The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 114: Chapter 114
You are reading The Alpha's Gamble, Chapter 114: Chapter 114. Read more chapters of The Alpha's Gamble.
NOAH
It was the middle of the night, the lights in Tilly’s home were off, and when I listened in, standing by the fence and brushing my eyes over the windows, I could hear the soft breaths of a sleeping family, but I couldn’t wait. Not even till the morning.
Breaking the lock to their front door, I heard her father jump up on the second floor. They knew someone was in their house, and the lamp over the staircase lit up.
“Who the hell do you think—” he stopped, froze to a block of ice on top of the stairs when he saw me standing in their hallway.
A shadow slowly dropped over his face, his fingers trembled no matter how much he pressed them together.
“Noah,” his gruff tone woke up his wife, and she came out of their bedroom, tying a blue robe and rubbing her eyes awake.
“Marvin, what’s wrong?” After checking on her husband, her head slowly turned and a pair of knowing eyes locked on mine with fear spreading across the surface, contorting her face, and she gently shook her head.
The house filled with creaks when the weight of my steps pressed the floorboards as I moved to the staircase.
“Please,” she whispered.
It wasn’t their fault, they were a sweet couple, always lending a helping hand. Tilly’s dad was a retired warrior, her mother occasionally worked in the flower shop on Brime Street ever since she retired from her job as a middle school teacher. The pups adored her, both of them, and they would always volunteer at pack events, if only to play with the little ones.
They had Tilly quite late in life, but they never felt the need for any more siblings. It wasn’t the norm for werewolves to have less than two children, but I remember hearing them speak about the difficult pregnancy she’d had at a picnic once. She wasn’t talking to me, but I overheard the conversation and as soon as they’d finished, she would up and run with the pups like they were her own.
It wasn’t their fault, which is why they wouldn’t be held accountable, but they would suffer all the same because Tilly was their daughter. Their only child.
I stopped on top of the stairs and watched as tears filled her eyes. Marvin circled his arm around her shoulder, wrinkling his nose, and I knew he was suppressing his own grief. They walked behind me down the hallway, and I opened the door to Tilly’s room, where she lay fast asleep, looking sicker now than I remembered her.
Tucked under two duvets with a cold compress on her head, her skin was pale, and her lips a dark shade of purple.
I turned on the light, and Tilly stirred awake in annoyance and pain. It didn’t take long, no fight, no arguing from her or her parents. Because when she saw me, her dull eyes immediately recognized that now was the end.
For a moment, I thought about grabbing a chair or sitting on the bed. I’d known Tilly all her life, watched her grow up, she hung out with our group and fucked at least half of them.
The girl was a major attention whore, hogging the spotlight every chance she got and only ever booted down when Olivia was near, they were a perfect fit, those two. But she was never boring, Tilly, always knew how to have a good time. Always laughed and always smiled through everything.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” It was a voice I hadn’t heard, weak and vulnerable. It wasn’t a warrior’s voice, no werewolf, no matter how injured, spoke like that. It was empathic, sad.
It was human.
Her mother gasped and choked on a sob with her hand muffling the sounds behind me.
I stood at Tilly’s bedside and graced my eyes down her shivering body. What life was this?
Wolfless and sick, it wouldn’t get easier—or better—it would forever be her against time.
As it was for humans.
Werewolves were mortal, yes, but not fragile. We survived most things, healed from most damages, our bodies were made to endure and to survive.
That was all over for her. She’d never feel strong again.
“Noah,” Marvin took a step, but I reached out my hand. They knew it needed to be done. No matter the anger and premature grief I felt radiating from them.
“No, I’m not going to kill you, however,” I cleared my throat and ignored the sniffles and the deep sadness in Tilly’s eyes. A single tear fell down her cheek, and I clenched my jaw.
“When you accepted Olivia’s proposal to lend your wolf to Maddie, and agreed to the witch performing dark magic to ensure the success of your mission, you betrayed not only Madeline, but also me, your Alpha, and your pack. Were you aware that Olivia made a deal with the witch to let her keep your wolf?”
