Clyde grinned when the girl began to react, her frail body straining against the leather straps.

Adeline's pale skin was blue now, and, with as much force as he was applying to her throat, he knew that bruises were already beginning to form-- the beautiful shade of red was going to stand wonderfully against her skin.

This was almost too easy.

Clyde wanted to feel her fright, her terror as he held her breath from her; as he, slowly, stopped her heart from beating. He wanted to feel her claws digging into his arm, drawing forth blood and satisfaction.

She had stolen it.

She had stolen all that he had left.

They all had stolen everything from him. Every last Manson had taken something from him that belonged to no one but him.

His parents.

His pack.

His title.

His destiny.

And, now, he was going to repay them.

A death for a death; a soul for a soul.

He knew that he was going to die, he had no doubt in his mind that this very room was going to be his final resting place, but, if he did succeed in killing her, his death wouldn't be useless.

Perhaps, Adeline would go with him to the afterlife; and, once she was out of the control of Finnian and her parents, maybe she'd be his mate. They'd be second-chance mates, if such a thing truly existed.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

The smile sitting on Clyde's face widened when dull blue orbs revealed themselves. A strangled sound emitted from her as her mouth opened, trying to suck in as much air as possible.

But the strength of Clyde's hands were far too great.

"Hello there, Addy." He purred. "It's so kind of you to finally grace me with your presence. Was dreamland losing its charm, its safety, for you?"

She jerked against her restraints, writhing and thrashing against them, but they refused to budge.

With the force he was strangling her, she shouldn't have awakened, but here she was, thrashing against his hands, her eyes now wide with terror.

He frowned.

Clyde gritted his teeth, and leaned all of his body weight onto his arms, clenching his hands even tighter around her neck.

Only a few more moments.

Only a few more moments.

Something utterly human roared inside of the male, screaming and cursing, clawing and punching at the darkness controlling him. But it wouldn't be stopped.

Adeline was beginning to lose consciousness now, her eye-lids falling over her clouded eyes. She was no longer fighting for breath, but her mouth was still ajar, her lips pale due to the lack of blood.

"Come on, come on." He chanted, his teeth grinding together has her pulse began to weaken, ever so slowly. "Come on, come on, come on."

Adeline's face fell, the muscles there relaxing as her destiny hovered over her with onyx black eyes.

The scar burned on his hand, reminding him that he had a duty to fulfill, and that he was running out of time.

"Come on!" He snarled; then, just as Adeline's pulse began to slow to a crawl, the door behind him slammed open with a bang.

????

Two wolves burst into the room, their nostrils flaring delicately as their eyes speared into the male standing over their daughter.

A male they knew.

A male they considered family.

Then, their eyes traveled down his muscular arms, and down to his large hands. Hands that had helped them rebuild their lives, and the lives of others. Hands that they had shaken, hands that had held their newborn daughter so gently.

Hands that were now wrapped around their pup's throat...

Clyde grinned at them, his canines flashing.

The alphas' clothes shredded around them as their wolves took over without hesitation.

He was a dead man.

????

Alexandra didn't pause to even question him, all she could do, all she wanted to do, was rip him apart... to tear him to shreds and dance on a mound of intestines, limbs, and blood.

The molten grey fur along her shoulder blades rose in sheer aggression, a promise of revenge and retribution.

Clyde released Adeline's neck, and, without missing a beat, shifted into his own wild-skin.

Black fur rippled up his hands, arms, and under the shirt that was destroyed less than a second later. He was a massive wolf, slightly larger than her own mate, Dillon, but he was out-numbered, two to one.

Also, he was outnumbered by two dominant, alpha wolves.

Alexandra didn't hesitate, she didn't even stop to see if her daughter was alive.

She wanted blood; Clyde's blood. She wanted to taste the metallic filth on her tongue as her teeth punctured his flesh; she wanted to hear his screams of pain as she slowly peeled his flesh from his body, relishing in the fact that the traitorous male was getting what he deserved.

But why?

Why had Clyde done this to them? Why had he wrapped his fingers around Adeline's throat, fixing to suffocate her?

The three wolves clashed, jaws snapping and claws slashing. Alexandra closed her jaws around the black wolf's front right leg, his blood flooding her mouth as she snapped her jaws shut, crushing the bone.

Clyde let out a yelp of pain, but bit back, his teeth slicing into the back of Alexandra's neck, right above her shoulder blades. But, her fur was thick and coarse, offering herself a small amount of protection as the male began to thrash his head.

'Wrong move,' Alexandra hissed in her mind, his leg still clutched between her blood-stained canines.

As he shook his head, the grey she-wolf nearly grinned in a dark, twisted way.

Little did he know, Dillon was circling them, his haunting eyes tracking every movement Clyde made. The Alpha's muscles were tensed, ready to spring at a moment's notice.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...

Just as Clyde began to release his hold on her neck, preparing to reposition his bite, Alexandra sprung into action.

Her jaws slammed shut, still clutching the broken leg, but, instead of biting then retreating, she thrashed her head side to side, violently.

The force of her actions were so powerful, that Clyde's other legs nearly buckled from the pain, a half-howl-half-snarl tearing through his chest.

He dove down, trying to strike at her face with bared teeth, but, just then, Dillon attacked-- sliding under the male's belly and latching onto his opposite hind leg.

With the force of both of them pulling at opposite sides of his body, the large male was at their mercy.

His fate was in their deadly, claw-tipped hands.

