Chapter 54

Alec "You!" The words slip from my lips as Sadie says them. My eyes stare at the man in shock—a man I thought I'd never see again. A man I've been searching for, for three long years. I could never mistake him for anyone else. Well, unless he had an identical twin that we don't know about. I've studied the video footage over and over again, trying to look for clues about who he was. I knew his face like the back of my hand. I knew his body build, his hair color, and his voice. Three years. Three years of wanting, needing answers. Three years of torture, wondering why he would betray an alpha. Why he would work for an insignificant member of the pack to try and trap the alpha. I have wondered repeatedly what Sadie could have given him for him to drug me. She was an orphan. Her parents were omegas. They simply had nothing, meaning Sadie didn't have any kind of money to pay him. My heart started speeding up as anger flooded my veins. I could hardly breathe as I thought of what I'd lost because of this man. With a roar, I unleashed my anger as Knox stepped forward, ready to tear the man limb from limb. Before I could make a move, though, Sadie acted. Power surged from her, sending everyone in the room flying in different directions. Her aura suffocated even me. It was an overwhelming sensation—nothing I've ever felt before, and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it. By the time I got up, Sadie had the man in a chokehold against the opposite wall. The jeans and tight t-shirt she had on moments ago were replaced with a flowing white dress, accented by a golden rope around her waist and golden bands around her arms. She reminded me of those Greek goddesses people always talked about. "Do you have any idea what your actions caused?" she growled, her voice deeper and deadlier than usual. The man could barely speak, given that Sadie was choking him. His eyes bulged, and his face was turning red. He was a mountain of a man, yet Sadie held him off the ground with just one hand. "What are you doing, Sadie?" Piper screamed, but her words fell on deaf ears. Sadie looked completely lost in her anger. Wind picked up as she turned and threw him, causing him to crash against a coffee table. She turned to her beta and threatened, "Make sure nobody gets inside this room. I have a lesson to teach this man before I deal with him." King, as I came to know him, nodded and stepped out. Sadie turned her eyes back at the man just as he started standing up. He had a cut on his head and was holding his side, wincing in pain. "What is your problem, lady?" he gritted through clenched teeth. "Why would you attack me?" "Lady?" Sadie mocked. "Is that what you call women whose lives you ruined?" "I don't even know who you are," he yelled, stepping over the broken glass of the coffee table. Wait a minute. He doesn't know her? How could he not know the woman who paid him to drug me? "You almost got me killed!" Sadie lashed out as her powers intensified, sending everyone in the room to their knees. "But since you don't remember me, let me introduce myself. My name is Sadie Evans. You pretended to be a bartender at a party, then gave the alpha drinks that were roofied. Does that ring a bell?" He frowned for a second. I saw the moment it all became clear in his head. The moment realization hit him. His bravado disappeared, and fear replaced it. "What is she talking about?" Piper pulled my arm, a tremble in her voice. "This is the bartender that drugged me," I spat in anger and hatred. I couldn't take my eyes off him. Sadie's powers were holding us down. I couldn't get up. Nobody could. "It can't be," Piper whispered beside me, the fear making me turn to look at her. "He is Calvin. My mate." Her words sent a shock wave throughout my body. Was the moon goddess this cruel? Why would she make the man that colluded in drugging me my sister's mate? "How did you not recognize him?" I ground out, clenching my fists at my sides. "I didn't know how he looked," Piper hissed, almost in tears. "You never showed me the footage, so I had no idea who he was." I thought back and realized she was right. The next day after the incident, I showed Sadie the video, but never my sister. A commotion pulled my attention from my sister and the chaos that had become our lives. The man was on the floor, with Sadie standing over him, her fist raised. She didn't stop there as she rained blow after blow. I winced. If I didn't hate him, I would have felt sorry for him. I knew how brutal Sadie's hits were. She then raised him by his collar before sending him flying. He hit a wall and fell down groaning. I was finally released from her powers, so I stood up. I wanted my pound of flesh too. As I watched Sadie beat him, something nagged at the back of my mind. Something about this whole situation didn’t add up. "Please stop her, she's going to kill him," Piper begged beside me, clutching my arm in a vice grip, her nails digging into my skin. "Why would I do that?" I asked, surprising her. This was the man that drugged me. I was not going to step in and save him. "Please," she begged, tears running down her face. I turned and ignored her. Nobody crossed me. Not even my sister's mate. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end you right now?" Sadie asked, walking toward him. She knelt down and gripped his hair, wrenching his head backward. He couldn't answer. Every time he tried to, blood splattered from his mouth. He was beaten black and blue. Sadie laughed—a menacing and cold laugh. "That's right. There is no reason for you to live. I would have spared you if the woman you called ‘Babe’ was still my friend, but she's a backstabbing traitor, and seeing her in pain at losing you will bring me immeasurable joy." I clamped my jaw at the insult to Piper. Piper, on the other hand, tensed, gasping at Sadie's cruel words. Sadie raised her hand, her claws out, ready to strike, but her friend stopped her. "Don't kill him yet, Sadie," she told her calmly, coming to stand behind her. Sadie turned her glowing white eyes to her. "And why shouldn't I?" "Think about it. He has answers you've been searching for for years. He clearly wasn't working alone. We need to know why he drugged you and Alec and then framed you." Sadie was silent for a while, thinking. Minutes later, she turned to him, giving him a sardonic smile that I was sure he could barely see, given his eyes were swollen shut. "It's your lucky day. You get to live another day. Then again, I can't say it will be a lucky stay because I plan on torturing you like I've been tortured," Sadie said before standing up. "Call one of the warriors; let them lock him in the dungeon." "Sadie please," Piper begged. "Don't call my name!" Sadie snapped, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Piper. "If it's too much for you to see him like this, you can join him. Maybe then I can give you a taste of the torture your family and pack put you through. Call it even." Piper gasped, and I gripped her hand in warning. I loved my sister; there was no way I was letting her end up in the dungeon. Without another word and a look of hatred thrown at us, Sadie left, disappearing into thin air. The locked doors opened. King entered with warriors, and they dragged Calvin away while Piper remained at my side, crying. She turned to me, her head on my chest as she hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her, and it hit me. What if I was wrong this whole time?