Chapter 13

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His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He could not believe it! When he had given that ultimatum to Adrian he had expected to stall, buy time. He had been sure that Adrian would have come back and reasoned and that would have given him opportunity to negotiate.

But, not this, never this. She was here!

"Did you forget how to speak?" She broke in to his thoughts, he looked at her in disbelief "I don't have all day you know" she said.

Where should he start? What should he tell, would she believe him? A million thoughts were running through his head, he was wholly unprepared for this encounter and he suspected that's how they had wanted to be.

But he did notice something, the power radiating out of the woman front of him. Roma has grown exponentially stronger that meant, they forged alliances had more Alpha's under her control. When an alpha submits to you, some of his power and his packs power passes over to you, you become more powerful and with someone like Roma, who had hundreds of Alphas across the world under her command, she was as close to invincible as you could be.

But unfortunately all that power meant that in a physical combat you were unbeatable but a gun with a silver bullet would work just fine, super alpha or not. You might heal faster, survive most wounds, but a head shot would put you six feet under like anyone else.

"So, this is what it has come down to" She started, breaking the silence again. It was as if she was talking to herself "You in chains in front of me like a common criminal."

"I heard you have a mate" She was looking at him "once I would have welcomed her with open arms, but now..." she paused, letting that statement hang in the air.

"What do you say Drake? A mate for a mate? I say it's a fair deal" she said. Her voice soft and low, but the underlying message crystal clear.

Every hair in his body stood up, if it was anybody else he would have been violently tugging at his chains, frothing at his mouth, but her, he stood there like a statue a chill going over his entire body.

"I...She...I....Please" he heard this incoherent pathetic voice of mumbling in a pleading tone, it took a moment to realize it was his. He was finally able to open his mouth and talk.

Roma just keep looking at him with her piercing gaze.

"She is innocent Roma" he pleaded. If he had to, he would get on his knees anything to save her life.

"And the packs you killed weren't? How many innocents have you and your rogue army killed Drake" she asked her gaze steady on him.

Far too many he thought, what could he say? What can he say to justify his actions? He bowed his head silently.

"So, Adrian told me you have something to tell me, here is your opportunity to save your mate Drake...choose your words carefully and choose them fast, I don't have all day." She commanded.

"I...where should I start?" he wondered, mostly to himself.

"The beginning would be a good place" She answered his rhetorical question.

He nodded to her, gathering his thoughts, he had one shot at this and he would make it good.

"It all started when I was approached by a man named Charles...."

***

"She is here" Adrian deadpanned.

Alex stood next to his brother grimly.

She had done it. She had come to America, this was a nightmare they had to face. She out of Roma put her in all kinds of risks.

"Last I heard Maxwell flew out of Africa like a bat out of hell." Adrian added gloomily.

Where he was heading was anybody's guess.

"What do you think he would tell?" Alex asked remembering Adrian's comment from other day that whatever Drake would reveal would be crucial piece of information.

"I don't know, but I know it is pretty important."

"How?" Alex asked, how did he know?

"I think she always suspected it was Drake causing this havoc in Colorado" Adrian started "We should have seen it too, the way he took over packs, picking off the weakest lots. Assimilating and forming a rogue army.

This was not some mindless rogue wolf. It was a wolf, trained in strategy, trained for combat, trained to kill. Trained by the best. Us" he paused "We should have seen it to. Or eventually seen it, but she saw it first. That's why she sent out Sebastian here with a unit. Just in case Nick called us. I suspect if he did not call us we would have called him."

Alex stood silently absorbing his brother's thoughts, outside the hotel they were waiting with a security contingent, awaiting Roma's arrival.

"Did you know that she specifically asked Sebastian not to kill the Rogue leader but to capture him? Otherwise we could have simply blown that place apart and be done with it." That was their usual MO.

"So the question here is, why did she want Drake alive? I think you and I both know the answer to that."

He knew something they didn't.

They stood together in silence absorbed in their own thought.

