Page 50 of The Forbidden Alpha

His hand lingered on the nape of my neck a second longer before it dropped. He gave me a single nod and I retreated back into the Grand Hall. The air was cooler against my skin and my shoulders slumped. I didn’t get far when Mavy appeared, her gray eyes red-rimmed.

“Adea.” Her voice rasped as she moved toward me.

“Don’t,” I said, my voice the coldest it had ever been toward her.

“You have to understand… I did it for you.” Her eyes widened.

“You believe that, don’t you?” I asked in disbelief. She continued toward me, stopping out of reach.

“It’s the truth. I thought if I helped him get close, you’d see his value! I was trying to keep you safe. Shane’s protection would’ve saved you. You were wolfless and alone!”

My weakness last night, my uselessness in stopping what just happened to Gabe, and the betrayal from the trials bubbled and overflowed, and it was all directed at her. I stepped into her space. “You lied and discredited what I said for me?” I whispered, the rage catching fire.

She wrapped her arms protectively around herself, the eternal victim. “You watched him touch me, and then fixed my hair and handed me to him,” I whispered. “You asked if I was okay when you could smell him on me. Protection? Mavy, you watched me drown and congratulated me for not splashing.”

Mavy’s eyes filled, a single tear escaping, but I didn’t reach for her. I felt the loss of a sister, someone I thought was my friend like a severed limb, and let it be.

“You are a witness to the crimes against me. You were family, but you never felt the same way about me. It’s only my newfound rank and the mate you never saw coming that saved me from your family’s will. I don’t forgive you. I never will.”

I walked past her without looking back.

As I stepped back out into the arena, the sun was a sliver of blinding gold on the horizon. Ethan turned his gaze toward the center, where the Enforcers were leading a chained Shane toward the post. Olivia had already swooped in, a frantic shadow as she took Gabe from the square, supporting his weight before I’d retreated to the Hall.

I took my place beside Ethan and we watched as Odis uncoiled a whip. Unlike with Gabe, the Enforcers came forward and tore Shane’s shirt, the tatters falling to the ground.

The first lash cracked. Shane’s body jolted, but he didn’t scream. He didn’t reach for the wooden post. He held his head up, his gaze on me. Every time the whip landed, he leaned into it. He took the lashes like a gift I’d given him.

By the thirtieth strike, Shane’s legs buckled, his knees hitting the stone with a dull thud. He tried to drag himself back up, but the next lash caught him mid-straighten, slamming him back down. He crawled toward the post, his fingers digging into the wood as his back became a marred mess of shredded skin. Sweat beaded and rolled down his temple, but as the lashes began again, he never cried out.

The crowd had thinned as the light died; those who stayed looked anywhere but at the post. There was a short, suffocating silence when he fainted, his body slumping into the growing pool of red. The Enforcers splashed ice-cold water over his face, the shock dragging him back to the living.

A broken wail pierced the arena—Emilia. She tried to lunge forward, but Jaxon’s arms were a vice around her. She couldn’t stomach it. She was a shaking mess as her mate finally carried her out.

As he gasped, they hauled him upward, ratcheting the silver chains tight around the post until his chest was pulled against it. Odis continued until the air was thick with the scent of copper and iron. I finally had to look away, my forehead resting against Ethan’s shoulder, unable to bear the sound of the iron shards tearing through what was left of his back.

When it stopped, I turned, my gaze finding Shane, his cheek flat against the top of the post. His pants were drenched in blood, the ground beneath him too.

As the Enforcers hauled him up, his head rolled back. His one good eye found me, and he smiled.

“I’ll come for you,” he repeated, his voice hoarse.

I shivered, stepping closer to Ethan’s heat. My mate’s hand was steady on my neck, but for the first time, he felt like a stranger, and the monster in the dirt felt like a memory I’d forgotten.

“He survived,” I whispered, my voice carried away by the wind as they dragged his ruined body away.

I didn’t move, watching the space where Shane had been. Something had shifted inside me. Ethan hadn’t flinched. He hadn’t looked away. The man who whipped my best friend’s back was the same man I had rested my forehead against when I couldn’t bear to watch. I didn’t know what to do with that.

Ethan’s thumb hooked under my jaw, tilting my head until I had no choice but to see him. The lower spikes of his mask grazed my temple. “He lives… for now.”

Chapter 27

The door closed behind us with a heavy thud. The sound of our shoes on the cold marble echoed in the silence. My shoulders sagged as we entered his—our room. I didn’t sit so much as I collided with the mattress, my legs finally refusing the burden of my weight.

The moment my head hit the sheets, the dam broke. My eyes watered and I bit my lip to stop from screaming. The guilt was eating me alive. I hated myself for standing back in that arena, watching while Ethan systematically hurt my best friend. Gabe had made a mistake, but I didn’t care. In a world full of monsters, he was the only one who had ever tried to protect me. I’d forgive any and all of Gabe’s transgressions; I wasn’t sure I’d ever forgive Ethan’s.

My lids were heavy, blinking slow against the burn of tears as I glared at the silhouette by the window. “You couldn’t have given him a different punishment?”

The only light filtered into the room from the moon. Turning from the window, he pulled off the mask and set it on the table in one smooth motion before closing the distance. His green eyes locked on me, his shoulders rolling with fluid, predatory grace. He moved like a man who didn’t hold a grain of guilt for what had happened today. The scent of blood and sweat still lingered on him.