The Alpha's Betrayal, I Married My Family's Killer - Chapter 6: Chapter 6

The steady hum of the highway vibrated through my bones, the tires' rhythmic thrum against asphalt keeping me suspended between exhaustion and alertness. Every breath sent fire through my bruised ribs, but I was breathing. That had to count for something.
Damon's white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel told me everything. His jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle twitching, those dark eyes laser-focused on the unspooling road. Our headlights cut through the inky darkness, but no amount of artificial light could chase away the suffocating dread pressing against my chest.
Marcus had found me. Ivan had anticipated my escape. By now, his hunters were probably already on our tail, hellbent on dragging me back to that nightmare.
My hand trembled against my stomach where a storm of emotions raged—terror, desperation, but strongest of all, this primal, clawing protectiveness.
My baby.
A secret I hadn't even known I carried until Helena had weaponized it against me.
If Ivan ever found out...
I choked back acid rising in my throat. He could never know. Because he'd turn this child into another pawn in his sick revenge game, just like he'd done to me.
"Where are we going?" My voice sounded shredded, barely recognizable.
"Somewhere safe," Damon answered without looking at me.
Safe. The word tasted foreign on my tongue. Safety didn't exist anymore—not after my home became a warzone, not after my mate's betrayal. Even now, with Damon as my only lifeline, I knew we were still deep in the woods. I studied his profile—the sharp jawline, the fresh bruise blooming along his cheekbone. "You stayed behind," I whispered, the echo of gunfire still ringing in my skull. "I thought you—"
His grip tightened. "I told you to run."
Anger and something dangerously close to grief twisted in my chest. "I didn't want to leave you."
Those dark eyes flicked to me for just a heartbeat before returning to the road. "You had to."
The finality in his voice left no room for argument. I bit my tongue until I tasted copper. Now wasn't the time for the confession burning my throat—how those endless minutes without him had felt like drowning.
The silence between us grew thick enough to choke on.
I rested my pounding head against the cool window, every aching muscle screaming how close I'd come to losing everything. My eyelids grew heavy...
Then the world exploded.
A deafening BANG. The car fishtailed violently as Damon swore, fighting the wheel. Tires screamed against pavement as we careened across the road before he wrestled control back.
"Goddammit!" He floored the accelerator.
I whirled in my seat. Distant headlights. Growing closer.
"Damon—"
"I see them." His voice was razor-sharp.
Another gunshot. Metal pinged as the bullet struck our trunk. Damon yanked the wheel hard right, our car lurching onto a dirt path that disappeared into black forest. Tree branches lashed the windows as we bounced over uneven ground like a pinball.
"We can't outrun them like this!" My nails dug into the seat.
"We're not outrunning them." Damon's knuckles gleamed bone-white. "We're losing them."
The forest swallowed us whole, darkness pressing from all sides. Behind us, an engine roared closer. My pulse hammered in my throat.
Then—nothing.
The road simply vanished.
Damon slammed the brakes. Too late. The car pitched forward with a metallic shriek as we went airborne over an embankment. For one weightless second, the world spun. Then—
CRASH.
The impact knocked the wind from my lungs. Glass exploded as we rolled, slicing my skin. Two bone-jarring flips before we crunched to a stop upside down.
Silence.
I spat blood, my vision swimming with black spots. Every inch of me screamed in protest as I groped blindly for Damon.
He wasn't moving.
"Damon!" Panic spiked through me.
A pained groan. He lifted his head from the steering wheel, blood trickling from his hairline.
"Still kicking," he rasped. "You?"
"Alive," I wheezed.
"Then move."
Through the shattered windshield, I saw them—silhouettes moving along the ridge above us, backlit by moonlight.
Ivan's wolves.
Ice flooded my veins. "They're coming."
Damon kicked his door open with a grunt. "Can you run?"
I tested my weight on my injured leg, biting back a scream. "I'll manage."
Before I could protest, his arms banded around my waist, hauling me from the wreckage. His touch burned through the terror threatening to consume me.
We staggered into the trees, the crunch of approaching boots growing louder.
"Damon," I gasped, my vision tunneling. "We won't make it."
His arm tightened like a steel band. "Watch us."
I wanted to believe him. But I knew Ivan's relentless hunger—he wouldn't stop until he had me. Until he had my child.