Triple Alpha's Threat

Ch 40 - Live

Drake POV

"You want to die!" I bellowed, watching as she expelled a gruesome mix of water, blood, and silver at my feet. Anger surged within me; the notion that she would embrace death seemed utterly senseless.

"I am dying! What do you care anyways? I'm nothing without Athena! I'm nothing!" She retorted, weakly pushing at my chest. Her defeated words cut through the air. Yet, she wasn't nothing; she was everything, and it was time she grasped that truth. Determined, I seized her arm and led her outside.

"Get off me! I hate all of you arrogant bastards!" Her screams and punches echoed, a cacophony of frustration.

Arriving at my secluded cottage, a refuge from prying eyes, I forcefully placed her on the ground, standing tall with my wolf forward.

"Do you think you're too weak to survive by yourself?"

"I am weak." Her voice trembled, a delicate tone of vulnerability. "This damn bracelet is killing me, stripping away my wolf and making me vomit every few hours. I can't heal, I can't fight, I can't do anything. I have nothing left and no reason to be here anymore."

"Was being Jackson's little wife your only purpose? Without him, you have nothing?"

"Wife?" She laughed bitterly, the sound carrying the weight of shattered illusions. "I was never his wife. I was his toy to manipulate, then his prisoner. You think I actually want this damn chain on me?" She held up her wrist, revealing the accursed bracelet. The metallic glint contrasted sharply against her skin, a physical embodiment of her captivity.

My silence acknowledged her pain, a silent oath to comprehend the depth of her struggle. I had assumed she willingly submitted to her husband, but the reality was more sinister. I should had known better, Kiera was too powerful to bow to anyone.

"I was nothing before Jackson, and I'm nothing after him; he made sure of it." Still on the ground, her hand closed over the bracelet, fingertips burning with the reminder of her captivity.

My eyes simmered with a potent mixture of empathy and hatred, now fully convinced that Jackson had betrayed my mate. Though I didn't know the entire story, witnessing the destruction he wrought upon her fueled my anger. Kiera, however, wasn't this pathetic figure I saw before me; I was determined to unveil the layers of her strength and resilience.

She didn't crave death; she yearned to be whole again. The prolonged separation from her wolf had wreaked havoc on her psyche. Before anything else, she needed to reclaim not only her strength but also her will to survive, to live.

My chest heaved, a deep growl resonating in my throat, and my eyes transformed into an abyss of black. Kiera turned her gaze towards me, fear coursing through her, and I darkly chuckled. The shadows of my internal turmoil danced in the obsidian depths of my eyes, mirroring the battle within her.

I called the shadows to shield me, concealing myself from her sight. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She quickly stood, spinning slowly as the fog of darkness surrounded her.

"You aren't weak, Kiera," my voice echoed around her.

I snapped a tree branch and hurled it right at her. As swift as the wind, she dodged it. She groaned about the pain, yet moved faster than anyone I had seen before.

"Stop! What is this?" She called out, voice shaky but eyes not daring to show an ounce of fear.

"You wanted to die. What do you care?" Another branch came whirling at her. This time she swatted it away, cutting her hand and hissing in pain.

"What are you?" She demanded.

"A demon, darkness that takes what he wants."

"This is another stupid game."

"That is Chase that likes to play games. I just like to torture my victims. Hear them scream and beg for mercy," I taunted her, moving in a circle while keeping myself hidden.

She sharpened her eyes, a speck of black peeking through her purple. I threw another tree branch right at her chest. Her pupils dilated in a desperate attempt to focus. She didn't want to die; she just wanted to be free, but the path to liberation eluded her.

Kiera spun, a ballet of evasion, effortlessly dodging the branch. With a swift grace, she caught it mid-air, then whirled it back at me. The damn little demon wolf exhibited something magical in her movements.

I howled in pain as the branch pierced right through my shoulder. The black fog disappeared, dissipating into nothingness, leaving me standing before her, seething with anger.

"How the fuck did you know where I was?"

"Your voice, idiot," she shot back, the words laced with frustration. Her body heaved with hard breaths, attempting to rein in her anger.

The moment she observed blood seeping out of the large branch lodged in my shoulder, a visible transformation swept over her. The tension in her body softened, replaced by a concern that etched lines on her face. Her eyes, once filled with defiance, now turned a deep, empathetic purple.

"You could pinpoint my location by my voice? Didn't it echo around you?"

"You have a fucking tree in your shoulder and this is what concerns you? You are all idiots." She retorted. With a swift, determined motion, her hand seized the branch and yanked it from my body. The air filled with a guttural hiss as she winced in pain, the rough bark leaving its mark by cutting open her skin.

"Fuck!" I shouted out again from the hole in my shoulder.

"Shut up, you'll heal within the hour," she spoke unempathetic of my pain, shaking her head dismissively before staring at her hands.

"You won't," I whispered sadly. Regret weighed on me; I shouldn't have let her get hurt. I needed her to recognize the strength she possessed—it wasn't derived from Jackson or her wolf; it was entirely her own.

"No, I won't heal for probably a week. Thanks for that."

"You're a damn spoiled ass princess," I remarked, shaking my head with a small smile creeping onto my lips.

Kiera was so young and knew so little of our world. She expected everyone to be inherently good, but that was rarely the case. More often than not, our specie was power hungry and evil. Something I saw that pained her to witness. She needed to learn to be as ruthless as her enemy, and that she had more than enough strength to do that.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea what you just did? You think you're so weak, yet you just dodged three attacks then shot a tree branch through my arm," I pointed out, emphasizing the latent strength she had displayed.

"When I'm scared, Athena pushes through. It makes me weak though." Her eyes looked up to mine and I smiled wider at her. She was something out of this world.

"She is your wolf. Athena is a part of you, just like your arm is. Together, you're more powerful than I think you know," I conveyed, resisting the urge to reach out to her. I desired to take her hand in mine and kiss away those cuts. Athena was a perfect name for our mate's wolf. I said it over and over in my head.

Then suddenly, she began coughing, blood spitting into her hands. The crimson droplets stark against her pale skin, she dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach in agony. Calling her wolf didn't just weaken her; it was killing her. Something wasn't right about this. Silver did weakened us, but that bracelet wasn't enough to kill her.

As I moved to pick her up, Chase came prancing towards us. His presence was an unwelcome interruption, yet my focus remained on saving her. I didn't know if this was the right thing to do, but nothing was stopping me from preserving her life, even if it meant our own deaths as a consequence.