Big Bad Alphas

Chapter 42

(Song- No Rest for the Wicked by Lykke Li)

   "Well," Alpha Kenn struggles. "What an offer, but I will have to refuse because Isabella is to be my Luna."

   My eyes cannot leave Eric's. There is something in them. A promise? Safety? Security? Love? Maybe all of them, but definitely love. Suddenly, I am no longer fearful, but determined.

   He would give away everything for me, and that means everything. He can give me everything, but it means so much more to give up everything. To have nothing, but me. My cheeks flush with color, with life.

   "You can't have me," I mutter and glance up at him. "Sorry."

   Some men find this amusing, but Alpha Kenn sneers. "Inject him, then bring him out."

   Alpha Kenn drags me out of the cellar and under the gloomy sky. Worry comes over me. Inject him with what?

   "Wolfsbane," he snickers as if he read my mind. "Deadly, yet just enough will weaken to the point of uselessness."

   Wolfsbane, I have not heard of that technique in years. Back at my old pack, it was used as a peaceful death, as in vast quantities the body will simply drop, yet if not given enough it will slowly eat away, a painful and restless death. Slow, endless. I have never heard of small enough quantities to weaken, until now.

   That must be what got him in the cell. How did they manage a clean injection in the first place?

   "I told him you had died," Alpha Kenn answers me again, which causes me to believe I am talking out loud. "Obviously, he didn't feel your death, but it distracted him long enough. A man in love is a weak man, Isabella. The Mate bond makes us weak. That is why I refused my mate, and chose you instead, but I am sure you could have figured that out on your own."

   My heart drops at the sight of my mate struggling to stand. My finger tips turn numb, tingly.

   I make a move to rush to him, but Alpha Kenn holds me back.

   "Isabella!"

   Swiftly, I turn, my eyes in a focused search, then I see her. Kendra. Kendra stuck in the grasp of a stranger, a dangerous man. Again, Alpha Kenn has to hold me back.

   The stranger roughly brings her over, and I see distress cast on her beautiful face. Tears are welling in her eyes, reaching the edge.

   "Why! Why her? What did she do?" I act frantically and glare up at Alpha Kenn. "She's a child!"

   He refuses to explain, which fills me with fury.

   "She's a child! She has nothing to do with this!"

   Kendra's sobs strike me and my legs twitch, almost bringing me to the forest floor.

   "Isabella," she cries, confused, scared. Her arms reach out to me, but the man does not let go.

   "Why is she here?" I grab Alpha Kenn's collar and nearly cause an uprise. He yanks my hand off of him and raises his own to me, yet he somehow Eric's sudden growling and my fearlessness stops him. He clenches his jaw and lowers his arm.

   "Try anything else, and she's dead. Understand?"

   My lips shut.

   Alpha Kenn enjoys my reaction. "You know what, let's make this interesting. Since you are choosing to be a pain, maybe you can choose something else. Someone has to die. You choose who dies, right now, right here. The options are him," he points to a random man, who is surprised, confused, angry, and many other sudden emotions. For the finger has pointed mercilessly at him, "Him, or that man," Alpha Kenn finishes, and the other men have similar reactions.