The Alpha's Unwanted Bride

Chapter 624: Into the Caves of Chaso

XADEN’S POV

Lisa’s body was still warm when I forced myself to look away.

Her eyes, burned out to hollow darkness.

Her chest, gorged open where her heart should have been.

Her lips were still parted in the shape of the tale she never got to say.

I didn’t let myself feel anything.

Not shock.

Not fear.

But Rage? Oh I felt rage and fury.

The anger that just when the bitch would have confessed about everything she ever did, she had been cut short.

Dead, but not at my hand

”Keep her body in Loren’s quarters,” I said quietly. My voice came out colder than steel.

”Lock the door. Don’t touch her. Don’t speak about her. I’ll deal with it when I return.”

The guards’ faces paled.

They bowed so fast their armor clattered

”Yes, Alpha.”

I turned.

The smell of the room still stuck to me.

The memory that I didn’t recall hung to me.

The memory of Jasmine writhing in pain on this exact floor I stood on while she lost our baby.

I was haunted but it.

I shook it off of my head and walked out of the room.

Fiona hurried after me.

”Xaden,” she breathed, anxiety sharp in her voice, ”wait....where are you going?”

I didn’t slow down.

My boots echoed down the stone corridor, steady and firm.

”I have to be present for the descent,” I said.

”Anna and Uther are being taken to the Cave of Chaos tonight. As the Alpha, I must witness the sentence. It’s what the laws of the pack entails.”

I heard Fiona gasp and then swallow hard.

I felt her trembling before I saw it.

”Xaden...”

Her voice cracked softly. ”I know Anna did horrible things. She deserved punishment. I know that. But you shouldn’t be there watching her die. I’m worried the effect it’s going to have on you. You’ve lost too many already. I hate her, but I can’t deny the fact that.... she was your sister.”

I stiffened.

Fiona stepped in front of me, blocking my path gently.

”She was your blood,” she whispered. ”Watching her die... sending her to that place, it must hurt you. You don’t have to pretend it doesn’t.”

Her eyes searched mine, deep and sincere and terrified for me.

I closed mine for a moment.

It did hurt.

But not the way she thought.

When I opened them again, my voice came out low, tired, and old.

”I want to blame Bale,” I said. ”I want to blame him for stealing her as a newborn. For raising her as his own weapon. For poisoning her. Warping her. Shaping her into something wicked. So evil that she didn’t care of have the heart for anyone.”

I raked a hand through my hair.

”I want to tell myself she had no chance to be anything else.”

”But...” Fiona encouraged gently.

”But then I remember Jasmine.”

Saying her name felt like a fist around my throat.

”Jasmine was raised in cruelty. In beatings. In darkness. Abused. Starved. Isolated. She was his daughter and yet she faced such brutality. And still... still she grew into a gentle soul.”

Fiona looked down, eyes misting.

”She could have been evil. She should have turned out evil. Ready to kill all those who hurt her, but she didn’t. If Jasmine could survive her childhood with a heart like hers,” I whispered, ”then Anna... Anna. I want to tell myself, that if my mother was alive, Anna would have been raised good. That things would have been different. She would be kind and love the people.”

A sharp breath. Another.

My chest ached.

The heart I didn’t have burned.

”But today,” I said, voice steeling, ”when I looked at her... all I saw was evil. Even if my mother raised her, she would still have been evil.”

Fiona placed a hand on my arm, warm and reassuring..

She didn’t argue.

Didn’t offer false comfort.

Didn’t say Anna was secretly good.

She simply nodded.

She understood and I knew she too was grieving all the troubles Anna had brought.

”And Lisa?” she asked finally. ”What do you want us to do? Should we announce her death? Should we...?”

”No,” I said instantly.

”Her confession stays between us. You and the guards were the only witnesses. No one else must know she spoke of Princess Chery.”

Fiona tensed at the name.

I continued, ”Keep her body hidden in Loren’s chambers. Lock the door. When I return, I’ll bring the information we need.”

She hesitated for a long moment.

”Fiona,” I said, narrowing my eyes, ”say your mind.”

She bit her lip.

”It’s probably nothing,” she whispered. ”But what Lisa said... about Princess Chery being involved. I can’t shake it off. Why would she care about our pack? About Jasmine? What could she possibly gain?”

I exhaled slowly.

