Alpha Brothers - The Cold Hearted Sister (book 5)

Chapter 26

Chapter 26
Nicholas
My eyes opened before I even realized that I had woken up. My fingers played in the loose strands of Allie's hair feeling numb. I couldn't feel anything. I tried. I tried to remember what it felt like to hold my mate in my arms, what it felt like to have her mark me and what it felt like to be inside her head and in her memories. But I couldn't. I couldn't get the thought out of my head.
I had done something that she had ask me not to do. It didn't matter if Hector was forcing me to. The point was, I knew that she didn't want me to but I did it anyway.
The ache inside of me should have been filled when she marked me. And I think the reason why it was still there was because I refused to let it disappear. But I couldn't. I had to have that ache as a reminder of what I have done.
"Nick," she groaned, "Everythin' hurts."
"Really?" I asked growing worried, "Are you okay?"
"Yep," she huffed, lifting her head to look at me, "It's okay, it's a good hurt."
I frowned, not understand, "How?"
"Well, I just think about last night," she giggled, growing a cheeky grin.
I struggled to smile back at her but I couldn't manage it.
She frowned, "Nick. Are you okay?"
I bit my lip, trying not to tell her. I avoided her gaze knowing that she could drag it out of me with just one look.
"Is this about you markin' me?" she asked.
She was smarter than she looked.
"Allie, you didn't want me too," I finally folded, making her scoff and her eyes roll.
"It doesn't matter what happened then, we have to focus on the now, okay? I marked you, let's just move on."
"I can't move on, Allie, I can't?" I told her, "I hurt you and I can't forgive myself for that."
I saw it in her eyes that she just wanted to hit me for being so soft but it surprised her. She was taken back by it and not sure of what to do.
"Um," she finally said, biting her lip, "We should really get dressed. I wouldn't be surprise if we get a visit from Hector and I really don't want to be naked for that."
I swallowed, shaking the thought out of my head and allowed her to roll off me. She groaned a little before sliding off the bed and stumbling over to the chest of draws in search of a new jumper and sweat pants.
She was annoyed. I could sense it. She was annoyed that I had ruined what could have been a perfectly good moment between us because I felt broken.
Pushing the doona off of me, I stumbled half asleep over to her. Taking her by the hips, I pushed myself against her.
"Nick," she groaned, "Come on, we have to get dress."
"Aye, in a minute," I murmured against her neck, "I know what you're thinkin'."
"What? What am I thinkin'?"
"You think that I didn't enjoy last night."
She swallowed, bowing her head and I knew I was right.
"Well, I, it's just...you didn't say anythin'," she said, still not looking at me.
"Last night," I took in a breath, "Last night was the best night of my existence."
"Really?" she asked, turning in my grip.
Taking a step forward, I pushed her against the chest-of-draws and took her lips in a hungry kiss. Hanging her head back, I was able to taste more of her, purposely nibbling on her lip.
And just for a moment, I forgot about everything.

Allie
Nick and I loomed over the desk having to communicate through paper. Hector had put guards at our door to make escaping impossible. Not only could we not talk without being heard but touching was totally off limits. So now, we were left communicating through our eyes and suggesting escape plans on paper.
Nick handed me the piece of paper.
It read:
If we went north, we would get to Faol Coillie quickly. But we'll be in the open
I looked up to Nick, trying to get more information from him. He shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
Taking the pen from him, I add:
Could we risk it?
Handing it back to him, it took him a second to read it before he answered my question and handed me the piece of paper.
I don't know. Any option we take is difficult.
I answered with:
What are our other options?
Giving it back to him, it took him two seconds to read it before handing it back to me with his answer.
West = no
North is the closest exit
East is the furthest exit and two hours from Faol Coillie
South we would have to go through the pack's centre
I thought about what he was saying. There had to be a way out even if we just made one up.
What if we just went around the Pack centre?
After Nick read my suggested, he gave me a seriously look which made me shrug.
Even if that was an option. It would double our journey and that's if no one saw us.
