We burst into the pack hospital with Jack and Hunter holding Isaiah up while I applied pressure to his wound. The hospital was a bit busy with the victims of Alaia’s little sleeping potion. Doctor Callie directed us to an empty room and they laid Isaiah on the bed.
I kept the pressure on his wound as one of the nurses tried to take over. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, but I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want him to die. It wasn’t until James touched my shoulders that I let the nurse do her job.
“He’s going to be okay, Zira,” James said while trying to pull me away from Isaiah, but my hand didn’t want to let go.
“I can’t lose him too, James. I can’t,” I said, looking at him. I knew seeing how much I cared for Isaiah would hurt him, but I knew he would understand. I hope he will understand.
“You won’t, Zira. Just let them work, OK?” I nodded and reluctantly let go of Isaiah’s hand.
We both walked into the hallway and I got one last glimpse of Isaiah before the door closed. James guided me to a seat as I tried to wrap my head around everything that happened. It happened so fast around me.
When we got back from the woods, most of the pack members were asleep. Not in their beds but in different parts of the pack house, including my parents. We knew something was up, so we went straight to Isaiah’s room.
I needed to make sure Arias was OK. Isabella was the first person I saw in the hallway. She kept muttering ‘It’s Mary’ for some reason. I couldn't understand until now. When I went into the room, there she was standing next to Isaiah with Arias nowhere in sight.
One moment I was lounging to snap that bitch’s neck, the next I was thrown into the wall with the weight of Isaiah. James lifted him off of me just in time for me to see Alaia disappear. She disappeared with my baby.
At that time, Hunter and Victoria showed up with Alpha Zack and his entourage but we didn’t have time to talk. Isaiah was bleeding with a dagger sticking out of his back. His wound was trying to heal but the dagger was in there really good. I was about to pull it out when James stopped me. I’m glad he did. I could’ve damaged something vital.
I paced back and forth in front of the door, waiting for answers, but none came. Nurses were in and out, each time with a bloody mess in their hands. At one point, I heard Isaiah scream and I tried to go in, but James stopped me again. I was anxious but his touch was soothing. I leaned against him to calm myself more when I heard my name.
I turned to see Hunter down the hall. He ushered me to follow him into a conference room. Alpha Zack was waiting there with his Beta and a woman. Zack walked over and gave me a hug as we ignored the growling from James and the other woman.
“You found your mate,” I said excitedly. “James is your mate,” Zack said at the same time with as much excitement as me.
Zack gave James a hug as I contemplated doing the same to the woman, who had her arm resting on a gun in her holster. I stopped myself, she didn’t seem like the hugging type.
“And you would be right,” she smiled at me as if she read my mind.
“Yeah,” Zack laughed. “Zira, this is Mirja, my mate.” We shook hands. “I can’t believe you’re James’ mate and he never told me.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is great and all, but can we get down to business,” Mirja said, and I couldn’t agree with her more. “Alaia has gone too far and we need to deal with it. Also, I want my book back.”
“Yeah, but how would we find her? No doubt she’s hiding her location. We’ve been trying to track her down for months now and this is as close as we got,” Zack said to Mirja.
“I don’t understand why she came back. She made it pretty clear she didn’t want anything to do with this pack,” Hunter said, looking at all of us.
“It can’t be a coincidence that the moment I show up she comes back and attacks us,” I started. “Maybe she wanted to finish what she started on the cliff.” There can only be one. I remembered what she said in my dreams and when she pushed me off the cliff. Then it hit me. “You don’t think she would…”
James turned me around to face him. “No! Don’t think that way. She wouldn’t hurt Arias.”
“How do you know? She’s a certified nut job and now she has my baby and there’s nothing we can do right now.”
“We can find her and kill her,” Mirja stated.
“Mirja,” Zack groaned, but Mirja shrugged her shoulders.
I agreed with her but… “How? If this was the closet you guys have gotten to find her, then the ball is still in her court. How are we going to find her?”
Everyone looked around at each other before James stepped up. “Me. You can use me. As bait.”
“Case solved. Use ginger boy as bait to bring her out. Then kill her,” Mirja said again.
“Mirja,” Zack sighed.
“What?”
I shook my head. “ No…no. Stupid idea. There’s no way I’m going-”
“Zira, it’s the only way. She said I knew what she wanted and she was right. She will give you Arias for me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I couldn't believe he thought I would bargain with this mentally disturbed woman.
“No! There has to be another way.”
“Mary.”
We all turned to see Isaiah leaning against the door with Victoria by his side. He looked deathly ill as if he just came back from the dead. The blood was gone and there was a huge bandage across his chest. Doctor Callie came running into the room.
“Alpha, please. You have to go back to bed and rest,” Doctor Callie said, but he waved her off.
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch,” he said while Victoria helped him to a chair.
“Mary was wearing this when I found her,” Victoria said, holding out a bracelet. “Alaia uses these to control people.”
