Chapter 174
I darted out of the car, ignored everyone and everything in my path and sped through the palace. Nora was hot on my tail following my sharp turns and I was frantically running about the halls like I actually knew them but I was just following Mathilda’s caramel-sweet scent.
A hundred thoughts were running through my head.
Are they hurt?
Did someone take them?
How did they get home?
Are they okay?
Pain and blood and tears were all a part of my horror thoughts and I just needed to know that they were safe. I had to see them.
The archway to the family room stood open like a golden gate leading me to sanity and there they were. The girls were being fed chocolate by Elise and Kiera was clutching her grey bunny in her hands while Mathilda sat with a book in her hand, chewing on a heart-shaped chocolate with milky residue around the corner of her mouth.
When they saw me Mathilda’s head flew up and she smiled, but the smile lasted for about half a second before her head fell and her eyes dropped as she glanced to the side.
I finally released a breath that I’d been holding for god knows how long and a sigh of relief shrunk my shoulders when I ran over. That breath took everything out of me.
“Thank god you’re both alright!”
Before I could reach them, a dark shadow fell over the floor and Darian stepped in my way. He was blocking me from getting to the girls.
I looked up and was not prepared for the cloud of anger painting his features. His chest was blown up and his shoulders raised in that forsaken bow that he had when he wanted to be intimidating.
I fell back a step and tried to search his face for any indication of concern or…I don’t know, a glimmer or the kindness he’d been working on.
There was nothing there.
Just pure, unchained, wild anger.
He was looking at me like I was the enemy.
“What is your problem?” I asked.
I shook my head and looked behind him at Mathilda’s eyes glued to the floor but then she was blocked again- Gabe stepped in front of her and this might be the first time that I saw the DNA they shared.
His eyes were obsidian, the green was a long-forgotten memory and his hands were clenched at his sides.
“They were under your care, you were supposed to look after them,” Darian’s tone was dark and threatening.
“I did,” I said in disbelief.
Was he blaming me for this?
I was worried sick when I couldn’t find them. My soul left my body when I saw that they were gone but it felt like I was the one being penalized.
“You had your eyes on them the entire time?” He asked like a judge in court.
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Chapter 174
“I did,” my voice took on an edgier tone.
Gabe stood behind him like a fucking soldier who was about to take me to the dungeon.
“What is this?!” I screeched.
“There was not a moment when you weren’t watching them?”
“Are you serious?” I breathed.
“Answer me,” he ordered.
An exacerbated scoff shook my lips and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
He took a dangerous step closer- his shadow covered me and I felt like I was back in our first tie in the palace when he’d intimidate me into submission.
“Yes,” I seethed.
に
“You’re lying. If you had been watching them, you would have seen them leave!” Gabe remarked and stepped closer.
“I tried on a dress for ten minutes- ten minutes! When I turned back they were gone,”
“And then what happened?”
三
Okay, I needed to take a deep breath because I was about to lunge at the two of them and claw their fucking hearts out.
“We went for some tea and took a stroll through the garden,” sarcasm coated my every word and I flung my arms in the air. “Is this a fucking joke? We ran around the mall looking for them obviously!”
The air in here was choking. Everyone was cautiously moving in the smallest movements like they were scared but this was a different anger, in Darian at least. The emotion was new so I couldn’t tell what it was, though I refused to cower in front of it.
Darian and Gabe stood like two pissed-off, giant-ass mountains in my way and they were judging me and questioning me. Darian was a piece of work so him I understood but Gabe, come on now.
“They were seen walking up to the palace without you or Nora- the two people who were supposed to be looking after them!” Darian said and slowly the veil fell from his face.
“You’re pissing me off,” I warned.
“You should’ve at least wanted to protect your sister,” Gabe’s words were my final descent into madness. The thin line of sanity I’d been walking since I came in here finally snapped and I saw my fist cutting through the air and heard my knuckles crack when they connected with his jaw.
Gabe’s head twisted to the side, that was about the extent of my damage.
“You can go to hell. Both of you,” I spat.
The thought of seeing either of their faces- knowing that I couldn’t do shit against them- was sending me down a spiral of pain and darkness.
They were untouchable, nothing I did would ever cause them the pain I wanted them to feel,
When I turned around to leave I caught a glimpse of Nora’s dripping pity and her submissive stance.
Of course, she wouldn’t speak up, she was on his payroll.
My feet felt lighter than they had in ages and I walked out of the room like a wind was blowing in my back,
“Wait!” Kiera’s soft voice blocked me like a wall from moving further and I stopped but I refused to turn around. She ran up to me and fiddled with her fingers around the bow of her bunny.
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Chapter 174
“He said to give this to you,”
He?
A shiver shot through me like lightning and I gently trapped the note between my fingers. Kiera smiled and clutched the bunny tighter as she walked back to Elise.
The note was folded five times into a tiny rectangle and with every piece I unfolded my heart thudded louder and louder in my chest. My ribs were starting to vibrate and my fingers were shaking when I finally had it revealed in my hands.
‘Did you miss me? Consider the girls still beating hearts my second act of mercy, for which you will learn the price of soon. I can not wait to see you, and long we won’t wait- I promise.
-Zade’
The Alpha’s Hunt
