#Chapter 131 – Arabella Fights Back

Arabella

Fourteen Years Earlier

It wasn’t easy getting away from Odette. The powerful she-wolf was determined to keep me in the shelter with the other women and children, but I’ve always been good at slipping through the cracks when adults aren’t looking.

I’m still furious at Flynn and Bastien, they always treat me like I’m a baby. It isn’t fair that they get to go fight while I’m expected to cower in the darkness and wait for the danger to pass. Boys get to

be warriors, why is it any different for girls? I may not be as old as they are, but I’m every bit as brave – I know I am.

Darting through the forest, I head towards the sounds of the battle, determinedly keeping my eyes straight ahead. I can hear snarls and screams in the distance, and every now and then crimson pools flash in my periphery, blood spraying from fallen shifters as their lives wink out.

I followed my brother’s scent all across the mountain, but they traveled so far throughout the conflict that all the action had died down by the time I finally caught up with them. They were at the edge of a cliff, rolling over the bodies littering the ground to check for signs of life. I’ d never seen such carnage, and my stomach churned at the terrible images.

However the faces of these dead strangers were not the ones which would go on to haunt my nightmares for years to come. No, it was what happened next that brought my world crashing down and forever ruined my chances of achieving a good night’s sleep.

One of the – supposedly deceased – wolves at the edge of the trees got to his feet when Flynn and the others had their backs turned.

I didn’t see him myself until it was too late – otherwise I would have screamed a warning. Until this moment my foolish young mind had imagined itself in love with Bastien Durand. He was everything I could dream of in a mate, and one day he would be Alpha. No one in my family’s history had ever risen to a position of such power. Flynn would come the closest by becoming Beta, but if I married

Bastien i’d outdo even my superstar brother.

Well, those dreams died when the enemy wolf charged Bastien, and Flynn threw himself at the would-be killer just in time. Now I did open my mouth to scream, but unfortunately no sound came out. I stood there with my mouth gaping wild while Flynn and his target toppled over

the edge of

the cliff

his death, and I’ve watched it a million times more in my memory. The last surviving member of my family was gone in the blink of an eye, and all for the sake

brother gave his life to ensure this man could one day rule the pack, and all because he happened to be born

day I lost all respect for the pack hierarchy, and that was the day I decide that I would turn it on its head if it was the last

the reason he’s dead!” I choke, clawing at the huge wolf’s iron

not Flynn’s, and he wasn’t that wolf’s target. You were.

I don’t know that?” Bastien snarls, “You think I

it wasn’t!” i

rather than coming after me directly?” He scoffs, “What kind of logic

Squirming and kicking at

in the Gemini lands was a blessing. He knew he saw your family for the criminals you are! He was more of a friend to me than you ever were.” Nothing I do seems to budge his hold, but still I fight, lashing all of my anger out at him. “He offered me revenge, all you ever offered me was condescension, as if marrying you could

it took to make you happy. But in the end I did what was best for us both, I still

 

words pouring out of me in a torrent now that I’ve begun. “I stopped loving you and stopped caring about romance the day Flynn died. Since then all I

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could rule and ensure Flynn’s sacrifice would actually have been worth something. But you found a way to mess

Bastien demands, “what about my pup? They didn’t have anything to do with Flynn’s

were good for is to cause you pain. I wasn’t strong enough to take the pack by force, but through them I could finally make

his sharp canines. “He would be

way about me anymore.” I remind Bastien. “And when I’m done. Selene and your brat

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