“Great, so let’s go to this Mary girl, make her tell us where Alaia is, go there and kill her,” Mirja said. Everyone looked at Mirja and she stared back. “What? I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page about killing her.”
“Let’s just focus on detaining her. Then we can talk about what to do,” Isaiah said.
“No,” I yelled at him. “You are out of your mind if you think we’re going to detain her.”
“Zira-”
“No,” I growled at him. “Talking to her is long gone. You tried that and now look at where we are. Look at what she's done so far. She rejected you, killed your father, tried to kill me and our baby, more than once, and tried to kill you. That’s it! She’s out of lives!”
I was so angry that the last part was all Nina. We’ve had enough of this girl bullshit. Enough of people skirting around her like she was some untouchable being. They can talk to her all they want, but as soon as I get my hands on her, I’m ripping every inch of her to pieces.
No one said anything for a minute as I stared at Isaiah. I could tell he was pissed by the changing colors of his eyes, but I didn’t care at the moment. I made that decision long ago that she deserved nothing but death, and no one was going to stop me.
“We can’t just go around killing anyone we like, Zira. We will be no better than her. There are proper ways to do these things.”
“Proper went out the window when she took...my…son.” James started to rub my arms but I pulled away. I wanted to be angry. It was the first time I felt I was thinking clearly. “You want to keep her alive, that’s great, but if I have a chance I won’t hesitate.” Again, everyone was quiet, looking around at one another while I kept my eyes on Isaiah.
“So it seems like we’re all on the same page,” Mirja asked, breaking the silence.
“We’re not killing her. We bring her to the Elders and she will pay for her crimes, Zira. I promise,” Isaiah said while standing up to leave.
Was he really serious? Something about that word ‘promise’ really rubbed Nina the wrong way. Enough for her to growl through me, making Isaiah turn back around and look at us.
“I’m sorry, but your promises aren’t really amounting to much these days.”
I heard myself say, but it wasn’t me. Nina was at the forefront now. Something felt different but familiar at the same time. I knew I was angry, but this anger felt the same as the time I was in the hotel. I felt like it was consuming us.
“What did you just say,” Isaiah, no, Devon asked. Each word came out as if it was painful to talk. He looked at us and his eyes were no longer blue but red. “You forget your place, she-wolf. I’m the Alpha here.”
And that's when all hell broke loose. I was pissed, Nina was more pissed, and all I saw was red. “You are no Alpha of mine!”
Like deja vu, Isaiah growled and lunged at me, but James tackled him instead and they both crashed into the wall. Isaiah might’ve looked weak but he was still an Alpha and easily got the better of James. I watched as Alpha Zack and Hunter held Isaiah back while Bronx latched onto James.
This was not what I wanted right now. I tried taking back control but Nina held on fast.
Nina, we have to stop. Can’t you feel it? We’re being hexed like before.
Good. It seems like it's the only time the truth comes out.
I could feel the truth in her words but…I know, but this is not where our fight should be directed. I will not be someone else’s puppet.
That struck a chord with Nina and she hesitantly gave me back control. Much to James' dismay, I walked over to Isaiah, who was still growling at James. I kept my distance as I spoke.
“I don’t want to fight, Devon.” His red eyes turned to me. “But we need to stop letting her control us. She’s been doing that from the start and I think in a way you knew or at least suspected, but I get it.
She was your mate and you didn’t want to believe she would hurt those close to you. But she did, over and over.” His eyes were slowly getting back to the normal gray. I stepped closer to touch his shoulder and he let out a deep breath. “If you don’t want to kill her, then YOU don’t have to, but she has to pay.”
Isaiah was fully back now and I could see him thinking about my words. I really needed him on my side because when I got the opportunity I was going to take it regardless. I was all for laying down my life to protect those I care about. Arias would be in good hands if I had to leave. I have already had a chance at love, twice, and James has shown me what true happiness feels like. So I was ready if it was in the cards. Isaiah took another deep breath and nodded.
“So how do we find her,” he asked.
"I think she can help with that," Victoria said, pointing to the doorway.
Everyone turned to see Mary with a guard holding her arm. Her head was down and her face was hidden by her hair. She looked drained and could barely stand on her feet. I walked over and she flinched but I held up my hands.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Mary. We all know she was controlling you,” I said softly to show I didn’t mean any harm.
Mary refused to look at me but she did let me guide her to a chair. I squatted down enough to see her face which was stained with tears. “I’m so sorry. Zira. I never wanted to hurt anyone.”
I could barely hear her but I could feel what she was saying. “We know, Mary, and we don’t blame you, OK? Right now we need to stop the person behind this and you can help us. Ok?”
Mary slowly looked up and at everyone around the room. I got a napkin to help wipe her face. “Now,” I started, not really in the mood for waiting, “tell us where Alaia is?”