The Alpha's Shatter Zone ✔️

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Pic of Elbert above 😣

1667 words

"Elbert." She spoke his name with as much disgust as she could.

"Alpha Elbert, my dear. I thought you had figured that out by now," he tutted in a silky yet equally gravelly voice, and paced around her slowly, eyeing her like she was wild game caught for dinner. The man was smooth and sophisticated, but lacking the muscular veracity of a true Alpha. Maybe back in his prime he was considered strong and worthy for the position, but right now he only had aged refinement on his side.

"You have no right to that title. It's Kaiden's," Chesca growled out between clenched teeth.

"Is that so? Indeed," he folded his hands and paused in front of her.

His careful scrutiny of her was unpleasant, making her skin crawl and her stomach heave. She tried wrenching her hands free again, but when a blinding pain shot through her shoulder and down her arm, she remembered the arrow wound. Looking down, she saw that the sharp piece of steel had been removed and crudely bandaged up. Still, blood seeped onto her stained and ripped shirt.

"I did instruct my men not to hurt you too much, but Guard Stanley can be a little...overzealous when it comes to carrying out my orders," Elbert motioned to her shoulder, then glared at something behind her head.

"You didn't tell me she was an Alpha! I had to use more force," the warrior called Stanley argued, clasping a hand to her shoulder and squeezing hard. She cringed but bit her tongue instead of crying out.

"Yes, yes," Elbert chuckled dryly. "I underestimated you, Chesca. You killed two men. Some of my best warriors."

She snickered. "They were your best?"

Elbert's smile froze. "You've made me wait a long time for this conversation, Chesca."

"So sorry. Did dinner get cold?"

Elbert's face remained passive at her cutting remarks. Then in a measured tone, as if weighing his words precisely, he said, "I see the pain doesn't diminish your sarcasm. Perhaps you need something stronger."

"I'm only here for one thing. Give me my mate, then leave us alone." Her vision faded in and out for a moment, and her head throbbed, but she wasn't going to let him know that he was winning in this sick game of his. Whatever he wanted, she didn't care. She only cared about finding Kaiden and getting out of here alive.

"I'm afraid it's not going to be that simple. You see, you've already taken both my sons from me. Why would I give—"

"Taken?" Chesca asked in pure confusion. His choice of words left her head spinning.

"Yes. First Kaiden, when he ran off to be with you, forsaking his pack and duties. Then Elah, when you killed him on your territory."

"I killed him?!" she yelled in shock. "You have some atrocious sources for information. That boy of yours raped a girl. What do you think a protective brother is going to do other than avenge his sister's honour? Elah was asking for it." She spat on his shiny polished floor, her veins seething with righteous anger.

Elbert leaned closer and narrowed his eyes at her. For a moment, she thought he might slap her for her harsh words. But what was one more shame? It didn't matter to her if he strung her up by her toes for calling him out on his son's sins.

"My son would never hurt a woman," was all he said coldly instead, a condemning gleam in his eyes, as if she were the guilty party here.

Her gaze never faltered from his, and besides the hammering of her heart and the many possibilities running through her mind of how he could twist this onto her, she wasn't afraid of him. She hadn't survived hell to be broken now by this piece of trash.