Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 24

Aria’s POV

B***d dripped to the floor in drops.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

I lost count as I stared at Roma’s claws wrapped around the heart of a human being, his blue eyes a dark obsidian, his face calm and stoic as if he had not just tortured and killed a human being.

I had never believed it when he had said he was a monster. I had romanticized the fact that he was just a bad man to thinking he was just misunderstood.

How foolish I was.

I stood there, my legs frozen and weak as I looked away from Roma to the man and gasped to see the huge s***h on his chest to his eyes that had been gauged out to the heart that Roma now dropped on the floor like it was just a piece of cloth as he looked right back at me and I realized how stupid I had been to have walked in here like a silly little girl, hoping to give her crush a gift and wondering if he would pat my head and smile at the drawing.

Because I had never seen him in wolf form, my brain had chosen to selectively forget who Roma Ruggiero was.

And now that I was looking at him, with no remorse on his face, I remembered how his hands had wrapped around my neck in this same West wing weeks ago.

And I knew that he had apologized not because it was a mistake but because he was indeed capable of cold blooded murder.

He was a murderer. He was a monster.

Raphael took one step towards me and that woke my legs.

The drawing that I had folded fell from my hand as I ran out of the West wing and I didn’t look back. I kept running and prayed that no one was coming after me.

My prayers were not answered though because Raphael appeared in front of me and I slammed into his hard chest.

Grabbing my shoulders, he held me upright when I would have fallen and my body shook, my limbs failing me as I fell to the ground, my body shaking.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t breathe.

Was I having a panic attack?

My throat closed up and I vaguely saw Raphael kneeling before me and shaking me as he forced me to count backwards with him.

“Start counting, Aria. Breathe. You’re having a panic attack.” His voice sounded far away and my vision was blurry as Roma’s face merged with Raphael’s face in front of me but I forced the words out, joining him to count backwards from twenty.

By the time we were at number five, it felt easier to breathe again and my vision finally cleared but tears started to fall down my cheeks. Violent tears and I started to sob, my body shaking as my mind went back to what I had seen.

To what I had witnessed.

I was human.

Would I also meet the same fate if Roma decided he was done with me?

Were the parts of Roma that I had seen all fake?

Had I imagined them because I was desperate to bond with him? Because I liked him?

Raphael carried me and I stiffened in his arms as I remembered that he had just stood there and watched his Alpha viciously harm and murder a defenseless man.

He was in support of it too judging by how he did nothing.

He was probably capable of it too.

All of them were. Even Scian and Sophia. They were all werewolves. And it would be any day now before they woke up and decided that I was not one of them truly. And what would happen?

Would any of them rip out my heart with their claws?

I could not stay here. I was in danger. I had to leave. I had to run.

Raphael dropped me on my bed and left the room.

Curling into myself, I began to calculate how I was going to escape when he returned minutes later with a steaming cup of coffee.

“Here. Sit up. You should take this. It will calm you down.” He said and when I didn’t move, he dropped the cup on the bedside table and tried to help me up.

I shrunk away from his hands.

“I’m trying to help, Aria.” He said and I would have believed him. I would have fallen for his gentle gaze if I didn’t just see what he had stood by and watched without flinching.

“And if I don’t accept your help? Will you kill me too?” I whispered and his eyes widened.

Sitting down on the chair beside my bed, he sighed and shook his head.

“You don’t understand, Aria. What you saw isn’t what you think. I can explain.”

“You want to explain murdering a man to me? No thank you.” I whispered again and he ran a hand through his hair with another sigh and finally stood.

“You should take that. I’ll come back when you’re calmer. I know you have a friend. Sophia, is it? I’ll tell her to come and stay with you. I’ll explain when you’re feeling better.”

I didn’t answer him.

Watching till he left, I remained in the bed, holding my knees to my chest as I wept. As I cried for the man that was killed. As I cried for myself.

When Sophia came in, I pretended that I was asleep and she sat by the bed, murmuring soothing words to me that would have made me feel better if I hadn’t seen what I had today. She was a werewolf and I was sure she would not blink if she knew what her Alpha had done which made her the same as them.

I waited for her to leave and then stood up.

Packing a small bag, with my sketch pad inside, I looked at the clock. It was dinner time and everyone would be busy eating in the mansion. This meant that it was the best time for me to run.

Taking one last look at my room, I drank the cold coffee and spied the hallway to see if the coast was clear.

My heart in my throat, I headed for the smaller exit door that led to the woods and brought out my torchlight from my jeans pocket, taking a deep breath as I looked at the mansion one more time.

I couldn’t stay here anymore.

It didn’t matter if Sophia had a bright smile that made me like her very much. It didn’t matter that Scian’s hugs were the warmest and she was the mother I never had.

It didn’t matter that Raphael was the funniest man in the mansion with a smile that made me feel like I was not too different from them.

It didn’t matter that Roma had made butterflies start to dance in my belly everytime I saw him. It didn’t matter that at some point, I went from being scared of him to truly liking him.

I was fool to ever stop being scared of Roma Ruggiero.

And if I didn’t leave now, there was a chance that I would never be able to escape.