Betrayed Luna's Second Chance Alphas
Betrayed Luna’s Second Chance Alphas – Chapter 57

-Riley-

“A tribrid?” Adrian whispered again, his eyes wide as he looked at me like he was looking at me for the first time or something. “So you might actually be stronger than the two of us combined? Sick.”

Sometimes, I couldn’t believe how he could be like this… He was the complete opposite of Roman, but maybe that was why they both made sense as friends, they both made sense in my life.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know what your mom is? Your dad is a werewolf. You have Gem. If your mom is something else…” Roman looked at me and I shook my head. I did not know.

“I wish I could remember everything.”

“You will. Just give your brain a rest. You know… it is a lot to process.” Adrian said.

“It is alright, and Reid called. He got the drug from Alpha James. He said he will send it with someone. It will reach you tonight or tomorrow morning.”

“Already?”

“Look at the time, Red,” Adrian said and I blinked and sure enough, it was ten in the morning. “And Dee wanted you to get it as soon as possible. So she made Reid drive all the way to your old pack, so early in the morning.”

“Yeah, you just couldn’t say no to that woman. For a human… she is… scary,” Adrian said with a shudder.

“She is amazing. I miss her so much. It has always been the three of us. Even after I married Hiran, she was the most important person in my life, her and Keller, too.”

“I am sorry, Riley. I wish we can take you back there, but there is a lot of s**t we have to deal with right here. Maybe once all of this is over.”

“I know. It is alright. I do understand how important this is.”

Adrian made breakfast, which we ate at eleven. The sandwich was cheesy and delicious. I m****d as I bit into it and closed my eyes. “Did you add magic to this?”

Adrian chuckled. “No, just cheese, but then again cheese is magic.”

It was cozy and comfortable, just being here with them. We were silent the rest of the breakfast, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

“We are going to – you know to the HQ of Red Watchers later tonight. Do you want to come?” Roman asked.

“Will that be okay?”

“Of course. Maybe you will find something more than we could find?”

“Why? Because we are all freaks?” I chuckled. Roman’s face fell and I shook my head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I was just trying to be funny, and that was my mistake. Of course, I will come, and do whatever I have to. You know that.”

Later that evening, we were on our way to meet the creatures. Adrian stopped the car in front of a tall building. I stared up at the building as I waited for the guys.

“It is so tall,” I said when Roman finally joined me. He nodded and pulled me against him. “Does it have prisons here?”

“Oh yes. The first three levels are prison cells.”

I looked at him with astonishment. “This is the headquarters, but there are smaller ones everywhere, too.”

“Of course, I knew about Red Watchers, but I never- this was a well connected network, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and it is in every country, too. We are the ones who has to keep the wolf laws, and we work closely with other supernatural organizations and councils to keep peace.”

“It is amazing,” I said as the three of us walked inside. The elevator only had buttons from fourth floor. I gave them a look and they nodded.

“The prison has a seperate elevator.”

“So the creatures… they aren’t in the prison?”

“No, in the lab.”

I felt a moment of sadness for them. Lab. A part of me was made in the lab, and these creatures, they were made in the lab too. It was neither of our faults. We reached the lab and the smell of antiseptic was too powerful. It was like a punch in the gut. I stopped as my hands trembled.

My head pounded.

“You alright?” Both of them asked at the same time.

I blinked as my ears rang. I nodded. “I am alright.”

We walked in and I could immediately see the creatures. My first instinct was to scream. The creatures kept banging against the cages they were in. I remembered the cage I was in. Yes, mine was a bit more modern, but it was still a cage.

“Roman, the information you gave about Doctor Kaspar… you were right. No, that old bastard is not really dead. We found a few properties linked to his name, his family name. At first, we were searching for properties under Ramsay’s name, and we went everywhere and searched and none of it turned out to be the secret facility we were looking for. I think maybe this new information will help us.”

A man walked towards us. He looked at me and smiled. “You must be Riley. Thank you. You didn’t know how much you have helped us.”

I nodded as I walked towards the creature. I could see that their pupils were fully red. Bright, b***d red.

They snarled and roared when I reached closer to them. Ugly. That was my first thought. What the hell changed them like this? How could something turn a person into this?

The doctor, my mother, Ramsay… all of them must be punished for this. This wasn’t making history as my mother told me once. This was destroying lives.

These two in the cages… they were once someone else’s mate, someone else’s love, father, mother. My heart felt havy as I looked at them.

“Adrian…” I turned to him. “You know the drugs Alpha James had… if it is for curbing this side of me… could it work? You know on them?”

Adrian blinked and nodded. “I didn’t think that, but you are right. It might, but then again, they aren’t exactly like you, either, but we can try. We have our own scientists, and maybe they can recreate the drug, too, or study it.”

A doctor approached me. “I- we-” he hesiatted and looked at Adrian and me.

“What? Go on.”

