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He nods. “I had no choice. I left the room, loaded my gun, and when I returned, I shot them as they goaded each other about what they were going to do to Ava.”
I swallow as Gabe sighs before he continues. “After I made the call to Walker, I dragged their bodies into the basement of the house and poured fuel over every one of them and set them on fire. By the time the house blew up, they were already burned to a crisp.”
Our eyes lock.
“I’m not a good man.” He stares at me for a moment and I don’t respond. “You must hate me.”
I tilt my head to one side, considering him. Now I see how beat up he is about not only what happened to me and my sister, but also what he did that day.
“You saved my life. My sister’s life. You killed for me. How can I hate my alpha?”
“Your alpha,” Gabe says softly, looking at me, eyes still bleak.
Another tear rolls down his cheek. I lift my hand and wipe it away with my thumb. “It’s time for us to start again.”
Chapter 31
Gabe
“I don’t deserve you,” I say as she walks away. “Or your forgiveness.”
She smiles, turning to me. “You saved me. I reckon that means you’ve earned your place.” She turns and continues walking.
“Watch the blood!” I yell.
She stops and gags at the blood congealing on the floor, before she walks around it, out of the office and to the staircase.
I follow her. I’m still feeling like the worst alpha in the world. Because of me and my old pack, she still bears the scars. She still lost her father. “I’ll never deserve to be called your alpha.”
As though she can sense my shame, she stills at the bottom of the staircase and turns to me. “I get to be the one to decide who I call alpha.” She presses her finger into my chest when I get to her. “Not you.”
“Jesus, Walker always said you were a feisty one.” I chuckle, pressing a gentle kiss on the side of her jaw.
She giggles. “I try.”
She’s silent for a moment as she wanders up the staircase and I follow like a fucking lapdog. “Why did you go against your pack?”
Her dubiety stirs my protective instincts. I want to hold her close while I purr into her head, but I hold back. “I never agreed to the deal. I never wanted an omega that way. But the pack was desperate for an unbonded omega. One who was young enough to agree to their demands.”
“You didn’t,” she breathes.
“Not like that.” Shaking my head, remembering how hard it was for me to see the pictures we were shown when the kidnapper asked for his payment, but seeing her and her sister on the screen was the final straw.
Ava looked braver than Ella right up until he took off her blindfold. Until then, she held herself together.
But Ella’s small body looked damaged beyond repair. Her bound hands stopped her arms from wrapping around her body, but she pressed them against her rib cage to ward away her shivers as she tried to keep herself alive.
I can’t imagine what the girls must have gone through, what they were thinking while tied to chairs with plastic wraps. Only having each other for solace.
No wonder she hid away from alphas, only letting her childhood friend into her inner circle.
I only realize then she’s walking to her bedroom and I’m following like I can’t let her out of my sight.
“It’s okay.” I hate that she is trying to soothe me. That she is forgiving me. I hate that I helped to make her the way she is.
I push away my self-hate, because she can sense the change in my emotion. I can’t have her feeling sorry for me. Not after the way I changed her.
“It really is okay.” She opens the door and steps inside. “I need a shower.” I step inside with her and wait for her to turn on the shower. “Are you staying?”
