Chapter 15

Vladimir

Ana takes me to her room and locks the door behind her before wrapping her arms around herself. I pull her into a tight hug and stroke her hair while I whisper reassuring words to her, but I know that no matter what I say or do, it won’t bring back her parents. She knows I will always be by her side, that she will be the sister I never had.

I swallow hard and let go of her.

“We should hurry,” I tell her. “I don’t think Elena would like it if we made her wait for too long!”

“I don’t like her! Each time she visited the pack, she acted as if she were better than anyone else!”

I frown because I didn’t realize that Elena had come here before. I would not have known anyway because each time someone visited the pack, I was taken to the lower parts of the dungeons and stayed there until the guests left.

“It does not matter if you like her or not; we will have to go with her,” I say before heading towards Ana’s closet. “Get inside the shower while I pack your things!”

Ana’s bottom lip trembles. “How can I leave when my parents’ broken bodies are still in the cells?” she croaks.

“I will take care of them!” I reply and urge her to take a shower.

She is full of bruises, cuts, and blood, and if Alpha Max was in front of me right now, I am not sure how I would react. I might be a fucking criminal, but I would never lay a finger on a female.

I open Ana’s closet and rummage through it until I find two duffle bags and take them out. As an Omega she is obsessed with cleaning, and all her clothes are perfectly arranged on shelves or hangers. I put them in one of the bags before I go to her night drawer and pack her books and pictures. I look at the few pics Ana has with pack members. Omegas are usually seen as the weak part of the pack, and they mostly clean or cook. Because of this, they receive a minimum wage for many hours of hard work. Ana was always helping her mother around the kitchen or sneaking around to talk to me, and because of this, she barely had friends in the Silver Pack.

I open one of the drawers, and I feel my face turning red. Blood roars in my ears, and I hurry to close the bloody drawer. I mutter under my breath before opening another and closing it with the speed of light. At this point, I push back any idea I might have of opening any of the remaining drawers, not wanting to see more of her underwear.

I look around the room, wanting to make sure I didn’t miss anything of her belonging she might want to take with her before I open the door, wanting to go over to Mrs. and Mr. Radu’s room, but I hear Elena talking from inside the office. Ana’s room is very close to the office, and with the Pack House being so quiet, it makes it easy for me to hear sounds or conversations close by.

“I won’t reject Vladimir, but I won’t accept him as my mate either. He is weak and pathetic, and I won’t embarrass myself in front of the pack by admitting he is my mate!” Elena says to Mark.

I don’t blame her for thinking this of me because I am weak and pathetic and so much more. But I wish she would reject me because I don’t think I have what it takes to do it.

I silently walk over to Ana’s parents’ room and get inside. I close the door and marvel at how the room smells just like them, and for a moment, I wonder if I am not stuck in a nightmare and wish I would wake up soon, realizing that Ana’s parents are still alive.

One of the doors of the closet is open, a towel draped over it, and from where I am standing, I can see Mrs. Radu’s dresses. She loved having nice things, and I remember how she used to browse the internet, hoping to find good deals on clothes. I take out the dresses I know Ana would love to have and a few shirts and sweaters of Mr. Radu and put them on the bed. I take their photo albums and set them on top of the clothes. Once I have the items I think Ana would like to have in a duffle bag, I return to her room.

Ana is already out of the shower, wearing a robe and staring at photos of her parents. I put the bag next to the other two, squat in front of Ana, and remove the pics from her hands.

“Alpha Max and Beta Stefan will pay for what they did,” I say to Ana, and she nods. “You need to get dressed and finish packing.”

I stand and head over to the door.

“Where are you going?” Ana asks.

“I have two graves to dig,” I reply while I open the door and see Mikael standing in front of it. His eyes are red and puffy, like he has been crying for a long time.

As soon as he looks at me, his eyes widen with shock. I bet he did not expect to see me so beaten up. I can function because Derayu is blocking the pain for me and sharing his strength with me. Too bad he is feral. I never knew what having a wolf felt like because I had to block him from the first day he awoke.

Mikael opens his mouth to say something, and I growl loudly. He looks at me, shocked because no one has heard me growl before. Probably Alpha Max would have removed my mouth if I had done it around any of the pack members.

The urge to punch Mikael is so big I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from doing it.

“W-What th-the f-f-fuck d-do y-you wa-w-want?” I snarl at him.

Normally, this would have brought me a night of torture or, if Alpha Max felt ‘generous,’ at least twenty lashes. But I don’t have it in me to care about what happens to me. All I can think about is Ana trusting the male who was supposed to protect and love her with all his heart. The only time Ana asked for his help, and he went to Alpha Max and told him everything.

“Can I see Ana?” He sounds broken.

“No! Make him go away!” Ana wails from behind me.

“Please! I am her mate!” Mikael begs, and it takes all my will not to spit in his face.

I laugh bitterly. “H-Her m-mate? M-mates d-don't do t-to ea-each other wh-w-what y-you did t-to h-her! A-Alpha M-Max to-tortured h-her f-for h-hours! E-Each t-time I close m-my e-eyes, I s-still h-hear A-Ana and h-her p-parents s-screaming! H-Her pa-parents are d-dead b-because you c-couldn’t k-keep your m-mouth shut! I un-understand y-you h-hate me, b-but b-by ra-ratting to A-Alpha M-Max, yo-you hurt th-the f-female that i-is y-your other h-half! The o-only th-thing yo-you can d-do i-is to a-accept h-her re-rejection a-and move o-on!”

Mikael grows angry. What part of ‘you fucked up so badly there is no way to undo the damaged you caused’ doesn’t he understand?

“I will leave as soon as I talk to her!” Mikael says stubbornly.

“There is nothing I want to say to you!” Ana yells.

Elena rushes out of the office, probably wondering who is screaming and why. The big fellow, William, is right behind her and looks at Mikael and me as if he wants to kill us.

“What’s going on?” Elena asks, and I want to reply, but then I remember how she said I stutter like an idiot and keep my mouth shut.

Elena is still waiting for a reply, but I leave, going outside the Pack House because I still need to bury Mrs. and Mr. Radu before I leave.

I go to the tool shed, take out a shovel and walk over to the little cemetery that is around ten minutes away from the pack. I start digging. And dig. And dig.

At some point, my arms and back start screaming with pain because of all the effort I put into making the graves.

It is late in the night when a cold rain starts falling from the sky. A thousand thoughts race through my mind, and I let the water fall over my wounds. It stings, but it is nothing compared to the pain I have in my heart.

When I finish digging the last grave, I turn and face her. A big umbrella stops the rain from getting her wet.

“Wh-What d-do y-you want?” I snarl at Elena.

She had been silently watching ever since I started digging the graves.

She walks over to me, gets me under the umbrella, and brushes the tip of her fingers against my chest, sending sparks all over my body. I take a step backward because the need to have her under me while I fuck her senseless is so great I am afraid I might push her onto the cold, wet ground and do all sorts of things to her.

“You are cold. You should come inside and have something warm to drink!”