The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 75: Chapter 75
You are reading The Alpha's Gamble, Chapter 75: Chapter 75. Read more chapters of The Alpha's Gamble.
MADELINE
Shame wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the agonizing will to disappear off the face of the earth and melt into the soil next to a tree. A lifetime of hope and plans were shattered in the span of a few hours, on the day that was supposed to be a magical moment. The day I’d waited for for eighteen fucking years. The only thing I’d ever looked forward to had turned into a nightmare from which I swear I’ll never wake up. I could feel her lurking inside me, occupying my mind, encroaching on a place that was supposed to be her home. But now she felt like an intruder. Like she didn’t belong.
She didn’t.
This couldn’t be my fate. How can one person be so unlucky? What happened to dividing the trauma across different people, instead of handing all of it to one soul? I must’ve been a raging bitch with a superiority complex and maybe even a few murder charges in a past life to deserve this now.
What happened next was too fast to spot, but Jack was suddenly pressed against the wall, Noah’s arm locked against his throat.
“Noah!” my mom screeched.
“You’re gonna let her die in there?” he asked calmly. Too calmly.
“It’s not about letting, son. With her wolf being what it is, her chances are worse than they were before.” He paused, pressing his back to the wall to catch his breath, but Noah followed, tightening the grip on his throat.
“There’s nothing we can do. Her wolf was her hope. That was her chance of survival. We were all counting on it.” Noah’s chest rose, the veins in his arms visibly throbbing as he added pressure, cutting off Jack’s airflow.
“We’ll find another way. Even if it means I jump into that Ring myself.”
His voice was low and filled with promise, a lethal vice against his father’s burning eyes.
“Noah, that’s not—”
“Mark my words, Father. You were afraid of losing a son today?”
He leaned in closer.
“I will lay my life down to make sure hers is protected. If you don’t want it to come to that, I suggest you pull out that stick Clara has shoved up your ass, and get to work on a plan.” Jack’s face was turning red, but he remained calm even through the struggle to breathe. Then Noah released him. Jack fell forward, massaging his throat as he looked at his son with deep disappointment—the kind that mirrored my mom’s. Because yeah. Why would he defend her daughter? Madness.
But Noah’s words sank into my head and rushed straight to my heart, clenching around it like needles puncturing the fragile shield around it. I will lay my life down. The tumultuous events of today were leaving marks on everyone, deep ones you couldn’t see, but that were felt in the heat of every interaction. The kind our wolves couldn’t heal.
“For now, I think it’s best if Maddie stays in the cellar.” My eyes flew to Jack, and my heart dropped into a pit in my stomach. It felt like a worm was slithering around in there, devouring me in one stabbing bite after another. The cellar was dark, dirty, secluded from everything and everyone.
The only people allowed down there were ranked members and stationed warriors, trusted to guard the prisoners. A job not everyone was entitled to.
“No.” The word was simple, but left no room for counterargument as it slipped from Noah’s lips like an order.
“Son—”
“Cut the son shit,” he spat monotonously. “Maddie will stay with me.” Huh? I could feel that everyone was thinking long and hard about the repercussions of his decision; wondering when my next frantic attack would occur, or if Nasha would come out in the middle of the night and slaughter the lot.
They could already see the corpses of the help lying scattered in the hallways and the walls painted with their innocent blood.
But mostly, they were counting down the seconds and listening for her footsteps.
Waiting for the moment, they looked into her yellow eyes and questioned why they didn’t kill me when they had the chance.
“Noah, sweetheart, it’s not safe.” My mother’s sweet tone gave me diabetes every time I heard it, and my gag reflex was tested as I watched her stroke his arm lovingly. Based on Noah’s expression, she might as well have been stroking a tree. The way he calmly pulled his arm back spoke louder than any words he could’ve said, and my mother caught the disdain in his eyes.
He wasn’t a kitten, he didn’t need to be petted. That wouldn’t make him fold into a ball of comfort and conform to their orders.
“She’s staying with me. If you’re afraid for your lives, please, feel free to share a cell in the dungeon.” My father pursed his lips and dropped his head like a kid who didn’t want the teacher to see him laughing.
He stared at his shoes so hard I thought they might fly off his feet.
“And if it happens again?”
“If she shifts inside this home and goes after someone else, or, God forbid, tries to attack Logan again?” They were mistaken. Yes, Nasha attacked Logan, and it seemed like that’s where her fury was directed, but only because he got in the way. He wasn’t her target.
“That won’t happen.”
“If it does?” my mother repeated sharply.
“I’ll be there. And I’ll take care of it.” Noah faced her and raised his head, eyes challenging her next move.
“You’re prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure no innocent life is harmed?” My father’s head snapped up, and his eyes turned yellow as he glared at my mother.
“Yes. Including Maddie’s.” Whatever words she’d prepared choked in her throat, and she visibly gulped.
“Clara,” Dad hissed. You couldn’t cut the tension with a knife, not even a chainsaw could break the air that pressed around us. It was a stalemate. And everyone would do well to just shut the fuck up and call it a draw. Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the fear of sleeping in a house with an uncontrollable wolf. It’s a nightmare scenario. But if they could only try to look past their own mortality and see, maybe ask, what it’s like to have that wolf in your head…Maybe we could all meet each other on plainer ground.
“I’ll move into a spare room and help keep an eye on her.” I looked at my father.
“We don’t need your protection, Trevor,” Mom spat.
“It’s not you I’ll be protecting.” His shadow covered me as he stepped forward, blocking their view, but my mother still managed to sneak a few glares past his shoulder as he shifted on his feet.
