Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(18)

“What? What…do you mean?” Meryl loved Noah?

“From the look in your eyes, you’re an idiot. I loved Jeffery. He was going to be mine. Then you had to walk up to him and show him what fate wanted. Well, f*ck fate. Jeffery was mine.”

“I…I never knew. I’m so sorry, Meryl.” She was honest in that. To find out the man you loved was fated to another had to hurt in so many ways, but that didn’t give the other woman the excuse to chain Emeline to a cliff wall.

“I thought I could keep him away from you. I even had your father help me, but it wasn’t enough.”

Shocked, Emeline could only stare. Meryl and her father had worked together to keep her and Jeffery apart? What the hell?

“Then when you decided to be with him anyway, well, there was nothing else I could do. You see, with you in the picture, Jeffery didn’t want me. He would have loved me without you there. But then you muddled his brains with your violet eyes and soft words. Well, f*ck you, Emeline. You never deserved him. And because you ruined him, I had to make sure no one had him.”

Emeline licked her lips, her heart thudding loudly in her ears. “What are you saying, Meryl? What did you do?”

Meryl raised her chin, that manic gleam to her eyes brightening even more. “I helped your father chain you to the basement, much like you’re chained now. Of course, they’re different chains since you destroyed the last ones in your desperate and bloody attempts to free yourself. Then I sent Jeffery away to war. It wasn’t hard. He already thought you’d chosen anyone over him. You never deserved him anyway. He was mine. And if I couldn’t have him, no one could.”

Emeline’s jaw dropped, her wolf raging inside.

Jeffery had died, and everything that had happened since was because of this woman’s petty jealousy.

“You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me. How could you do that? How could you send someone you say you loved to his death?”

Meryl slapped her hard again, but Emeline didn’t close her eyes this time. There was no telling what Meryl would do next.

“You bitch. You don’t understand true love. We would have had an amazing life together, and then you had to show another path. That path was a lie. A lie! He should have been with me.”

Everything started to make sense then. The years of living cut off within the elder’s part of the den because of Meryl. Meryl had ruled that area with an iron fist because of her age, and the rest of them had given in because they didn’t know any better. Emeline had taken the brunt of Meryl’s judgments and all because Meryl was a jealous bitch.

Well, no more.

“I can’t believe you did all of that, Meryl. You had no right.”

“I had every right. And now I will make sure you never feel what you did for that man again. You should have stayed in your little house and away from the other wolves. But no, you had to go and prove yourself worthy to the f*cking Alpha and his family. You were nothing, and you should have stayed that way. Now you think you’re better than the rest of us. You even found another mate. How is that fair? Huh? Well, no bother, Noah left you, and when I’m done with you, he’ll never have you again.”

Emeline froze, her wolf growling. “Don’t you dare touch Noah.”

“I won’t hurt him. I won’t even look at him. No, I’m going to kill you right here on the side of this cliff. Then I will make it look like Noah did it so he’ll face judgment from the Alpha and his brothers. When he dies, everything you’ve ever tainted will be gone. Then I can finally be at peace.”

No. Noah would not be touched. He would not face any form of judgment from the Alpha. That would be dealt with later. Now, though, Meryl needed to be stopped. Emeline was done lying down and taking whatever came at her. She was done living by Meryl’s dictates. She wanted to find Noah, tell him the truth about the tears he’d seen, and then mark him as her mate.

She wanted all of that, and damn it, she’d get it.

Emeline pulled at the manacles with all her strength. The metal bit into her wrists, and a trail of blood ran down her arms.

Meryl grinned, and Emeline’s wolf rose to the surface, ready to claw that grin right off the bitch’s face.

Emeline let her wolf rise even further and shifted her hands, forcing her claws to rip through her fingers, squeezing down on the manacle. Meryl’s eyes opened wide, but Emeline ignored them for the moment. Oh, she’d get to the other woman soon. Right then, she just needed to get free. Letting the magic of the moon goddess wash over her—something she tried hard not to take advantage of, as being in debt to a goddess was never a good idea—she growled. Her body shook, her strength increasing as she pulled harder.

Blood oozed from her cuts, but, again, she ignored it. She pulled one more time, and the manacles broke free of the chains then hit the ground.

Meryl scrambled to her feet, her own claws popping from her fingertips. Emeline pounced, knocking the woman to the ground.

“Don’t you dare, Meryl. You’ve hurt me and those I love for the last time.” She punched the woman in the face, knocking Meryl’s head into the ground. Hard.

The sound soothed her wolf. Somewhat.

Meryl clawed at her, but Emeline was faster. She took the other woman by the neck then hit her again. This time, Meryl’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, as she lost consciousness.