Alpha Tristan

The hatred had filled my heart and my gaze froze over as I stared at Mindy's crouched form. Her auburn hair was slightly knotted and she sported an angry bruise around her neck from when I almost strangled her to death. 

To the typical man, Mindy would have been considered extremely beautiful. I couldn't see it at all and all I did see was the envy that clouded the good character I had once seen in her. She wasn't the pack member I knew—the wool had been pulled off my eyes and I hated myself for not listening to Kara. 

There would have been no way they would have fought if I knew Mindy had it in her to do something so…so cruel. 

Stepping forward into the light that dimly flickered from the overhanging lightbulb, I folded my arms across my c.h.e.s.t and regarded her with a chilling voice. "You request an audience with me like I have anything to say to you. I'm trying so hard not to rip you to pieces."

She gulped audibly and crawled to the bars. Her knees were bleeding and she looked like hell. "You wouldn't do that, Alpha—Tristan."

I squeezed my fist shut and tried to hold back the growl that rumbled in my throat. "Don't tempt me, Mindy. The thought of painting this room red with your blood is an enticing idea." I snarled at her and took another step forward. "If you address me incorrectly again, it'll be the last thing you ever say."

She bit her tongue and the fear-filled her green eyes. "A-Alpha. You couldn't be that cruel."

I crouched down so I was eye-level with her and she visibly shivered under my gaze. The dominance that rolled off my body was powerful and her confidence suffocated under it. "You don't know how cruel I can be." It was a menacing whisper and I tilted my head to the side. "I know no such thing as mercy when someone tries to take something from me. You tried to kill the one person who means everything to me."

She slowly backed herself up against the wall. "She's not dead, is she?"

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes. "Do you want to know if you did a good job?" She didn't say anything and I carried on in anger. "You're a pathetic excuse of a woman, Mindy. I had high hopes for you but you fooled yourself into thinking I could love anyone but my mate."

She shook her head vehemently. "It was possible before you met her. I look like a Luna. I would be amazing by your side."

The image made me feel physically sick. "Don't you get it?" a disgusted expression crossed my face. "I'm repulsed by you. The only thing I think you would be amazing at is dead."

A bolt of defiance flashed in her eyes. "Kill me then. Do it!"

I stood up quickly and closed my eyes to get a hold of myself. "I'm not going to let it be that easy." I turned around and heard the shaky breath that she inhaled. "I'm going to let you rot in here until you've been driven so mad that you beg for death. And I won't give it to you because that would be merciful, and you weren't merciful when you decided to dig your filthy claws into my mate's body."

What she said next sent my anger through the roof and I was furious. 

"I hope the bitch dies!"

It was like I blacked out. One minute, I was facing away from her, the next, my hand was clamped down on her ankle and her face slammed into the silver bar. The contact wasn't long enough to burn her skin but her nose made a wet crunch noise as blood gushed from her nostrils. 

She shrieked in pain and tried to scramble back before I wrapped both hands around her neck. I was delirious and her blood dripped onto my hands as she gasped for air. I found the way her pulse began to slow down exhilarating but I let go at the last minute and growled ferociously. 

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart, limb from limb. You're going to wish you never tried to kill her when I'm done with you."

Her choked sobs filled the room and I snarled as my c.h.e.s.t heaved with my deep breaths. I could barely see straight and I closed my eyes to compose myself. I vaguely heard her vomiting out the contents of her stomach as I walked out. The Hounds didn't bat an eyelid as I walked past them and up the long winding stairs. 

Mindy's blood tainted the pure white snow and I pulled some tissue from my pocket, wiping my hands clean. I wanted to desperately kill her but I knew Kara had to be awake when I did it. 

The anger still consumed every single bone in my body until I was with her again. When it was only her and I alone in the room, I stared at her and spoke as if she could hear me. I had no idea if she could or not. 

"You were right. She's in love with me and I never saw it. Maybe because I didn't want to see it." I reached for her hand and brushed the pass off my thumb over her slow pulse. "I've only ever wanted your love, Kara. I waited for you to give me a chance because I'd never wanted to be loved so much by someone before. Not until I met you."

Her face was still until her nose twitched. I watched her carefully and listened in on her heartbeat. It was the same pace as it was the minute before and I slumped back in my chair when she stopped moving. 

"She has to die for what she did, Kara. But I feel like the crazy alphas, hungry for blood and eager to kill. I want to hurt her so badly for what she did to you—I can't be the alpha everyone loves right now. I'm slipping back into the darkness and I don't like it."

Mindy was going to pay for what did, I knew that for certain. She wasn't going to put Kara in a coma and continue to live. For a brief moment, I considered another option, a crueller option. I shook it out of my head.

I wanted to be the one who took her life away. Especially after she betrayed me as her alpha and Kara as her luna. 

Betrayal broke the foundations of my pack. Trust, loyalty and respect. She had defied all three when she dug her claws into Kara's stomach. She was defying nature by 'loving me'. I wasn't meant for her—I wasn't meant to have her heart nor did I want it. 

I had meant it when I said I had never seen myself as anything more than her alpha. After my dark childhood and the war, I only wanted to protect my pack. My protection came with unwavering love but not the kind Mindy wanted.

The last thing on my mind was having a mate. How could I think of being happy when I had lost so much? 

It was easier to close off my heart. When I did that, I didn't feel things so painfully. My territory was known as the Underworld, and cautionary tales exacerbated my cold disposition. I wasn't cruel or quick-tempered. I became what I had to be to survive. 

If I allowed myself to feel everything I had built up from the age of five, I would have nineteen years of anger, pain and bloodl.u.s.t in my heart. Then, I would have actually become what people feared me to be. 

The Deliverer—of death, pain and misery. 

Despite surviving the war, I wasn't living. I had no true happiness of my own but that all changed when I set my eyes on Kara for the first time. She had taken my breath away and for the first time, I felt something I had never felt before. 

It had broken me when she didn't feel the same. Hearing her tell me she hated me and would never choose me took me back to the weak and frail Tristan—I had no hope for a future. But I knew that Kara wasn't a passing visitor in my life. She was there to stay and I had to wait until she fell in love with me. 

It took longer than I had wanted to but noticing the gradual change in the way she looked at me eased my heart. She yearned to be near me all the time and when she began showing me more affection, the hope reignited in my heart. 

With Kara, I felt my emotions. I had the courage to feel them all because she was there to hold me through it. She gave my life a new sense of purpose and with her, I felt alive and began truly living life.

It couldn't be the end for us. We deserved a happy ending. 

Forlornly, I climbed onto the bed, on the side where she wasn't injured and rested my head gently on her c.h.e.s.t. I stared at where her wound was, debating whether or not to lift the hospital gown and look at it. When she had been stabbed, there was so much blood that I didn't see the puncture wounds nor did I want to see them. 

I decided against it, knowing my heavy heart wouldn't be able to handle it. I slowly fell asleep as my soul cried out for hers and I knew that the feeling of her hand in my hair just wasn't real. I craved her so much that I dreamt of the future I wanted us to have. 

I wished with everything in me that we could have it all.