Adrian broke the silence "Break time over, let's go back. I want to check the security over again" he had done it five times but he would do it again and again, when it came to her security they would take no chances.

***

He was done.

In the last hour and half, the whole story tumbled out. He went in to every single detail, every single conversation and sequence of events he remembered, that led to the most terrible outcome. Yes, he had issues with Maxim Roma but his death was the last thing he wanted and by the time he realized what had happened it had been too late and knew how it would look for anyone, he had been made a scapegoat. So he ran, tail between his legs ran as far from Roma as he could, he tried to settle down in a country where Roma had very little influence, he wanted to start his life fresh, put his past behind him...but he should have known better, he did know them better he had just disillusioned himself, convinced himself with his own lies.

They would never forget, never forgive and most importantly, never give up.

He has started out telling his story standing up but ended up sitting down on the floor, confined to his shackles, his throat was dry, he was parched. He had been talking nonstop for the last one and half hours.

He risked a glance at her, trying to judge her to see if he could make out anything from her body language but he could not get a thing. She was staring at the wall, her thoughts far off, no doubt digesting every single morsel of information he shared. He waited silently, he had nothing else to say...he waited for the judgment to be passed on him. His fate, he had no doubt. All he cared now was his mates.

Finally she released her breath breaking the silence. She got up from the chair, still not looking at him but clearly contemplating. She finally turned around and started walking away she almost reached the door. The room was poorly illuminated, so he lost her to the darkness that covered half of the room when she walked towards the door.

"Roma" he called out out, his voice had a pleading tone in it.

She stopped but did not turn around.

"All I ask is to spare my mate. I know I don't deserve to ask you anything, but she is innocent" he pleaded again.

She stood there her back facing him, what seemed to him like a lifetime but not more than a minute before she spun around and she walked towards him.

It looked as if she was fighting an internal battle with herself.

"Australia" she forced out one word "If you or your mate ever step out of there, you will be hunted and killed like you deserve."

He could not believe what he was hearing, it was some sort of joke, some sort of sick twisted joke.

"What are you saying?" he stuttered.

"Exactly what I said, you are exiled to Australia, where your will live your rest of your pathetic life. No pack there will take you in, you will live as outcasts....but at least you will live" she spat.

Disbelief, utter disbelief, that's what he felt...he would live? But that would be impossible.

"Why?" he whispered.

"Because" she said through gritted teeth barely controlling herself "That was the last wish of a dying man."

She turned back and walked out. She couldn't stay there anymore without losing her control and shredding him to bits.

***

Drake collapsed on his knees. His body refused to support his weight. Words of Roma kept echoing in his ears. The weight of the words finally sunk in to him.

The very man, whose downfall he had unwittingly plotted, the very man who had died due to him and the very man whom he wanted to be free from....that very man helped save his life, even in his death Maxim Roma saved him. Believed in him, saw redemption when no one did. When he deserved none.

He blinked his eyes, to clear the tears that started flowing, grief overtook him. The wrong he did, the grief he caused, the complete burden of his rash decisions weighed down upon him crushing his soul, a gut wrenching howl emitted from him, his roar of grief resounded across the abandoned industrial complex.

He was suddenly engulfed in a wave of warmth, someone was hugging him, he blinked away the tears to see his mate holding him, how she got here, he had no idea.

"Shhh. Drake. It's ok! Its ok!" she was soothing him. It would never be ok, never be the same again. He would never feel whole.

"I wronged them" he sobbed, heart wrenching sobs "Oh! God, I wronged them so much"

"Shhh! We will make it right, you and me, we will undo every wrong you ever did, together and we will make it right." She soothe

Yes! He thought, he would, or die trying. His broken soul started to mend slowly with renewed purpose. A new purpose, a purpose he would gladly die for. He held his mate closer, let her soothing touch heal him. He had work to do.

***

The car stopped in front of the hotel entrance and someone opened the door as she got out.

"Good evening Roma" someone greeted, she was too absorbed in her thoughts to respond back.

