The Alpha's Vessel [The Alpha's #2]
Chapter Forty-Eight

THEA PETROVNA

“I don’t think is such a great idea.” Anastasia frowned from where they were all stationed in Marcellus and Anastasia’s new house, completely soundproof from the rest of the pack so they didn’t have to worry about Orpheus being able to overhear from wherever it was that he was hiding.

Because he was definitely hiding and Thea refused to believe that he would leave. Not when she knew how much he wanted this, needed this – to have the werewolf world ruled by Lord Erebus once again. Not when his pack wolves were captured in the dungeons and certainly not when she was still here.

Thea, his mate, had betrayed him and she had no doubt in her mind that as of this second, he was thirsty for her blood.

“Well, it’s not like we have any other choice.” Thea pursed her lips and sighed, pulling her hair back so she could put it up into a bun. More so because she needed something to do right now other than trying to look presentable. That and the fact that right now, everything and anything was starting to annoy her, struggling to deal with the immense pressure of the situation.

“It’s far too risky.” Her friend insisted but her protests fell on deaf ears as Thea just refused to listen to reason right now.

“Thea.” Marcellus called out to her in a firm voice, trying to be the voice of reason. “Anastasia is right. Your plan is far too risky and frankly, we can’t afford to take risks right now. I’ve already spoken to my dad and the council are on their way.”

“The council can’t do anything. They haven’t been able to do anything in the past and it’s not like anything is going to be different now.” She huffed, not at all a fan of theirs even if Malachi was no longer leading it.

“Things are going to be different now.” Marcellus tried to insist even though he knew there was no point.

“I’d love to believe you, Mars, but I’m sorry. I just can’t.” Thea insisted, refusing to see reason or listen to anyone that was trying to persuade her away from her plan.

“We just need to hold out until they get here.”

“That’s time that we don’t have!” She couldn’t help but groan in frustration, too far gone to even flinch at having just disrespected an Alpha but when Marcellus merely pursed his lips in response, she was once again reminded of the difference between her mate and every other Alpha wolf out there.

She wanted to believe that she had simply pulled the short straw but alas, for her, things simply weren’t that easy for her.

“I know that you guys are concerned and that you care but frankly, I don’t care whether you’re on my side or not. I’m going to go through with this not only because I know it’s definitely going to work, but also because we don’t have any other option right now.” She glanced around the room and locked eyes with every single person in the room, refusing to step down despite everyone urging her to.

Marcellus growled loudly but before he could say anything, Anastasia was quick to cut him off as the one person that would be able to do so without getting punched in the face.

“Seeing as you refuse to listen to us, let’s at least discuss how we’re going to go about this.” Anastasia was quick to step in front of her, effectively blocking her path to the front door. “We’re not going to try and stop you, Thea, but let us help you.”

“You can’t be serious about this right now.” The Alpha wolf groaned but the two females weren’t in the mood to take any of his shit.

“How are we going to do this?” Thea sighed and asked quietly, antsy to get out there and replace out where he was hiding because there was no chance in Hell that he had fled back to the Apo to Chaos pack.

Alpha Orpheus Vladimir was a lot of things, but a coward was not one of them.

With the rest of the pack evacuated and all of the remaining wolves down in the dungeon to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary and they were simply interrogating the wolves captured in the dungeon, Thea didn’t have to worry about anything other than being able to successfully lure him out.

While she was very aware of the fact that this was far from one of her best ideas as essentially, she was putting herself in danger, Thea couldn’t help but feel like he had forced her into the cover even though he was the one who was in hiding.

Forcing such thoughts out of her mind as it was doing more harm than good by only scaring herself, she continued walking and walking without any sense of direction.

The fact that it had been nearly ten minutes that she had been aimlessly wandering around the pack and he still hadn’t shown himself was starting to make her very suspicious. This continued for another five and then ten minutes but there was still nothing.

