The Ripple Effect

He looked so broken, so beaten. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his head hung so low that he was all but kissing the cold pavement beneath him. His hands were shackled above his head while his legs were twisted under his body—which sported many new cuts and bruises.

They certainly called it a dungeon for a reason.

I just could not imagine the monster from my nightmares...like this, like a battered, harmless human. He struck fear into me for nearly eight years, and yet now I felt myself fearing for him! It wasn't right. I tried to swallow the feeling, knowing that Orion would never understand me if I told him about my qualms, even as I stood in front of the very prison bars that contained Luca.

"Still pretending to be asleep, I see," Orion muttered, gripping the bars tightly in his hands as he leaned toward the cage.

Luca pried his eyes open, and a sad excuse of a smile formed on his lips.

"Your Beta did a number on me. That's him, right? Daniel, the Beta." He scoffed the word.

"He's a damn good one, too."

Luca rolled his eyes. "I'm so sure." His gaze drifted back to me, and the smile faded. "Sophie, was it? You're my little brother's mate, then?"

"Don't talk to her! Don't even look at her. Like you should have the honour!" Orion spat, immediately flinging himself from the bars and blocking my view of the entire cage.

"I've seen her before, so why can I not look now? You're being ridiculous!"

"Sophie, I don't want you in the same room as him. Not ever again."

"You can't expect me to just up and—"

His head twisted about his neck, and I cringed away from the stern look in his feral eyes. Regina loved him, sure, but Rex scared me witless—so much that my feet actually began backpedaling without me even telling them to do it.

"I do. Now go."

I squeaked another protest even as I kept inching toward the door, not that Rex even heard the pathetic whimpers slipping past my lips. Regina, of course, would not back me up on this, not when I was attempting to disregard the direct orders of his greatness. So I tried an alternate route.

Orion, please. I need to talk to him!

I agree with Rex, Sophie. Just go back to the pack house; I've already told Daniel that you're coming, and he told the boys to get ready for a run.

You are unbelievable. You act like you're the one that was—!

"Finish that sentence, I fucking dare you!" Rex snarled, ripping his hands from the prison and turning his misdirected anger at me. His eyes were smoldering, his chest heaving with shallow and violent breaths, and his fists were clenched so tightly that they were shaking.

"You..." I slammed my eyes shut for a moment to gather myself.

My hand reached out and blindly captured the stair railing before opening my eyes once more, allowing them to focus on the beast before me.

"Luca is the man behind bars, but right now, you're the only monster that I see," I told him bitterly, turning quickly and scrambling up the stairs before he could form a rebuttal. While my exit was far less than intimidating, I could not help the rush of adrenaline running through me—not even as Regina screamed and ranted in my head.

A smug grin formed on my lips. Rex was scary, and he had power. But I could speak to him like no one else could, and he couldn't really do much about it. Because I also had power.

...Even if my power was simply the fact that Rex would miss Regina if I denied him as my mate.

My skin jerked away from my body when a hand suddenly fell to my cheek. Only then did I realise there was a single tear sliding down my cheek. My smug grin became much less smug... I shrugged away from my company and brushed my face quickly, throwing on my best poker face.

Daniel smiled gently, a concerned look filling his eyes.

"Sophie, what's wrong?" he mumbled, reaching out.

This time I let his palm graze my cheek before his fingers brushed a lock of misplaced hair behind my ear. He smiled more broadly, and I had no choice but to force a small smile in return.

"Rex is being a jerk," I grumbled, shaking my head. "And Orion is going with it."

"A jerk about what?" Daniel murmured as he caught my shoulder and guided me to the couch. I dropped carelessly to the cushion, but he sat so carefully beside me. He was definitely one of those genuinely nice guys that mothers always talked about.

I shook my head; I couldn't badmouth his Alpha to him, the guy who was all but his brother.

"Hey," he said with a warm smile on his face as he threw his arm around my shoulders for a quick hug. "I know Orion can be a pain sometimes. What did he do this time?"

"I think I deserve to talk to the man who stole my life from me, but Orion and Rex just kicked me out like it didn't even matter. And when he uses that damn Alpha voice on me..." I shook my head feverishly, trying to forget that horrible look on his face. "I just need to talk to Luca, for just a second. He seems...different."

Daniel tensed beside me, and I immediately regretted looking into the dark pools that had formed in his eyes.

"I stand by Orion completely," he warned me, his voice as low as a snake's hiss. "That bastard deserves everything he gets, and I don't want you near that creep either. He's a disgrace. Or have you forgotten about Jonathan, about Rein? Have you forgotten about what he did to you?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten!" I said, exasperated. "But I need to—"

"No. That's final, okay?" His jaw was ticking, it was clenched so harshly. I nodded quickly, and his gaze softened almost immediately. "Good. Now how about that run?"

Jonathan was more than happy to let Ekon out to play, and Rein said Aster had been nagging at him all day. Brian didn't take much coaxing either. But the entire time that Regina frolicked happily with her family and Aric, my eyes scanned the area in search for a secret passage into the dungeon. Surely that would be the only way I could speak with Luca.

It seemed that this pack took its vendetta on their ex-Alpha very seriously, and I had learned to not even speak his name in public for fear of public outrage. Despite all of the things telling me to stay far, far away from him... I had already decided I would sneak away at night to speak with him.