A group of men surround her as she was led through the hotel doorway to the waiting elevator, which was being held open by one of her guards. She reached the top floor and then someone guided her to the suite. She closed the door behind her as she entered the room and her security detail took position outside her suite.

She took a step in to the suite and stopped. She was too distracted to detect the other presence in the room, sitting on a chair in the far end.

She looked at the person, while the room was dark only with a lamp in the corner of the room glowing dimly did not throw enough light to see the face. She did not need, she exactly knew who it was.

Before she could say anything she heard a barely controlled angry voice "You let him go!" he asked "How could you?"

She stood still. There was a long pause.

"How could you!?!" he exploded, got up from his chair and flung a glass which was in his hand in her general direction but deliberately away from her.

The glass struck the wall two feet away from her and splintered, sending flying glass shrapnel's everywhere. She did not even blink.

"How!?! Mother! How?" He demanded.

She moved closer to him and responded "Because it was the right thing to do. Because he was just a pawn use by a clever enemy who exploited his weakness. Because I wanted to."

"You wanted to?!!" he asked anguished "He killed my father!!!" he said bitterly

"He might have been used unwittingly Maxwell, but he did not kill him"

He looked at her with a strange expression "Why are you defending him?" he asked incredulously.

She sighed. It was a long day and was not getting over anytime soon "I am not defending him."

"Then what is this? Why are we even talking about him instead of having his head!" he roared.

"Maxwell Roma" She raised her voice slightly making him pause and look at her "Are you questioning my actions?" she asked with fire in her voice. She was not asking as a mother but as Roma, who saw a challenge to her authority.

And as abruptly as it came, the fire went away, her shoulders which were upright a moment ago slacked "Did you forget, your father was also my mate?" she asked softly.

"I am sorry mother" he whispered "I am trying to understand" he said with all honesty. He was indeed trying to understand her actions. Why would she not crush someone who was responsible for her mate's death?

"Because" she whispered barely "It was his wish. His last wish."

"Whose?" he asked but, he didn't need to have asked, he knew the answer when he looked in to her wet eyes.

He did not say a word but simply came over and hugged her. Mother and son stayed like that for a minute sharing their grief and then she stepped out of his embrace.

She put a palm to his face and he tilted his head so that she could cup him properly "You remained me so much of him" she whispered.

"When he died, I almost died along with him. But then I saw you, knew you needed me. Every single day I am here because of you. I miss him so much Max."

He stood silently. Knowing that he could offer her very little comfort. He knew firsthand how much they had loved each other.

She recomposed herself. "I knew there was a reason your father did not want him dead. I never knew why."

"What do you mean?" he asked tentatively.

"I think deep down, your father knew that Drake would not do this, he was used, very cleverly, someone who knew what buttons to press to push him to do what he wants. Which means they took pains to study him. Us" she looked at him giving him time to digest the information.

"Drake gave me some very insightful information today. Something we need to contemplate. We thought the battle was over but an extremely smart enemy has declared a war on us."

"Who?" He asked alarmed.

"I don't know yet" she paused "but I have a fair idea" she murmured.

"What is it mother?" he asked waiting to hear the complete story.

She stared off in to space for a while and looked at him "We need to discuss this, but I am too tired. Let's call it a night. We spend two days here and get Nick and Colorado packs through him firmly in our control. We might need them"

He nodded and gave a gentle kiss to her cheek. Letting it drop for now, he would know soon enough.

The suite had two bedrooms. She moved towards one of the bedrooms and paused and looked back to her son who had not moved.

"Have a good sleep Maxwell. We have much to accomplish" she said "and I don't think we have a lot of time. We start tomorrow."

He nodded and headed to the other bedroom. He had traveled half the world, he was tired and this encounter was emotionally draining but clearly they had an enemy on the horizon, they knew little about.

Not for long he thought determined.

There was very little that the Wolves of Roma couldn't accomplish if they united in a cause.