The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 107

Athena

"But Jess wasn't weak," he said, almost conversationally.

"She was healthy. Strong. She wouldn't have gone into labor early on her own. But your precious Seraphina made sure she did. She put it right in her tea, in her seat, smiling while Jess drank it."

My breath caught in my throat. The basement felt smaller suddenly, the walls pressing in from all sides. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, loud and erratic.

"You're lying."

The words came out weak, barely a whisper. Even as I said them, something deep in my chest told me he wasn't lying at all.

The way he stood there, so casual, so sure of himself, this wasn't the posture of someone spinning tales.

He was a monster, a demon in human form.

He crouched so close I could feel his breath against my cheek, warm and sickening.

"No. I was there," he said with a grin that made me want to claw his face until there was nothing left.

"I watched as the cramps started, watched her panic. She kept touching her belly, kept saying something was wrong. Within an hour, she was on the floor, clutching herself and crying."

I shook my head violently, chains rattling against the wall behind me.

"Stop it."

"Within two hours, there was blood everywhere. Her precious husband and mate.was gone to a destination that was masterminded by me."

My stomach twisted violently, bile rising in my throat. I pressed my back harder against the wall, wishing I could disappear into the stone itself.

"You should have seen her," he said, voice soft but deadly. "She tried to crawl to the phone, tried to reach someone, anyone — but she was too weak. Her legs wouldn't work right and she kept slipping in her own blood."

I squeezed my eyes shut but that made it worse because now I could see it.

Jess, terrified, alone and bleeding while this monster watched.

"No one came, I Seraphine made sure of that" he continued, and I could hear the satisfaction in his voice. "There was no one to take her to the hospital. She bled right there on the dining room floor, calling for help that never came."

Hot tears streamed down my face and I couldn't stop them. They burned tracks down my cheeks and dripped onto my lap.

"You didn't even help her, you both watched her bleed to her death" I whispered.

The accusation hung between us and for a moment I thought maybe, just maybe, there was some humanity left in him that would make him deny it.

Make him say he tried to help, that he called for someone, that he did something other than stand there and watch a pregnant woman die.

Instead, he smiled wider.

"Of course not. That wasn't the point. The point was to let nature take its course — with a little push from Seraphina's special tea blend." He tilted his head like he was remembering something pleasant.

"And I made sure to tell her why it was happening while she lay there. I told her it was because of you. That she was paying the price for your grief, for the way you still mourned Tristan even while warming my bed."

The words hit me like physical blows. Each syllable was a knife twisting deeper into my chest.

"That's not true," I voice came out in a broken sob. "I never... I didn't even know her."

My scream split the air, raw and shaking. It tore from my throat without permission, carrying all the horror and rage and helplessness I felt.

"You should have seen her face when I explained," he went on mercilessly. "She kept saying it wasn't fair, that you didn't even know her, that she never did anything to hurt you. And she was right, but life isn't fair, is it?"

I was sobbing seriously now, great heaving sobs that made my whole body shake. The chains around my wrists cut into my skin but I barely felt it.

"She begged me to help her," he said, crouching down again so he was at eye level with me. "Begged me to call someone, to do something, anything. She said she was sorry for whatever she'd done wrong."

"Stop," I choked out between sobs.

I pressed my hands over my ears but the chains made it impossible to block out his voice completely.

"And in the end, she just... stopped breathing. It took almost two hours. Two long hours of suffering and she never stopped hoping someone would come for her."

I dropped forward as much as the chains would allow, sobbing so hard my chest felt like it would cave in. I could see it all now, Jess dying because of me. Because I existed. Because I'd loved Tristan and somehow that made her expendable. Because I'd loved Daxon.

It was all my fault. Every single thing was my fault.

I slammed my fists into the concrete floor, ignoring the pain that shot up my arms. I screamed and cried and screamed again until my throat was raw and I couldn't breathe properly.

The grief was overwhelming, crushing. But underneath it, something else was building. Something hot and violent and hungry.

And then I felt it.

Something in me cracked open — pain, rage, grief all mixing into something else entirely. Something that burned through my veins like liquid fire.

When I lifted my head, my vision had changed. Everything looked different, sharper somehow. The dim basement was brighter, colors more vivid. I could see dust motes floating in the air, could hear Daxon's heartbeat, steady and calm.

My vision was glowing. Literally glowing. I saw the gold light reflected faintly in the chain at my wrist, in the concrete walls around me.

Daxon tilted his head, watching me with what looked like genuine curiosity rather than fear.

"Well, well," he murmured. "Maybe there's still a little wolf in you after all."

I was about crossing the line I promised my parents I wouldn't ever cross.

I don't know what I'd become but I didn't care anymore.

I glared at him through my glowing eyes and for the first time since he'd chained me down here, I saw something other than cruel satisfaction on his face. He looked almost... pleased.

Like this was what he'd been waiting for all along.

"You wanted this," I realized, my voice coming out different than before. Rougher. "You wanted me to break."

"Breaking was just the first step," he said, standing slowly. "What comes after is much more interesting."

The glow in my vision pulsed, responding to my anger. I could feel power thrumming under my skin, power I hadn't felt ever.

It should have been comforting but instead it terrified me. Because I didn't what I was capable of when the wolf took over. I didn't know how much damage would be done.

"And I haven't even told you the worst part yet," he said lightly.

The words hit me like ice water. Worse than this? Worse than learning that an innocent woman had died because of me? That she'd suffered for hours?

I froze, breath catching in my throat.

"There's something else," he said, walking toward the stairs with deliberate slowness. His shadow stretched across me, long and dark.

"Something that will shatter you more than this ever could. Something I've been saving for just the right moment."

I don't think anything would break me more than this.

Someone had lost her life because my psychopath of a mate felt threatened.

But somewhere under the grief, under the pain and horror and guilt, something new was burning.

Something that wanted blood.

Seraphina had betrayed Jess. Had murdered her as surely as if she'd used a knife instead of whatever poison she'd slipped into that tea. Had smiled while doing it.

And Daxon had watched. Had let it happen. Had told a dying woman it was my fault.

The glow in my eyes pulsed brighter and I felt my fingernails elongating into claws. The wolf was waking up fully now, stirring after years of forced sleep.

I was going to kill her. I was going to kill Seraphina for what she'd done to Jess.

And then I was going to kill Daxon too.