I let Daniel tuck the boys into bed—as he was more than happy to do—before slinking back into the bedroom to wait for Orion. The sun had long since set, and we weren't quite on speaking terms; so I flipped the light switch and pulled the comforter over my head.

I heard the door creak open, but I didn't dare move. He whispered something to me as he got into bed, something I chose not to understand. I also heard some mild grumbling before the bed shook a bit and he stopped speaking altogether.

When his breathing became soft with the gentle rhythm of sleep, I carefully slipped out of bed and into the hall. All of the bedroom doors were shut, and the only light in the hallway flooded in through the window from the moon. But I couldn't take the time to appreciate it; I kept tiptoeing until I got to the cold, steel door.

I cursed under my breath: of course he posted some watchdog at the damn door! I mulled over my thoughts for a moment. A distraction. That's what I needed. So I tiptoed back into the bedroom, grabbed a paperweight from Orion's desk, and crept to the corner—just close enough that I could chuck the paperweight down the stairs and hide in the shadows as the guard hurried to the first floor.

With him gone, I slipped easily inside and closed the door behind me. It was dark, so I grabbed a hold of the railing and descended with utmost care. The silence was thick, almost as suffocating as a wool blanket, but there could be no turning back.

"Luca?" I whispered, reaching out blindly and following the wall as my fingers brushed over the cement blocks. A candle flickered on the wall, so I reached out and grabbed it as I continued toward his cell. "Luca?"

The man in the cell stirred slightly, so I tapped on the bars. He immediately sprung onto his feet, his eyes striking out at me, glowing under the candlelight and cutting through the darkness that surrounded us. He seemed to calm himself, sighing and gently rolling back onto the floor.

"What now? Come to spit in my face? The whole damn pack has been by to do it, so go ahead. I'm all ready for you," he grumbled, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm not here to spit on you. I just want to talk," I mumbled, carefully lowering myself onto my knees. I held the candle with delicate hands as my eyes focused on the flickering flames that danced between my fingers.

"About what? You know, Orion says I'm a desolate bastard—and not just because of Lorena's son. He said this is about you. What did I do to you exactly?" he asked, as if he genuinely had no clue.

But how was that even possible!

"Did... Did something happen to you?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around things. "Do you even know who you are?"

He gave me a weird look. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You must have amnesia. Sure, I'm nothing special; but I'd appreciate if you could at least pretend like you remember me, remember that night." I felt tears welling up in my eyes. He had ruined my life, stolen my family from me; and he didn't even have the decency to remember it!

"Sophie, I hate when women cry," he told me, looking at his feet. "Please don't cry. I swear, I've never met you in my life."

"You..." I pushed myself onto my feet and grabbed the bars of his cell. The rattling of steel pulled his eyes back to mine. "I saw the pictures in your room. There are pictures hidden behind a poster, pictures of Lorena and of me. And of Rein."

"Who's Rein?"

I bit down on my lip before it could tremble. But my voice still wavered when I whimpered, "It's my son. He's seven years old."

"Sophie, I have no clue what you're talking about." I had to look away before he could see me look even weaker. "So you're going to have to tell me what it is that you think I—"

"You raped me, Luca!" I had to suffocate a scream, and my fists shook at my sides as tears streamed down my face. He shut up immediately. "You raped me and left me for dead in that damn forest. My family threw me out! Because I was pregnant with your son! My life has been absolute hell because of you, and now you won't even look me in the eyes and say that you even recognize me, like I was just some cheap toy that you threw out the second you left me there!" I shook my head furiously, ignoring the throbbing headache that formed with each passing second. "What gives you the right to do that to me? What gives you the right to leave a little boy without a father? You're nothing, Luca. You're not some god; you can't just go around doing whatever you want! You're just a sick bastard! A sick, twisted animal!

"I wanted to believe that you were different, but you're not. I hope Orion kicks your ass!"

Luca opened his mouth, but a loud door slamming made us both shut up. I looked to the doorway where a fuming Orion stood there, a snarl building in his throat. I inhaled a shaky breath and wiped the tears from my face, brushing my hair behind my ear to try and force a poker face.

"What the hell is going on down here!" Orion roared, appearing in front of me in that second.

I tried to keep my composure, to tell him to go to Hell. But...

"Sophie," he murmured, gathering me in his arms and wrapping me in an almost suffocating embrace. "Please don't cry. He's not worth it."

"He... He doesn't even remember me," I whimpered in his ear between sobs, gripping onto his shoulders with all of the strength that I could muster. "He doesn't... He doesn't."

"This is why I didn’t want you down here. Can't we just go to bed?"

"I'm going to sleep in Rein's bed," I whispered, brushing my face with the back of my hand. "I just want Rein."

He nodded. "Okay."

He didn't follow me up the stairs, and he didn't even look at me to see if I made it out alright. As I closed the door behind me, I heard the clang of a steel cage followed by a loud roar, one that made his Alpha voice seem like a puny kitten's mews.

I pushed it from my mind completely and wrapped Rein in my arms.

"I love you, Mama," he mumbled sleepily as his tiny arms reached up and held me back.

"I love you, too, baby." I pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. "I love you."