seen."

My fingers roll up into fists. "You speak of Sire being cruel. What does that make you?"

Carran stands smoothly, looming over me. My heart rate quickens only for a brief moment, before I remind myself that I cannot be scared of him. He will see right through me, and he will use it against me.

"It makes me desperate to save my Pack," he growls.

"You've never cared about any of us, and you know it," I respond tightly. "There are people starving, desperate for jobs. You put yourself before ending the curse."

Carran draws in a breath, going deadly silent for a moment. I just crossed some imaginary line in his head.

"Perhaps I need to rethink my plan in enticing Sire here, where I have a lovely group of witches waiting," he muses. "Perhaps it is you I should imprison."

I still, realising that I may suddenly have a reason to fear him. He's looking at me with wild eyes. Eyes that want to see me pay for what I've done.

"You can't kill me," I breathe.

He rounds the desk. "Why not?"

"You will trigger the depths of Sire's magic. He will destroy you and everyone you have ever known," I blurt out. If he kills me, there will be more hell to pay than he can even conceptualise.

Carran looks unfazed, his eyes glistening.

"He would attempt to kill me anyway, wouldn't he?"

"I thought you cared for me," I stammer.

It was only days ago that he was ready to forge a bond with me that would compete with the mate bond he may find with someone else. He was ready to take that risk without a second thought, and although it was mostly because of his advantage over Sire and ending the curse, part of it is because he felt something from me.

"My attraction for you has nothing to do with this," he exclaims, sweeping a hand through his hair. "You have an opportunity to be with me, and you turned me down."

I back away a few steps. Carran is making it clear that I'm not going to get out of here easily. He's going to imprison me, and when he finds out Hazel isn't there, he's going to kill me.

"Alright, I'll call Sire here. But don't harm me." He follows my steps back, a predatory look on his face.

"If I have you call him here now, he will know there is a trap waiting for him in the foyer. I cannot risk such a thing."

Sire will know, because Sire it's a fool. He knows everything, and I'm sure he can sense other magic. He would avoid the witches, knowing their magic might be enough to overpower his.

"Then what do you suppose I do?" I ask, tossing my hands up, stepping back until my back bumps against the wall.

Miraculously, Carran stops his pursuit. He even turns back to his desk, circling around to open one of the draws. I watch uneasily, getting the sense that something has come to mind that he is going to capitalise on.

"He will be summoned here by your pain," Carran murmurs, pulling a small dagger out from the desk drawer. "It's the beauty of that special bond you two now have."

My eyes widen as he turns the blade in his hands, the dull illuminating off it's polished surface.

"Carran, don't-"

I'm not sure if it's because he is an Alpha, or if fear has warped my perception of time, but before my fingers can grasp the door handle to escape, he's behind me.

My scream is cut off as he wraps his free arm around me, pressing his forearm to my chest as he swings his other arm around, stabbing me straight between the ribs.

The impact shocks me, the immediate pain dulling as adrenaline pumps through my veins.

Carran withdraws the dagger in an instance, letting me go. I collapse back against the wall, grabbing the wound. Slowly, I fall down until my backside is on the ground, the wall being the only thing keeping my body upright.

I gape up at Carran, drawing in raspy, panicked breath after breath. He stumbles back a few steps, looking between me and the dagger.

His shock is evident as he tosses the dagger onto the desk, his hands shaking like he can't believe he did that.

"I will be Luna, when my mate comes to kill you," I hiss, anger taking hold of me before the pain can. I'm trying not to look down, feeling my hands pool with blood as I desperately press them against the wound.

He just stabbed me...

He wipes a hand down his face, sobering from his initial shock.

"I'm afraid that won't happen. This place is warded against his magic, so he cannot transport himself into this room. He will have to pass through the foyer, where my witches are awaiting him," Carran hisses.

I almost laugh. He's a fool. He really didn't think I would have another plan, that Sire and I wouldn't assume he had a trap laid out for us.

"Then it's a shame he's already in here," I whisper, my breaths raspy.

He blinks. "What?"

"I tried to have him spare you, Carran," I exclaim. "Now you're going to die. And you will deserve what is coming to you."

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"...I've never had an orgasm before!" I blurt out, backing away a few steps.

He sits up, dark hair ruffled and messy from the fingers I ran through it. His eyes, once wide, slowly darken.

"You what?" He breathes.

~Midika 💜🐼