The Alpha’s Dark Revenge

Liyah’s POV

I tightened my arm over Nikolai’s torso, leaning into him and not wanting to let go. I still felt eternally grateful to have him standing by my side alive and well. His wounds had been so bad that he had fallen unconscious for days. Margaret and I had to work day and night to treat him, mixing concoctions and applying them on him and the other man he had asked us to bring back with him. He still hadn’t told us anything about the strange man. His wounds were nearly fatal, ten times worse than the ones Nikolai had sustained. I didn’t know who he was but I was praying he would be okay.

Nikolai chuckled and it sounded like music to my ears. It felt good to hear his laughter again. “Li, I know you love me and that you’re happy to have me back, but now you’ve got me thinking you’re planning to send me back into a coma.”

I laughed, loosening my hold on him. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I touched you or even smelled your hair? Let me have my moment,” I joked, pulling a face.

He huffed. “Are you sure that’s all you missed? Any chance you missed that other thing…? Big, hard and stro-”

I stopped him by throwing a pillow in his face as he began to laugh. “Your foul mind belongs in the gutters,” I giggled.

“Agreed.”

I wrapped my arms around him once more. Everything was going great. It was back to normal. He had recovered a few days ago, and once he was okay to move around, he accompanied me to the Monhowl territory to gather some things I needed to get. I didn’t feel good one bit going back there, but I know I needed to.

Since the Selene pack had overthrown the alpha of the Monhowl pack, Nikolai had automatically become the new alpha of both packs. But he decided that he wanted to do things differently. The first thing he did when we got there was gather all the pack members left. There weren’t a lot of them as most of them had died in battle. And Nikolai had made sure that I picked out all of those who had hurt me in anyway. When I did that he was satisfied. He ordered them to assemble, first introducing himself and me as his Luna. I still remember the blush that creeped up my cheeks at those words.

He had explained the whole thing, and asked anyone who didn’t want to be a part of the pack to leave now. He promised that no consequences would be involved if they decided to leave. But to my greatest surprise, no one moved an inch. It wasn’t news that Jonas had terrorised nearly all the packs in the werewolf world just so he could be on top. And his pack was not excluded. Maybe they needed a change of governance… better, healthier leadership. Nikolai had ordered that they move over to our mansion to adjust as they would live there from now on. And everyone seemed okay with that.

When we were done with the pack meeting, I made my way to my old room. Once there I gasped in surprise as I moved to the other end of the room. Right there in a small cage was my little pixie kitten, Jada. Jada was a full-grown cat now. And it seemed like she recognized me because as soon as I broke the cage open she jumped at me and into my lap. After I had scoured through the house, I picked out the portrait of my mother and a necklace I found in her old room which apparently belonged to her.

We drove home the same day, our new pack members in tow. And after a meeting with Margaret, Drew and Annalise, Nikolai decided on a use for the Monhowl mansion. He would use it as a home for the werewolves he had saved from trafficking. The underground mansion was safe, but now they no longer had anything to fear Nikolai decided it would be best for them to be in the open, interact with others of their kind, breathe clean air, and make friends.

And that was fine by me.

I snuggled deeper into his chest as we both lay on the sofa in comfortable silence.

“Guys?”

We both looked up to see Drew standing at the door. Gesturing to Nikolai, he said, “Your friend is finally awake,” He said simply, curiosity clear on his face. I guess I wasn’t the only one curious about this friend of Nikolai’s.

We exchanged looked and Nikolai stood. “Do you want to come as well?” He asked me. I didn’t want to seem too interested so I pretended to think about it. I saw Drew smirk at me knowingly, making me laugh. Finally I shrugged and then we walked to the room.

It took all I had in me not to gasp when I saw the man’s face. He looked… terrible. My face ached as I stared at him and I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much pain he was in. He slowly opened his eyes, first facing Nikolai. He gave a crooked smile. “Hello, friend.”

To my surprise, Nikolai laughed. “How are you feeling? It’s Gabriel right? I’m Nikolai.”

Gabriel nodded, carefully laying back on the pillow. “You’re pretty banged up. It’ll take a while to heal so you’d have to take bed rest for at least three weeks,” Margaret said.

He nodded. “Thank you so much for everything. I didn’t expect to be alive right now. Thank you all. Really.”

“It’s fine, you don’t need to thank us. You can see it as me repaying the favor. You saved my life twice, after all.”

