Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 30

Jonah's POV

I fought long and hard, biting, clawing, slashing until I was so tired my body screamed at me and my muscles ached. But I pushed on. I had to keep going or they would've taken her away and drug her again. The bullets ricochetted from the house walls as the soldiers pushed us deeper and deeper into the heart of Evansville. I had to keep fighting. For the town, for my father, for Imani. Even if she didn't think I was fighting for her or not.

Then like that, in the dead of night, after hours of non-stop battle, the vehicles pulled out. Swift and softly the soldiers crept out, putting down their guns and running through the night like they'd never been there. I shifted back into a human and breathed heavily.

"Juvenis, Juvenis." A pack soldier ran up to me, caked blood and mud staining his face. Two lines of wetness ran down his cheeks. Tears. "I have terrible news." Emotions racked the soldier's body. I looked just past him. A wolf lay dying on the ground. My stomach dropped.

"Father," I whispered. I shoved past the crying soldier and went to him. He shifted back with what little strength he had left, wasting it. What did he want to tell me so bad that he wasted chance at life for it? I crouched by his side. "No, no, no, no!"

His hand closed around me as he opened his eyes. They were shockingly clear, shockingly calm. "Avenge me."

"How?" Tears rolled down my cheeks.

"By making sure the ones who did this to me, can never do it again." His grip on my hand loosened and his eyes went foggy.

"Father, father!" I shook him by the shoulders. He was only sleeping, only closing his eyes to rest while the witch was getting there. I turned over my shoulder. "Get the witch!" Everyone I shouted to wouldn't meet my eyes, wouldn't move. Why weren't they moving, why weren't they doing anything? "Move! Anybody! Go get the witch. Don't just stand there."

"Wake up," I said, half sobbing. His body laid still. I took a deep, ragged breath and closed his lids. A piercing wail came from the distance. Someone must've told my mother and sister the news. "Wake up," I whispered. He wasn't going to wake up because he wasn't sleeping, but it felt good to try. He wasn't going to wake up because he was dead.

I stood and wiped my hands. A group of men came and hauled my father's broken and scarred body away. I turned my back to it. I didn't want to cry in front of my men who had also lost their brothers and fathers here. If they could find the strength to hold themselves together, I must too. The men who had fought by my side now kneeled. There was no elation, no happiness as I expected there would be when I became Alpha. My father's father stepped down and gave him the position. There was a party, there was a celebration. Now...the dark sky overhead threatened rain. Maybe it was crying too.

The first voice came from my kneeled soldiers. "All hail the Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack."

It spread through the crowd as they echoed it back. 'All hail the Alpha of the Midnight Moon pack."

"All hail Jonah Alexander Evans, long may he reign."

"All hail Jonah Alexander Evans. Long may he reign." One by one, they howled, towards where the moon would be if it were night. I closed my eyes. It sounded like a funeral cry to me.

It was a bittersweet moment-- a time that was supposed to be one of the happiest moments in my life was also the saddest. I hung my head low and made my way back to the house. Was the victory worth it? If I had just let her go like she wanted, my father would still be alive. But then the Midnight Moon pack would have no more Alphas after me. My sister answered the door, eyes red and puffy.

"She's gone. This was all pointless."

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"The army withdrew when she escaped. She must've scaled the wall during the night. We didn't anticipate it, we didn't..." She broke down into sobs. "And now Dad is dead and for what? She wanted to go and she had and we've paid the price. He died for nothing."

I shoved past her. I would feel bad about it later, but now...Imani. I was numb to everything around me for the moment. I burst into her room to find the window open and the curtain blowing in the breeze. The room was torn apart. The comforter shoved to the floor, the closet rummaged through, the things on the desk thrown to the floor.

My hands balled into fists before I fell to the floor. My father was dead and my mate had left me. I saw red. In the crossfire that had killed my father, she had left? My father died for nothing. My father died....

My father was dead. And he was never coming back.

At that moment that weight of it hit me like the brick. I wiped at the tears rolling down my cheeks. "It's all my fucking fault. All of this. I'm not ready to lead anything, especially when I can't even convince my mate to stay. I'm so sorry father."

I was Alpha because my father was dead. And on top of that, my mate had left me. After all these weeks where I thought that maybe she was softening up to me, that maybe she would be happy here at some point....

I curled my hands into fists. It was a trick, all of it. She was using me the whole time--she had me curled around her fingers, and I fell for it, hard. I set my jaw and left the room. Imani might think she's won, but if I know anything about her is that she's going to get as far away as possible, as soon as possible. She was probably on her to an airport already to some obscure destination that's she's lived in before.

I ran down the stairs and out into the early morning. My father's beta, I needed to find him. He would be able to do what I needed. My sister still wept in the doorway. I looked at her. She needed me right now, so did my mother..and I needed them too, but my hand was forced. If I hesitated, Imani could get out of the country.

The Beta was in his house, nursing an injury to his arm. I pounded on the door and almost ripped it off the hinge when no one answered me. "Alpha. Congratulations on your new position and sorry for your-"

"Nevermind that. My mate left and I know she's going to try to leave the country. Being the biggest pack, I think it should be very easy to force the other packs' hands in this. Tell them of what happened here and how easily it could happen to them. Tell them of her and how she refuses to accept the natural order must not be allowed to leave the country."

"Alpha..perhaps you should consider taking a new mate?"

I whipped my head around. "I marked her. It's impossible and the moon goddess will punish the entire pack if I try. No, if I want a strong Alpha to take over after me the child must be of me and my mate. You will get the other packs to cooperate with us and you will get them to monitor their nearest airports."

The man's lips pressed into a thin line. "And if they refuse?"

"We are the biggest pack and we have the biggest army. If they refuse, say we'll remind them who's top dog."

I made to leave when he spoke again. "Alpha, there is the matter of what to do with all the mindwipe potion made. Do you still plan to carry on your father's plans?"

I stared down at the floor. 'Avenge me,' rang in my head over and over, stuck there. I would avenge him, I would take the power away from those that killed him. Then I would take that power for myself. "It's engineered for humans correct?"

"Correct."

"Have it dumped in as many water supplies as possible and turn the rest into mist to work like pollution. In a few weeks, the whole nation will have at least a drop of it and a drop is all we need. The other packs will be happy to invest in keeping our existence a secret." For now.

"Alpha...what are you planning?"

"To avenge my father. To make the people who killed him unable to do it again, nothing more."

I left, eyes ahead of me. Imani might have run away, but there was no way she would get away. She could run, hide even, but never escape. Not when I would drag her back here.

I tried to be, loving, caring, gentle. I wanted to give her the world.

But she took advantage of that.

I made the mistake I said I wouldn't make again. I forgot to make it clear what exactly she was...mine.

I'd simply have to make it clearer when I got her back. Looking out into the horizon, I imagined where she might be. "And make no mistake, I will find you again."