The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 50

Ajax

For seventeen years I have been haunted by my helplessness and my inability to save anyone, witnessing the brutal deaths of my family that I could not protect. For seventeen years, all I could see were the fires that burned my life away, the destruction that never seemed to stop and the dead bodies of everyone I loved. Cold. Haunted. And unmoving.

Gone.

There was so much anger in me.

There was so much hate.

It filled me always, pumping through my veins constantly and fueling everything that I do.

My eyes fluttered close, taking in the city pack and as I forced their Alpha to watch it all burn, I could only feel relief as my chest lightened, the tightness easing for the first time because this is it. I have done it. We have done it.

It took me seventeen years but I have done exactly what they have done to us. To all of us and it felt good. It felt good to watch everything they had burn...

The comfort. The solace. The peace.

I finally had it.

Because we had won. It was over and I felt free.

Like I've been trapped for so long but was finally let out to breathe, to live.

I took my time. Over and over and over, I tortured this man, this Alpha that ruined all of our lives. I let him feel every pain I have ever experienced, every horror that I have seen, and let him suffer as we all suffered. On and on it went and I know he just wanted to di e, he just wanted it to end. He wants me to stop and give him his own rest.

But I do not give him that.

I do not allow him to simply just perish.

There was no mercy here.

He never showed us any mercy.

No one. Not my parents, my baby brother, not Jeremy or Konstantin or Larissa and June... he gave no mercy to them, to us, and so I repeatedly showed him what it was like for us. And he cried and he s creamed and begged.

He squealed his pathetic and empty apologies, praying for mercy and peace, but I didn't relent.

Not even for a second.

I do not know how long it took but I was dripping with his blood, my entire body looking like it swam in it. It was everywhere, my face, my neck, but I did not wipe them away, wearing his pain and death like a badge of honor.

No one would have ever taken me out of that moment. I could have tortured him for years but suddenly, there was silence in the air, like the wind stopped along with the raging fire. All around us the destruction paused, everything slowing down and I felt my neck start to prickle... a warning or maybe my imagination, but something had happened and by the time I had snapped the Alpha's neck in a way that he would never be able to heal again, I was already on my way down when I heard the faintest sound of Jeremy's voice.

It was the smallest of sounds. Barely even there.

'Ajax,' His voice was like the wind, like the gentle breeze before the storm and I knew immediately something had gone terribly wrong and when I tried to see June... searching for her in the sea of werewolves in my care, there was nothing but a wall of despair. My panic increases and I'm blind with worry.

Surely, she is safe....

Surely, she is unharmed.

Surely, the love of my life is waiting and smiling and ready to celebrate this victory.

'What happened?' I was already running, my fingers deep into the Alpha's skull as I let his body drag through his beloved city.

'Come,' He sounded so far away, like he was drifting from me. 'Come quick.'

Faster than was physically possible, I ran through the destruction of the city pack without even enjoying the sight, my mind, my heart all on my mate who I could not feel. But it didn't take me long to hear exactly what I could not feel from her. The wails... the cries... the screaming. The sound of it chilled me to my core, for I have never heard June like this or ever imagined her to ever sound like this.

When I finally made it to her, she was on the ground, her body shaking as she grasped a frail one in her arms. Jeremy was there, embracing her as she cried. She didn't look up. She kept her eyes on the man in her arms and as I approached, the city pack Alpha was long forgotten, disposing of him somewhere as I knelt before her.

Jeremy let her go and I immediately took his place, enclosing her in my arms. She melted against me like she knew who I was without needing to look and she shook and she cried and buried her face in my neck.

I knew who she was holding.

I knew we had lost him.

And though I was not particularly close to this man, I felt the pain of his loss pinch at my chest. For I remember him when I was eight, when I had just witnessed my entire life burn and I ran to look for help... for June and I found him like it was fate to find him. Of all the packs near us, of all the men or women that I could have found. I found him. And he was the best person that could have taken June.

I will always be thankful for that.

I will always acknowledge how good of a man he is- he was.

On my knees, I wanted to beg for forgiveness that I was too late. That I had lost another life. Maybe if I was quicker... if I hadn't taken my time, my mate wouldn't be suffering like all of us have suffered. I could have saved him.

I could have saved her. But I didn't.

And I can only hope that she forgives me.

June clutched me close, her breath ragged and harsh. I would have held her like that for hours and hours, for days, but a movement grabbed our attention and suddenly I felt Jeremy hovering against another body and this one had a wicked smile on her face. "Bitch," I heard him whisper before he was suddenly on her, tearing through the body and showering us in even more blood. "You did this. You did this!"