After he had smiled at Nikolai, his eyes surprisingly turned to me. Suddenly uncomfortable, I muttered a hi to him. But he continued to stare until pretty much everyone in the room noticed.

“You have your mother’s eyes,” He finally said.

I stared at him in disbelief. For a moment I wondered if the damage to his body was having an effect on him, but I could tell he was serious from his expression.

“You knew my mother?” I asked, holding onto Nikolai’s arm for support. But I wasn’t sure. I stared at Gabriel in wonderment. He didn’t look a day above thirty. When he caught me staring at him, he laughed.

“I know that look. I get it all the time. I’m forty-three years old this year, to be exact.”

I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only person in the room who gasped. Nikolai and I exchanged looks and I could see Drew and Annalise do the same from across the room.

When I had recovered from that surprising piece of information, I asked. “Did you really know my mother?”

He nodded. “And not just her, your father too. As a matter of fact, Jonas was my half-brother.” At the surprise on my face, he laughed bitterly. “We used to be inseparable. But that was a long time ago. Way back.”

What? So technically it meant that he was my uncle…?

“What happened between you two then?” I asked.

“Well, long story short, we fell in love with the same woman. But Jonas had the upper hand. After all he was older, stronger, better. And although Esther and I loved each other, I didn’t want to end up hurting my brother. Neither of us was her mate after all.”

Nikolai intertwined a warm hand in mine, squeezing reassuringly as I waited for Gabriel to continue.

“Some weeks later, my wolf proclaimed Esther my mate. I was the happiest man alive. Finally I was sure. She was my mate. I had no excuse not to be with her.”

I couldn’t help the smiled that spread over my cheeks.

“But that same night, I was abducted by some of Jonas’ men, beaten to a pulp and left for dead in the middle of nowhere. In an attempt to escape, I had jumped into the lagoon. They must have thought me dead because they left soon after…” He trailed off. “I was going to propose, you know?” He smiled bitterly, and I felt my heart clench.

“So there you have it. My own brother was ready to murder me because the woman whom he also loved was my mate. I had never felt so betrayed… I swore revenge on him. But I knew it would be fatal to go anywhere near that mansion. Some years later I learned he was the alpha of the pack and that he was married to Esther.”

“I was so sad when I found out Esther died during childbirth. I mourned her for months, but there was nothing I could do. So I lived as a lone wolf, made a few friends, and together we formed a pack. When I discovered Jonas’ trafficking business, it seemed like a good way to get back at him at first. But then… the things he did to those people, they were disgusting to watch.”

I instinctively faced Nikolai. He had said the exact same words.

“So I decided I would help them. But apparently, someone had beaten me to it,” He grinned at Nikolai who smiled. “So I decided to watch, follow… observe in the shadows until I was needed. And that’s how we met. I was so interested in you, Nikolai that I had you looked into. And then I found you…” He trailed off.

“Liyah,” I offered.

“Liyah,” He repeated, a smile curling the lips upward. “I found out you were Esther’s daughter, and I decided I would watch over you. That’s how I knew when Jonas kidnapped you. And so… here we are.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“You have an uncle, Li,” Drew said, making everyone laugh and lightening the atmosphere in the room.

“What was she like?” I asked the question that had been on my mind the whole time.

Gabriel smiled sadly. “Well for starters, you’re a carbon copy of her. There’s isn’t a doubt in the world about that.”

I chuckled. “That’s good to hear.”

“And she had this warm aura… I’m not sure how to explain. She was calm, compassionate and quick to forgive. But when she got angry, oh my goodness trust me you wouldn’t want to be close to her. That woman was fierce!”

I laughed, tears coming to my eyes. “She sounds like a great person.”

“Oh, she was. She really was.”

The tears that I had been struggling to hold back, poured down my cheeks in torrents. I sniffed, wiping my face as Nikolai placed a firm arm on my shoulder rubbing it in circles.

“And Liyah?” Gabriel called out. I turned to face him. “I know I just met you and I don’t really know you yet, but I feel honored to be given this chance to know you. You’re brave, strong and beautiful, just like your mother. And I’m sure that wherever Esther is right now, she would be so proud of you.”

I nodded, reaching out to squeeze his hand gently. “Thank you..”

As we all exited the room to allow his rest, there was only one word to explain how I felt at the moment.

Contentment.