'Now!' Alexandra growled through the mate-bond.

Jerking her head as hard and fast as she could, she snapped her jaws shut, one more time. Snarl after snarl, shake after shake, snap and tear, after snap and tear.

Clyde snarled in pain as his blood sprayed Alexandra's face, highlighting the steel grey fur with streaks of crimson.

She nearly howled in triumph.

The male body was flipped immediately after Alexandra had released him, his limp and bloody leg hanging from her jowls.

Clyde's leg let out a sickening thud as she let it drop from her mouth, a trail of bloody saliva stringing from her lips.

A pool of red was already surrounding the black wolf, but, even then, he tried to get up, tried to get his three remaining paws under him.

Dillon was on top of him in a heartbeat, his massive paw pushing down on the back of Clyde's throat. The spot where his front leg had been, was nothing more than a bloody, shredded mess. She hadn't ripped off his whole leg, but, from the thrashing, she had dislocated his elbow; and, from there, there wasn't much stopping her from ripping most of the limb clean off.

He was practically a downed horse; there was no way that he was getting up, even if they allowed him to.

Every cell in her wanted to rip open the male's throat, to watch him choke on his own life's blood, but she needed answers.

Alexandra shifted back into her human-skin, uncaring about her unclothed body.

Dillon's glowing eyes snapped to her, his upper jowl pulling back in a snarl.

She paid him no attention.

"Shift!" She roared at the pathetic male, pushing all of her dominance, all of her authority, on him. Yes, he was a traitor, a filthy piece of scum, but he was still a part of this pack, and he still had to answer to her.

Clyde's black fur receded, replaced by bloodied and torn skin. There were lacerations all over his body, some deeper than others, but all of them oozed a metallic, red liquid.

Behind them, Adeline sucked in a strangled, ragged breath. No matter how evil or bad her wolf was, she still possessed the ability to speed up the healing process.

And she was alive!

Dillon pressed his paw down against the bleeding male's head, his claws piercing the skin, pressing him against the slick, bloody tiles.

Alexandra knelt down, a wickedly sharp claw reaching out and running along Clyde's cheek, down his jaw.

The male clenched his jaw, his black eyes sparkling from pure hatred and pain.

His shredded, useless arm lay on the tiles, the strips of flesh splaying. Alexandra could see some of the bone she hadn't ripped out, sticking out past his elbow, pushing through his ruined skin.

Alexandra's jaw clenched. "Why? Why would you do this to us, to Adeline?"

She had expected him to keep silent, to wait until his final breaths, but, instead, a pained smirk spread across his face, his eyes darkening. "She... she took something... that belonged to me."

She took something that belonged to me.

She took something that belonged to me.

What in the Moon did that mean?

Clyde pushed out a chuckle, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. "You were always... easy to read." He gasped. "Easier... easier than you would like to think."

"Speak, Clyde Amole! Or I will rip out your throat right here."

A mixture of blood and saliva pooled on the ground below Clyde's head, and Alexandra knew that he didn't have much longer to live... he was losing too much blood.

"Do you want me to tell you a secret, Alexandra... Manson?" His black eyes were beginning to dull, but still, a smug grin was held.

Without waiting for her answer, he let out a hoarse, raspy laugh, blood spraying from his mouth. "When you killed... Joseph and Clara, you thought... that you had demolished their dynasty." Another laugh escaped him, shaking his whole, pale body.Alexandra and Dillon fell silent.

'No... This couldn't be possible.' She rasped.The dark, dying male flashed one more grin.

"I wasn't their biological son. No... he had found me clutched to my dead mother's..." he gasped, "breast, only a few hours old. But he took me in. And the moment you killed them... my parents... her fate had been... set."

Alexandra shifted closer to him, her hand arching, preparing her claws.

"Did you buy the curse?"

His Adam's apple bobbed. "Yes. It was quite easy, too. And... Belladonna was quite... eager to sell to me."

Snarls slipped from Dillon's muzzle, grating against her ears as her wolf raged and howled, demanding to kill the male.

To tear him apart.

Alexandra's heart filled with a deadly, calm type of rage. But, unlike so many other times, she let it take control.

Let it mold her into a perfect, unstoppable killing machine.

Alexandra's hand wrapped around the male's throat, her claws slicing through his flesh in shallow, teasing cuts.

Merely a taste for what she was going to do to him.

"For your crimes against Adeline, for your betrayal against this pack and us, for your deceit and manipulation, I sentence you, Clyde Amole, to death." Her claws sunk deep into his throat, finding purchase.

His eyelids began to drop, his mouth taking in shallow, wheezing breaths.

"Do you have any last words, before I end your life?" She asked, her face showing no signs of the pain that was shooting through her chest, searing the back of her throat.

Friend. Brother. Partner. Ally.

Traitor. Scum. Attempted Murderer. Damned wolf.

A gentle smile lifted his lips, highlighting the blood smeared across his face, down his neck, over his chest, flowing out onto the floor.

"The truth sets everyone free." Was all he whispered as Alexandra tensed her arm.

And, just like that, as Alexandra gripped his neck and head, and, using all of her remaining strength, snapped his neck.

It was almost too easy.

And, just like that, Clyde Amole, former Beta of the Southern Pack, a trusted partner, and a loving friend, was dead-- replaced forever by a man of greed, revenge, secrets, and anger.

But, it was worth it, because, with his death, Adeline's future was a little more certain.