They Tried to Break My Sister. Then I Woke Up Chapter 08
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
A deafening series of blows erupted from the other side of the iron gate.
Scar’s face was streaked with blood. Gripping a heavy sledgehammer in both hands, he swung it
again and again at the thick chain securing the gate.
“Gavin!”
“You touch her one more time, and I’ll make the entire Blackwell family go down with you!”
“Clang!”
Metal chips flew, but the old iron gate built to keep intruders out of the inner chamber of Founders‘
Hall didn’t budge.
The Blackwell men who had been acting so arrogant earlier were already cowering against the
walls. None of them dared go near the burning inner chamber.
On the other side of the gate, flames raced across the gasoline–soaked wooden floor.
Heat and thick smoke closed in fast.
Deep inside my mind, Audrey’s weakened consciousness suddenly surged desperately against
mine.
“Tess! Get up!”
“Move! Don’t fall asleep! Please, don’t fall asleep!”
But this body had already been pushed past its limit by months of wolfsbane exposure, blood loss,
contractions, and the injuries Gavin had just inflicted.
Even our natural werewolf healing was barely functioning anymore.
My consciousness slowly sank toward darkness.
I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Seeing that I could no longer fight back, Gavin smiled and began backing toward the only window
in the inner chamber
“Goodbye, Audrey.”
The flames climbed higher, almost reaching my legs.
Then, deep inside the mindspace, a pair of familiar, cool arms gently wrapped around me from
behind.
“Tess.”
Audrey’s voice came softly.
“You’ve already done more than enough for me.”
There were no tears in her voice, none of the instinctive fear that had always been there before.
She sounded so calm that I almost didn’t recognize her.
For the first time in four hundred days, I felt her soul stop shrinking away.
Audrey held me tighter.
“From here on…”
“I want to walk my own path.”
The body lying on the floor suddenly stopped convulsing.
The next second, I, or rather Audrey, slowly raised my head.
Gavin was about to climb through the only window when he caught the movement in the flames
from the corner of his eye.
He froze.
The pregnant woman who hadn’t even been able to stand moments earlier slowly pushed herself
upright until she was standing straight in the burning Founders‘ Hall.
She looked at Gavin.
A gentle, almost unsettling smile slowly appeared on her face.
“Gavin.”
The instant she spoke, Gavin’s expression completely changed.
That wasn’t my voice.
That soft, gentle voice, still carrying a trace of the obedience he’d grown used to, belonged to
Audrey, the woman he’d tortured for an entire year and who had never truly dared to fight back.
Gavin’s pupils contracted sharply.
He stood frozen beside the window.
“You…”
“How are you…”
The next second, Audrey completely reclaimed control of our Dual–Soul body.
She spread her gasoline–soaked arms, pushed off hard, and threw herself straight at Gavin.
He didn’t even have time to react.
Audrey caught him by the neck and locked both arms tightly around his upper body.
This time, she didn’t back down.
She didn’t make another excuse for him either.
She held Gavin tightly and drove them both into the flames behind her.
“BOOM!”
They hit the floor beneath the burning Alpha memorial.
Gavin let out a scream of pure terror and fought desperately to shove her away.
Audrey only held him tighter.
She leaned close to his ear, her voice still as soft as it had always been.
“Didn’t you always want an accident?”
Gavin’s entire body stiffened.
Audrey gave a quiet laugh.
“Fine.”
“This time, I’ll go to hell with you.”
“Audrey! Let him go! I’m not dying with someone like him!”
I tore free from the depths of the mindspace.
My limbs, which had felt heavy as lead, suddenly regained feeling, and control snapped back to
me.
Gavin stared at me in horror from the middle of the names, thrashing wildly as fire caught the hem
of his clothes.
“You… let go!”
“If I’m dying, you’re dying with me!”
He roared and desperately tried to retreat toward the window.
I braced my core and pushed off the floor.
My left hand seized Gavin by the collar.
With every last bit of strength I had, I drove my right knee straight into his breastbone.
“Crack!”
The sound of bone breaking rang out.
Gavin coughed up a mouthful of blood and doubled over in agony.
I followed with a kick that sent him beneath the burning Alpha memorial.
“BOOM!”
The wooden memorial, already weakened by the fire, collapsed on top of him.
A red–hot broken beam crashed down and pinned his lower body beneath it.
Gavin screamed.
“Help!”
“Audrey! Help me!”
He reached toward me frantically, his voice rising into a shriek.
“I’m your husband! I’m your mate!”
“Save me!”
I didn’t even look at him.