Taking the piece of paper, I wrote:
There's always going to be that risk. We need to pick a route that would lead us away from here and closer to Faol Coillie
He took the piece of paper and quickly wrote:
I don't think we have that option
He was probably right. So what was our next best choice?
What if we took the quickest route out of here and cut across another person's territory?
He gave me that seriously look, again.
And what if we got caught by that Alpha. We would be back right where we started
He handed me the paper.
I'm Allie Patterson. The moment they find out I'm the Alpha King's sister, they'll take us straight back to Faol Coillie
Or, they kidnap you. Kill me. And use you to get money or something.
I rolled my eyes at his answer before quickly writing:
Paranoid, much?
Don't start
I bit my lip, trying not to giggle. Nick struggled to contain his smile until his face dropped. With no warning what so ever, he grabbed my arms and hugged me to his body.
And then it finally made sense. I turned my head towards the entrance of the tent and found Hector and the two wolves behind him. Not taking my eyes off Hector, I tucked the paper in the waistband of my sweat pants.
"Take him," he ordered and immediately the wolves started to walk towards us.
Nick let go of me and pushed me to the ground and out of the cross fire.
"No, no!" I screamed at them, jumping to my feet and hitting the first one I saw, "Let go of him! Let go of him!"
Hector grabbed me in the process which I immediately started to fight.
"No, let go of me!" I shouted, hitting his chest.
"Someone get this bitch away from me!" he roared.
Two hands came around my waist, pealing me off of him.
"Hello Princess."
Oh God. Not Davy. Anyone but Davy.
I kept waiting for chains or even to be thrown to the ground to be raped or something like that as we made our way out of the tent. But it never came. It didn't click until I remembered what was south of Nick's tent. The Pack's centre.
"No," I groaned, fighting against Davy's hold.
"Nope, come on," he said, pushing me forward, "I'm goin' to enjoy every minute of this."
Pig. Davy dragged me all the way to the Pack's centre where a crowed was already beginning to form. There was a murmur as the two wolves in front of me led Nick up the wooden stage with me quickly following. On the stage were two bench seats and a wooden picnic table in the middle. I was shoved into one of the seats and Nick was push down into the other on.
Clink
I shuddered at the familiar sound of chains that were wrapped around my wrists.
"I'll kill you for this," I heard Nick growled to the wolf that chained his wrists together.
I spied the familiar arm tattoo and recognised the wolf from the first time I had tried to make an escape.
"You should have listened to me," the wolf growled back, "you should have watched your back."
The wolf left us and so did Davy. My eyes met Nick's worried gaze knowing something I didn't. He had been in this position and had seen it a million times. If he was scared, I should be too.
A lass, no younger than eighteen climbed the stairs holding a tray with two glasses.
"Oh God," Nick groaned, making me frown as the lass placed the glasses in front of us.
"What? What is it?" I asked, looking at the clear liquid.
He sighed, "wolfsbane."
Crap.
"Macangus Pack!"
I jumped at the sound of Hector's roar.
God, can't he warn people before he starts being all Alpha.
"We have a traitor amongst us," he started making me roll my eyes, "for weeks, I thought we had the upper hand. I thought we had bested the great Callum Patterson."
There was another murmur from the crowd, agreeing with him.
"But, there was somethin' I didn't know. Somethin' I am ashamed to know."
I couldn't help but scoff. Be all dramatic much.
"My brother, Nicholas Macangus is mated to one Allie Patterson!" He shouted.
The murmur grew. There were a few gasps here and there, shocked by the sudden news.
"He went behind our backs, tryin' to protect her from punishments that she rightfully deserved! And for that, he has broken our laws. And for that, he must be punished."
Moving over to us, he had never looked so high and mighty.
Rolling my eyes, I said, "let me guess. Lupo fiammata. Goin' to make us rip ourselves apart, Hector."
He chuckled, knowing exactly what I meant, "no, no, this is a different herb of wolfsbane. It's lupo veleno."
