An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 27

Ryan dragged a hand through his still wet hair as he opened the door to the lab, which had now become a makeshift treatment centre for his mate.

He wasn't surprised to see Elaina still sat in the plush armchair as close to the bed as she could get without actually sitting on it. The woman had barely left Lenah's side in the two weeks that his mate had been unconscious.

"Any change?" Ryan already knew that the chances were slim but couldn't help the question from escaping.

Elaina shook her head the same way she'd done yesterday and the day before. This was the routine they'd built up ever since the challenge ceremony.

He tried not to let the hurt show on his face but every day he felt his heart break more and more. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. His mate should have been at his side, learning her new role as Luna of the Northridge pack, not fighting for every breath.

Whenever he thought back to that night he couldn't stop the anger that bubbled to the surface. After hearing Becca's confession he'd wanted to rip her apart but Lenah's words kept replaying in his head. The memories she'd showed him haunted him even in his sleep. A young girl abused by her own mother and grandfather.

Ryan had no idea just how fucked up that family was but after interrogating Becca's father he was beginning to see.

The man had been too terrified to stop the abuse on his own daughters so had allowed Becca to take beating after beating and when she was unconscious then it would be Becca's kid sister's turn.

His parents had been appalled at how long the abuse had gone on without anyone knowing. Elder Michael had first terrorised his own daughter, teaching her the cruel methods of how to inflict the most pain without leaving any marks, so that when she had her own pups the line of abuse would follow.

Things had only gotten worse for Becca as she'd gotten older. Her family had seen her beauty as a way of bettering themselves in the pack. Elder Michael hadn't been content with just being an elder, he wanted absolute power over the pack. The ability to do everything he saw fit. It was clear now he'd had a problem with Ryan's family for many years and had been trying to undermine them at every turn.

When Ryan had played right into his plan by taking an interest in Becca they'd been overjoyed so much so the abuse even stopped for a time. But when Ryan ended the relationship things just became worse than ever before.

He would never be able to trust Becca after she poisoned his mate but a small part of him could understand why she'd done it. She'd been brainwashed her entire life, till in the end, she believed everything that they told her.

When her and her grandfather had thought up the idea of poisoning Lenah, Becca believed it was because she wanted what Lenah had. She thought she wanted Ryan and to be Luna but those were never her dreams. They were the dreams of her grandfather.

All she'd ever wanted was to be free and her sister to be safe. Not even the title of Luna would have granted her that, elder Michael would have been too keen to use her for his own gain.

In the end Lenah had gotten through to her. She was the one who'd given her a way out of the nightmare she'd been born in to. But not before the damage had been done.

Ryan looked at his mate, surrounded by the clinical whiteness of his lab, and he couldn't believe how small and young she looked. She'd overcome so much and even forgave the woman who had poisoned her. Truly there was nothing that his mate could not do and it frustrated him no end that he could do nothing to help her.

Days after the challenge had been hectic, between the interrogations, the meetings and the endless tests he'd performed on Lenah.

Elaina had explained about the effects of night blooming jessamine on day walkers but she had no idea about the effects it would have on Lenah as a shadow walker.