Heavenly Poison
Chapter 24

Damien Gray

“Still not talking to you?” Sebastian asked.

I shook my head in reply and Sebastian sighed audibly.

“Come on,” he said, nodding down the hall.

I was sitting outside of our room where Emilia had locked herself in. When Sebastian noticed I didn’t make a move to follow after him, he slumped himself on the floor, resting his back on the wall across from me.

“Isn’t this getting a little ridiculous?”

I turned to glare at him, but he wasn’t even smirking or grinning at me. He actually meant those words.

“She’s just mad,” I replied defensively.

“Yeah and I have to give this one to her. I think what you want to do is stupid-”

“It’s our best option,” I interrupted.

“No, it isn’t. Just give the Wolves to Layton. Let him deal with them,” Sebastian said, sounding annoyed that he had to even propose the idea.

“Why are you even so pissed off about this?”

“You’re trying to take responsibility over these Wolves,” he said, distastefully. “I am damn sure entitled to give an opinion and be angry when I don’t agree with yours!” Sebastian snapped, actually raising his voice at me.

I was taken aback by his tone.

“They’re part of the pack.”

“A pack that betrayed you.”

“Not all of them,” I defended, not knowing why I felt so protective of them all of a sudden.

Sebastian glared at me. I could see his hands ball into fists at his sides, and he shook his head at me.

“So now you’re mad at me too?” I asked.

“I am mad at what you’re thinking of doing.”

Layton, Zeverus, Cassidy and the rest of the guys that came with them had gone back to their pack early in the morning.

I had discussed with Layton and Zeverus what I wanted to do. While I had made their side happy with my decision, Emilia wouldn’t even talk to me. Sebastian was ‘disappointed’ by my lack of ‘good judgment’.

I had every side pushing me in different directions, yet no one really seeing what I was trying to do.

Layton was happy— he wanted to unite the packs and have Sebastian and me fighting with him. Cassidy wanted us there because she wanted the Legens together. Zeverus pretty much went along with whatever the other two decided.

Sebastian had looked at me like I was joking, and then he tried convincing me not do it. Emilia, she hadn’t spoken to me since I flew us both back to the mansion.

She didn’t even leave the room when the guys were taking off. The only person she allowed into the room had been Cassidy, who she’d actually become good friends with.

I was hoping Cassidy would try reasoning with her, but no such luck. Cass told me I had to work things out on my own and that Emilia was definitely upset with me.

“I can’t leave the pack behind without any protection. Wayne told me the Rogues will eat them alive if they’re without an Alpha. Mountain Peak would be considered no man’s land.”

Sebastian looked at me like he was annoyed with my comment. I was surprised when he stretched his leg and kicked me.

“Nice,” I scoffed.

“Fine, keep the damn dogs if you want. It’ll probably be better to watch Rogues trying to get through with us here,” he said, actually sounding excited about that.

I shook my head at him, and closed my eyes.

“I don’t want to go with Layton. That guy bothers me.”

“I thought you wanted to be with Cassidy?” I asked, opening my eyes to replace him frowning at me.

“I do, but I don’t want to be part of his pack. I’m not going to be used as one of his dogs. He wants us during the fight because he knows we’ll take on a hell of a lot more Wolves than his mutts can!”

“I know.”

“And you don’t care?” Sebastian asked, getting up to look down at me.

I rolled my eyes at him because I knew he was doing it to intimidate me. I was hoping he didn’t want to start a pissing match with me.

Sebastian knew he had me there. He was well aware that he was stronger than me. I was also not in the mood for fighting.

“If we fight with them, we’ll become known and get a name. Wolves will know not to mess with us,” I stated.

“So then, why join his pack? We’ll fight in their pathetic little fight, beat the other stupid packs, and come back here,” he mocked, making it sound so easy.

I glared at him and looked away.

We were sitting on the ground, across from each other. It wasn’t like I could just ignore him.

“Don’t you have something else to do?”

“I do.”

“Then?” I asked, annoyed that he wouldn’t take in my mood and just leave.

“Well, I think you should apologize for keeping me from taking care of my stuff,” Sebastian shrugged.

“What the hell? I’m not keeping you from anything!”

“Yes, you are. Instead of being out there with Tania, who is pissed off at you for making me skip school, I have to be watching you two,” Sebastian said, and motioned between me and the door to the room where Emilia was in.

“You don’t have to be here!” I growled at him.

Sebastian moved away from me a bit and frowned. That look only lasted a second, because then he was smirking at me.

“Did you just growl at me? Like a dog?” Sebastian asked, sounding amused.

“I didn’t growl!” I snapped.

“You’ve been hanging out too much with these mutts,” Sebastian said, shaking his head, but still grinning at me devilishly.

