Alpha Alec’s Redemption - Chapter 63: Chapter 63

“What did you just say?” I growled, feeling my anger rise.
I must have heard wrong, right? There is just no fucking way Colin would betray me like that. Not after years of friendship. Not after he saw what Susie and her scheming put me through.
“I said a lot of things” she growled back, her eyes spitting fire. “You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”
I turned to her and snarled, but it didn’t have any effect on her. Instead, she snarled right back at me.
Fuck! I needed a damn break. It has been revelation after revelation since the moment I stepped into this pack. Now, on top of everything, I find out that Susie wasn’t lying three years ago, that she was actually pregnant with my child. Then to find out that Colin betrayed me, that was a huge fucking blow.
I always wondered how the fuck Susie had managed to escape. Always wondered what happened. Did a guard forget to close the door? Did someone forget to chain her up? It never made sense and efforts to find out how she managed to escape proved futile. Now I now why? Colin had helped her and he’d made sure that there was no evidence. Nothing tying him to what happened.
My eyes turned to him. “How could you? How could you fucking help her escape your motherfucking traitor”
He flinched at the extent of my alpha aura but other than that did nothing. He didn’t look remorseful. He didn’t look guilty. He didn’t look like he regrated helping Susie. That alone all but killed me, knowing he betrayed me and didn’t even feel that he did.
“Why would you do that, Colin?” Matt snapped at him. “Why, would you help her and betray Gabriel like that. You know what she did. You know that her scheming cost him his mate. Eunice fucking rejected him for fucks sake and yet you helped Susie, why?”
Matt was yelling by the time he got to the last sentence. It didn’t do anything though, because Colin still didn’t look sorry. His lack of remorse made me and Axel pissed. He wanted to tear him apart.
“Might I remind you that Eunice isn’t his fucking mate? Or have you forgotten that little fact?” Colin fired back while Susie just scoffed, disgust marring her face as she stared at me and Matt.
“That’s not the fucking point!” Matt yelled, stepping up to stand in Colin’s face. “Tell me why the fuck I shouldn’t tear your throat for betraying your alpha?”
“You could try, and it’ll definitely not end well for you” came Colin’s response.
“Are you threatening me?”
“Take it however the fuck you want Matt, but I won’t let you or anyone else try to box me into a corner”
I was shocked. This was a side of Colin that I’ve never really seen before. He’s never disobeyed an order from his beta, but right now he just did and all because of Susie.
Said woman clapped her hand to get their attention. “As much as I’d like to see you beat the shit out of Matt, I don’t want my daughter coming here and witnessing any kind of violence”
The emphasis on ‘her daughter’ brought a pang to my heart. One that I tried pushing away.
“I don’t take orders from a fucking bitch like you”, Matt growled at her.
Before any of us could react, Susie moved and within seconds had Matt against the wall, her hands on his neck. Her eyes were white and were glowing, while Matt’s had budged out as he tried to get air into his lungs.
“Watch your fucking mouth before I decide to do everyone a favor and tear out your fucking tongue so you will never talk back to anyone ever again” she spat, her voice menacing.
“Remember you owe me, Susie. You can’t hurt him,” Colin sighed, seemingly tired of this whole thing.
Susie lets out a frustrated breath before releasing my beta. She steps away from him and goes to stand next to her friends.
“I don’t know why you defend the idiot, Colin. We all know you’re better in every way, so why are you taking orders from him?”
Matt snarled at the insult from Susie. Turning to him, I gave him a warning look to shut it. Then reminded him through the mind link that we still needed her help.
With a smirk, he looked at Matt, “Yes, I know that I am better, but the idiot is still a friend. A brother if I can go that far.” Susie doesn’t say anything, and it gets quiet for a while.
“At least give me the why, Colin. I deserve that” I finally said after a while.
Sighing, he faces me. “You know I always trust my gut, right? And my gut told me that Susie was innocent. Even my wolf agreed that there was something about the whole thing that wasn’t adding up. Like for example why would Susie make her move when you were about to be mated, when she had countless of opportunities before that?”
“Maybe because she thought she was running out of time because I’d found my mate” I responded.
“Again, at the expense of repeating myself, Eunice wasn’t your fucking mate!” he spat.
Colin had never once liked Eunice. While everyone fell in love with her and was looking forward to her being the luna, Colin was completely different. His hate for her was always apparent.
“No need to try to convince him, Colin” Susie chimed in with a fake ass smile. “If he believes she’s his mate, then the better. That way he can accept the rejection and leave me the hell alone.”
“Not going to fucking happen, Susie!” I said crisply.