Shame wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the agonizing will to disappear off the face of the earth and melt into the soil next to a tree. A lifetime of hope and plans were shattered in the span of a few hours, on the day that was supposed to be a magical moment. The day I’d waited for for eighteen fucking years. The only thing I’d ever looked forward to had turned into a nightmare from which I swear I’ll never wake up. I could feel her lurking inside me, occupying my mind, encroaching on a place that was supposed to be her home. But now she felt like an intruder. Like she didn’t belong.
She didn’t.
This couldn’t be my fate. How can one person be so unlucky? What happened to dividing the trauma across different people, instead of handing all of it to one soul? I must’ve been a raging bitch with a superiority complex and maybe even a few murder charges in a past life to deserve this now.
What happened next was too fast to spot, but Jack was suddenly pressed against the wall, Noah’s arm locked against his throat.
“Noah!” my mom screeched.
“You’re gonna let her die in there?” he asked calmly. Too calmly.
“It’s not about letting, son. With her wolf being what it is, her chances are worse than they were before.” He paused, pressing his back to the wall to catch his breath, but Noah followed, tightening the grip on his throat.
“There’s nothing we can do. Her wolf was her hope. That was her chance of survival. We were all counting on it.” Noah’s chest rose, the veins in his arms visibly throbbing as he added pressure, cutting off Jack’s airflow.
“We’ll find another way. Even if it means I jump into that Ring myself.”
His voice was low and filled with promise, a lethal vice against his father’s burning eyes.
“Noah, that’s not—”
“Mark my words, Father. You were afraid of losing a son today?”
He leaned in closer.
“I will lay my life down to make sure hers is protected. If you don’t want it to come to that, I suggest you pull out that stick Clara has shoved up your ass, and get to work on a plan.” Jack’s face was turning red, but he remained calm even through the struggle to breathe. Then Noah released him. Jack fell forward, massaging his throat as he looked at his son with deep disappointment—the kind that mirrored my mom’s. Because yeah. Why would he defend her daughter? Madness.
But Noah’s words sank into my head and rushed straight to my heart, clenching around it like needles puncturing the fragile shield around it. I will lay my life down. The tumultuous events of today were leaving marks on everyone, deep ones you couldn’t see, but that were felt in the heat of every interaction. The kind our wolves couldn’t heal.
“For now, I think it’s best if Maddie stays in the cellar.” My eyes flew to Jack, and my heart dropped into a pit in my stomach. It felt like a worm was slithering around in there, devouring me in one stabbing bite after another. The cellar was dark, dirty, secluded from everything and everyone.
The only people allowed down there were ranked members and stationed warriors, trusted to guard the prisoners. A job not everyone was entitled to.
“No.” The word was simple, but left no room for counterargument as it slipped from Noah’s lips like an order.
“Son—”
“Cut the son shit,” he spat monotonously. “Maddie will stay with me.” Huh? I could feel that everyone was thinking long and hard about the repercussions of his decision; wondering when my next frantic attack would occur, or if Nasha would come out in the middle of the night and slaughter the lot.
They could already see the corpses of the help lying scattered in the hallways and the walls painted with their innocent blood.
But mostly, they were counting down the seconds and listening for her footsteps.
Waiting for the moment, they looked into her yellow eyes and questioned why they didn’t kill me when they had the chance.
“Noah, sweetheart, it’s not safe.” My mother’s sweet tone gave me diabetes every time I heard it, and my gag reflex was tested as I watched her stroke his arm lovingly. Based on Noah’s expression, she might as well have been stroking a tree. The way he calmly pulled his arm back spoke louder than any words he could’ve said, and my mother caught the disdain in his eyes.
He wasn’t a kitten, he didn’t need to be petted. That wouldn’t make him fold into a ball of comfort and conform to their orders.
“She’s staying with me. If you’re afraid for your lives, please, feel free to share a cell in the dungeon.” My father pursed his lips and dropped his head like a kid who didn’t want the teacher to see him laughing.
He stared at his shoes so hard I thought they might fly off his feet.
“And if it happens again?”
“If she shifts inside this home and goes after someone else, or, God forbid, tries to attack Logan again?” They were mistaken. Yes, Nasha attacked Logan, and it seemed like that’s where her fury was directed, but only because he got in the way. He wasn’t her target.
“That won’t happen.”
“If it does?” my mother repeated sharply.
“I’ll be there. And I’ll take care of it.” Noah faced her and raised his head, eyes challenging her next move.
“You’re prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure no innocent life is harmed?” My father’s head snapped up, and his eyes turned yellow as he glared at my mother.
“Yes. Including Maddie’s.” Whatever words she’d prepared choked in her throat, and she visibly gulped.
“Clara,” Dad hissed. You couldn’t cut the tension with a knife, not even a chainsaw could break the air that pressed around us. It was a stalemate. And everyone would do well to just shut the fuck up and call it a draw. Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the fear of sleeping in a house with an uncontrollable wolf. It’s a nightmare scenario. But if they could only try to look past their own mortality and see, maybe ask, what it’s like to have that wolf in your head…Maybe we could all meet each other on plainer ground.
“I’ll move into a spare room and help keep an eye on her.” I looked at my father.
“We don’t need your protection, Trevor,” Mom spat.
“It’s not you I’ll be protecting.” His shadow covered me as he stepped forward, blocking their view, but my mother still managed to sneak a few glares past his shoulder as he shifted on his feet.
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 75. Continue reading Chapter 76 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.