“Look, just go and take care of Tania. I’m fine here. I’m not going anywhere,” I told him, irritated because he wouldn’t just leave.

“Nope, I don’t trust you. Maybe I can bring Tania to have some girl time with Emilia. I doubt it’s healthy to have you two glued to each other all day.”

“Seriously? She hadn’t even let me see her, let alone talk to her all damn day!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll bring Tania over. You don’t have to beg, Damy. It’s not a good look on you,” Sebastian said, grinning down at me.

I frowned at his retreating form, and decided to chase after him before he actually brought Tania over.

“You do know that Emilia hates her? And from the last time I talked to Tania, I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Emilia is ticked off. I don’t know if it’s safe to have those two together.”

As I was saying the words, I was wishing that Emilia and Tania were friends and got along. It would’ve worked out.

I had tried everything to get to her. I even tried to get her other two friends from the pack to come, but Emilia didn’t want to see them.

She thought it was my way of making fun of her for wanting to break down the pack. Her words made me feel guilty.

I had been slumped outside of our room since last night. She wouldn’t let me talk to her and she wouldn’t let me touch her.

The only time I tried stepping into the room, she broke down crying and begged me to just leave her alone. I didn’t know what to do. I knew that I didn’t want to see her like that. It was killing me.

I left her alone then. As soon as I stepped out of the room, she calmed down a bit.

A strange pain had taken over my chest and whenever she cried, the pain would spread everywhere in my body. I hated that as well.

I wasn’t sure how, but I could feel all her emotions. And she was really angry at me.

“I’ll be back,” Sebastian told me, waving me off.

I sighed and went back to sit outside Emilia’s door.

I should’ve been outside, with what little was left of the pack. Wayne had counted all the Wolves that survived and truly wanted to stick together.

He informed me there were only about one hundred Wolves left in the pack. That left Mountain Peak not only more vulnerable than it had ever been, but also as the smallest pack in the entire country.

Wayne did not like those numbers and he had been slightly paranoid all day because of it.

“I’m going to fix you up some lunch, Emilia,” I whispered through the door.

I knew she would hear me, but I wasn’t sure she would care enough to actually listen.

Cassidy had sneaked in some breakfast before she left. I had been thankful for that, even though I didn’t think Emilia had eaten the food.

When I arrived downstairs, I found Randy sitting on the steps, with a video game in hand.

“Hey pup,” I waved at him.

Randy grinned up at me and got up from the steps.

“Is Em still mad?” He asked.

He was following me into the kitchen. Randy had been at the mansion since last night when Emilia and I arrived.

He was my future Beta, and Wayne was not risking any more casualties. The pack was mine, but it was mainly Emilia and Wayne that really knew how to run it. Since I had no clue how to do most of the things and I was still trying to get Emilia to talk to me, Wayne had been out and about the entire day.

He mainly popped in to check how things were going, to make sure Randy was behaving, and to inform me of any changes.

Packs were already hearing about the news. Anthony was dead. Mountain Peak’s Alpha was gone and the new Alpha and Luna had taken over.

The new Alpha who everyone thought was a human.

“She’s sad,” I replied, not really wanting to explain my own problems with Emilia.

“No one in the pack wants to move,” Randy told me.

I looked up at him. I was fixing a sandwich, which was the only thing I could really do that wouldn’t require actual cooking. But Randy’s words had gotten my attention.

“And no one wanted me as an Alpha,” I retorted, sharply.

Randy cowered back, which was something that surprised me.

Technically, I was his Alpha, but I didn’t have a Wolf to freak him out. When he bowed his head at me I realized that Randy had done that out of respect, towards me.

That thought made me feel strange.

“The Wolves left in the pack want you. A few of them have no one else but you to protect them. My dad said that if we pull through, we can build up the pack again. Most of them have seen you fight. How strong you are,” Randy added— his tone lower.

I was stunned by his words and shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts.

Randy was freshly turned thirteen.

No boy that age should’ve been worrying about things like that. That thought didn’t leave my mind and it was doing my head in.

“If we go to Blue Bloods Territory, we would have the biggest pack in the entire country,” I told him, giving him a half grin.

Randy’s face lit up at the prospect, before a deep frown took over his features.

“But you wouldn’t get to be Alpha?” Randy said, seeming to know the answer to his question.

I shook my head at him.

“And I wouldn’t get to be your Beta,” Randy added, flatly.

He climbed on one of the stools and grabbed one of the triangle sandwiches I had cut for Emilia.

“You would get a true Alpha. Layton’s been doing this for a year now and he’s been training to become Alpha all his life,” I told him, hoping that would cheer him up.

