Alpha's Betted Bride

Chapter 86.

Aiden and I sat in silence for several minutes before I had the courage to speak.

"I don't know yet. There's just so much going on and things that have happened that I don't know if I can stay. I mean I just found out that I have this whole other family that I thought all my life gave me up. Now I have a mate as well and things just aren't working out as they're supposed to,"

"Or maybe they're working out exactly as they're supposed to. You went through hell, Erin, but now you're here, you're home. Maybe this was your way back,"

"Or maybe I was just never meant to come back," I whispered. The life I had been living for the past years had been that of a nightmare and the thought of it all being part of my faith was terrifying.

"Just don't do anything rash, take your time and think about it before deciding,"

Aiden got up and left. His eyes were pleading with me but just like the rest of them, I knew he wouldn't try to stop me if I chose to leave. He'd respect my decision, as they all would because they were nice people and maybe if I had been here sooner before everything else happened, I would've had an easier time making this choice.

"Are you okay?" Gabby asked me when I walked down the stairs.

"Yeah I'm fine, just had a talk with Aiden,"

"How'd it go?"

"I don't know," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

I looked around and noticed that no one else was there.

"Where's Cassy and your brothers?"

"Cassy is down in the dungeons with Noah and my brothers are waiting for the warriors to come back with the witch."

We heard a car driving up outside and ran out to meet them. The warriors stepped out covered in blood and sot and growled as they walked up to us.

They stopped in front of Gabby and hung their heads.

"Sorry, Luna. We couldn't get her," Gabby stared in confusion at the wounded warriors. These were some of the strongest, most well-trained, and feared werewolves in the country and they couldn't bring in one witch? How strong was this bitch?

"That's okay, go clean up," she said.

"Who is this girl?" She asked and looked up at me.

I shook my head and looked down the road. Maybe there was another way to bring her in, but how?

"What happened? Where are they?" Nick asked when he came out.

Edmund followed behind him but his eyes strained to keep focus as two girls walked by and he bit down on his lip. They grinned and laughed, one of the girls pulled her shirt down exposing her cleavage and Edmund smirked.

"They couldn't get her, you should've seen them. Whoever she is, she's strong," Gabby said and sighed.

"Maybe we should go," Edmund said and stepped closer. The girls were gone so he could focus again.

"No, no way. If they couldn't get her I'm not sending you in."

"It's cute that you think you have a say in the matter, sis," Edmund said and grinned. She stepped up in front of him and raised her head.

"I do have a say in it. In fact, I have the last say so in everything that goes on around here because, in case you have forgotten, I am the Luna. As long as you're staying here, you'll do well to remember that." Edmund's eyes fell and he clenched his jaw so hard I thought his teeth would come out in dust.

"My apologies, Luna." He seethed and stepped back. Aiden came out as well and heard about what happened. Edmund walked inside, seething as he walked up the stairs and into his room.

Gabby only did what she did out of love and fear and Edmund knew that but she pulled rank and that he didn't like.

"We'll think of something else," Aiden said and grabbed her hand. They walked upstairs and that left me with Nick. Why was I so damn uncomfortable around him?

"Are you hungry?" I nodded my head and walked with him into the kitchen. Nobody else was there but I saw a smaller table that had been set up in the corner. Candles had been lit and the food was placed in the middle.

"You did this?" I gasped.

"Come on," he said softly and grabbed my hand. He pulled out my chair and then sat down opposite of me. Nick poured us some wine and dimmed the light so that the candles could shine in their beauty.

"This is amazing," he smiled and filled my plate before his own.

I stared at him, his beautiful eyes that glittered under the light of the fire, his chiseled jaw, and his smooth lips.

He rolled his sleeve up and I saw the tattoos that he had on his left arm. It was an angel with a wolf behind it.

"What's that?" I asked and he saw where my eyes had landed. He pointed to the angel, "Ths is my sister, and this," he said and pointed to the wolf, "is me, always standing behind her, protecting her. I got it a few days after she turned thirteen. When she was born I swore to her that I would always, no matter what, protect her forever,"

Me and Nick started eating and he asked questions about my childhood and my old pack.

"We would always go on hunts together, even when I didn't have my wolf. They would hunt, have their fun and then come back to the tent we'd set up and we'd grill marshmallows and tell scary stories." I remembered the memories fondly as they represented some of the best days in my life. Nothing could replace them.

"Your family sounds amazing," he said and smiled.

"They were the absolute best in every single way. I mean they took in a stray wolf, having no idea about who I was or where I came from. They didn't hesitate for a second," I laughed when I remembered the stories my mom told me about when she found me. She looked around for a few days to see if anyone missed their daughter but after the third day, she told the Alpha to call off the search. She said that if nobody had come by now I was hers. She called dibs and took me home.

"I'm glad you were taken care of. It could've gone a lot worse for a little girl out there all alone,"

"I know, me too. It was like I was protected. There was a dove when I was out there, it wouldn't leave my side and I remember following it until I was found out in the woods. My parents were out hunting outside the border and that's where they found me," I said and held the pendant around my neck. It was the only thing I had with me except for my clothes.

We had eaten our food and continued talking. There was something about Nick that I couldn't shake. He had a certain calm and strength that I hadn't ever sensed before. Was it the mate bond that I was feeling or was this just him?

We heard a car roaring to life outside and the tires pressing into the gravel.

Nick looked at me wide-eyed and clenched his jaw.

"Edmund." He growled and pushed back his chair but as we ran out we saw that the car wasn't leaving, it was coming up the road toward us.

Gabby and Aiden came running downstairs and Gabby was buttoning her shirt. I smirked when I saw her and she slapped my arm. Nick rolled his eyes and glared at her before turning his head. The car stopped and a woman stepped outside.

The warriors were looking at us and quickly walked over.

"That's her, Alpha. That's the witch." They said and took their stance next to us. Her blonde hair blew in the wind and she tossed it over her shoulder. Her lean legs swayed as she walked perfectly in her stilettos on the gravel. The witch was here and she was not at all what I expected.