I yanked down the heavy flame–retardant ceremonial drape beside the Alpha memorial and
wrapped it tightly around myself and my swollen belly, shielding the female pup inside me.
Then I backed toward a corner of Founders‘ Hall the fire hadn’t reached yet.
“BOOM!”
The outer wall suddenly took a massive hit.
Brick, stone, and splintered wood collapsed inward
Scar had gotten behind the wheel of one of Blackridge’s heavy–duty maintenance vehicles used for
snow clearing and road repairs and driven it straight through the wall.
“Boss!”
Covered head to toe in soot, Scar jumped out of the cab and charged into the smoke with the
Eastside Rogues behind him.
Several of them pulled aside the fallen bricks and beams and dragged me out of the wreckage.
Behind us, Gavin’s lower body was still trapped beneath the collapsed Alpha memorial.
The flames had already swallowed the fabric around his legs.
He thrashed wildly beneath the rubble, his voice nearly unrecognizable.
“Help me…”
“Malcolm! Help me!”
“Paige! Help me!”
But not one of the people beyond the iron gate who had spent all morning talking about protecting
the Blackwell bloodline answered him.
Scar ripped off his coat and wrapped it around me, then scooped me into his arms and ran from
the fire.
“The car’s outside!”
“The doctor’s already waiting!”
Resting against his shoulder, I looked back one last time at the collapsing Founders‘ Hall.
Flames roared into the sky.
The hall that had embodied generations of Blackwell Alpha glory, and had hidden countless
abuses behind the excuse of “Pack rules,” slowly collapsed into the fire.
Six months later.
On the outskirts of Blackridge territory, Gavin had lost both legs, and half of his face had been
severely disfigured by the fire.
After Founders‘ Hall was destroyed, the Blackwell family was ordered to compensate the Pack 1.2
million dollars for restoration costs and damages.
The old Blackwell family home and all their remaining assets were seized by the Pack Council to
cover the debt.
As for Gavin, the former Alpha Heir had lost both legs, been severely disfigured, and personally
drained the Pack’s public funds. He had become Blackridge’s greatest disgrace.
The family stripped him of all succession rights and drove him out to an abandoned ranch
outbuilding at the edge of the territory.
No one wanted anything to do with him anymore.
He survived on food scraps discarded by nearby Pack members.
Paige wasn’t doing much better.
Scar’s debt–collection crew showed up at her door every few days.
The money she’d taken from me, the gold bars Gavin had bought her, and the eighty thousand
dollars stolen from the Founders‘ Hall Restoration Fund were recovered piece by piece through
attorneys and the courts.
By the time everything that could be recovered had been taken back, she was nearly penniless.
To repay what she still owed, she ended up hiding in an off–the–books factory in the old industrial district that hired rogues and packless workers.
She worked twelve–hour shifts every day.
At the slightest mistake, her supervisor would berate her in front of everyone.
Then there was Diane.
During the chaos that day, she’d been forced to swallow most of the pot of black tonic laced with
concentrated wolfsbane and banned drugs.
She survived, but suffered severe damage to her stomach and intestines, and her werewolf healing
was permanently damaged.
From then on, she lived with almost constant abdominal pain.
After the Blackwell family fell apart, no one was willing to care for her.
Dragging a leg that had never fully recovered from her injuries, she went from dumpster to
dumpster in the nearby town looking for discarded food.
By then, I’d returned to Eastside Rogues territory.
A faint scent of baby powder hung in the air inside the underground pool hall.
I sat back in the black leather chair at the center of the room with a plump little baby girl in my
arms.
She was just over three months old.
She was the same female pup the entire Blackwell family had rejected and tried again and again to
get rid of.
Now she was curled comfortably against me, drinking eagerly.
Scar approached with a freshly mixed bottle of formula, moving with unusual care as he handed it
to me.
“Boss.”
“Gavin, Paige, and Diane are finished for good.”
I didn’t answer.
I brought the bottle to the baby’s mouth.
She immediately latched onto it and drank eagerly.
I reached out one finger and gently tapped her soft little nose.
“You’re with me from now on.”
“Once you can walk, I’m teaching you how to fight your way through three blocks on your own.”
A quiet but perfectly clear laugh sounded deep in my mind.
“Tess.”
“Don’t teach her bad habits.”
A smile slowly curved across my lips.
I lowered my head and held the little girl closer.
Sunlight streamed through the narrow skylight above the pool hall.
It fell across the baby’s face and reached into the mindspace Audrey and I shared.
This time, we didn’t need the Blackwells.
We didn’t need the Pack Council.
And we didn’t need anyone else deciding how we were supposed to live.
From here on, Audrey and I would walk our own path.
