Into the Alpha’s Keep Chapter 96: 96

I shook my head, tears overflowing from my eyes, and a sob parted my lips.

I rubbed the tips of my fingers against his cheek, touching him, desperately trying, pleading to find a way to save him.

I grabbed the tip of an arrow, feeling the skin of my palm sizzle and burn against the silver. I pulled it out, tearing it from his skin. He gasped, and more blood appeared on his lips. I didn’t stop, I couldn’t stop. He had to survive, I needed to save him.

Hunter leaned over his shoulder, expressing a lunatic smile.

“What are your last words?” he asked.

Anton coughed up blood.

I sprang to my feet and threw myself at Hunter, driven by hatred, trying to protect my friend. He was much stronger than I was, but nothing would stop me from trying to fight him. I scratched his face, dragging my nails across his skin, tearing it and drawing blood from him, which gave me immense satisfaction.

I wanted to hurt him, to wound him like he had done to Anton. He was a monster who didn’t deserve to live.

The alpha grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me to the ground with force. The snow softened the impact. I blinked, pushing away the dizzying wave and the stars that shimmered before my eyes.

“Behave, Savannah!” he hissed, touching the wounds I caused on his cheek.

“Don’t come near him!”

He laughed.

“You will obey my command and stay quiet there!” he ordered, using his alpha command to subdue me.

A smile appeared on my face.

“I no longer belong to the Twilight pack, you bastard! And I never belonged to Eclipse, your alpha command doesn’t work on me, I’m a Dăneşti. Only Fenrir has this power over me.”

He tilted his head, pondering.

“You may not be subdued by my alpha command, yet, but that doesn’t mean you won’t feel my pheromones.”

The smell of moldy moss and sulfur hit me hard. It was a distinct odor of decay and rot in the air, making my stomach churn and my hairs stand on end. The scent was laden with an aura of imminent danger, inducing a sense of fear and apprehension. I couldn’t move, trembling on the ground, motionless.

“Last chance, right-hand of the leader, what are your last words?” he murmured above Anton, staring at his back.

I tried to break the hypnosis he had put me in, using all my strength. I wanted to move, get closer to Anton, keep pulling the remaining arrows from his back, and escape.

The green eyes landed on me, and then I saw, in that instant, that he knew what was about to happen, that he understood the magnitude of what it meant.

He gave me a weak, trembling smile, blood staining his lips red.

No!

I shook my head, crying uncontrollably.

I tried to stand up, but my muscles felt like they weighed tons. Still, I tried. I used all my strength, everything I had inside me. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I started to shake, using every ounce of energy I possessed.

I hated the wolf hierarchy, I despised that Hunter was stronger than me, that I couldn’t act when it mattered most.

No, please, no! I mentally begged, pleading with the heavens.

“For Dăneşti, until my last breath,” he pleaded, hoarsely.

Hunter’s nails elongated, becoming sharp claws. Then he shoved his hand into the wolf’s back, breaking the bones, making them crack with a dry snap. I gasped, in despair. The pungent smell of blood rose above us. More liquid flowed from Anton’s lips, and the pain I saw in his eyes was agonizing. Hunter pulled his hand away abruptly, carrying the Dăneşti wolf’s heart between his fingers.

“I’ll do it, just like your damned alpha loved doing with my wolves. Let him find you without a heart, like the heads of my men hanging on the stakes back there,” he growled.

“NO!”

The scream that shot through me was so loud and strong that the leaves in the tree tops rustled around us, as if they felt my pain, shimmering with what I felt and expressed.

Anton fell to the side with wide eyes, his green eyes lifeless.

The pain that hit me was excruciating, as if it were tearing me apart from the inside out. The screams wouldn’t stop, as if they could somehow help me lessen the intensity of what I felt.

I threw myself over him, managing to break the fear hypnosis that Hunter had me in. It hurt in every cell, every muscle. I groped his body, as if I could somehow bring him back to life. My vision blurred with tears, and my heart roared so loud I could hear the pounding in my ears.

His death hurt me, it tore my soul and shattered my heart.

Anton had become an important friend over the months, I considered him part of the family and trusted him, just like Fenrir. All he did was be faithful to the leader, from the beginning to his last breath.

Another strangled scream got stuck in my throat.

I lay on his body, trembling, crying in despair, begging for it not to be true, for fate to be changed somehow.

“No, please, no!” I exhaled, my voice hoarse and faltering.

The pain was so different from when I had been hurt by the Eclipse males. It was deeper, sharper. Fenrir was coming, he had to be coming, my desperation was agonizing, there was no way he couldn’t feel it.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to contain the avalanche of emotions that threatened to engulf me. But it was in vain. The weight of the loss of my friend was crushing. I bent over, sobbing with pain and sadness.

“Anton,” I called, as if he could answer me.

The world seemed blurred and distant around me, as if everything was suspended, except for my own agonizing pain. I clung to Anton’s body, feeling the coldness of death seep into my soul.

I felt Hunter approaching me. I ignored him. He didn’t matter anymore, nothing mattered anymore. I just wanted to bring Anton back. Our group of friends would never be complete without him.

He crouched beside me and pulled me away, dragging me away from Anton’s lifeless body.

“You really liked him, didn’t you?” he laughed. “I’m even more satisfied that I killed him.” He held up a syringe in front of my face. “It’s time to sleep.”

And then, he inserted it into my neck. I felt the cold needle penetrate my skin as he injected the calming liquid into me.

I blinked, struggling to keep my eyes open, given the wave of drowsiness that hit me. Tears still streamed down my face like a waterfall, bathing my face.

“Fenrir,” I whispered hoarsely.

“He won’t come for you, he’ll never see you again,” Hunter promised, kissing the top of my head.

“Get out of here, Fenrir must be coming, after all this show of hers over the wolf’s death,” Marilyn growled. “If I had known she would be like this, I wouldn’t have let you kill him.”

“You promised me the life of one of his men, just like he took mine.”

“I know, but this stupid girl’s reaction is putting our plan at risk. He feels everything she feels, he must know something’s wrong and should be coming back right now. You should’ve sedated her before killing the idiot.”

“And miss all the fun of watching her suffer? I know you wanted it as much as I did.”

I tried to fight against the stupor taking over me. My breathing became calm and regular. My vision grew blurry, and the voices around me became distant and indistinct. I tried to protest, scream, anything to stop what was happening, but my tongue felt too heavy.

“Yes, I wanted to, but the plan’s at stake. If Fenrir gets his hands on her, he’ll kill you on the spot and end all of this.”

He laughed.