The Silent Alpha novel Chapter 80

***Zane*** 

"Awar killed my son," Sebastian replies, a numbness in his voice as if he had recited these words until they became his truth.

"A war started by the man you now align yourself with."

"Y-you lied...Y-you lied all these y-years!" I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Y-you said i-it was Ravenstone!"

Around me, the wolves on either side stare at the old Alpha in shock, unable to comprehend how he could ever harm his own child.

"You will never understand this,"

Sebastian snarls.

"You’ve been kept away from all the war, all the blood, all the death your entire life.You will never understand the sacrifices an Alpha has to make for their pack but I do!"

"H-he was innocent!"

I cry, unable to believe his justification.

"There are no innocents in war!"

Sebastian growls.

"Only blood, be it the blood of your enemies or the blood of your family.War does not know right from wrong, it only knows strength and being strong enough to do what needs to be done and take what is yours!"

"Yy-you’re a monster," I whisper.

"lam not the only monster here,"

Sebastian sneers, his eyes narrowing to slits as he glares at Toran.

"This war began because a mate bond was not honored between my brother and his wife.That man," he snarls, pointing at Toran.

"That man destroyed my family but it was not enough to take my brother," he laughs cruelly.

"No, he went and had my wife killed...He made me feel her death.I felt the pain shattering through me, burning my lungs, my flesh, my soul! I felt her slip away until all that was left was this cold, emptiness.I felt everything that night, but it was not enough for him.No, he then took her from me.He took her and kept her hidden from me all these years, mocking me...He bought her love, no doubt...tricked her into thinking he actually cared for her...But Ravenstones...they are incapable of love."

Beside me, Tylen looks like he might tear Sebastian to shreds but Toran has a satisfied grin on his lips.

"My, my.How little you know, Seba,"

Toran sighs, shifting into his human form.

"But no matter, you will eat your words soon enough,"

Toran teases.

"I love my wife.I have for the past 20 years and despite knowing that it was I who hurt her, Elenore loves me too, freely and willingly.We are not fated, but every day she wakes up, she chooses me, over and over again.She has raised my son and my pack alongside me like a true Luna, and she has never once lived in fear that I may hurt her like you did.In all our years of marriage, the only time I have ever touched her, was because she begged me to.Not once have I ever forced myself upon her, because unlike you, I actually cherish my wife.After what we just witnessed, can you say the same? Did you ever truly love that woman or were you just satisfying your wolf?"

He snarls.

"Elenore was the only good in my life!"

Sebastian snaps.

"And yet, you destroyed her,"

Toran growls.

"But by the grace of my Goddess, she does not know who you are or what you did to her.Moon Goddess gave her a clean slate to start over with and I thank her every day for that because she will never remember that it was you who took her pup, that it was you who broke her son, and that it was you who shattered her heart every day with your cruelty."

"Do not act so righteous, Toran! There is blood on your hands as there is blood on mine!"

Sebastian bellows, trembling with rage.

"We are no different!"

"You are wrong, my dear Seba," Toran replies.

"There is no innocent blood on my hands.I did not kill those children at the daycare.I did not kill my own son for the benefit of war.I did not hurt my own family.AND I DID NOT KILL BRE!"

"LIAR!"

Sebastian screams and I realize he has been fighting this war based on lies and deceit.

"Y-ou don’t know abou-about Bre," I murmur softly, Sebastian’s face hardening.

"Of course I know about Bre.That bastard killed her when he found out she was mated to my brother," Sebastian scoffs.

"And then he killed my brother."

Acruel smile lingers on Toran’s face and with one look, he asks me to show Sebastian the truth of that day.I look around at the Scarlett wolves, their faith in their Alpha already faltering.

Do not pity them, Grayson snaps.

They deserve to know the truth behind the war they have been fighting for almost 30 years.

Closing my eyes and putting down my walls, I let Toran’s memories flood my head, sifting through them until I find the memory of that fateful day.

When I open my eyes again, a beam of light flows through my irises, projecting the memory for all to see.

"Toran! Toran!"

Breanna screams through mindlink, Toran running faster until he reaches a small cottage in the forest.

"I’m coming!"

Toran shouts back, knocking down the front door and racing inside.His breath hitches when upon entering the cottage, he sees Cyrus towering over Breanna laying on the couch, a bloody dagger in his hand.

Breanna wheezes softly as Cyrus turns to face his best friend.

"We were supposed to be the Fated Pair,"

Cyrus chuckles to himself.

"But the spell wore off-"

He manages to escape by sonic scream, leaving Toran to face his dying wife on his own.

Toran crawls to her, cradling her head and smoothing down her hair.

There is a large gaping wound on her stomach, a river of blood pouring through it.

Upon touching her, Toran’s eyes suddenly widen in shock and Breanna smiles up at him as a little blood trickles from her nose, reaching a hand to caress his cheek.

"M-mate," she coughs out, wiping the blood on her lips.

"We're mates."

"Don’t speak,"

Toran hushes, attempting to lift her in her arms, but Breanna only protests.

"I need to get you to the hospital.They'll fix you there, come on."

"N-No," Breanna protests.