Tilly’s eyes turned a bright red as the tears burned in the pool of her lids.
“What?” she breathed. “No,”
“She was never coming back to you. You put your faith in Olivia, to not only screw over another pack member, but to have your wolf use Maddie as a vessel to kill me.”
Tilly shook her head.
“Olivia wanted you back, and she knew she needed to get rid of Maddie. It wasn’t about killing you—”
“It was about painting Maddie as a killer,” I finished the sentence, and Tilly nodded through a sob.
“I went to see the witch and I made my own deal with her. You see, we have a witch of our own, and she is currently in the process of extracting your wolf from Maddie’s head. Once that is done, the wolf will be Emerelda’s, the dark witch you chose to team with.”
My voice grew rough and harsh. Onyx stepped up, and I felt my eyes shifting color as the aura filled the room.
“No…”
“You’re human, Tilly. Your body is adjusting, which is why you’re sick; it doesn’t know how to function without strength and healing. All of your abilities that you had are gone, you’re human, and that is how you will live out the remainder of your life.”
“Oh my god,” I heard the shock settle in a choking breath behind me, but I remained focused on Tilly.
“Noah, no, please,” she cried out.
“For your crimes against your pack, you are hereby banished from our grounds, and seeing as you have no wolf, no other pack will accept you.”
“Perhaps—”
“No, I have made sure that no other pack will accept you,” I said when a glimmer of hope sparked in her eyes, and a sick pleasure consumed me when I saw it burn out.
“You’re not welcome here as a member, friend, or guest. If ever you do decide to return, you will do so as an enemy and will be treated as such.”
I turned to her parents, and Tilly’s face was still in shock as everything settled.
“You have known, and yet you have concealed it from me. From my father. I won’t hold you accountable for your daughter’s decision, but the choice to stay or to go with her is on you. You have till the morning to decide, after which the warriors will come to escort her off the grounds.”
After a moment of silence, apart from the cries that grew harder and heavier, I asked: “Have I made myself clear?”
Marvin nodded and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Yes.”
It was the middle of the night, the lights in Tilly’s home were off, and when I listened in, standing by the fence and brushing my eyes over the windows, I could hear the soft breaths of a sleeping family, but I couldn’t wait. Not even till the morning.
Breaking the lock to their front door, I heard her father jump up on the second floor. They knew someone was in their house, and the lamp over the staircase lit up.
“Who the hell do you think—” he stopped, froze to a block of ice on top of the stairs when he saw me standing in their hallway.
A shadow slowly dropped over his face, his fingers trembled no matter how much he pressed them together.
“Noah,” his gruff tone woke up his wife, and she came out of their bedroom, tying a blue robe and rubbing her eyes awake.
“Marvin, what’s wrong?” After checking on her husband, her head slowly turned and a pair of knowing eyes locked on mine with fear spreading across the surface, contorting her face, and she gently shook her head.
The house filled with creaks when the weight of my steps pressed the floorboards as I moved to the staircase.
“Please,” she whispered.
It wasn’t their fault, they were a sweet couple, always lending a helping hand. Tilly’s dad was a retired warrior, her mother occasionally worked in the flower shop on Brime Street ever since she retired from her job as a middle school teacher. The pups adored her, both of them, and they would always volunteer at pack events, if only to play with the little ones.
They had Tilly quite late in life, but they never felt the need for any more siblings. It wasn’t the norm for werewolves to have less than two children, but I remember hearing them speak about the difficult pregnancy she’d had at a picnic once. She wasn’t talking to me, but I overheard the conversation and as soon as they’d finished, she would up and run with the pups like they were her own.
It wasn’t their fault, which is why they wouldn’t be held accountable, but they would suffer all the same because Tilly was their daughter. Their only child.
I stopped on top of the stairs and watched as tears filled her eyes. Marvin circled his arm around her shoulder, wrinkling his nose, and I knew he was suppressing his own grief. They walked behind me down the hallway, and I opened the door to Tilly’s room, where she lay fast asleep, looking sicker now than I remembered her.
