Chipler Two Hundred and Seven
Chapter Two Hundred and Seven
THANE.
I watched Riley; gods, she was in pain, she blamed herself for Jake’s death.
“Just… Get it out of me,” she repeated.
“Riley, you didn’t do this; it’s the fault of the thing inside of you.”
“Is what I am. A ‘turned one‘, I did this, Thane, and… what if it doesn’t stop?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if the lust never seizes, even with the demon out?”
“He did say you would be able to control it.”
“What if he lied? Or what if I am different? I just can’t… I can’t hurt any other person, I have to be controlled, Thane.‘
“You will be alright, Riley.”
“No. No, I won’t be alright. Thane I can’t…”
“You can’t what?”
“I can’t… stay in this pack; I can’t hurt these innocent people. Nelly, Jake’s sister, had died because of me, and now… I killed him too. Oh gods, what have I done? What would I tell his parents?” she muttered on, visibly shaking.
“You don’t have to worry about anything; I have this under control.”
“No. You can’t fix everything. I thought I could have a life with you; that had been the point of every sacrifice I made. But I was wrong; I can’t stay with you; I would only hurt more people.”
“No Riley, listen to me, this-” referring to Jake–it was a mistake.”
“Don’t give excuses for me; I deserve to pay for my mistake, I deserve to be punished. Punish me, Thane; I don’t deserve any form of mercy.” She pleads, the pain evident in her eyes. How I wish I could take that away.
“I won’t punish you, Riley.”
“What judgment do you give to people who murder other innocent people?” she questiohed.
.
The only judgment for that was death. A very, very slow death. But she wasn’t at fault here, and even if she was, even if she had killed Jake intentionally, I would still have forgiven her.
I couldn’t give her an answer.
“Please, Thane, you can’t just let me go, not after this.”
Chapter Two Hundred and Sevés
“I can and I will. So just stop asking for something we both know I cannot do.”
“Then I can’t stay.”
“I won’t let you go, ever.”
“What are you going to do?” She questioned with a shaky smile. I knew this was only an act and it wasn’t working. “Cut off my wings? I had the opportunity to leave this place. I didn’t because… I wanted to stay, but I have to do this.”
“You don’t have to do anything.” I insisted. I attempted to wipe out the tears streaming down her eyes, but she drew back, turning away from me.
“I thought you would know better. You sent me away because you were too dangerous to be close to me, and now I am too dangerous to be here, so I have to leave.”
She was right. I was being selfish; did I care about that? No. I was going to protect her the best I could. But I was never going to agree to this.
“Thane you
don’t understand and I don’t expect you to, killing people is second nature to you, but that’s not me. I am not going to move on and pretend that this didn’t happen; I am not going to lie to his parents one more time.”
“So what are you going to do? Tell them you did it?”
I could see the decision in her eyes–she was going to do this.
“It wouldn’t take the pain away, but that would be the right thing to do.” She says.
I wanted to take her pain away so bad…
And maybe I could.
I had promised her to never use this on her, and yet.. yet I couldn’t watch those tears; I couldn’t see her in pain and do nothing; I just couldn’t.
She would hate me for this.
“Look at me,” I whispered, and compelled, she did. “You didn’t kill Jake.”
“I didn’t?” she questioned, her eyes locked into mine.
“No, you didn’t. We found him dead in the woods, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, we did.”
“His body had been burned, and so there’d been no trace of how he died.”
Again, she nodded. “Who would do such a thing?”
“Other packs who want us dead. They did this to send us a message.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Chapter Two Hundred and Savek
I stared into her eyes, and she drew closer.
“I want to kiss you,
Thane.”
C