"Just-just stay here with me.Just hold my hand," she says through a bloody smile.

"Please.”

"But they can fix you,"

Toran pleads, Breanna shaking her head at him.

"Please, please let them fix you-"

"I love you, Toran,"

Breanna whispers, coughing up more blood.

"P-please be strong...without me..."

"Bre-"

Toran shakes his head, Breanna’s eyes slowly fading away.

"It’s okay, Bre, I’ve got you," he murmurs, lifting her up so he can sit down and cradle her in his arms.

"It’s okay, Bre.It’s going to be okay," he adds, rocking back and forth long after she goes still in his arms.

"We’re okay, baby.We’re going to be okay.You’re just tired.You just go to sleep and in the morning, it'll all be better.I promise, baby."

He sits on that couch for what seems to be an eternity, holding his mate and brushing her hair with his fingers.

Tears streak his cheeks but there is anger in his eyes.

Anger and hatred.

"No,"

Sebastian shakes his head in disbelief, disrupting the memory projection.

"No, it cannot be! Toran killed Breanna.It was Toran-"

"Your brother took my mate,"Toran snarls.

"It was your brother’s own greed that got him killed, not my envy.He tricked you, he tricked you all into believing Breanna was his mate but it was just a spell.A spell to make her believe she was his mate when in reality, she was mine.You’ve killed innocent people, all in the name of a lie."

Sebastian shakes his head, unwilling to believe what he’s just witnessed.

"No, no.He’s lying!"

Sebastian cries, looking around at his wolves who stare at their weapons in disgust.

"My-My father said-"

"You still believe that man after everything he’s done?" Toran scoffs.

"You’re such a coward, Sebastian.All this time you’ve been afraid your son would tarnish your reputation, when the only one hurting your pack is you!"

"I did what was necessary,"

Sebastian snarls back.

"You did what you were told without question,"

Toran snaps.

"Like a lost pup looking for approval.Now when it matters, you’re all alone, Sebastian.Cyrus is dead andAlexander can’t help you.Face it, White, the only one responsible for your crimes here is you and you will pay dearly for them all!" kill him, Grayson snarls.

After all the pain he’s caused, he deserves nothing short of death! I stare at the Scarlett Alpha, the world he created with terror and cruelty crumbling around him.He looks so pathetic as he kneels before the one person he was always too ashamed to claim as his son.

"You're still weak, boy," Sebastian snickers, a challenge in his voice.

"After all these years, you still can’t face me like an Alpha.An Alpha would have killed me without hesitation! And yet you won’t.You just stand there like an idiot-"

He suddenly sits up as I fill his mind with memories of my childhood, one by one, showing him the fear I overcame.

I show him all the times I stood before that mirror in my room, practicing my words to make them perfect, my fingers trembling with every flip of the page of my book.I show him all the times I watched him beat my mother to teach me a lesson, how she cried and begged him for mercy and how I tried so hard to make him proud.

His fingers curl as he feels the sting of the whips and belts on my back from every beating I got for the mistakes I made while completing my work and daily chores.

I show him how my silence was mocked daily, and how I learned to survive without ever uttering a word.I show him the day Caine whipped me until ribbons of flesh hung from my back and how I took it all without screaming.I make him feel the pain of his rejections and the humiliation of losing my pack to a boy now buried six feet under.I show him what I did to the heir he chose, how Caine pissed himself in fear before he shot himself in the head for hurting my mate.I show him the aftermath as Talia was wheeled into a hospital room and force him to feel the anguish I felt as they fought to bring her back.I show him the fear in Dakota’s eyes as he screamed for his mommy, and the agony in my heart as I waited for news on my mate.I show Sebastian all the torment of my life before Talia and Kota made it fade away, but I do not share their beauty.

He does not deserve to see them.

The memories overwhelm him, Sebastian shaking his head as if to remove them from his mind, but I hold him hostage, wanting him to see for himself everything he did to me.

"St-sto-st" he stammers, his eyes flickering as memories flood his every thought.

"Oh Gods!"

"I-I know who I-l am," I whisper , towering over the coward I once feared as he whimpers.

"I-l am the son of A-Agnes Thorne and the son of R-Rionna Ravenstone.I-l am mated to Ta-Talia Ramos and the f-father of our son, Da-Dakota Ramos.I-I am an Alpha with a st-stutter and the b-boy y-you were so ashamed to call a s-son.Y-your blood runs through m-my veins....But I will n-never be like y-you...because I-I am stronger than y-you will ever be!"

He holds his head in his hands, curling up on the floor as I fill his mind with my screams and those of my mothers.

"S-shut up!"

Sebastian shouts, the veins on his temples bulging and his face flushing red.

Pushing him even further, I force him to watch Jonathan’s murder over and over again, making him relive with vivid detail, the memory of him telling my mother that her beloved pup was now dead, never to grow up to be the Alpha he was always meant to be.

"M-make it stop!"

Sebastian cries, his fingers clawing at his own eyes, his nails tearing through his flesh.

Grayson forces his way to the surface, and through gritted teeth, snarls at the deplorable Alpha, "Be aman, Sebastian and face what you did!"

