Big girls don't cry
26. Time for authority

Aleida POV

The following day I wake up and feel completely hollow inside. The room I’m in is, thank God, empty if you ignore me and the hospital equipment. After the information that the woman told me in the void while I was unconscious, I can’t do much else but feel betrayed. My mates have been with someone else. The point of a mate bond is that we’ll do everything together. They’re my first and will be my last, naive of believing that it’s as important to them as it’s to me. I know it was a bad idea to agree to this; I should never have accepted them as my mates. After all, it’s me who’s hurt, as usual. Happiness is no longer something I ask or miss because I know that there’s no point in wishing for something I will never have. The moon goddess doesn’t want me to be happy, and I can only follow her unspoken will. Just such a thing that my mates aren’t even here when I wake up shows how little they care. How am I supposed to forgive them for what they’ve done? I disconnect the machines from my body with shaky hands and put on my bloody clothes lying on a chair next to the bed. That’s probably the clothes I was wearing when I came in. My wolf is hurt and angry at our mates; she growls loudly to anyone who even dares to look in our direction when I walk through the corridors. I can’t even begin to explain the wrath I feel inside me. My legs take me to the big packhouse. My mates are in here; they must be. I follow their scents and ignore all the whispers of the members I meet on my way to my alpha’s office; I don’t knock; I kick the door open. The whole room is full of alphas from the neighborhood, and they all gaze at me. I growl loudly when I see the shocked faces of my mates. I walk up to them and slap them before I turn around to step out of the door.

“Please, baby, we didn’t even know you had woken up yet, I swear!” Miliano exclaims with an imploring voice.

“You have shown me exactly everything I needed to know about you; I am done with you now,” I answer coldly and turn around again to walk when Kian grabs my shoulder with a growl.

He challenges my authority, and it pisses my wolf off! I growl back and use for the first time my alpha aura that spreads throughout the room. It’s sixteen men in the room and me.

“Please, Aleida, my luna... Tell me what’s wrong so we can fix it!” Kian screams at me with pure agony in his voice.

“The girl you guys slept with came to visit,” I say and smile sugar sweet; I see the faces of my brothers, my mates, and their betas show shock. “I know everything and never want to see you again….”

“Aleida, please let us explain, we….”

“It’s alpha Aleida to you; get on your knees!” I scream angrily, and Kian immediately stands on his knees in front of my feet; he has no choice; I’m his and everyone else’s alpha.

“Baby girl...” Miliano’s trying to calm me down.

“You have no idea what you’ve done, Milo...” I say, now tears fall down my cheeks.

“What are you talking about?” Miliano asks me with confusion.

“She put a curse upon you, and you fulfilled it.”

“But how? I don’t understand.”

“You can’t mark anyone but her; if you do it anyway...” I begin, my voice complete with sadness at the thought of all I’ll leave behind.

“We never wanted to hurt you,” Kian says.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Miliano asks, horrified.

“You were the ones who killed me.”

“What?”

“The moment you marked me, you started the clock for the countdown of my life. My body reacts negatively to what you tried to do, and now I’m going to die. Because you fucked an easy pickup whore many years ago who didn’t learn to stick her legs together!” I roar, wiping my tears that persistently continue to drain down my cheeks no matter how much I wipe them off. “My own mates kill me, absolutely unbelievable.”

I slam the door after me, and I don’t give a shit about everybody right now. The other alphas don’t know what to make of this situation and are clearly confused; who can blame them? “Must leave,” repeat inside my head until my legs obey my mind and I run out of the house. When I come to the forest, I allow my wolf to let out an echoing howling in sorrow. My breaths are heavy, and I’m so sad that nothing inside my head makes sense; my throat releases a broken scream. The thoughts inside my head are spinning, and I don’t know what to take hold of. My legs give way, and I fall to the ground with a thump that causes one of the bones in my body to break; I hear it on the sound and with the following pain that comes shortly after that. The problem is that I can’t care less. I’m pissed and heartbroken. Do this fuckers think that they can play with me? Then they’ll have another thing coming to them. I can hear them long before they come into my sight. All six of them stand about ten meters away from me, and I slowly raise my gaze towards them. They can probably see my anger because all of them take a step back. Kian and Miliano walk closer to me, and I let them. When Miliano is going to touch me, I growl loudly and bare my canines at him. He retracts his hand and looks hurt. Huh, they’re broken? What the fuck about me!?

“Aleida, honey... We wanted to tell you, we just-” Kian begins.

“You wanted what!?” I growl and glare at them before I continue. “I’m going to die because of you! I’m seventeen years old, and I’m going to fucking die because you were reckless; where’s the fucking justice in that!? And you, how many of you knew about this?”

No one says a word; the grass is suddenly much more interesting to look at than me.

“We didn’t mean to...”

“What? Break my heart? Well, guess what, you did! This pain is so much worse than what my pack exposed me to! I trusted you with my life, and look what a fucking good idea that was!” I let out a humorless laugh; I can’t even look at my mates or any one of them, really; I want out. “Why didn’t either one of you let me die when I was ready and wanted to? I was so fucking done... And now, when I don’t want to die, I have no choice. Do you see the curriculum? I’m going to die, and no one can do anything about it!”

