The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 120

Chapter 120

ARIA

I’m crouched in the corner of the room, my eyes fixed on the blank wall in front of me.

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I don’t know how long I’ve been in this position. Hours is my best guess. I can’t take that awful scene from my mind. My uncle, hanging from the neck until his body stopped moving and his last breath left his body, followed by Cassandra…

Innocent, poor Cassandra.

My fault. It’s all mine. The guilt is eating me alive. I can’t breathe think….anything. Everything I hoped would never happen has finally slapped me in the face to prove to me just how stupid and childish I’ve always been for assuming that I was untouchable.

That I would be different.

The door opens but I barely register it. I can hear someone walking toward me, but I don’t look up. I’ve stopped caring. Whatever happens to me doesn’t matter anymore, not now that my uncle and Cassandra are dead because of me.

Then, there’s Ryder.

The ache in my chest intensifies as he crosses my mind. He’s locked somewhere, too. Helpless. And it’s all my fault.

Someone tugs on the chain. I look up briefly and see one of the uniformed men who came in here before. He tugs the chain and I lurch forward, forcing my feet to move. I take one slow step in front of the other, barely registering what’s happening right in front of me. I’m dragged out of my cell, walk behind him down a long, narrow hallway, and then, we climb down a few steps to reach the outside.

The place where my uncle died is several feet away to my

left.

I see the wooden structure and my stomach flips. I lose all the strength in my knees and fall to the ground. The man continues dragging me, even when he realizes that I’m no longer standing. No pain is greater than the loss I feel. The emptiness swallows me whole and it doesn’t feel like I’m alive anymore.

Let this end.

This is what the voice in my head says. I can’t stand living like this anymore.

At last, he stops. Dust lifts all around us, stinging my eyes. “Here he is, Alpha Drexel.”

“Make her stand.”

The man walks around me, then hooks his arms under my armpits and forces me to rise. My feet barely touch the ground. If he drops me, I’ll go crashing down. I don’t care.

Ryder’s father walks toward me, eyes gleaming with malicious intentions. The only thing I find reassuring is that he doesn’t look like his son at all.

“Did you enjoy the view?” is the first thing he asks me, smiling. “I hope you did. I had it all carefully planned so you wouldn’t miss his funeral.”

My face crumples and hot tears slide down my cheeks. They burn my eyes and feel like acid sliding down my skin. I’ve never felt the urge to kill someone, but I want to hurt him. If I had a knife in my hand, I would shove it deep inside of him. I’d prolong the pain for as long as possible, and it still wouldn’t be enough to take away my pain.

“You’re the cause of their deaths,” he continues. “Your existence is a condemnation to everyone around you. If you were less selfish, you would’ve handed yourself over a long time ago. But no. You thought you could outsmart the system. You thought you’d be different.”

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10:03 Mon, Mar 2 M

Chapter 120

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He steps toward me and pinches my chin between his fingers hard, forcing me to look up at him. I see hatred stamped in his eyes as he peers down at me, but it doesn’t compare to what I feel toward him. “Nothing would have pleased me more than to spill your guts all over my ground, but I have amends to make If your unwanted existence can benefit me in some way. then I’ll take full advantage of it. Ryder brought war to our doorstep because of you, and now, you’ll be the one to end it. You should be dead like your uncle, Nocturn, and make no mistake-you will die one way or another. But not today.”

He releases me and steps back. I lower my eyes once more. I’m registering everything he’s saying, but I don’t care about any of it. My mind is filled with too much of everything. I just want it all to end.

“Ironclaw profited from you today,” he claims as he steps toward he road. He slides his hand in his pockets and looks left, then right. “At least you were good for something. Ryder will be thrilled when he finds out where you’re headed. He’s the next one I’ll deal with. No doubt your death will lead to his, so I won’t get my hands dirty with that pig.”

I stare at the back of his head and wish for him to drop dead with everything I have, but it doesn’t work. I can barely think because of the high silver content in the chain binding my wrists in front of me.

A Nocturn has the power to command an Alpha, but I never put it into practice.

I would today, if I could.

At last, the sounds of approaching vehicles fill my ears and Alpha Drexel smiles from ear to ear, waving as the cars approach. I don’t move. I stay perfectly still in the man’s arms, waiting to see what happens next but with detached interest.

The large black SUVs park directly in front of him. The door opens, and Alpha Drexel approaches with an extended hand. A short middle-aged man walks out. His face is severe as he shakes his hand, and he doesn’t speak even when Alpha Drexel asks him how he is.

The person who climbs out of the car next rips me from my depressed state, and my eyes widen.

Ray Laws?

He glances at me briefly before greeting Alpha Drexel like they’re best friends. My heart starts beating much faster. What the hell is going on here? Why is he here?

What did Alpha Drexel mean when he said that I started this war and so I would end it?

Does he mean that…am I being handed over to Moonveil?

Ray looks at me again, and this time, his gaze lingers. I grow cold and it starts in my chest and radiates all the way to my fingertips. Alpha Drexel looks at me over his shoulder and tells the man holding me, “Put her in the car.”

He carries me like I weigh nothing to one of the cars. I’m shoved right in the back, and the space is too cramped. I can’t even breathe. My face heats up.

“No,” I start to say. “This can’t be happening. Please.”

What awaits me now?

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