"P-please!" the Alpha begs, screaming in agony on the dock floor.

"Did I stutter?"

Grayson sneers, giving me back control to face my tormentor.

Do not hold back, Grayson whispers.

Because he never did.

Closing my eyes, I open connections with Tylen and Toran, selecting memories to show Sebastian how much life improved for my mother without him in it.

I let him watch my mother wake up from her coma and slowly fall in love with Toran and Tylen.

Sebastian growls with rage, unable to stop the memories of her saying ‘I do’ to another man and smiling happily as her new adopted son showers her with affection.

He slams his head against the concrete of the dock in hopes of ending his misery, but the memories keep flooding Sebastian’s brain one by one.

A gash forms across his forehead, blood spilling from the wound and trickling down his nose and temples but it does not stop him from hitting himself again with his fists.

Images of Rionna leading a happy life without Sebastian torment him, revealing to him how truly insignificant his presence was in her life.

"No! No!" He screams, writhing on the floor in a fit of fury.

"I love you, Toran,"

Rionna murmurs every morning to her husband, the words enraging Sebastian’s wolf.

Sebastian’s eyes turn blue as his wolf steps through and for once, his fiery swirls of sapphire don’t scare me anymore.

"lt said make it stop!" the Alpha commands, but his words mean nothing to me anymore.

When I remain silent, Sebastian’s bones begin to crack and rearrange, his silver wolf taking his place.

The wolf snarls and attempts to charge at me, but he doesn’t take a single step before his own soldiers point their guns at him without my coercion.

He snarls at them to stand down, but not one soldier chooses to follow his lead anymore.He takes a step forward, a soldier pulling the trigger of his gun and shooting his paw.

Sebastain’s wolf howls in pain and collapses on his injured hind legs.

"Stay down," I command, Sebastian’s wolf responding accordingly against his will.

Toran circles Sebastian like prey before crouching down and stroking his tail with his hand, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes.

When he opens them again, they glow red, a small smile on his lips.

"How many years, I’ve dreamed of this moment, Sebastian,"

Toran’s wolf whispers to himself.

"To hold your power in my hands and have you at my mercy."

Sebastian only snarls in response, but I see the fear in his eyes.

"You will die tonight," Toran’s wolf murmurs.

"But only when you beg for it."

The wolf turns to me and in a polite voice, asks that I continue my memory assault.

Concentrating, I dig through Sebastian’s childhood memories, forcing him to relive all of the humiliations he faced on account of his father all at once.He begins to claw and bite at his own legs as he feels the phantom sting of his father’s whip burn across his flesh.

At the same time, red mist forms at Toran’s fingertips, the poisonous gas floating towards Sebastian.

His flesh breaks out into painful blisters and Sebastian writhes in pain from the simultaneous attacks.

Toran creates more gas, letting it wash over Sebastian's eyes so that it blinds him and all he can see now are the images I project in his own head.

Little by little, I make him relive his past while Toran emits a little gas to cause just enough agony without killing Sebastian.

Time seems to stand crawl as Sebastian begs for mercy, each of his cries chipping away at my humanity and causing my stomach to churn with disgust.

"You should go,"

Toran murmurs, his eyes still glowing red.

"Before he takes your innocence too."

I stare at the shell of aman screaming on the dock floor, his body almost unrecognizable from all the blisters and claw marks.

Behind me, several Ravenstone wolves sit to watch Sebastian’s slow demise.

"Torture changes you forever and no one will think less of you for leaving,"

Toran’s wolf explains.

"You are still our Alpha."

He gestures around the Harbor.

"There are no humans here now," his wolf adds.

"Just beasts avenging the deaths of their fallen children."

I look around to see that he is right, all the wolves have taken over command to watch the man who killed their sons and daughters in a fiery hell, suffer a slow and painful death by his own hand.

"The choice is yours, Alpha," Toran sighs.

An Alpha acts with his pack, Grayson reminds me.

But let me carry this burden for you and I'll finish this once and for all.

Very gently, Grayson takes over command, instructing Toran’s wolf to proceed.

Grayson blocks out Sebastian’s cries for the next several hours, and I only see the monster twist and contort in silent agony, though I choose not to watch most of it.

It is only after Sebastian begs for death that Grayson allows me to hear again.

"Do it yourself,"

Grayson instructs, a green mist forming around Sebastian’s blistered body.

The toxic green gas pours into Sebastian’s nose and throat, his eyes bulging out as he struggles to breathe.

Foam spills out of his snout and trickles down his neck, the veins in his eyes bursting and turning the whites red.

He opens his mouth to howl but nothing ever leaves his throat, his body finally going limp.

I do not know how to feel as I stare at Sebastian’s dead body, the monster within no longer able to hurt me or anyone else ever again.

There are no cheers, no shouts of joy and no excitement, only silence as reality sets in; the Scarlett Alpha has finally fallen.

The Scarlett wolves turn to me and bow their heads, ready to accept me as their new alpha.

I, however, only shake my head.

"I am not your Alpha," I proclaim.

"Scarlett Haven dies with Sebastian White."