This was his mother and I understood that she was the cause of all of this.

Terrible and vile, just like her brother.

I let him have at it, for everyone needs to have peace with their abusers, from the people that have caused them pain, but it was June who stood after a few minutes, after there was nothing but bone left of the monster that Jeremy was tearing through and coming to stand behind him, breaking free from my arms to put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder.

He stops, turning to look at her and they share a look that I know spoke more than words could ever do.

"We've won." She whispers, her eyes on me now. "It's over."

June falls into my arms again, tired and exhausted.

There were a few seconds of silence in the area, in the world. For a moment, all we could hear was the beating of our hearts and our breaths that came in gasps before the world erupted in cheers and jeers. Freedom from our oppressors was finally on us. The feeling was indescribable and I knew everyone felt it.

June's weight is completely on me as this all happens, her arms around me and I know that despite the pain, there was relief. There was peace.

Soon, Konstantin and Larissa join us, with Konstantin taking Jeremy in a tight embrace as he quietly says some things that I didn't catch. Larissa met my gaze and she bowed her head in a quiet thanks. But she was just another person I failed.

"You saved me." Her voice cuts through the loud celebration. "And I would be forever grateful. I am indebted to you."

"I did nothing," I said, because it was the truth. I was too late, much like I was too late to save June's father.

Larissa didn't waver, her eyes steady and serious. "You saved me. That's all I know."

June turns to face her and she throws herself at Larissa, who takes my mate in her arms. They were both crying, both shaking and breathing hard, but they made it and they whispered that to each other. "It's over." I heard repeatedly from all around me as the prisoners that the city pack kept ran to their families in the nameless pack.

I could see the angry members of my pack take their anger out on the two bodies that lay near us. The city Alpha and his sister. As I said... everyone deserves to have peace from their abusers and I let them pull that man apart, stomping on their remains until they're nothing but broken bones and flattened skin, their blood seeping into the ground.

June took my hand then, looking up at me. "Let's go."

I squeezed her hand, the guilt creeping up on me. "I'm sorry. I could have stopped it."

"No." She says simply, her eyes sad but her voice strong. "He wanted to do it. He wanted to face her. He wanted to protect me from her because he loved me and he didn't get a chance to protect the brother he lost. Nothing would have stopped him."

I take her by the face, my hands on either side of her cheeks, seeing the blood... her blood all over her. She was battered and bruised but somehow, she looked powerful despite it all. Unable to resist and just so relieved that she was alive and breathing and with me, I brought her to my lips, her arms wrapping around my neck. I kissed her then, softly, passionately, remembering the sunshine that she gave even in the darkest of nights.

We pulled apart, out of breath, our hands clasped together as we walked away from it all.

It was over but there were things we still needed to do.

As the world celebrated, as the world could finally enjoys the peace without the city pack, June and I flew to the farm lands... her old home. She took her time in their house, her fingers brushing against everything so gently. Tears fell from her eyes but she didn't wipe them away.

She told me about her life with him, about her father that she loves and I listened, letting her tell me stories of her childhood. He was a good man and he raised a perfect daughter.

June takes a blanket from the couch, the one she always cuddles on, and nods. "I'm ready."

Jeremy, Konstantin and Larissa wait for us outside. They were an odd group, but a group that made sense. The three of them follow us to the d e a d woodlands until we make it to a grave they have dug.

They took care of the body, cleaned him as best as they could, wiped him of dirt and blood, clothed him in his best and in his hands was something...

"What is that?" I asked.

Jeremy answers with a small smile. "We thought it best he be buried with the seed you had planned to plant before it all happened. To start the woods again. He would be the center of his pack... of the lands he loved the most."

"I think that's beautiful," June whispered, kneeling down and carefully placing the blanket on her father's legs. She had told me in the house that he was always cold just like she was and she wanted him warm in the afterlife. "The farm pack's new beginning would start with him."

I had long planned for the farm pack to heal with a new woodland, cleaner waters and she's right. The purest of hearts should be the center of a new beginning. He would be the heart of it all.

June stayed by my side as Jeremy and Konstantin buried her father, letting the land cover him completely. She wept, as did Jeremy. Larissa and Konstantin were holding each other to the side. And when it was over, the five of us walked away together.

A new purpose dawned onto us.

None of us had a family anymore but we had each other and I knew I would take care of this new family that I had found.