Chapter Thirty Nine

*Content Warning*

Liam

I watched helplessly as Gavin took Azalea, roughly f***ing her on the bed. This was all wrong. We had a deal, and this was never supposed to happen.

“You are a f***ing monster! Stop this now!” I screamed at him. I could hear her crying for me to take back over and stop it. He had taken what she said earlier and waited until the heat came again.

He ignored all my badgering until he had finished inside of her. He rolled off the bed, gathering himself up. He faced her as he fixed his clothes back on. “It is done. She will smell like us now. You just need to mark her so no other man can take her.”

“She will never be ours now. You are an idiot. She will leave and never speak to me again.”

He brushed me off, not relenting control. He walked to the door, looking over his shoulder at our mate still on the bed. She was curled into a ball on the bed, crying so hard she sounded as if she was having trouble breathing.

“You are just going to f***ing leave her?!”

He ignored me leaving the room and our mate. I knew Gavin was far rougher than I was but this was absolutely wrong. He strutted down the hall, meeting Lily and Damien on the steps.

“Where is Azalea?” she said, her voice laced with concern. He just smirked at her.

“What did you do Liam?” Damien said, his voice dangerously low.

“What needed to be done,” Gavin spewed. Lily screamed realizing what had just happened at the same time as Damien launched himself at us. Lily ran towards the bedroom, not bothering to even see if Gavin was going to stop her. Gavin let a loud growl lose as Damien’s fist connected with our jaw. There was a crunch and spots before our eyes. Gavin momentarily let go of his control, allowing me to take over. I fell to the ground and lay there for a moment panting.

I raised my hand to my jaw, touching it gingerly. I spit out a mouth full of blood before looking at Damien. He was panting hard, clearly trying to reign in his wolf.

“Damien, it's me,” I said trying to get him to see that I was back. “I couldn’t stop him,” I said with shame. I looked up at Damien as he slowly calmed himself.

“You f***ed up,” he finally said stepping over me and heading towards the bedroom. He didn’t have to say it; I was more aware of that than anyone else.

Azalea

I woke as I was placed into a warm bath. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. Looking up, I saw Damien slowly lowering me into the water. My eyes grew wide.

“Shhhh, it's okay. Azalea, he isn’t here,” Lily’s voice came from next to Damien.

I looked down to see a towel draped over the front of me. Lily must have wanted to help preserve whatever dignity I had left. Once Damien was sure I wasn’t going to slip down into the water, he left the bathroom leaving Lily with me. I looked into her kind face as the tears began to silently fall.

“He-he…” I couldn’t form the words.

“Shhh, shhhh. I know. Oh, sweetheart I am so sorry. We had no idea,” she said, looking ashamed of herself. Bringing my knees up, I crossed my arms and hung my head on them as sobs wracked my whole body. Lily slowly rubbed my back with a soft sponge, careful not to touch me.

I knew she was at a loss as to what to do. But I could not be strong in this moment. I could not pretend everything was okay. Gavin hurt me and Liam did not stop him.

“What can we do?” Lily finally asked in a soft voice.

I tried to calm myself down enough to speak. In a shaking voice I finally said, “I want to g-go home.”

She was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said, “give me just a minute.” She got up and left the room. I sat up and looked down at my wrists. Dark purple bruises wrapped around my small wrists. I sat there staring at these visual reminders of what just happened.

Lily came back in. “Damien is going to drive you back to the Inn. You don’t have to stay here,” she said. I nodded my head slowly, not taking my eyes off my wrists.

“Would you like help getting out?” Lily asked hesitantly. I did not realize but I had been sitting here long enough that the water around me was cold.

I looked at her nodding again. She gave me a weak smile, coming over to the tub with a towel. Careful not to actually touch me, she used the towel to help support me as I stood. My legs were weak, and my entire center felt sore. She helped me from the tub and into a large towel.

We walked slowly out to the bedroom. I avoided looking at the bed, not wanting to think about what had just transpired there. She led me to the closet to help me get dressed.

“Let’s find something warm,” she said. I motioned to my half-packed suitcase. She made a little ‘o’ face and began looking for some clothes. She turned around handing me some undergarments.

