The Cliff

Inferno

(Unedited) I may have messed something up. But I had to update.

"I knew Rafe and Lily as two of my best enforcers. Always had the best instinct in most dangerous missions. I think that is why I subconsciously favoured them recently. Both of them worked so in sync that it always left me in awe. Maybe that is why they left us together, because they couldn't bear leaving the other to suffer without them. I remember the first day I visited their house for a brief on a small but critical mission, I saw two capable enforcers being terrific parents to a grumpy and moody daughter, and an adorable toddler. Remember that Rafe and Lily may have been viciously removed from our lives by one of those damn rogues, but their legacy still stands among us -- Avery and Brandon. They both need our support more than ever. And as a pack in gratitude of Rafe and Lily's service, we will deliver!"

I could still feel the rain on my cheeks as if I stood in the backyard with the crowd, listening to Alpha Blake deliver the speech to my packmates. My packmates. They were my packmates. We were family, every last one of them. My heart was filled with warmth hearing those words. Everyone has reached out to me, through our link, making their presence known to me. To me, this warm mental touch meant I had not lost my home yet. I was still among my own people.

It took them a year to decide that I was given enough time to grieve. My heart was still healing. They ripped the band aid right off. The wound started festering. And as my subjugation began, my heart began filling with anger. Anger starved off the pain. Anger could let me breathe. Anger kept me sane.

Seeing Ryan, the band aid was ripped off again. But this time my heart had time to heal. I was not angry anymore. I was numb, I was prepared.

"Avery, get me out of here," he pleaded through the bars. Still trying to reach to me. 

"Why should I? After everything you still expect me to save you?"

His eyes widened. Then he shook his head vigorously. "You shouldn't. You shouldn't. I know what you must do. You must punish me." He smiled. Insanity gleamed in his eyes. Is that what I looked like back then? I shook my head. Doesn't matter.

"What punishment could serve justice in the face of what you did?"

"Kill me," he answered simply.

He had lost his mind rotting in this cell for so long. I was not pleased. Only with a sane mind he would be able to suffer like I wanted him to.

"Avery!" Gamma Drake's voice sounded down the turn I came from.

"Listen here, you piece of shit. You will get your mind together for when I get you out of here. I don't care if you have to beg the moon goddess for the next 24 hours but when I am back, your insanity better have disappeared."

"Avery." Gamma Drake caught up to me. "You shouldn't explore on your own here. People get lost, never to be found."

I walked behind him as he led me out of the dungeon. This male was insufferable.

"Where is Alpha Cade?" I wanted to know. After he stormed off like that, the only possible answer would be shift.

"Interrogating," he answered.

"In his state?"

"Don't worry. He calmed down. No thanks to you."

I halted. "I can't calm a mid shift Alpha."

He stopped. We were by the steps. "You really don't know the influence you have on him, do you?" He shook his head.

And without another word he led me out of the dungeon and towards the pack house. He was uncharacteristically silent the whole way back. No taunt, no smirk. And somehow that felt worse than his loud mouth. He just silently led me to my room.

"Get ready for lunch with Alpha Kyle." With that he left.

I was getting the feeling of disappointing yet another one. It weighed heavily on me.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"You aren't ready yet?" His voice was warm, unlike how I was feeling. Unlike the way he left me standing in the dungeon. Cold.

I ran into his arms. The need to leech all the warmth I could get from him, grew inside me. I held him tightly. His arms, however, were limp by his sides.

"Alpha Cade, I am sorry," I whispered. For what I did not know. I just wanted to get him to hug me back. The wide expanse of his shoulders were taut. His body so rigid in my arms that his skin felt like a stranger to mine. 

"I said that I am sorry, what more do you want me to do," I shouted at him, punching his chest. He was still not hugging me back. 

Slowly, his hands wound around my body. A loud exhale of his breath reminded me that he had not been breathing this entire time. Bit by bit, his skin came alive against mine. I had wanted to feel his warmth to chase away the cold in my heart; he gave me an inferno. I felt wetness on my shoulder where his head was nested. 

I pushed away slightly. Holding his cheeks in my palms, my heart clenched on seeing tears in his eyes. He tried to pull me back into his embrace. And I let him. Because there was nothing to be said. I understood what he was feeling. I understood at that moment, I would never be able to leave this male again.  He was the only one who I could be around and not feel like my heart would explode. He was my male.

Some time passed and we ended up sitting in each other's embrace by the door on the floor, his fingers drawing circles on my arm. I was at peace for the first time today. I pulled my head from against his chest. "Didn't we have lunch with your father?"

He smiled at me. "You want to go?"

He  was giving me the choice. "Sure." I wanted to let him know that I respected his.

He kissed me deeply, pulling me up as he got up. I melted against his arms.

"Let's go." He smiled again.

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Alpha Cade led me to what was a dinning room. The same one he had brought me after marking me. There was one right outside the kitchen, but this seemed to be they used when privacy was a criteria. Because the only weres here last time, besides us, were Alpha Kyle and Enforcer Tristan. Same as now.

Alpha Kyle had intimidated me back when he was playing a passive role in his pack. Now that I had gone ahead and straight up abandoned his son, I was scared of looking in his eyes. And Enforcer Tristan had not interacted with me after interrogating Karim and Yasmin. The idea of having a lunch with them now seemed like an ordeal. I was getting nervous. Alpha Kyle certainly didn't look any less scarier. The years had certainly not touched him. The same build as his son, the same eyes and scars that looked like they really hurt.  Sitting at other end  of the dinning table, I was internally the opposite of calm.

 Alpha Cade pulled a chair for me to his right. His fingers brushed my shoulders when he pushed me in. Immediately after he sat down, he carefully pulled my chair towards his. The same old bullshit he pulled that evening, only the aggressiveness was dialed down to a zero. Both the were on the opposite end were watching us carefully. Seeing Alpha Cade pull my chair towards him brought a smile to both of their faces.

"I won," Alpha Kyle announced, cheering loudly.

Enforcer Tristan sighed. And beside me Alpha Cade did the same. I was lost.

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I know. I know. Late! Sowry.

Declare the punishment and I shall accept.

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