Alpha - Forever #1 (Complete)

Chapter 27 - Part 1

Scarlett

"You stay here," he instructed Keri. "I will be back soon."

He turned to give me one last appreciative gaze, which made my stomach sink with foreboding. I knew what he was going to do to me the minute he got me alone and I couldn't help the shiver of fear up my spine at the thought.

The door closed and Keri turned to face me.

"Why did you have to come back?" she asked me angrily as she glared at me like I was the one at fault. "If you hadn't come back things would still be okay. But now everything is going to change and who knows who will still be standing when it ends."

I was stunned by her words. I stood up and faced her.

"How is this my fault?" I asked, shocked at her words.

"If you'd never come back, he wouldn't be starting a war with the surrounding packs... it's because of you this is happening. He knows Cade will fight for you, so he attacked first. But this isn't just about attacking your pack, he will wipe out the other packs to make sure there is no support for Cade and in the process he will take them over," she revealed angrily. "People are going to die."

"Their deaths won't be on my conscience, they will be on yours for doing nothing to stop your crazy father."

A few moments of strained silence settled between us. She flickered a quick nervous look at the door.

"I have no choice," she whispered and then she pressed her lips together.

"Help me get out and we can stop it," I tried to reason with her but she was shaking her head at me.

"I can't go against him," she said in a determined voice. The glimpse of the girl that had been my friend disappeared into the cold heartless bitch in front of me. I tried to take another angle as I began to run out of time.

"What about Blake?" I asked. I had no idea if her feelings for him were real.

Her features remained stone-like.

"He will die along with the rest of them," she stated calmly.

She was going to do nothing to help me while her father slaughtered innocents.

Any connection I'd ever formed with her vanished in that moment and I viewed her as the enemy. She'd never been my friend and if she was willing to do nothing while her father carried out his war, then as far as I was concerned she was on the wrong side.

For a split second her eyes glazed over and I knew she was concentrating on the mind-link and not on me. It was now or never.

I couldn't shift to my wolf form because of the wolfsbane but I had to try something. Whatever I was going to do I had to do before Keri had a chance to fight back.

I launched forward and punched her in the face. Her head hit the wall and she dropped to the floor, holding her nose.

I rushed to her, needing to incapacitate her before she could call for help. I put my arms around her neck and squeezed her air supply off. She struggled against me but I held on.

She clutched desperately at my arms, leaving scratches as she fought to breathe. Just as she stopped struggling and her body went limp I released my hold on her.

My heart began to speed up with adrenaline and fear.

I stood up but faltered—Victor filled the only exit out of the room. He watched me calmly as he stepped into the cell and glanced at his daughter, who lay on the floor.

"That wasn't very nice," he said, like he was scolding a child. I took another step back. He had me cornered and I had no options.

"If you'd killed her I would have been angry," he told me as he stepped closer. His hand slipped into the inside of the jacket of his suit and he pulled out a syringe filled with some liquid.

I knew it didn't matter what that liquid was, but I couldn't let him inject it into me.

"It would have annoyed me if I would have had to replace her," he said calmly as he stepped closer.

He was a monster; any doubt that I might have had evaporated. He didn't care about Keri. She was just another soldier in his army. I felt a moment's sympathy for the girl lying unconscious on the floor. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like being raised by someone as evil as Victor.

"I'm going to inject you with wolfsbane and then I'm going to take you away until I've taken over the additional territories," he told me. "Cade will be dead and you will belong only to me."

My heart squeezed at his words. I didn't want to live if I had to do it without Cade. It wasn't something I could comprehend. He had to stay alive and he had to be safe.

I was out of time and I was out of options but there was no way I was going to let Victor take me without a fight. Without another thought I lurched forward, taking him by surprise. I grabbed the syringe from his hand and slammed it into his knee and pushed the liquid into his body.

He grabbed both my arms and threw me down onto the floor like I was a rag doll. I landed with a thud and rolled onto my back, struggling to catch my breath.

He shook his head at me slowly as he pulled the syringe from his leg without flinching and dropped it to the floor.

"You really shouldn't have done that." He said it so coolly that it scared me.

"It's a good thing I don't need to shift into my wolf form to teach you a lesson," he told me in a deadly calm tone as he walked to me and picked me up by my arms.

Even though he couldn't shift, he was still strong enough to tear me apart limb by limb and there was little I could do to defend myself.

Fuck!

But even in a situation where the odds were stacked against me, I wasn't going to lie down and take it. I was going to fight with every last breath I had.

His fist connected with my mid-section and I stumbled backward. The next hit to my face, which connected with the back of his hand, sent me stumbling backward, making me lose my footing and I fell. I landed on the floor, winding me of the breath in my lungs. My back ached from the hard landing and I rolled onto my chest to try and get to my feet before he landed another blow.

I didn't see his foot until it connected with my stomach and I screamed as pain exploded in my abdomen. I rolled onto my back, clutching the damaged tissue.

"I will break you and then I will build you up again. You will do as I say or you will face the consequences," he said as he picked me up again and set me down on unsteady feet. There was no doubt in my mind that consequences meant death.

"Fuck you," I spat at him. His eyes darkened with anger.

His fist hit my stomach and I bent over gasping, my arms across my abdomen. As I lifted my determined gaze to his, he backhanded me and I landed on the floor.

I tasted blood in my mouth as I groaned in pain. None of my training had prepared me for the absolute ruthlessness of this monster.

My eyes landed on the still form of Keri. Had he broken her to build her back up like he was trying to do to me? Realizing how evil Victor was I couldn't help feel a little sympathy for Keri even though she'd betrayed us.

"Have you had enough?" he taunted as he took pride in surveying my injuries.

Somehow, I rolled onto my hands and knees and I pulled myself up again.

"You should have stayed down," he said with a sigh as he stepped forward.

My stomach hurt so bad I couldn't stand up straight and my face throbbed with pain but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of staying down.

I thought about Cade and how much I loved him. I prayed that he and the rest of my loved ones were safe.

I was no match for Victor but I couldn't bow my head to him to save my life. I couldn't let him take me because I would never survive. I made the decision there and then to go out fighting.

"Was that the best you could do?" I taunted at him.

I hoped that it would be over soon. His eyes darkened as he took a menacing step closer.