SWNOVELS Chapter 299
Chapter 299
EMILY
The presence of the vampires is somehow alluring and horrifying all at the same time.
I’m both terrified and intrigued.
But I’m also worried about how they looked at me when I walked in with Axel just now.
Is it somehow possible they can sense my secret?
Can they tell I’m not fully a wolf any longer?
That I’m a freak and a monster instead?
There are questions I wish I could ask them.
But the vampire would probably be more likely to kill me than answer my questions. I’m not sure there is anyone I can trust, I’d
thought I could trust my brother, but he isn’t the same.
Nothing is the same as I remember it.
Aaron projects the full power of his Alpha strength, commanding the bloodsuckers to get the hell out of his house, and this time
they listen. by deep, powerful Alpha vibration in
Aaron’s tone.
I’ve never heard any Alpha command power like that before.
It even seems to give the vampires pause, and I doubt they’ve ever come across a wolf that might be an actual threat to them
before.
Aaron walks to the door after the vampires, and slams it closed when they’re gone.
He pauses and takes a breath, as if gathering himself, and then spins to face us, stalking across the foyer until he reaches where
we’re standing just near Leah, who is leaning against the wall looking pale.
Ethan starts crying, and Aaron takes him, trying to calm his son.
“What the hell was that?” Aaron demands, looking suspiciously at Axel.
“What was what?” Axel asks dispassionately in return, obviously not as affected by Aaron’s scary Alpha tone.
“The way the vampires reacted when you walked in just now,” Aaron says, eyes narrowing. “Do you know them?”
“I ain’t ever seen those vampires in my life,” Axel responds, and somehow, I know he’s telling the truth.
Maybe just not the whole truth.
But Aaron has it wrong.
The vampires weren’t looking at Axel, they were looking at me.
I’m so freaked out by it, I can’t bring myself to speak up and admit it.
Doing so would create questions that I can’t answer.
Because if I did answer them, Aaron would never look at me the same way again.
I only just got home after ten years of being imprisoned.
I have nowhere else to go.
I can’t lose my family and my pack all over again.
I mean, it’s probably going to happen eventually.
A secret like mine, I can’t keep it forever.
But I just need time to figure out what I’m going to do once I become a pariah.
“Axel, if there’s something I need to know-”
“There ain’t,” Axel insists stubbornly. “Nothing that affects you or this pack.”
He doesn’t look convinced, but Ethan is still fussing, and it’s obviously not the time to get into things.
“I’ll take Ethan to Tara, then we can talk,” Leah says, taking Ethan back again. “We should also let James bring the wolves out
from the bunker. Aaron, you’ll want to be prepared to address the pack.”
Aaron nods.
“What did the vampires want?” I ask as Leah hurries off toward the back of the house.
“The software project that the old Roberts Alpha and Liam were working on. Apparently, it was meant for them all along.”
“What?” I gasp.
Between Jessica and one or two housekeepers, I’d been filled in on all the recent happenings within the pack.
Some of the details had made me angry-like how the Roberts pack had dragged Aaron into this mess with the cutting-edge
weapon system and all the problems that’ve been created since then-which had only convinced me that I’d been right the first
time.
Roberts pack are poison.
They should be our enemy, not part of our pack by marriage or power, or any of it.
Aaron should have destroyed and disbanded the pack once and for all when he came into possession of the Roberts Alpha
powers.
He should have banished Leah and any other Roberts wolf associated with her.
We wouldn’t be in this mess with the vampires today if that’d been the case.
But I know I can’t say that to Aaron.
At least not right now.
He doesn’t want to see the truth for what it is.
Somehow, I have to make him see how bad the Roberts are, right down to the core, and trying to make them part of our
community will be like poisoning the well.
“It’s a mess,” Aaron says, sounding weary. “I’m just as shocked. I want to believe that the vampires tricked Liam, and he really
thought he was working for the military, but I get the feeling he was probably foolish enough to knowingly deal with the vampires
and lie to Leah about it.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask, concerned for how this is going to come back onto us-onto Rathborn pack-when we were
nothing but innocent bystanders to another pack’s idiotic.
“Honestly, I don’t know right now,” Aaron says. “Like Leah said, we need to talk. To figure out our options.”
“The Roberts pack got us into this mess!” I say heatedly, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “Do you really think talking to
Leah will do anything other than make things worse?”
I know it’s a mistake as soon as Aaron’s eyes narrow on me.
But damn it, why can’t I speak the truth?
Why can’t my brother see his mate for the snake in the grass that she really is.
“This doesn’t concern you, Emily,” Aaron replies dismissively. “Why don’t you retire for the night?”
“Are you sending me to bed!? What, am I a child!?” I cross my arms and glare angrily at him. “First you tell me I need to come to
this stupid party because the pack is partly my responsibility because I’m your sister, and now, when the pack is in danger, you’re
just dismissing me and telling me it’s not my concern? You can’t have it both ways, Aaron.”
“In case you forgot, the pack is a hierarchy, Emily,” Aaron tells me in a sharp voice. “And while you may be in the upper echelons
by virtue of birth alone, you’re still required to follow the word of your Alpha like Gospel. Do you understand?”
I feel my temperature rising dangerously, my wolf about to burst out and claw Aaron’s stupid face off.
“I’ll take her upstairs,” Axel says smoothly, grabbing my arm. “It’s been a long day for everyone.”
Before I can agree or argue, Aaron nods and strides off, while Axel tugs me toward the stairs.
It’s probably a good thing Axel intervened, because for a second there, I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to control myself.
And if I’d attacked Aaron, it would have only reinforced his idea that I was fragile, broken, not to be trusted and needing Axel as
my constant minder.
But I’m not going to thank Axel for interfering like that.
Acting like he has any right to talk for me, or help me, when he rejected me as his mate.
I pull my arm out of his hold and march silently up the stairs.
However, once I arrive in my room, I’m at a loss as to what to do now.
I’m all agitated and want to run, but I doubt Axel’s going to let me do that again.
And I don’t need his permission anyway!
But with the vampires being here a few minutes ago, the dark outside my window looks threatening instead of inviting.
Wer? Axel suggests, and though
he’s trying to play it cool, somehow, I can tell he’s actually impatient to leave. “I want to consult with James about stepping up
security for you and Leah. I’ll come back and check on you in a while.”
Axel doesn’t even wait for me to reply, simply strides out of the room and slams the door behind him.
I’m not sure if it’s because we were meant to be mates, and I’m somehow connected or more heightened in my awareness of
him, but somehow, I know he’s lying.
He’s not going to talk to James.
He’s sneaking off to do something else.
The questions is, what the hell is Axel up to?