Luke came stumbling into the kitchen then. He barked when he noticed Randy taking a bite from his sandwich.

“Who let you out?” I looked down at the pup.

Randy had just picked him up from the ground and was feeding him pieces of turkey I’d been stuffing in the sandwiches. It wasn’t until Randy started feeding Luke that I realized I had been making my fifth sandwich.

I took a bite out of one, doubting Emilia would eat any of it either way.

“I did,” Emilia’s soft voice came from outside the threshold of the kitchen.

When she stepped inside, I breathed in sharply.

“Hey, Randy,” Emilia greeted the pup.

She ran her hand through his hair, fuzzing it up. It didn’t seem like Randy minded, because he took a bite of his sandwich and grinned up at her.

Either Randy didn’t notice how bad she looked or he didn’t really care.

Emilia’s eyes were puffy from all the crying, again her hair was braided, but what made the biggest impression of all was the sad look in her eyes.

I would’ve probably noticed it a mile away.

“Hungry?” I asked her, as I pushed the tray filled with sandwiches in front of her.

She took one from the plate, but put it on the counter before even taking a bite.

I widened my eyes in surprise when Emilia took Luke from Randy’s arms, and started petting the pup.

Despite how much he always growled at her, the pup was almost purring at Emilia’s touch.

“You two are getting along,” I commented.

I wanted to start up a conversation somehow, while also keeping it cool. After all, I didn’t really want to freak Randy out.

“He kept scratching at the door. I think he was looking for you. But then he saw me and just curled up with me in bed,” Emilia shrugged and brought the pup to her chest, nuzzling her nose against him.

Damn lucky dog, was all I could think as I continued to see her petting and playing around with Luke.

She’d been ignoring me since last night. And Emilia hated that pup but a little clawing at the door and suddenly she was cuddling up with him.

“You should eat something,” I told her, changing the subject.

Emilia nodded but didn’t make a move to get any food.

“So what’s the latest news?” Randy asked.

He had been eating without a care or notice at the detached behavior between Emilia and I.

“We have a pack interested,” I replied.

My words made Emilia look up and her expression grew serious.

“What are you going to do?” She asked— her voice sounding strained.

“It’s your land, Emilia. I’m not going to sell anything without your permission. We don’t need the money either way,” I shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant.

But I was too worried about Emilia to actually pull off a cool tone.

“You’re the one forcing us to leave! What would we do with all this land if we’re all gone?” Emilia growled at me.

Both Randy and I watched with our mouths hanging open as Emilia stormed out of the room.

“I told you, no one wants to leave,” Randy said, talking to me like if I should’ve known better than to even propose the idea.

“So what do you think we should do?” I asked him.

Again my tone had grown harsher and I tried to calm down. I didn’t want to scare Randy off and I genuinely wanted his opinion.

“Grovel and beg for forgiveness?” Randy suggested in a questioning tone.

“Huh?”

“Wait, are we talking about Em or the pack?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow at me.

“The pack?” I asked, unsure myself what exactly I needed help with.

It seemed like I was having problems with both.

“Oh, well, you should take charge and get all the mated couples to start popping out pups,” he shrugged.

I stared at him with wide eyes in shock, not sure if he’d actually suggested that. When he didn’t start laughing at his words I realized he wasn’t kidding. He meant it.

The silence dragged on for a minute, until Randy sighed and shook his head at me.

“My dad said it’s the only way we’ll start balancing things out.”

“Right…” I mumbled, unsure if I should’ve been listening to him anymore.

“Remind me again why Wayne is sharing those kinds of things with you.”

“I’m old enough,” he shrugged, looking particularly careless about it. “He said that with the Alpha gone, I have to man up to my position.”

“Who is this cute little boy?” Tania asked, pinching Randy’s cheeks as soon as she walked in.

Randy didn’t seem to mind one bit. I was starting to notice he actually liked all the attention he got from the girls.

“That’s Randy,” Sebastian replied, as he made his way towards the fridge.

“Randy, this is Tania,” I told him.

Tania let him go only to come to my side and wrap her arms around me.

“You skipped school,” she said, punching my arm.

“I was busy,” I shrugged and smiled when I noticed she was just teasing.

“So this is where she lives?” Tania asked, looking around the kitchen, even though there wasn’t much to see.

The mansion did have plenty of nice rooms to show for it, but the kitchen was hardly one of them.

“She’s mad at Damy, hasn’t left her room all day,” Sebastian added, shaking his head at me.

“She was here a little while ago,” Randy added.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at that, and then turned to look at me expectantly.

When I shook my head at him, he sighed. “Did you even try to get her to talk or to eat?”

“She’s mad,” I replied, curtly.

“I’ll talk to her,” Tania told me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

I rolled my eyes at her and gave her a flat, ‘no’.

