The Falcon Ridge Series Book 3 If Looks Could Kill

(Chapter song ‘Colorblind’ by Counting Crows)

LUKE

“Alexi.”

She looks up at me. She's been crying and it breaks my heart more. There shouldn’t be tears in those big green eyes and there never will be again once I’m done.

"Hey, baby." I give her a big, toothy grin like a kid at Christmas. I could never forget how beautiful she is, but seeing her in person almost hurts. “I came to see you.”

She buries her head again. "Go away." Her voiced cracked and my smile fades.

"Come on. It’s been so long. I want to see you. Do you know what I had to do to get in here?” I speak as gently as I can.

"I don't care." I can tell she's crying again.

"Baby. Don't cry. Please, come here so I can see you. Don’t leave me hanging." My brows stitch up and I place my hand on the glass. “Please.”

She raises her head to me. Her beautiful green eyes are all puffy and her cheeks are wet.

"Come here." I crook my finger at her.

She stands, faces the wall across from her and straightens her prison clothes with her face stoic and her chin held up. She always stands so proud and tall even when she’s hurt. That’s definitely the Torrent in her. Don’t want to look weak. To be honest, Jackson’s do the same.

She walks over to me and I slowly stand. Even with her in prison, I’ll always be so goddamn lucky to have the privilege of being this close to her.

"What do you want?” She grumbles and looks at me through hard eyes. A look I’ve definitely seen before on the battlefield. It sent a quick shiver through me, but I have to remember who I’m speaking to. She's trying to be her father, but I can see how broken she is.

I slide my hands in my pockets and tilt my head. “I made a deal.

"What kind of deal?" She crosses her arms and tilts her head.

I lean a hand on the glass and point to her chest. "I made a deal to spring you from here. You'll live with me, but you won’t be free. You also have to meet certain conditions.”

She narrows her eyes. “What conditions?”

I nod. “You'll still be suppressed. Your movements will be monitored and no communication with anyone without approval. Plus, you have to give up the Dragons you know.”

Her face twists into anger. "What? No, Luke! No deal! I won’t turn my people over to you!”

"Why? Alexi, you'd be with me. Not rotting in here?" I hold a hand to my chest then point to the floor. “Can you honestly say your people wouldn’t take the same deal? They would, Alexi. And that includes selling you out.” I scowl.

“No. I won’t do it. Even if I did take the deal, what’s the point? I can’t fulfill my father’s dying wish. I failed him. I don’t deserve freedom. If I die in here then it’s my fate.” She says with a frown on her lips. She wraps her arms around herself and lowers her head.

"Fuck, Alexi. No! This isn’t your damn fate! When are you going to see that?! Your father's dead! He deserved it! You don't deserve this! When are you going to fucking trust me when I tell you you're not your father and deserve a better life that what he gave you!!" My anger was rising as I smash on that fucking wall Draco built. “He died because he was fucking monster who didn’t care about the people killed and he certainly didn’t give a rat's ass about you!!”

Her eyes glass over and I can smell the salt coming. Anger fills her eyes as she stares at me. “MY FATHER LOVED ME!! HE LOVED US ALL AND THE ALLIANCE KILLED HIM FOR IT!! HE DIDN'T DESERVE MURDER!!” She hitches and I see the tears well, but that wall is still holding strong.

I shake my head as I look into her eyes. I don’t want to, but she's forcing my hand. I have to smash that mother fucker wide open if I’m going to get anywhere with her and it’s going to kill me to do this.

"No?" I jut my chin out and reach to my back pocket. I pull out pictures I printed from the Falcon Ridge security files of Torrent’s attacks.

I take the first picture, look at it then flip it. "What father would disembody a fucking pup, Alexi!" I slam the picture to the glass wall in front of her eyes. "Look at it!" I see her jump back a bit and place a hand on her chest in shock. The graphic picture shows her exactly what her father and his armies did to babies.

I peel it off the glass and watch her as I drop the photo on the floor. I grab another and I see the shock start to creep in.

I look at this one then up at her before flipping it over. "Slit the throat of a grandmother then her grand kids!!" I slam the picture on the glass at her eyes so hard the glass shook. I hear a slight squeak come from her throat and her eyes are all over the horror of her father’s so called love.

Seeing her struggling to process this is destroying me, but I see that wall start to crumble. I need to keep going.

Her chin quivers and tears start to fall. She glares at me. "Stop it!'

I scrunch that photo and throw it to the floor. I pick up the next one. "DRAG TERRIFIED FAMILIES OUT OF THEIR HOUSES AND KILL THEM ON THEIR FRONT LAWNS! WHERE'S THE LOVE, ALEX?I! SHOW ME BECAUSE I DON’T FUCKING SEE IT!”