She completely ignored me and continued. “Colin told me that she went missing after she rejected you, I can help you find her. I have among the best trackers, so it should be easy to track her down.”
“Are you fucking serious right now?” she was pissing me off more than I already was.
“Well, yes. Anything to get you out of my life,” She shrugged. “If finding your true love is the price I have to pay, then so be it. As long as you leave me alone.”
I studied her. Trying to see if she was joking or bluffing. She fucking wasn’t. She was damn serious about it, which just made me even more angry.
I was about to open my mouth, but Colin cut me off.
“Anyway, like I said, something didn’t feel right about the whole thing. I felt like Susie was being set up. Like someone else was pulling the strings. It also didn’t help that I kept dreaming of some faceless woman telling me that I needed to free Susie.” “That’s why you didn’t partake in torturing her” Matt murmured, looking like a switch had gone off in his head.
“Yes. It didn’t feel right. We’ve known Susie since she was a little girl. I knew she wouldn’t have done what you were accusing her. I tried finding evidence during the time she was locked up, but when I couldn’t, I knew I had to help her escape before you killed and innocent woman.”
My mind takes me back to when he had informed me that Susie had been found dead. No wonder he had been angry at me. I didn’t understand it then, but now I do. He believed she was innocent and helped her escape. He was mad that even after risking everything to help her, she still ended up dead.
“You still had no right. You could have talked to us,” Matt said.
“I tried!” this time Colin shouted. “But none of you would listen. Gabriel was so focused on making her pay and we all saw the extreme measures he took to get revenge.”
“So, you decided to betray me and help her?” I asked. I’m still not able to believe that he went behind my back.
“YES! And you know what? I would do it all over again. It’s because of my actions that Susie is still alive, that your daughter is still alive. Have you thought of what would have happened if I had not helped her escape that day? Think about it, you would eventually have killed her and, in doing so, you would have killed your mate and your daughter.”
Fuck. I fight to remain upright. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, didn’t want to accept it, it was the truth. If Susie had died, then it means my pack would have died right along with her. More than that, I would have killed my own child.
The images of her begging me in my office while I had my hand in her chest, haunted me. I was so close to killing. So, fucking close to ending the life of my own flesh and blood.
“Are we done here?” Susie asked, her eyes pinning us to the spot. “My daughter is waiting for me and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
Looking at her, I’m still puzzled. “I don’t get it though. I am an alpha. I should have been able to sense your pregnancy. I should have been able to sense my child in your womb.”
No one speaks for a while, that is until Susie’s witch friend steps forward.
“I may have an answer for that” she began. “For the longest time it puzzled me why you couldn’t sense your pup, so I began searching for answers in case there was ever another similar situation.”
“You never told me this” Susie cut her off.
“I know” she replied. “I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing, but I needed answers. I needed to know why an alpha would deny a pregnancy even though there was one. I found the answers about a year ago in an old text.”
She took a breath before continuing. “The baby, even in the womb, can feel the mother’s emotions as if they’re its own. You told me that the moment you saw Gabriel and felt his anger, you felt fear.
You were so scared that you started trembling because you were afraid he’d kill you. The texts said that when a baby feels such negative emotions, like fear, their fight or flight mode is activated. Since they can’t flee or fight, they shield themselves, kind of like how a turtle hides in it’s shell when it’s afraid.
This protective case shields them from the enemy. When shield mode is activated, no one can sense them, not their scents or their heartbeats or bond. It’s like they cease to exist. The shield stays on until danger passes, and they no longer feel fear from their mothers. It’s a way for them to protect themselves if ever the mother is in danger,” she finished, shocking all of us in the process.
“So, you’re saying that Aspen sensed my distress and concealed herself?” Susie stammered; her eyes wide open.
“Yes” the witch replied. “It only happens when the fetus is still small and not fully developed. This response is only specific to werewolves and vampires, and it’s there to ensure that the fetus has a chance to develop fully. This also helps in cases where the mother is stressed. The response helps in preventing a miscarriage because the fetus simply protects itself.”
After she’s done talking, everyone is quiet. It’s amazing that babies can shield themselves, but it’s also sad that my daughter had to shield herself from me because I was on the verge of killing her mother.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter what happened” Susie broke the silence and stared right at me. “Fact remains that I don’t want to be your fucking mate and neither do I want you in mine and my daughter’s lives. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a little girl waiting for her story time.”
With that, she stomped out of the room and her friends followed her, leaving just me and my officials.
I knew Susie was going to make this hard for me, but determination is my middle name. There is no way I’m going to give up now, not when there is so much more at stake. I wanted to be in my daughter’s life, and I wasn’t going to allow anyone to stand in my way.