36 The Promises of A Lifetime
[JEREMY]
When Awuor crossed the lands and went with Malika on the journey to Olyana, the wolves felt it.
They knew the moment the wolf stopped howling and the moment the skies rumbled. Those were occurrences that took place any time that the oaths were broken. Awuor Sicario had broken an oath and there was no one to play judge, jury, and executioner to her this time.
"She left," Alpha Sicario said once they had walked back into the alpha's office. The rejection announcement had been as brief as they had planned or rather unplanned it, and they were glad to have severed ties with her.
However, when the signs began showing, Jer knew that he had made a mistake.
He had lost anything that could give Awuor an excuse to come back for him.
The thing about mates, was that they were sacred. Mates were supposed to be the partners who made life better and without their mates, werewolves always ended up so ruthless sometimes that even the goddess would have to intervene.
As they sat in the office, and felt her final bonds break, everyone in the office was silent. They hadn't expected that she would give up on them too soon. Alpha Sicario wasn't saying anything, despite having been the first to motivate Jer.
Instead, he walked out of the packhouse and went to the hunting grounds. He needed to clear his mind of what he had just done. He knew that his daughter would be more brutal, but a part of him was thankful that she had the courage to break free.
Alpha Sicario knew about what his mate had known of, and just like Razia, he had tried to act on the accusation, but Eniola had stopped him. In the end, his mate died, and his greedy son got to control the sitting alpha.
That was never how he had planned to watch his kids grow up, and maybe that was also why he had given the punishment to Awuor. He knew it wasn't a punishment, because his little girl was a fighter and could battle anyone who tried shit with her.
As the oldest alpha in the pack, Alpha Sicario was forbidden by law to take revenge for anything that was done against him and his family, but there was no law that was binding Awuor. And even if the laws had been there, right now, the young alpha had nothing left.
She was free to be as brutal as she wanted to be. She was free to take a life for a life, because she had no laws restricting her anymore.
With the alpha gone, Dom looked calm. However, one look at him and Elodie could tell that the young beta was glad his sister was finally gone. The relief on his face was somewhat strange, a little too strange.
"Aren't you sad your sister is gone?" Elodie asked and Dom just let out a laugh. She was right. he felt nothing but spite for the sister who had loved him with all that she had and didn't have. Awuor may have been strict, but her brother was her lifeline and she loved him so much.
Seeing Dom like this was just proof that some bonds weren't worth keeping and maybe, just maybe Elodie was glad that Awuor had severed all her ties with Sicario.
"Sad? Why the hell would I be sad that my mother's murderer is gone? Besides, you people are assuming she left the pack lands. Did it ever occur to you that she may have gone and provoked the rogues in her shameless anger and gotten herself killed?
"Or what, you think she's the only psycho in the supernatural realm? I for one am hoping that she is dead, dead and dead. Because it's shameful to have a sister who is also a murderer. I refuse to be sad for her. She can die for all I care," Dom said coldly.
Elodie looked at the young Sicario and wondered if this is what it felt like to be alone in a fight. She knew that life without Awuor would be quite hectic, but she also knew that she had to learn to live without her. Her best friend was a good person and Elodie was painfully aware of that.
It was also how she knew that one of the people in that alpha's office had framed Awuor for murder. She had her suspicions from the very beginning, because her best friend loved her mother so much that Elodie was always jealous of Luna Eniola.
But then she also knew that Awuor valued her relationships and would never do anything to jeopardize that. The fact that her claws were found in her mother's neck was also another red flag, because Awuor Sicario never used her claws in a war or a fight.
She believed that they were meant for a time when she truly was in danger, but was the alpha in danger from her own mother? It was just impossible.
"And what of you, Jer, aren't you the least bit worried about her?" Elodie asked, her tone growing too cheery. She knew she had to play the part of the girl who wanted Jeremy, the girl who could betray her best friend for a packet of chips and a seat in power.
She had to do it well, otherwise, she would never be able to prove the innocence of her best friend, especially now that there was no way of knowing if Awuor was murdered or if she had just crossed the lands on her own.
If she was dead, then Elodie would get revenge for her, because her friend was the best that anyone would ever get. But if she had gone away, then Elodie would fight for her justice, only that this time, she would do it in her own way.
For better or worse, she would always be on Awuor Hawi's team.
"I bet you love it now that she's gone," Jer said flatly, like he wasn't in the mood for anything else. His thoughts were clouded by his missing mate, even though he knew he would get over the rejection soon enough. After all, his mate could have just died of a heartbreak.
The idea was crazy tough. Thinking that the last thing that could take out the alpha, was a heartbreak was a far fetch, even for him. But what was he supposed to think of now?
"Why are you mad at me, it's not like I forced you to reject her. You're the alpha, and her mate, well ex-mate, but still you had the power to refuse out convictions.
"If you keep complaining about the mate you rejected, your people may think you're a weakling, just saying," Elodie said to Jer who looked at her, like he was trying to find a clue of something or anything. But then with Elodie, there was no knowing what she was planning.
Just like Awuor, she was lethal in her own way, and right now, she was scared that her best friend had died, so she would avenge her in every manner she could. But until then, she had an alpha to guilt trip mercilessly.
"I am not a weakling."
"Then act like it," Elodie said, before kissing Jer on the lips and walking out.
