CHAPTER 32: YOUR LOVER OR YOUR LIFE

ETHAN

We roamed through the packs, ducking and bypassing every single guard out for us.

The pack members had started to murmur. Hundreds of guards were scattered around.

The confusion on their faces, everyone saying a war was about to happen. Maybe there was a siege and after years of the joined packs being the strongest, it was about to fall.

Oh, I wished that was the case! I wished the Alpha was about to fall from his high horse and the Pack members would stop worshipping his ass.

Right now, I walked on the path to the mansion as every guard had gone toward the bustling pack center.

Shawn and Uriel were holding the reins at their spot, as I reached the back garden sinking my feet into the mud.

This was a risk. A chance I had to take for my mate and the minute I get caught, Uriel and Shawn would come running in.

We live together and we die together. However, not without our mate.

Getting into the mansion was easy, too easy and I started to think the Alpha was expecting me. Like this was a trap he had laid.

And maybe it was.

"He is here..." I muttered, as I turned in the direction of the footsteps.

He came down the stairs, in all his regalia and I must say, he looked well fed after being gone for days.

"Ethan? Are you here alone?" His lips curled, eyes twinkling with mischief. "How about those scrawny brothers of yours?"

"Scrawny?" I sneered. "Who do you think we took after? Oh, you? The scrawny ugly-looking Alpha?"

"Watch your mouth—"

"No, I won’t."

I was the brother without filter, what was he expecting?

He sighed, going to sit on the couch, eyes narrowing on me. He tapped his fingers on the arm rest, with the gears in his head turning.

"Come back home." He said. "I am willing to forgive you boys."

"Why?" I arched my brow. "What’s the catch?"

He was unusually calm, as if we hadn’t defied him and even killed his guards.

He shrugged, "I am impressed."

"You resisted five guards, killed and disposed of them. Without your wolves..."

"Or do you have one?" He pulled closer, sitting at the edge of the couch. "You can tell me, you know?"

My eyes dimmed, knowing my father wouldn’t spout words he hadn’t already thought about over and over again. I saw the slight flicker in his eyes, the doubts that made my stomach dip.

"What are you saying?" I sneered. "We would have died the moment that silver chain touched us."

"That’s what I was thinking!" He snapped his fingers and then stood up, pulling in closer.

I didn’t move an inch, I stared down at him and our gazes didn’t waver.

But his eyes turned even more sinister and narrowed, "But you boys, are no ordinary."

"You are born from my blood and Alpha wolves like us can resist anything. Just anything until we snap and break free."

I felt a cold sweat drip down my back, my throat bobbing. We were busted.

The next second, I heard Shawn’s voice in my head, "Ethan, get the hell out of there! We are done here!"

I took a step back, while shaking my head, "You are crazy."

He clicked his fingers again and instantly, the air dropped, tension crippling in.

The clank of chains made my head snap, and in the blink of an eye, a silver chain was being thrown at me, aimed at my neck.

I dodged, just an inch else I would be burned deep into my skin. My breath hitched, eyes going blurry for a moment.

"Are you out of your mind?" I snapped.

"Maybe..." He shrugged, tilting his head to the side. "Always."

More guards closed in on me and I realized the hundreds of guards scattered around were just a decoy. The Alpha had gathered his strongest soldiers here.

"Just a minute, Ethan. I just need to check something. Why would you keep your wolf away from your father?"

I laughed, chest heaving with a piercing knot that twisted in my chest.

"Since when have you cared?"

I had been numb to his coldness, his brutality, and now, he wanted to pierce me with the harshest pain, by calling himself a father?

What a joke!

"Since now, Ethan." He declared. "As long as I decide to, I can do anything I choose. And when I fucking ask you a question, you should give me an answer."

"And what if I say no?" I sneered, before my lips curled and twisted into a wide grin.

There was no fear in my eyes, just like he hated to see.

He stopped in his tracks while waving at a guard, "Bring her in."

My chest tightened, as my eyes darted to the guard who disappeared and reappeared again, while clutching Aria in his arms.

She struggled, screamed, and clawed at his arms and the next second, he threw her at my feet.

And then she looked up at me, her face morphing with joy.

"Ethan!" She gasped, forcing a tear down her face. "You came! You came for me..."

Her hands crawled on my legs, up my body and I almost threw her off me but I had to stay in character.

I held her, pulling her into my embrace as I patted her hair.

"I’m sorry..." I whispered. "We didn’t mean to leave you hanging."

"I know..." She cried, holding tighter into the embrace and I almost suffocated. "Let’s care for each other more from now on."

Her words reeked with desperation, grasping onto something she could never get.

And at that moment, we heard the cracking sounds of guns as the guards raised fatal object with silver bullets at Aria’s head.

The Alpha came forward, his lips curling as victory was near for him.

"How...how touching..." He chuckled, eyeing Aria’s behind. "I didn’t think my sons would have the same tastes."

"It’s not of your fucking business!"

"True..."

But then, he grabbed a gun from one of the soldiers, pointing it at me too. With those soulless eyes, he would kill me right on the spot.

"You have to choose now, Ethan. Your lover, or your life."