“Will it be okay if we have some of your b***d to test? You know because…”

I nodded. “Yes, of course.”

He swabbed my skin. The sound of my heart felt like a beat of drums closer to my ears.

“Mommy, I hate needles…” I heard myself talking. Nadia gave me a cold look, before she smiled. I shuddered.

“You aren’t a baby anymore.” Her voice was freezing.

I looked up at Roman and Adrian.

“What?”

I wondered whether I should… tell them.

“You should. You know they aren’t your mom, Riley,” Gem said with a soft sigh. “I am so, so sorry.”

“I hate… needles,” I whispered and the both of them came closer to me. Adrian took my hand while Roman stood behind me like he was guarding me. I could see his power emenating.

“Close your eyes. You won’t feel anything,” Roman whispered. I did as I was asked.

“It is done,” the doctor said.

“Do you want anything, Riley?” Adrian asked. I shook my head with a sigh.

“My mother… she would look at me and say I am not a baby anymor.” I bit my lips.

“I am beginning to hate that woman more and more…”

***

-Ashelene-

Bella kept rambling. I didn’t understand head or tails. She told me she would be staying at her parents’s place, and then she came home late at night. And then this morning, she was acting like a caged monkey. At first, I thought it was about Dean, but…

“Bells… what are you not telling me? Why did you go to your parents’ place last night?”

“Because Adrian brought Riley for dinner.”

OH!

“That was- that was nice,” I said as I felt the familiar twinge in my chest. This meant… it was official. Adrian had a lot of girls before, but he never brought them to meet his parents. “Riley is amazing.”

“She really is, but she is the reason you are- hurt and-“

“No, just no. It is nothing like that. She isn’t the one to blame.”

“You blame Adrian, don’t you? But Ash, he isn’t the one to blame, either,” she said and then stopped as if she had said too much. What did she mean? “Don’t you have college today? Why don’t we get you ready for college?”

I knew she was changing subject, and was not being very subtle about it.

“Tell me what you meant. I don’t have to go to college, because it is saturday.”

Bella’s face twisted as she sat down on the couch and motioned me to sit. Now I was feeling really nervous. Why did she look so serious? The only other time when I saw her looking like this was when we talked about Dean.

I sighed.

“She is his mate.”

I gasped and stood up. My body shuddered. I felt like I had been hit by thunder or lightning. My heart felt weird and strange, like… there was a wide chasm of emptiness. I felt like I was being hit by my ribs with baseball bat, repeatedly. The pain wouldn’t go away.

“I am so sorry, baby. I just knew last night.”

“That is why you came home,” I whispered as I sat down next to her.

“Yes, but then you looked better than the last few days, and I didn’t want to spoil that, but I knew I had to tell you this.” Bella’s concerned eyes met mine. I shook my head.

So Adrian wasn’t the one who was pathetic. I was the one who was pathetic all along. I was the one who believed in something that really wasn’t there. But it was love. I loved him, and I really felt the pain of it, pain of this loss.

Adrian Mercer would never be a part of my life the way I wanted him to be, and the knowledge of that almost destroyed me. He was kind, funny, charming.

Everything felt new and alive when I first realized I had feelings for him, nad then it died when I realized he would never reciprocate my feelings. But somewhere deep inside, the root of that desire lived.

Not that I knew I had to cut the root out, I felt- I felt naked. Bare. I had loved him a long time, and I felt empty without it, but I knew I had to stop. Even before Riley, I knew.

The heartbreak was tangible. The pain, physical. I wondered why it felt like this. I sat down on the floor and sighed. “This time, I really have to move on.”

“I am so so sorry, Ash.”

“I am sorry, too, Bella. I am sorry for a lot of things.”

“You must apologize, you know… You were so rude to him when he told you about Riley.”

“I was…”

God, the things I said to Adrian. I made him feel bad, feel shame for liking Riley, and that was a terrible thing to do. Now I didn’t know how I could ever face him. Maybe I would never.

I knew that was impossible though. He was a part of my life, and that wouldn’t change, but I needed distraction. I needed to run and hide. For a while. No. More than a while.

And then I realized something else. Roman… Oh Roman. I wondered how he was feeling right now, what he was doing. I had been hiding in Bella’s apartment, but I should have stayed. I wasn’t there for my brother when he needed me.

“No, no Ash. You shouldn’t have to apologize for anything. You are allowed to feel your feelings, and that is alright, just as Adrian is allowed to feel his. I was a terrible sister to him, but…”

“You were thinking about me, and being my friend first, but like you said, he deserves the best and Riley is… I know she is the best.”

I sighed. I felt like crying, too, wailing, but the tears just wouldn’t come.

I knew it would come soon, but for now, I was comforted by the knowledge that no matter what happened, Bella would always be my friend.

After losing Adrian, I needed that reassurance.

“I love you, Bella Mercer. You are the sister I have always wanted.”

“I love you, Ashelene Night.”

“And for now, that is all I need.”