Big Bad Alphas novel Chapter 41

   "Well," Alpha Kenn struggles. "What an offer, but I will have to refuse because Isabella is to be my Luna."

   My eyes cannot leave Eric's. There is something in them. A promise? Safety? Security? Love? Maybe all of them, but definitely love. Suddenly, I am no longer fearful, but determined.

   He would give away everything for me, and that means everything. He can give me everything, but it means so much more to give up everything. To have nothing, but me. My cheeks flush with color, with life.

   "You can't have me," I mutter and glance up at him. "Sorry."

   Some men find this amusing, but Alpha Kenn sneers. "Inject him, then bring him out."

   Alpha Kenn drags me out of the cellar and under the gloomy sky. Worry comes over me. Inject him with what?

   "Wolfsbane," he snickers as if he read my mind. "Deadly, yet just enough will weaken to the point of uselessness."

   Wolfsbane, I have not heard of that technique in years. Back at my old pack, it was used as a peaceful death, as in vast quantities the body will simply drop, yet if not given enough it will slowly eat away, a painful and restless death. Slow, endless. I have never heard of small enough quantities to weaken, until now.

   That must be what got him in the cell. How did they manage a clean injection in the first place?

   "I told him you had died," Alpha Kenn answers me again, which causes me to believe I am talking out loud. "Obviously, he didn't feel your death, but it distracted him long enough. A man in love is a weak man, Isabella. The Mate bond makes us weak. That is why I refused my mate, and chose you instead, but I am sure you could have figured that out on your own."

   My heart drops at the sight of my mate struggling to stand. My finger tips turn numb, tingly.

   I make a move to rush to him, but Alpha Kenn holds me back.

   "Isabella!"

   Swiftly, I turn, my eyes in a focused search, then I see her. Kendra. Kendra stuck in the grasp of a stranger, a dangerous man. Again, Alpha Kenn has to hold me back.

   The stranger roughly brings her over, and I see distress cast on her beautiful face. Tears are welling in her eyes, reaching the edge.

   "Why! Why her? What did she do?" I act frantically and glare up at Alpha Kenn. "She's a child!"

   He refuses to explain, which fills me with fury.

   "She's a child! She has nothing to do with this!"

   Kendra's sobs strike me and my legs twitch, almost bringing me to the forest floor.

   "Isabella," she cries, confused, scared. Her arms reach out to me, but the man does not let go.

   "Why is she here?" I grab Alpha Kenn's collar and nearly cause an uprise. He yanks my hand off of him and raises his own to me, yet he somehow Eric's sudden growling and my fearlessness stops him. He clenches his jaw and lowers his arm.

   "Try anything else, and she's dead. Understand?"

   My lips shut.

   Alpha Kenn enjoys my reaction. "You know what, let's make this interesting. Since you are choosing to be a pain, maybe you can choose something else. Someone has to die. You choose who dies, right now, right here. The options are him," he points to a random man, who is surprised, confused, angry, and many other sudden emotions. For the finger has pointed mercilessly at him, "Him, or that man," Alpha Kenn finishes, and the other men have similar reactions.

   I do not take him seriously until his next sentence.

  "Choose now or I... Or I kill all three of them."

   My eyes shoot to Eric, and he too looks confused, maybe even disturbed.

   "They are your men?" I question.

   Alpha Kenn nods. "For now they are."

   I thought Alpha Kenn to be power hungry, but now I see him as he truly is, psychotic. Kill one man, or all three die. A good person would pick one, no? Save two instead of none. A good Luna would let all three die.

   My eyes stay with Eric's, hoping for an answer, but he is drugged, swaying in and out of consciousness as he is held up by other men.

   "What will it be, Isabella?"

   "My sister, I don't want her to see this, please."

   Alpha Kenn raises an eyebrow. "She'll turn around."

   I swallow. "All... All three can die."

   Alpha Kenn did not expect a quick decision; I can see that clearly. He also seems excited by it as well. His men look to him, needing leadership, not believing the control he has given me. "You heard her," Alpha Kenn says, easily.

   I squeeze my eyes shut.

   One.

   Two.

   Three.

   Maybe it makes me a bad person. Maybe it makes me a bad Luna. Maybe it makes me a good one? It is easy to believe that they would have died anyways when Eric and I take back control. It is even easier to believe that they would have lived, that I have played God, and that I should not have. If I did not answer, he would have killed all of them, if I chose just one, that would leave more danger for my pack.

   Once it is over, I refuse to look at the ground, where they lay lifelessly.

   Alpha Kenn claps his hands three times. "Alright, round two, yes?"

   Now I jerk away. "No. No more."

   "Now, choose between..." he pauses then lights up, "Eric, your mate, Kendra, your sister, or yourself."

   My breath hitches in my throat. My lungs squeeze.