And Then There Were Four (Lilith Carrie)

I watched the tick in his jaw as he gritted his teeth. The beast within him lurked just beneath his skin. "As I said. You have seen certain sides of me, but don't think I will let you speak to me this way for one moment. I'm doing this for a reason."

"Hale, come on, man," Talon said softly as he and James looked at me with soft eyes.

There was clear hesitation in Hale's eyes as he looked around at everyone in the room. I could see he didn't want to involve me, but everybody staring at him was clear enough of an answer that he needed to.

With Hale distracted, I didn't waste another moment as I quickly snatched the paper from his back pocket and took a step back. A low growl came from him as he reached for it, trying to take it back from me, but the cold glare I gave him made him hesitate in his movements.

He didn't want to fuck with me right now, because I was not in the mood.

Slowly opening the letter, my eyes peered down at the information, and my heart almost stopped. It was a letter from the Council, and they were requesting my presence in order to exonerate Damien from anything that had happened with the elders, stating they knew for a fact I was the one who killed those people.

If I didn't reply or show up in person, Damian would be sentenced for the crimes committed, even though they had no proof of who did it.

"What is the punishment for this?" I whispered softly, without looking up at the others.

"Ivy-" James replied as if he didn't want to say it.

Glancing up at them with parted lips, my eyes filled with tears as I tried to register what was going on. "What... is... the punishment?"

Hale stared at me for a moment for letting out a heavy sigh and staring down at me. "Death."

I looked at Hale, Talon, and James in absolute disgust. They were willing to let Damian die for something I had done, and then hide it from me.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You weren't going to tell me about this? He is basically on death row for something that I did!" The betrayal ran deep. How could they do this to me? How could they not want to inform me?

"We will not allow you to go in there like the fool and cause yourself to get caught. It's a trap, Ivy. They will not kill him," Hale snapped with anger in his eyes.

"I'm a fool? Are you really going to go down that road with me? I have done nothing but try to make this work. You're my mate, and I understand you want to protect me, but if you honestly think I am going to allow Damien, who is also my mate, to die because of something that I did, you are sadly mistaken."

Turning on my heels, I push towards the door, not sure what I would do, but knowing I had to do something. At least give them a reply, and then settle my twins before going there.

They couldn't hold me. I destroy them all.

However, I wasn't quick enough. Talon wrapped his arms around me as I thrashed about, kicking and screaming at him to let me go. I couldn't believe they were actually doing this, that they were going to let him die for me.

"Let me go right now, Talon!" I screamed even louder as Talon tried to help hold me back.

"Ivy, you have to stop. You can't go. You have children to think about. They cannot afford to lose their mother. Are you freaking insane?" James cried out in aggravation.

I didn't want to listen to them, though. It was my fault this had happened, and the council gave me less than forty-eight hours to respond to their sentencing, or he would be killed.

"We have to save him," I cried repeatedly, my mother standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes. They didn't know what it was like to lose a mate.

None of them did, and it was as if no one truly understood how much pain I was in.