Pursing her lips, she stood in an open space between in front of the packhouse, and stuck her hand into her pocket for her phone only to replace there was a text from Anastasia already.

Have you found him yet?

No. Thea sighed as she typed.

I’ve walked all around the pack but he still hasn’t shown him yet.

When she saw Anastasia typing, she pursed her lips and waited around patiently for the reply to come through.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, but have you tried going back to the hospital?

As a thoughtful expression took over her face, less than a minute passed before the next response came through.

Thea? Are you still there?

I think the hospital is a good idea.

Thea was quick to type as she didn’t want Anastasia to worry unnecessarily when there wasn’t anything to worry about yet.

Maybe if I stop looking for him, he’ll come to me.

She suggested even though she wasn’t all that hopeful.

If you can, keep us updated.

Will do.

Before I go, if anything happens, tell Malik I love him.

Not wanting to focus too much on what she was planning to do, she put her phone on silent and slipped it back into her pocket.

Despite the fact that she had a feeling she was walking to her own doom, Thea pushed herself to take the back door into the hospital, the same entrance she had used to sneak them all in earlier. Even though the hospital had been empty before, Anastasia, Marcellus and the warriors had made sure to leave various things around so the scent of wolves would be strong all over the place and Orpheus and his wolves wouldn’t suspect anything to be out of the ordinary.

And how well that had worked out.

Thea hadn’t made it all the way to the hospital room at the end of the hallway earlier as she had run away the moment their back was turned but now, that was all about to change.

At first, she took a cautious step into the room but when she spied for it to empty, she left the door wide open and took a seat on the chair beside the bed on the other side so even if he did walk into the room – which she highly doubted as she didn’t think he would just reveal himself like that, not when there was so much at stake – there would still be a significant amount of distance he would have to cover before he reached her.

Hopefully she would be able to see him before he saw her so if necessary, she would have to take a dive over the bed to escape and run back toward the dungeon as she knew that the Alpha wolf wouldn’t be able to resist chasing her down after the way she had betrayed, but she just hoped that he wouldn’t kill her before any of that happened.

The moment she opened her mouth to scream, Marcellus and his warriors would be here so essentially, all she needed to do was stay alive for one minute in his presence.

However, she had learnt the hard way that not everything was as easy as it seemed and when the Alpha in question floated through the doorway and stared at her with sad eyes, she knew that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“How could you do this to me? When I trusted you?” Orpheus accused her in a quiet voice as she stepped forward until his knees pressed up against the bed separating them.

“How could you rape me?” Thea countered in a stiff voice as she rose to her feet.

“I thought we were past that.” He stated in a sad voice, taking a few subtle steps into the room, thinking that she wouldn’t notice when that was all she could do right now.

“I’ll never be able to get past that.”

Bowing his head in shame, Orpheus sighed and shook his head, raising his hands to cover his face as his shoulders shook.

“That’s what I feared.”

“Look at me when I speak to you.” Thea demanded in a quiet, firm voice, not willing to take any more of his bullshit, not when there was so much at stake on the table.

For once in his life, Orpheus obeyed her command lifted his head and lowered his hands, not bothering to hide the few tears that dripped down his face. Even though her heart ached slightly at the sight, she refused to fall for one more of his tricks and this time when he took a step toward her, she inched her hand subtly behind her, angling her body in such a way that he wouldn’t notice and if he did, he wouldn’t think too much to feel the need to comment on it, not when they had so many other things that they needed to address.

“You planned all of this?”

Thea merely nodded her head in response and gulped, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

“That’s impressive.”

“I didn’t do all of this to impress you.”

“Of course, not.” Orpheus sighed and bowed his head, but quickly lifted it back up as her previous words rang in his ears.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, huh?” He chuckled lowly but with an empty, broken look on his face but she refused to give in to any more of his games. She refused to be a pawn anymore in whatever game he was playing but most of all, she refused to be under him again.

Just because she was his mate. Just because she was human. Just because she was his.