”I don’t know. But Lisa died the moment she tried to speak her name and that says Cherry didn’t want us knowing something.”

We both remembered the darkness.

The torches dying.

The shadow passing like a whisper of death.

The way the room itself seemed to hold its breath.

Fiona stepped closer, lowering her voice.

”You remember during the Halo Festival?” she murmured. ”Every time Princess Chery was near, Jasmine would get tense. She’d flinch. She’d avoid her. She was... scared of her. So fucking much”.

My blood ran cold.

Jasmine.

Afraid of Cherry.

From the beginning.

”I’ll keep it in mind,” I said quietly.

Fiona nodded.

I leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, just a brief touch, but enough to steady us both.

”Stay safe.”

Then I turned and walked toward the courtyard.

~~~~~~

The night air was sharp, almost metallic.

The courtyard was filled with soldiers and torches, their flames flickering like warning signs.

The dark carriage stood at the center with only large barred window for air to let them breathe.

Anna and Uther were chained inside.

Anna’s hair hung wild around her face.

Her wrists were raw from struggling.

Her screams never stopped.

”XADEN! BROTHER!” she shrieked, slamming herself against the bars.

”PLEASE! PLEASE. I’M SORRY! I’LL CHANGE! DON’T DO THIS!”

I didn’t look at her.

Uther gripped the bars with trembling hands, his severed leg strapped tightly.

”Xaden,” he croaked, ”I am

Your uncle you. I protected you. Please mercy,”

I walked past them like they were ghosts.

”Let’s move,” I told Erik.

He nodded grimly and mounted his horse.

The entourage rode into the thick Forest.

Anna screamed the entire way.

She screamed when the carriage wheels hit rocks.

She screamed when the horses sped up.

She screamed until her voice cracked and bled.

”XADEN! XADEN PLEASE! I’M YOUR SISTER! I’M ALL YOU HAVE LEFT!”

”LET ME OUT! PLEASE! PLEASE!”

”I’LL DO ANYTHING. JUST DON’T SEND ME THERE!”

Her voice filled the night.

Echoed between the trees.

Uther cried quietly, whispering prayers between sobs.

I heard every word.

And blocked every one.

After the first hour, the screams became background noise.

After the second, they were a roar.

After the third, they were nothing.

By the time the moon reached its peak, her voice had broken into ragged whimpers.

We reached the cave when the forest fell completely silent.

Even the wind had stopped.

The entrance loomed like a mouth carved into the mountainside, dripping with shadows.

A low, guttural snarl vibrated from deep within.

The kind of sound that made even seasoned warriors freeze.

No one spoke.

The guards opened the carriage.

Anna jerked awake instantly, her head snapping up, tears streaking her face like cracked paint.

”X–Xaden!” she sobbed. ”Please don’t do this! Please! I’ll confess everything! I’ll confess. I’ll never hurt Jasmine again! I’ll be better! Brother, please!”

She reached out toward me, fingers trembling, desperate.

I stepped back.

Uther collapsed onto the floor of the carriage, dragging himself forward.

”Please, Alpha,” he begged, voice shaking. ”We served your family. Have mercy-”

The guards seized them both.

Anna kicked and thrashed.

Uther begged openly.

And then something occurred to me.

I grabbed his arm and leaned into his ear so no one would hear.

”What do you know about Cherry?” I asked.

He looked at me, his eyes hollow with horror.

He tried to speak but it seemed his mouth became shut and tight lipped.

I shook my head and pushed him to a guard.

Their chains clinked with every movement, loud and final.

”Alpha... Alpha, please...” Anna whispered, her voice so small it was almost a child’s.

I stared straight ahead.

No mercy.

No forgiveness.

No regret.

The guards dragged them to the glowing red fissure inside the cave into the opening where the monsters lurked.

Anna’s screams rose into a frenzy.

”NO! NO! XADEN! BROTHER, PLEASE! ERIK I AM YOUR MATE! DON’T DO THIS....DON’T....DON’T-”

The guards pushed.

Anna fell first, her scream slicing the night open.

Uther followed, sobbing as he disappeared into the darkness, still unable to speak.

Her screams echoed

higher

louder

then drowned in a deep, monstrous snarl.

And then:

Silence.

The cave swallowed them whole.

I turned away, my face unreadable.

”Let’s go,”