Now it was Nick's turn to chuckle.
"What?" I asked, "What does it mean?"
"It means, wolf poison. He's goin' to poison our wolves so that we won't be able to shift."
"What? You can't do that," I snapped.
"Why, your brother did?" He argued.
I swallowed. Damn.
"It's only temporary," Hector told us.
"Aye, until you force us to take it again," Nick growled, growing frustrated.
"You're smarter than you look, Brother. Maybe that's how you got away with it for so long," Hector snarl.
"I got away with it because I love her enough to risk everythin'. Somethin' you'll never feel."
I couldn't help but be surprised. I had never seen Nick so, so mean and tuff. He was ruthless in his threats. It was kind of a turn on. Really, Allie, right now.
"There is no hope for you, Hector," Nick told him.
"No, there's not. But I made peace with that a long time ago." He growled.
"You shouldn't have listened to him, Hector. You shouldn't have listened to him."
Nick could have been talking about anyone but I knew, from his memories, that he had been talking about Nathair.
"What, I should have listened to you. He was my father."
"And he killed our mothers."
Hector's face tightened, not being able to hear the truth. Taking the glass, he pushed it in front of Nick.
"Drink," He growled.
"No."
"Drink!" He shouted, "Or I'm goin' to rip the clothes off your precious mate's back and screw her while you watch."
Nick's eyes flicked up to meet mine filled with utter pain. Licking his lips, he took the cup.
"No, Nick, don't," I cried, but it was too late.
He had taken it like a shot, knocking his head back to swallow it. At first nothing happened. And then he started to shake, foam forming at the corners of his lips.
"Drink," he ordered me.
"Go to -."
His hand slapped me across the face creating more pain than if he was holding a match to my cheek.
"Drink, you stupid bitch!"
With a scoff, I took it too.
It takes like soda water cross vodka, burning the back of my throat. I dropped the cup feeling my blood start to boil. I tried to swallow any screams I had but I couldn't hold it in. Fire was burning my stomach like bad indigestion, a ruthless blaze, killing everything in sight.
My body flopped forward on the table not being able to hold myself up through the growing pain. I couldn't hold in my groans, it was the only thing that made the pain bearable.
Through the hurt, I felt the familiar touch of Nick calloused hand. I held on tight to that hand, knowing it would help me through the agony.
"It – hurts – so – much," I growled through my teeth, struggling to say through my shaking, "Why – does – it hurt – so – much?"
I couldn't stop the tears. I couldn't.
"Aw," I heard Hector cooed, "the devil bitch's tear."
"God, shut up!" I growled, groaning in pain.
"Take her," he ordered.
"No!" Nick shouted, his grip on my hand tightening as he lifted his head off the table, "Don't you dear touch her!"
Two arms took me from under the arms and pulled me up from the seat. My hand slipped out of Nick's but I was too weak to fight.
"No, Hector, don't do it!" Nick growled, fighting his pain and anger, "Don't take her Hector! If you hurt her, I'll –."
"You'll what?" he snarled, "You'll kill me. Remember what happened the last time you tried to kill the alpha of this pack."
Nick swallowed.
"So, Nicky, do you want to threaten me again?" he asked.
Nick stayed quiet, looking caught between two worlds. I knew he wanted to fight for me, but he couldn't risk my life being in more danger.
"Take them back to the tent," he eventually ordered, "Make them stew together."
With that, the wolf that held me dragged me down the stairs, not caring that my legs weren't working. My eyes slowly closed, not being able to stay awake.
They didn't open till I felt the familiar feeling of the mattress against my cheek and heard Nick groan next to me.
"Allie," he croaked, "Allie, are you awake?"
I groaned, not really managing else.
"No."
His cold fingers touched my tail bone making me frown, not understanding. When I felt him take the piece of paper, I realized what he was doing. I sighed, trying to relax.
"Allie, look," I heard him shift closer.
I opened my eyes and spied the piece of paper with a new sentence.
We have to get out of here, NOW!