Page 76 of The Alpha's Heir

The Fighter

*** Eva ***

Waking up in my own bed in my own room with Summer and Aiden makes up for the fact that my whole body aches and pulses. It's like an electric current is charging through all my nerve endings. Yesterday was a lot harder than anything else I have had to endure so far. Although I knew hearing Rose’s confessions would be difficult, I had been naïve in thinking that she may be remorseful for everything she had done.

Even though my body is in pain, I feel lighter and at peace with what has happened. It isn’t nice, it certainly isn’t pretty, but the truth is a healer and I’m sure once the physical toll eases, I will be ready to move away from that part of my life.

Lina has been incredibly quiet since last night. She cried for Roman, and he didn’t let us down. The way he nuzzled me, comforted me, and accepted every part of both Lina and I was overwhelming. I am eager to have Lina and Roman finally meet and mate too. But first, I have a little one to grow in my tummy. I whisper to my tiny bump that’s hardly even visible yet, though I know my baby is growing strong inside me. I stroke my tummy, hoping that my baby knows how loved and wanted they are.

“How are you doing in there, my little pup? Mummy is so sorry if you felt any pain yesterday. Hopefully, that’s the worst of it all over and done with. We are all looking forward to meeting you and for you to join our family. I love you, little one, please hold on tight in there.”

Tears sting my eyes; I love Summer and my new baby so much that I cannot comprehend how my own mother could feel the way she does about me. I could never ever treat my children that way. I would never conduct myself in such a lowly manner. A part of my healing has been the realisation that Rose is damaged. This all stemmed from her actions, and I can move on now, safe in the knowledge that no matter what I did, even if I had managed to be the most perfect daughter in the world, Rose would still have behaved the same because that’s who she is.

It is a relief that I will never have to see her again. I can’t have her in my life, not when I have a daughter who will be learning what it is to be a strong, principled woman from me.

“Hey, baby, you’re awake.” I turn towards Aiden’s voice. He looks exhausted too, still absolutely gorgeous but tired and wary. His black hair flops down and the urge to run my fingers through it overcomes me.

“I am, but you should try and get more sleep, you look tired.” He leans up and kisses me on my head as I reply to him. “I need to go to the toilet and find a hot water bottle or something. My whole body aches.”

Aiden will not hear of it. He tells me to go to the toilet while he organises everything and, sure enough, once I pee and freshen up, I return to the bedroom and Aiden has summoned hot water bottles, hot tea, aspirin, and a couple of bottles of massage oil.

“Don’t worry,” he reassures me. “These oils are recommended by the doctor herself for expectant mothers. I know you are probably too sore and tired right now, but I’d love to give you a massage later.” My heart fills with joy. It's been the crappiest time, but with Aiden by my side, I know we can weather any storm. We are solid and the future is bright for us.

“I love you.” It’s a sweet and simple statement but it's true, and there was nothing more romantic than honesty.

“I love you too, and now you’re out of your cell, you have my mark and you’re carrying my pup… when are you going to make a happy and honest man out of me?” I am eager to make us official too.

“Soon, really soon. I promise.” As the warmth from the hot water bottles seeps through my skin and deep into my bones, my eyelids start to droop again. But before I fall asleep, there is one more thing I must do. “Could you pass me the phone please, Aiden? I need to make one last call so I can move on to the present and future with you.”

Aiden passes the phone to me and looks at me with concern. “Don’t overdo it,” he warns me.

“I won't, this shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.” I tap my phone and pull up Luke’s phone number. I take a deep breath and puff out my chest before dialling. It rings twice before he answers. “Hi, is that Luke? It's Eva Smith-Jones.”

*** Junior ***

Groaning as I wake up in a cold, dark and damp room, I find I am completely naked and all four of my limbs are bound with rope, which stretches and pulls them tightly. My mouth is gagged.

I hear the men call for someone. “Mrs Morales, he’s waking up.” My bowels turn to ice water. The Mafia have caught me. I am surely about to be tortured to my eventual death and, despite my posturing, I am terrified of what Salma Morales is capable of.

“It's nice of you to finally join us, Junior.” I try to plead with her, but the gag prevents me so all that echoes around the stark room is my muffled moans. “Shhh. You’re going to listen while I talk.” Her cold and controlled demeanour scares me more than if she were to shout and threaten me.

She stands in front of my naked body with her hands behind her back and looks me up and down.

“I must say I can see why Dominga was attracted to you. You have a decent body, and your cock is thick and long… did you know how to use it?”

Under her hard stare, my cock seems to shrivel and invert.

She smiles as she looks away for a moment. “Karl here thought we should cut your dick off and make you eat it.” Another man laughs in the background. “After all, you took away something that was precious and sacred to me, and the saying is an eye for an eye, isn’t it?”

I shake my head and moan continually at her as much as I can through the gag. Not my cock! Anything but my cock, for fucks sake. Tears begin to sting my eyes. I’m in all this shit and it's way over my head.

“Oh, don’t worry, I ruled that one out. It's not final enough and a bit too messy for my liking.” With her arms still behind her back she paces in front of me. “Now Willy thought you might have loved Dominga, and your new mate was right. Dominga is dead, her body is on a slab in my private mortuary, so we thought we could have baked her into a pie for you. A nice, big, juicy Dominga pie. What do you think? Do you fancy a bit of that?”

I shake my head furiously at her, no. No, NO, NO! I don’t want to eat Dominga. Pain twists in my gut. I can't believe Dominga is dead, she can't be. I don’t want to believe it.

“Oh, yes. She’s dead, and to prove that I only tell the truth, I brought you something to confirm it.” She nods her head, and two burly men walk into the room, pushing a serving trolley between them. They lift the large silver dome cover from the top of the trolley and Dominga’s bloody head sits there.

Bile rushes up from my stomach, burning my throat, but the gag prevents its exit and so, I have to choke it back down.

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