My voice is hoarse from all the screaming, and now I’m not angry anymore, no, now I’m just devastated. My wolf leaves me; I can’t feel her inside me anymore. She needs to be alone and learn to cope with her sorrow; I can’t say that I blame her. If I could disappear, I would too. My head rests on the ground, and I can’t do much more than sobbing.

“Mommy, please, help me!” I yell out.

My mom was always the person who would make me happy when I was sad. She made the smile appear on my face when in reality, I wanted to cry. I’m hyperventilating from all the crying, and now it’s my brothers who approach me. I let them, and when they understand that I won’t hurt them, they hug me close.

“We’re sorry, baby sis... Shh, everything’s going to be okay. Breath, your big brothers are here,” Nathan coos and wipes away my tears.

“What am I supposed to do, Nathan?”

“I don’t know, darling.”

Can you give him a part of your power?

What? Why?

Just trust me.

I decide to trust my wolf, which leaves me as quickly again.

“Give me your knife,” I tell Henry.

“No, that isn’t the answer,” he answers with a scared voice.

“Give. Me. The. Knife,” I say with my alpha voice and glares at him, making him sprint to me and give me the knife without hesitating; I cut my palms and take my oldest brother’s hands.

“What are you doing, Aleida?” Nathan asks.

“Do you trust me?” I counter.

“Of course, but-”

“No buts, just trust me.”

Nathan doesn’t say a thing, and when our palms are bleeding, I take it in my hand, and a big wind flows around us. I give him a part of my power, making me fall back to the ground and pant.

“What did you do, Aleida!?” Nathan exclaims.

“I gave you my powers.”

“Why did you do that!?”

“Someone needs to be the big alpha when I’m gone,” I answer with a sad smile, and a tear falls from his eye.

“Don’t talk like that; we don’t know-”

“Yes, Nathan. I know. My wolf has left me and wants nothing to do with me as long as they both are here,” I say and point at my mates before sitting up and feel how weak my body is. “Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to make me a promise.”

“Anything!”

“I gave you my life force, and I want you to follow my mother’s wishes.”

“What was it?” he asks, and I smile.

“Only use them for good. Help others and be compassionate. But most importantly, never forget where you come from and who you are. You’re one of the two diamonds in my eye.”

I smile, and my tears are slowly descending my cheeks; I caress Nathan’s cheek, and his eyes are full of tears; I rise from the ground and give my mates a sad smile.

“I’m sorry. You’re always going to be my boys, but this isn’t going to work. I’ll go out into the world and find my second chance, mate.” I kiss them both on their cheeks and everyone gasps. “Maybe he won’t lie to me.”

They’re about to say something when the ground starts to shake. I can feel the woman behind me. I turn around slowly and end up face to face with the witch bitch.

“Well, well, well, little Aleida. I was astonished that you actually thought that you had the right to kiss them just now,” she says in a cold voice.

“It was a goodbye kiss, and we had an unspoken deal,” I reply.

“What!? Aleida, how can you make a deal with her!?” Miliano exclaims.

“I can take away all the pain; the only thing you need to do is to give me your power and make a blood deal to leave my mates alone.”

My wolf comes back inside me and makes a horrible growl that echoes throughout the forest. The woman looks at me amazingly, but she just laughs, causing me to freeze. I don’t know why I’m angry now. Who the hell am I kidding!? She can never take away from me the right to meet my mates, whether they’re my exes or not. Other members now begin to walk out of the house, even the visiting alphas. Everyone’s ready to start fighting when Kian and Miliano shout that no one moves.

“If you want my powers, then you have to fight for it!” I say, smirking.

“I, Hailey Ebenezer, challenge you, Aleida Mendez, luna, and the big alpha of the whole world. To fight for the power until death.”

“I accept.”

“Aleida, no!” Kian exclaims.

“I have to do this, Kian!”

We both get ready to attack each other; this is an emergency, now I can use everything I’ve learned through the years, and I’m going to do it right! She punches me in the face, but I dodge her and flip her to the ground. Groaning, she stands up fast again. I bite her in her shoulder, and she screams. My mouth is red when her blood smears around it. I growl and make her work hard. We fight on and off for a while before she uses her power to make me fall on my knees by the pain; I can’t move.

“Aleida! Get up!” Miliano yells at me.

Hailey’s eyes land on my mates, and she looks crazy. She walks toward them and is just about to use her powers, probably punishing them. That’s when you hear a loud growl coming from me. The bones in my body break, and I scream from the pain. When I look down at my feet, I see a pair of white paws, but I don’t have time to look at myself; I have to protect my mates! I jump over everyone who stands in my way and lands in front of my mates. Hailey looks startled and terrified at me.

“I-i”

Before she can do anything, I jump on her with a roar that’s probably spreading all the way down to hell and sink my fangs into her throat. I look to see the life vanish from her eyes before I turn to my mates. My white fur is now red.

“You’re beautiful, Aleida,” Kian says.

I snort at them before I start the walk home.

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