“You’ve had this coming for a long time.” She stated simply with a deep sigh, not missing the way he had no rounded the side of the bed and was only a few steps away from her.

One more step and he would be able to grab her, but then she had something planned for that, too.

“But you played me. You really played me.” He insisted, his eyes stormy but this time, there was not a single spec of anger of the fiery red that she had come to fear so much when around him.

“You deserve so much more than what I’m about to do to you.”

“What you’re about to do?”

Not bothering to deny her play on words which he had obviously picked up on despite her thinking that he wouldn’t notice, she rolled her eyes.

That was her first mistake.

Just as she expected, the moment he was close enough and taking advantage of her momentary distraction, Orpheus leaped into the air and threw himself over her, pinning her body to the ground under him but what he didn’t expect, what he didn’t know was that she had come prepared.

With her hand still behind her back and her fingers curled around the handle, she yanked the knife out of the back of her jeans – cutting her back in the process but not having any time to dwell on it – and pressed the tip of it to his neck.

“Try anything and I’ll slit your throat.” Thea threatened him without an ounce of hesitation in her voice or face, daring him to not trust her and see what exactly would happen.

“Silver?” He growled quietly, more hurt than angry but when she pressed the tip of it directly onto his skin, he hissed and reared his head back in attempt to escape.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, she raised the knife and rolled them both over until finally, she was on top, the knife still held firmly in her hand.

“Just do it.” Orpheus whispered, staring up at her with defeated, sad eyes, not even bothering to buck him off her even though they both knew he could with very little effort.

“Shut up.” Thea demanded in the same quiet whisper.

Thea knew the moment she opened her mouth to scream, they would all be gunning it down to her get to her but with her eyes locked on his, no sound escaped. Tears streamed down her face until she could no longer see him through her blurry vision, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything; too choked up.

Staring down at him, her mate, the man that was supposed to love her no matter what, keep her safe no matter what, spend the rest of her life with no matter what, she couldn’t believe that it had all come down to this moment.

Raising the knife just a little higher, she thought of whether their next child would have been a boy or a girl. Tightening the grip around the handle of it, she wondered what kind of man and Alpha Malik would have grown up to become. Breathing heavily as her heart hammered dangerously in her chest, she wondered if he would ever be truly sorry and repent for everything that he had done to her and everyone else. Pushing the knife down and cutting through the air to reach his pulsing heart, she wondered how different her life would have been if he hadn’t all but killed her soul in the alley that way.

Forcing the tip of the knife into his chest, she wondered what she had done wrong to deserve such a fate.

“Thea?” He called out to her in a quiet, strangled whisper, almost as if surprised that she was taking so long to kill him when he was all but offering herself up to him.

“Please don’t talk.” Thea forced the words out of her mouth, her breath airy and her voice shaky as she struggled to get control over herself.

Blinking her eyes rapidly to see through the tears, she pressed the tip of the knife further down until a thin pool of blood spotted his chest. Almost as if the colour taunted her, she lifted the knife until it was no slicing into him and watched as some more blood oozed out. Enough to sting, but no where enough to maim, let alone kill.

Staring down at him, she hated that he chose this moment to give up.

Every other time, he had apologised but it was always followed up by going off the rails but that time a few days ago, that special moment in the shower when he had cried and she had let him hold her, their most peaceful reconciliation yet, had somehow resulted in this.

While he had appeared genuinely sorry then, she hadn’t believed him due to past trends but now, she saw just how real all of this was.

He was sorry for all of the things that he had done to her, but not sorry enough to give up all the bad that he was mixed up in.

The worst part was that deep down, she knew he loved her and she him. Beyond reasoning and rationale that she could even begin to understand, her love for him was somehow slightly greater than her hate for him and that’s why she couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t kill him, but she also couldn’t stay with him.

That was her second mistake.

Raising the knife up into the air one last time, she plunged it down but this time, she twisted the handle and that was that.

She was finally free of him.

-

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Layla Knight

21.12.2020