“I can go…” she said. I shook my head no. I was more afraid of being alone right now than someone seeing me naked. She nodded and turned around, seeming to continue to look for some warm clothes.

I dropped the towel and pulled on the underwear and bra. She turned around momentarily to hand me some leggings and a t-shirt. I pulled them on while she patiently waited.

“I will grab your clothes, why don’t you go get your stuff from the bathroom?” she said. I nodded my head, feeling numb to everything around me now. I exited the closet going back to the bathroom. Grabbing my things from the counter, I looked over to the bathtub. The plug had not been pulled. The water was tinted red.  Tears silently ran down my cheeks. I left the bathroom, coming back into the bedroom. Lily was waiting with my bag open on the table.

“Here,” she said, handing me a sweatshirt. My eyes grew wide as I saw what she had. I shook my head violently, refusing it. She looked down at it, taking a minute to realize what was in her hands. She turned around and tossed it on the couch. “I’ll find you something of mine, okay?” I placed the rest of my things in the bag and shut it. Lily grabbed the bag. “Ready?” she said. I nodded at her. She led the way out of the bedroom.

When we entered the living room, Damien stood at the door holding a thick sweatshirt. He handed it to Lily, grabbing my suitcase from her. Lily came back over to me with the sweatshirt in her hands. I looked over to the couch where Liam sat. His eyes were red, his face reading all his disgrace. He held an ice pack to his jaw. I walked across the living room to Damien.

“Ready?” he asked gently. I nodded my head at him. Without looking back at Liam, I followed him and Lily outside. Damien’s car was pulled up close to the door. Damien put my bag in the back as Lily helped me into the passenger seat.

“Thank you, and I am sorry,” I told Lily.

She hugged me tight. I stiffened slightly. “No, we are sorry. So sorry Azalea. I hope this isn’t the last I see you,” she said cheerlessly.

“It won't be,'' I said quietly trying to give her a small smile. Damien got in the driver’s seat as Lily closed my door. She hugged her arms around her body as we pulled away. We were driving for only about 5 minutes before I heard a very loud and sad wolf’s howl. Tears ran down my cheeks as I looked out the tinted window into the darkening landscape.

“I should have stopped him,” Damien said quietly. I shook my head. “No, you are my Luna and I failed to protect you. I will be forever sorry Azalea.”

“It was never going to work,” I replied quietly. My body felt heavy and Damien blasted the heat to keep me warm. I knew a wolf his size had to be sweating bullets in this amount of warmth. I fell asleep before I could even think about getting motion sick.

-

When I woke up, I was being carried by large, strong arms. I could hear a familiar voice near me.

“Where the hell is the nitwit Alpha?” said the old man.

“There were some problems. Where does she sleep?” Damien replied.

“Out back. What problems? I have been tolerating the flea-brained wolves all over my Inn, you can give me some answers, you wer-bear!”

A growl emanated from Damien’s chest. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting them to know I was awake. I could tell he was carrying me through the Inn now. I could hear the old man hobbling along behind him.

“I do not owe you any explanation. If she wishes to tell you, she will. But she will have extra protection and that is not a request.” Damien sure carried a lot of authority.

“Now wait just a minute. You are putting more wolves around here?” exclaimed the old man.

“She is our Luna. Until she is ready to come to the packhouse, she will need protection here.”

The old man huffed. “Does she know this?”

“I will find a way to tell her.”

“And what about her foolish mate? Why isn’t he here?”

“I told you, there were problems. Now help me unlock her apartment or go away.”

I could hear the old man dig around in my flowerpot for my extra key. When he found it, he unlocked my door and swung it open for Damien. Damien entered my small apartment.

“You tell your Alpha he owes me some answers in the morning,” said the old man. Damien shut the door with his foot. He took me over to my bed, laying me down gently. He covered me with a blanket from my chest. I could hear shuffling and the scraping of chair legs against the floor.

I peeked my eyes open to see him sitting in the chair facing the bed. “Sleep, Luna. I won’t let any harm come to you,” he said softly.

“Damien, you don’t have to stay. Go back to your mate,” I said quietly. He shook his head, and I gave him a quizzical look. He sighed.

“So, he didn’t tell you. I will explain everything tomorrow and you can decide what you would like to do.” I nodded my head. Closing my eyes, I let sleep take over once again.