“I’m still going to do it, Damien. I wasn’t asking your permission.”

“You don’t want to go there Tania, trust me,” I said, trying to keep calm.

I wasn’t going to let her get into the room with Emilia. Emilia was upset with me as it was. I didn’t need anybody going in there to make it worse.

It didn’t exactly help that her and Tania didn’t get along. If Emilia got angry, she could end up hurting Tania and I was sure Sebastian wasn’t going to stand for that.

“You don’t even know why she’s mad.”

“I know,” Tania cut me off.

When my eyes landed on Sebastian, he looked away, pretending to be distracted with something else.

“Sebastian…” I said lowly.

“I had to tell her!” He replied defensively.

“You didn’t want me to know?” Tania asked, sounding hurt.

“Tania, you just, you’re not… You’re human!”

Tania frowned at my words and narrowed her eyes, looking at me reproachfully.

“Yeah, Sebastian said your parents kicked you out because you were different and now you’re leaving me out because I’m not like you. Jerk,” Tania told me, her frown turning deeper.

Our argument went on and on until Tania finally convinced me to let her talk to Emilia.

“I can’t believe you told her,” I said, shaking my head.

He just shrugged at me and gave me a bored look, like if he was tired of hearing me say that.

“You know, these Wolves do a shitty job at hiding what they are. Tania pretty much guessed it out of me. Besides, Tania’s like family,” Sebastian said, looking happy about that.

“Fine, I’ll give you that. But I don’t see why it’s a good idea to let her be in there with Emilia.”

They had been in there for a few minutes only, and no one was yelling or killing each other. I was taking that as a good sign. Tania had made me promise not to snoop in their conversation.

I had been reluctant to do so, but then she started accusing me again of treating her different for being human and I ended up giving in to her.

It wasn’t until about an hour later that Emilia and Tania appeared in the living room. Sebastian got tired of waiting for the ‘girl talk’ to be over and had practically dragged me into the living room.

When they stepped into the room, Tania made her way over to Sebastian, giving him a sheepish grin.

Emilia was simply staring at me nervously, so I decided to make my way towards her instead. I didn’t know if it was what she wanted, for me to go to her, but it was what I did.

“Hey,” I said.

“Can we talk?” Emilia asked me in a small voice.

It took me a moment to realize Luke was trailing off behind her.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Before she could change her mind, I took her hand and began dragging her away. Touching Emilia felt amazing, even though I was just holding her hand. I had been missing the contact between us.

“Tania said you were crying,” Emilia said in a soft voice.

I would’ve laughed at the absurd comment, had Emilia not looked so vulnerable.

“Did she?” I asked.

When Emilia took a seat on the couch in our room, I sat in front of her in the coffee table.

“If you did, that’s fine,” she mumbled.

I shook my head at her. I didn’t want to lie to her, but it seemed like her thinking that I’d cried had softened her up. At least now she was willing to listen to me.

“Are you feeling better?”

I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. I smiled inwardly when Emilia didn’t try pulling it away from my hold.

“I’m a little scared,” Emilia admitted.

When her eyes started to water, I swiftly wrapped my arms around her waist and tried pulling her onto my lap.

Emilia chuckled shakily, and stopped me from actually getting her onto my lap. She did let me hold her though and I considered that a win.

“I’m fine, I’m not crying because I’m scared,” Emilia told me, smiling at me sadly.

Seeing her like that made me wish Brian wasn’t dead just so that I could kill him again. I would’ve made him suffer more the second time around.

Emilia didn’t deserve what was happening. Anthony didn’t deserve to die.

“Why are you crying?”

I had endless ideas of what had made her cry, but I wanted her to tell me.

“My dad, he uh,” Emilia said, chuckling again and shaking her head.

She wiped some tears from her eyes, before turning to look at me with a smile.

“My dad was always thinking about the future and what would happen to the pack when he had to step down. I knew he loved me. He always made sure I knew that. But he needed a male pup, the pack did too,” Emilia said, looking down.

“He didn’t even get a chance to hand over the Alpha position to you. All of his plans and worrying about the future of the pack in the end were for nothing,” Emilia said.

A few more tears rolled down her cheek and this time, I was quick to wipe them away. I tried again to pull her onto me, but Emilia resisted.

“He fought so much to keep this pack alive and intact,” she continued.

“Anthony did a good job. Mountain Peak was fine all the time he lead the pack.”

I wasn’t just saying that for her benefit. It was true. Other than a few desperate ideas he had along the way, he’d been good to the pack.

“Then why do you want to throw all that away by handing out our pack to Alpha Layton,” Emilia cried.

And that was when she broke down into hysterics, crying harder than she had before.