"STOP IT!! PLEASE!!" She begs through a broken sob as she holds herself that tells me she’s almost there.

She turns away and I slide the photo over her. She can walk away and ignore it, but I won’t stop coming at her with the truth. “NO!! YOU FUCKING LOOK! YOU’RE SO GODDAMN PROUD OF DRACO, YOU LOOK AT WHAT HE DID WHILE YOU WERE AT HOME!! YOU LOOK AT THE FACES…SEE THEM, ALEXI! HE KILLED THEM ALL…FOR YOU!!! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT LOVE?!”

I rip that photo down and slam up the last one in my arsenal. A photo of the piles of bodies when we entered Timber. He didn’t even fucking hide it. I slam it up and the glass shakes even harder. “HUNDREDS!! MURDERED FOR NO OTHER REASON BUT TERRITORY AND POWER! THIS!!” I point aggressively at the picture while she breaks. “THIS IS THE MAN YOU IDOLIZE!! THIS IS THE MAN YOU CLAIM LOVED YOU!! THIS IS THE MONSTER WHO GAVE YOU EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE AND PAID FOR IT…WITH THEIR…BLOOD!!!”

"I CAN'T..." She screams and looks at me through tear filled eyes before crumbling to the floor and leaning on the glass. She covers her eyes as she breaks down hard.

I stand and look down at her. I’m in, but at what cost? I scrub a hand down my face and then get down on the floor with her. I push the photos away so she doesn’t have to see them. I think she’s seen enough.

I collect myself and pull up the strength to piece together what I just broke. "You can't what, Alexi?" I lean forward and try to find her eyes.

"It's not true." She drops her hand and looks down as she shakes her head. I see the tears fall on her pants. “It can’t be true.” She hitches.

I lean my forehead on the glass by her head. “Baby, I wouldn’t lie to you. Not about something as serious as this. It’s true, beautiful.”

"It can't be, Luke. It can't...." She’s quieter now as it sinks in. She’s sorting it out. I can see it.

I touch the glass by her cheek. I wish I could hold her and help her through this, but for now, this closeness will have to do. She’ll learn from this that I’m not going to just destroy her without providing the path to recover from it. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. The reality is your father killed all these people in cold blood. And told you he did it for you. He's a monster. He doesn't deserve your love."

My wolf is going nuts in my head and chest because I made her cry and broke her heart, but even he has to know this is for everyone's good. I’m sure if it was in our wolves hands, this ‘conversation’ would have been a bit more bloody, but generally the same. At least as human, I can open her eyes without physical injury.

She sobs harder as she becomes weaker against the glass. It’s sunk in. Now she has to deal.

I lean to find her eyes. "Baby, look at me.”

She rolls her broken eyes to me and I press my lips together. “I’m only trying to help you, but you have to let me. You have to, Alexi. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I know I just… I can’t live knowing you’re living a lie. You’re ruining your life based on lies. Don’t make me do that. Please, just let me in so I can help you.”

Her lips are turned down and her bottom lip trembles as her eyes lock with mine. “Can you help me?” She squeaks.

My brows stitch up and I feel like crying myself. “I can. I want to so badly. But only if you want it. Do you?”

She sniffs and nods. “Yes.” She whispers.

I feel my heart explode when I feel her come back to me. It takes everything I have to not look like a wimp here. I need to stay strong and focused for her right now. I place my hand on the glass. She looks at it and then she slowly raises her hand to mine. Our hands aren’t touching, but I feel it. The wall of Draco Torrent is destroyed. I have my baby.

After us gently caressing our fingers for a minute, I find her eyes again. “You wanna get out of here and come with me?”

She nods and continues to play with my fingers through the glass.

“You have to talk to them. Are you prepared to do that?” I ask softly.

She pauses then nods her head.

“Alright. I’ll get this moving as fast as possible, ok? You just hang tight and be strong for me.” I want to kiss her so bad.

“Ok.” She swallows and wipes her cheeks.

I nod and stand up. I look down the hallway to the door to the cellblock. "Guard! She's ready to talk!" My voice echoes down the hall and he unlocks the gate.

I crouch back down and put my hand back on the glass. I sat with her to keep her calm until it was time to start the process of her release.

She’s so broken inside and my gut burns because it was Draco Torrent who did that to her. He distorted her view of the world and I’m glad he’s dead.

Alexi has a long, difficult road ahead of her. Finding out your entire life was a lie is a tough pill to swallow. But I'm holding her hand every damn step to make sure she comes out on the other side of this.

The line of Torrent ends with her. His ghost is destroyed and I’ll make sure he never rises again.