Page 69 of Knocked Up By My Fated Alpha
And in those suspended seconds, I rediscovered the meaning of fear.
True fear. Thought-debilitating, mind-numbing, bloodcurdling fear. Then Raven hit my outstretched hands, the weight of her body slamming into mine, knocking the air from my lungs as we tumbled back, but I had her.
Her nails latched onto my shoulder, ripping through my shirt and skin, but it was a pain I welcomed because it meant she was alive.
Wide emerald green eyes found mine, her cheeks pale and her lips parted with shock.
“Damien.”
Trembling with relief, I pressed a kiss to her forehead even as I reached out to Sinclair via the pack link.
I let go of Raven, and it was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Then I was leaping on a pillar, levering myself over a balustrade and vaulting myself over the balcony Elias was already making his escape from.
Within a single breath, I had him pinned to the wall.
Elias choked out a pitiful plea, his scent drenched with fear.
“Uncle, it's not what you think—”
I tightened my grip on his throat, cutting off his air flow, a bloody haze falling over me as I recalled how he’d ruthlessly pushed Raven off the balcony.
“I tolerated your excesses all these years because your mother's death—”
Elias snarled, claws bared, his pathetic attempt at contrition falling away.
“You have no right to talk about my mother!”
I slammed him even harder against the wall, my dominance bearing down on him, forcing his silence.
“I shouldered the responsibility for your mother's death even though we both know there was nothing any of us could have done to prevent it.”
Even as I spoke, I could still see it happening.
The moment our day of celebration turned into sorrow. The moment my sister fell next to me, the first of the rain of silver bullets hit her forehead and killed her on the spot. It was only then that we'd realised we were under attack. There was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it.
Nothing.
Elias trembled at my words, at the shared remembrance of that horrible day and even without meaning to, my tone softened, my hold on him easing momentarily.
“I thought if I took on that weight, you wouldn't have to. Even though you were no longer a child, I still sought to protect you, Elias. But now, I realise I can't protect you from yourself.”
I raised my gaze to Elias's defiant glare.
“Embezzlement and treachery with the council, I can forgive, but Raven…” I leaned in, letting the full weight of my fury sear into him. “The moment you touched her, you signed your death warrant.”
Elias remained unfazed, the corners of his mouth slowly twitching into the shadow of a smirk with a lazy confidence borne from years of my indulgence.
“You wouldn’t—”
I snapped his neck before he finished getting the words out.
Sinclair reached the balcony seconds later, panting from the sprint. He took in Elias’s limp body with wide eyes but didn’t ask any questions.
“Chain him up in the dungeons with the others before he finishes healing,” I ordered.
When I’d reached out to Sinclair immediately after Raven’s fall, it was to arrange a medical team to examine Raven as well as order the immediate arrest of the complicit Elders.
“Yes, Alpha,” He hesitated. “The doctors are with Raven. She and the baby are fine.”
