Into the Alpha’s Keep Chapter 98: 98

POV Fenrir Dăneşti

I watched the omega with disdain and repulsion. She had been a long-time companion. A good companion. She shared the nights with me, both the good and the bad, as a shoulder to lean on, someone I wanted to keep close and would always respect.

But after everything, I couldn't see her any other way. She was a traitor, a liar, and a manipulator. Any good feelings I once had for her had evaporated.

She meant nothing to me anymore. And her death would mean even less.

"I hope you enjoyed your life, because it's about to end," I announced, stepping toward her.

She shook her head and took unsteady steps backward, stumbling in the snow.

"You can't do this to me, I've done so many things for you. You may not love me, but at least you should feel some kind of gratitude."

"My gratitude ended when you betrayed me, making me lose my female and causing the death of my best friend."

"Your female? She was never your female."

I bared my fangs.

"She means, to me, much more than you ever did," I stated. "Did you think I didn't notice your futile attempts to make me mate with you in the past years? Every time you opened your womb, trying to get pregnant, and didn't interrupt your heat, all to get my attention." I laughed. "Savannah didn't need any of those efforts to win me over, though."

She hissed with pain and lament.

"You're a damned ingrate! I spent most of my life trying to help you, trying to get you on the right path."

"And what would the right path be?"

"By my side!"

"At no point, Marilyn, in the over one hundred years we've known each other, did I ever think of having you by my side."

The color seemed to drain from her face.

"How dare you, Fenrir? How dare you treat me with such contempt, all because of a wretched wolf who entered your life yesterday, while I've been here all this time? You're going to kill me because of her and forget everything we've been through together, everything we've faced side by side?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, I'll kill you for Savannah, for what she'll go through in the arms of that bastard. If you thought, for even a moment, that I wouldn't go after her, you're very mistaken."

"She'll remove the mark!"

"And I'll make a new one." I took a few more steps as she backed away. "I'll kill you, anticipating my revenge for the suffering you'll cause her, before going to your new little friend, Hunter, and wiping out his entire pack."

She gurgled, eyes wide, more tears shining in her irises.

"You... you fell in love with her..." she gasped, as if she couldn't believe it. "You're in love with the wolf."

I said nothing, not denying a truth that was etched into me.

Marilyn fell to her knees and embraced her body, sobbing with hatred and sadness.

"Everything I've done, all the deaths I've caused, all to get your attention, to make you fall in love with me, to return my feelings." She lifted her eyes to mine. "And you always falling for the wrong females, doing everything opposite of what you should."

"You were never anything, Marilyn. And you're going to die that way. I won't give you a honorable death, I won't burn your body. I'll bury you in the middle of this forest, just like the bodies of all the invaders. No one will know your location, no one will mourn. And, over time, you will be completely forgotten."

I knew she had feelings for me, I just didn't know they'd turned into a sick obsession.

She laughed, laughed so hard that tears ran down the corners of her eyes, bending her body forward, passing her arm over her belly.

"You can kill me, but that doesn't change the fact that I made a fool of you all this time." I raised an eyebrow. "I did absurd things for love, including killing my best friend," she confessed. I took a few steps back, lethargic, as if I had been struck by something invisible. Marilyn laughed loudly. "Did you really think some random wolf invaded your territory and attacked Catalina because he was obsessed with her?" She scoffed. "For years, I tried to get your attention, to make you see that I was the perfect omega to be by your side leading the pack, and not Catalina. But you were a blind fool."

"What are you talking about?" I growled softly.

"After all my subtle attempts, but with no success, Catalina finally convinced you to mark her." She rolled her eyes. "I can't take credit from her, she was very clever, she just waited for her parents' death to convince you. And you, being the great idiot that you are, fell right for it. If I'd let you mate, it would have been my end. We would never have anything, I would never be reciprocated." She licked her lips. "It was so easy to find some fool to manipulate. I promised him a life away from the pack, where we'd live a great love, if he killed Catalina. I knew you'd find him before he even thought about running, and wouldn't give him the chance to explain, driven by hate and thirst for death. And that's exactly what happened. My plan worked as expected. You didn't mate, I got rid of Catalina, and became your close friend, the perfect shoulder to cry on after her death. After all, I was also mourning the loss of my best friend."

"I can't believe you did this."

"Yes, I did!" she confirmed, raising her jaw. "And I've spent the last fifty years pretending to mourn her death, doing everything to please you, to make you see that I was the perfect company, and no one else. But then, you simply find a bitch in heat in the middle of the forest, and decide to mate with her, ruining all my plans. It was so unfair to me, to us."

I rubbed my hair, feeling my wolf take control of my body again.

I felt like an idiot, a coward. I had been manipulated by the girl for years. She was right, my thirst for revenge made me not question the truth about Catalina's death. I killed the bastard, avenging her, and was satisfied with it.

I spent the last years blaming myself for being a terrible mate and an even worse alpha, who allowed her to be killed on my territory, on my land. When everything was just a setup by Marilyn.

For so long, I let myself be manipulated by the omega, trusting her, believing every deceitful word that came out of her mouth.

I was the biggest fool.

And once again, I could lose the female I loved because of her, for being an idiot. I could lose Savannah, my mated female, my queen.

My best friend was dead, and my mate had been kidnapped. Because of me, because I let myself be deceived and failed them.

Letting out a roar of rage, I extended my claws and shoved my hand into the omega's abdomen, tearing through skin and muscles, hitting vital organs. She choked, coughing, blood spilling from her lips.

"Die knowing that I never felt anything but gratitude for you. I'll find Savannah and bring her home, where she'll live by my side as my mate, wife, and queen of the Dăneşti, while you rot in this forest, like the damned traitor you are. Your name will be forbidden to mention and, very soon, you'll be forgotten." I whispered, with my fangs bared. "You made a fool of me, you made me question my position as leader and my ability as an alpha. You killed Catalina, you killed Anton, and sent Savannah away."

"Fen... Fenrir," she sighed, more blood spilling from her lips. "I did it for love."

A smile spread across my face.