Tucked under two duvets with a cold compress on her head, her skin was pale, and her lips a dark shade of purple.
I turned on the light, and Tilly stirred awake in annoyance and pain. It didn’t take long, no fight, no arguing from her or her parents. Because when she saw me, her dull eyes immediately recognized that now was the end.
For a moment, I thought about grabbing a chair or sitting on the bed. I’d known Tilly all her life, watched her grow up, she hung out with our group and fucked at least half of them.
The girl was a major attention whore, hogging the spotlight every chance she got and only ever booted down when Olivia was near, they were a perfect fit, those two. But she was never boring, Tilly, always knew how to have a good time. Always laughed and always smiled through everything.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” It was a voice I hadn’t heard, weak and vulnerable. It wasn’t a warrior’s voice, no werewolf, no matter how injured, spoke like that. It was empathic, sad.
It was human.
Her mother gasped and choked on a sob with her hand muffling the sounds behind me.
I stood at Tilly’s bedside and graced my eyes down her shivering body. What life was this?
Wolfless and sick, it wouldn’t get easier—or better—it would forever be her against time.
As it was for humans.
Werewolves were mortal, yes, but not fragile. We survived most things, healed from most damages, our bodies were made to endure and to survive.
That was all over for her. She’d never feel strong again.
“Noah,” Marvin took a step, but I reached out my hand. They knew it needed to be done. No matter the anger and premature grief I felt radiating from them.
“No, I’m not going to kill you, however,” I cleared my throat and ignored the sniffles and the deep sadness in Tilly’s eyes. A single tear fell down her cheek, and I clenched my jaw.
“When you accepted Olivia’s proposal to lend your wolf to Maddie, and agreed to the witch performing dark magic to ensure the success of your mission, you betrayed not only Madeline, but also me, your Alpha, and your pack. Were you aware that Olivia made a deal with the witch to let her keep your wolf?”
Tilly’s eyes turned a bright red as the tears burned in the pool of her lids.
“What?” she breathed. “No,”
“She was never coming back to you. You put your faith in Olivia, to not only screw over another pack member, but to have your wolf use Maddie as a vessel to kill me.”
Tilly shook her head.
“Olivia wanted you back, and she knew she needed to get rid of Maddie. It wasn’t about killing you—”
“It was about painting Maddie as a killer,” I finished the sentence, and Tilly nodded through a sob.
“I went to see the witch and I made my own deal with her. You see, we have a witch of our own, and she is currently in the process of extracting your wolf from Maddie’s head. Once that is done, the wolf will be Emerelda’s, the dark witch you chose to team with.”
My voice grew rough and harsh. Onyx stepped up, and I felt my eyes shifting color as the aura filled the room.
“No…”
“You’re human, Tilly. Your body is adjusting, which is why you’re sick; it doesn’t know how to function without strength and healing. All of your abilities that you had are gone, you’re human, and that is how you will live out the remainder of your life.”
“Oh my god,” I heard the shock settle in a choking breath behind me, but I remained focused on Tilly.
“Noah, no, please,” she cried out.
“For your crimes against your pack, you are hereby banished from our grounds, and seeing as you have no wolf, no other pack will accept you.”
“Perhaps—”
“No, I have made sure that no other pack will accept you,” I said when a glimmer of hope sparked in her eyes, and a sick pleasure consumed me when I saw it burn out.
“You’re not welcome here as a member, friend, or guest. If ever you do decide to return, you will do so as an enemy and will be treated as such.”
I turned to her parents, and Tilly’s face was still in shock as everything settled.
“You have known, and yet you have concealed it from me. From my father. I won’t hold you accountable for your daughter’s decision, but the choice to stay or to go with her is on you. You have till the morning to decide, after which the warriors will come to escort her off the grounds.”
After a moment of silence, apart from the cries that grew harder and heavier, I asked: “Have I made myself clear?”
Marvin nodded and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Yes.”
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 114. Continue reading Chapter 115 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.