Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 58

They had set up a temporary stronghold at Scarlet University. It was one of the places most securely guarded when all hell broke loose, and the loyal members of the Scarlet pack had taken advantage of the stored food, backup generators, dormitories and suites, and even the medical supplies. Enemies had taken control of the two smaller hospitals in the city, leaving only the major one in friendly hands, which meant any injured civilians or weaker Deltas with less regenerative power needed all the extra help they could get. But Peelle had been beyond all medical aid. When a team of Deltas had rendezvoused with everyone else at the new base in Scarlet University, they had come carrying his marred body in the mangled car that he had used to kill at least several other pursuers. No one would ever know the full story, but it seemed that because he had been unable to shift, he had turned and crashed his car straight into the enemy vehicles, both of them, as they came around the bend in the dark.

If his headlights had been on when the vehicles crashed, they would have beaded from the heat of illumination. But in the wreckage, there had been no sign of that. The cars had tumbled off the overpass and crashed onto the concrete below, Peelle's car pinning one to the asphalt. There had been three rogues' corpses as well. One of them had been decapitated from the sheer force, likely his belt taking off his head, while the other two had been pinned in a mangled mess and apparently unable to free themselves from the hundreds of pounds of twisted and smoking metal.

Even unarmed and unable to shift, Peelle had used the terrain, his environment, and his wits to do what no one else could have. There had been survivors, primarily the signs of the second car that must have been heavily damaged judging by the fender and two lost wheels found nearby, but the enemies in them must have driven off once they confirmed Peelle was dead.

Deltas had found him while combing the area for enemies, looking to take back valuable ground. They had carried him back to Scarlet University so someone could verify his identity and make the report, should he prove to be who they thought he was. And now Evan and I sat in the converted morgue, next to the metal table where the examiner had respectfully placed Peelle's body so Evan could give final confirmation it was him.

He hadn't yet. There were others outside the closed door in the hallway giving us respectful distance, waiting for him to come back out. But Evan sat and sat and sat, eyes fixed on the white sheet covering Peelle's body.

I reached for his hand and placed it in his lap, our fingers joined.

Peelle had given his life to protect us. Once those rogues had realized what had happened, they had given up the chase, knowing it was futile, and he had even managed to take some of them with him.

But had that been his only choice? Hadn't there been any way to save all three of us?

We hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. He had run away, making us survive, forcing us to live, giving himself up so they couldn't get to us. That wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all, how could he do that and leave us like this? How could he make Evan drown in such pain and horror and fury, burning and freezing at the same time with the sheer intensity of his hatred for the enemy?

But worse than the pain, the horror, the fury, worse than the hatred - was the guilt.

I lay my head on his shoulder, and finally he reacted, turning to me and almost wrapping himself around my body as if clinging to the last strand of hope in the world.

"I won't lose you. You're all I have now."

"That's not true. You have everyone who's hoping in you... Everyone waiting for you to take back their homes. But I'm with you until the end. I love you, Evan."

"There's never going to be an end. I'm going to wipe them out. I'm going to wipe out everyone who's ever hurt us, everyone who could ever do it. Everyone who's even thought about it in their dreams. I'm going to make the whole world safe for you."

I leaned back slightly, pulling against his strength. He let me go, but only slightly. Still, the little space I created was enough for me to look up into his eyes.

"Peelle and I talked about you, do you know that? Actually, we talked about you a lot."

"What about?"

"A lot of things. But I promised I'd take care of you, and he trusted me. He was worried that you'd spiral into darkness, and he was willing to give up anything to stop that. He wanted to protect you, and in his last moments, I know that was all he was thinking about. He was glad he had the chance, and he wanted nothing more than to make sure you were safe. I believe that with all my heart." I hugged him again. "I could hear his thoughts, don't forget that. He meant every word of what he said, all the time."

He rested his chin on top of my head, and I listened to nothing but the easy inhale and exhale of his breathing for long moments. Finally, he spoke.

"He gave me another chance to protect you. I won't waste it. Ever."

***

When he was ready, we stood to say our goodbyes to Peelle. I carefully pulled back the white sheet from his face and folded it below his neck, making sure to go no lower. The ones who had cleaned up his damaged body hadn't been able to do much for the severest parts, and below his neck, the sight was probably not a good one. I wanted to give Evan a last sight of his friend easier and less painful to remember.

It was still horrific seeing him - dead. But the men who had cleaned him up had at least wiped off the blood from his face and tried to mend what they could. When Peelle had died, his body had still been flooded full of the toxin, so his regeneration had failed to do it on its own.

Though if he had been able to heal, he might have survived outright. He could be standing here now, grinning and asking-

"What took you so long?"

I could almost hear him.

Evan could, too. He leaned over Peelle's head, hands braced on the edge of the metal table and grimacing. His eyes were closed. Pain, so much pain flowing out of him like an endless sea, raging and swelling...

I took his hand, and he let me slip my fingers between his. Together, we looked down at Peelle's face.

"Thank you," I whispered. "When you did it, I couldn't stop you, but that's what you wanted. I still wish you hadn't and that we could be here together, all of us... but for what you did, thank you. I know protecting us was the only thing on your mind." I just wish, I almost added, that we could have protected you too.

"I'll take care of your mate," Evan said quietly. "I'll see her personally once this is over. Rest easy."

"Peelle's mate?"

"They never marked each other because he was afraid she would never be able to stop feeling the pain, if he ever died. I was going to let him go home to her so they could be a family once I finished my mission. He wanted to help me put an end to it all. But I should have told him to go to her a long time ago. It wasn't right to shackle him to me and..."

"He chose that because he felt it was right in his heart."

"His mate is never going to forgive me. She's been waiting ever since they found each other. Peelle promised her he'd come home to her and they would make it official, that they'd have children, everything werewolves want."

He bowed his head, and I held his hand tighter.

This was a different Evan from the one I had met all those months ago when I had been nothing more than a half-breed slave. Dark Moon had made my existence meaningless, nothing more than a servant to tend to the Alpha's whims and those of his other daughters. I had been the outcast with no future, no purpose, not even real hope. And now I was someone different too, just like Evan.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," he rasped. "But I won't let what you did be in vain. I'm going to see this through to the end. I'm going to make things right. I'm going to..."

Going to do so many things. He would make Peelle proud.

He broke down for the first time over his friend, his last friend from the old days in the whole world. Now I was all he had. I held him tight as he grieved and grieved and grieved.