Chapter 60

Alpha Hawthorne stood beside his son as they both stared down the pitiful sight of someone who displayed so much hopelessness. Someone who looked like they had their life ruined.

Sympathy almost sneaked its way to the alpha's heart as he looked at how small and withdrawn the beautiful boy before him was, but unlike him, Alec did not fall for that beauty's charm nor did he display any sympathetic sentiments as he glared down at Ari.

Ari who didn't care anymore, Ari who just kept on looking downwards with only his hands handcuffed because even if he tried to run away, he'd be easily caught. He was no match to mindless feral betas, let alone two alphas and their beta pack members.

All of them were familiar faces, some even were friendly to him on the regular, but now he was met with expressionless faces that treated him like a stranger. He was seen as a horrible person now, undeserving of any form compassion.

Good, because Ari wasn't entirely heartless and he'd feel bad about it if they weren't so stoic.

No matter what, no matter how much he loathed it, he had always been so sensitive. Especially towards others. Always so careful not to hurt anyone the way he was hurt, even when he hated it. Ari never wanted to be this way, he wanted to want them to suffer.

That was his intention when left.

So why was it that when he caught sight of the stress and fatigue on alpha Hawthorne's face did he feel a sinking feeling of remorse. And why was it that when Alec had forcefully dragged him away did he feel guilt and sadness at how lividly hurt and broken hearted he was?

Why was it that he was born so good, so compassionate, even when he's hurt.

It made him want to scream, it was agonizing. He didn't want to see the results of what he had done, he just wanted to feel the satisfaction of doing it. To just know he wasn't the only one in pain.

Maybe that's what made it so easy.

"I didn't want to believe it." The alpha said sounding more remorseful than anything. Things shouldn't have turned out this way, not like this. "I've known you ever since you were a child, you were always so good, Aurelius. What happened?"

But Ari didn't say anything, he just looked down feeling depression creep in. He hated it here.

"Bet you're happy about all the shit you've stirred." Alec spat a lot less gentle and remorseful than his father. It was pure hatred coating his words, and all Ari recognized was the hurt that hid behind his anger. He knew it well. "Should have known you'd run off with that freak. I should have known."

"How's Eli?"

Those words resulted in him being lifted off of his chair by his shirt, and Alec had nothing but murderous intentions as he was ready to strike. Like an instant flame that went up, that's how his fury was like. It was only the intervention of his father and another beta member of the pack that saved Ari from being seriously hurt.

It was easy to guess that whatever he had said to Eli before he left had worked, and he pushed down the guilt he felt as he kept his face devoid of any emotion.

"He's an omega." The father hissed at his son pushing him away, and it made Ari realize that he had something to his advantage, and ironically it was the one thing that made him so weak. "You could seriously hurt him."

"So what?" Alec yelled looking at his father heatedly. He was shaking in anger, like he genuinely wanted Ari dead. He had always been irritated and jealous of him, and he had always known deep down that his mate was falling for the – what he once believed – beta.

The beta who turned out to be an omega, and even then, he managed to steal Eli away from him.

It was all because of him and no one else that Eli left him.

And Ari had the gall to taunt him.

"Get out." The alpha ordered when he saw the way his son's nostrils dangerously flared up as he was held back. Anger was a dangerous thing, especially when it is uncontrollable. It was not safe for the two to remain in the same room, and without a choice in the matter, Alec was forced to walk out destroying anything that he passed by with his explosive anger.

The sounds of him leaving the place were clearly heard with all the bangs and smashes that followed, and the alpha sighed as he returned his attention back to Ari.

"As I was saying," He said sitting down as well, looking so tired and disturbed as he spoke. "I want to know what happened. What made you do all this?"

Ari's gaze went down as he choked back a sob, he didn't want to be here.

"I don't know what is happening." A tear escaped his eye and he withdrew even more into himself, and his voice was trembling the same way his whole body trembled. He was distraught, and it was obvious. "I didn't mean for anything to happen, I didn't."

"You killed three alphas, Aurelius." The alpha reminded, keeping his voice steady in front of Ari who was breaking apart. Everything about the situation was unpleasant, and he didn't know what to think.

"What do you mean?" The question was filled with bafflement and confusion, like he genuinely couldn't believe what he was hearing. The alpha frowned at the way Ari was looking at him, wide-eyed and lost like a child who was so very helpless and afraid. "I never- I could never. I thought they just didn't like me."

The alpha clenched his fists. "So you killed them?"

"No!" Ari shook his head more confused than anything, recoiling back at the absurdity of the accusation. "I thought they just left me."

The last sentence was said so quietly, so pathetically, that the alpha sat up straighter as he made a harrowing conclusion.

He looked once more at Ari who stared up at him with a face that mellowed his heart. Droplets of tears fell down as he seemed to be processing that the alphas he met, the ones alpha Hawthorne remembered him being so excited about, were now dead.

Ari looked so small, so gentle, and so very beautiful even as he cried that the alpha found himself to be pulled in as he leaned closer with concern this time. Dread filled him as he finally came to a very possible and very disturbing conclusion.

There was no way Ari could have killed his mother. It was impossible.

An omega couldn't overpower a beta like that.

"Tell me, please. What happened?"

The tone he used this time was a lot more tender than before, and he couldn't believe he ever let himself be convinced that someone like Ari could do anything so heinous.

Not after the next words he heard, and he didn't know how to forgive himself for treating him so harshly before.

"I went back home and he was there." Ari sniffed dragging his legs closer to him as he appeared to recall the events that led to him being in this situation. He seemed to be clueless and unsettled. "I don't know what happened he just..."

His words trailed off without being followed with any more.

Being an omega was such a dangerous tragic thing, the alpha thought.

Alec did say that Constantine was after an omega, and while he was glad that Eli was fine, it seemed like they were all fooled to believe he was the omega in question. It had always been Ari whom he was after, and if they had known sooner, something might have been done to prevent this.

It explained the dead alphas who were last seen with Ari, they were being picked off because they dared to go near him. It also explained his sudden disappearance and his dead mother, and alpha Hawthorn couldn't help but cover his face with his hand feeling sick with himself and his assumptions.

Assumptions were a dangerous thing, especially with facts supporting them.

The poor thing was scared, taken away from his home, and the only family he knew was killed...

Anyone would assume that he's a victim, it was a reasonable assumption that was being made. The alpha fell into that trap so easily, and so will others.

"Aurelius, your mother..." He didn't know how to break it to him. "Did you see her?"

An innocently confused look appeared on Ari's face, but he looked hopeful at the thought of her as he shook his head.

"Can I please see her?" He pleaded assumed to be seeking any source of comfort in this situation he found himself in, and the alpha felt like things couldn't get worse as he shook his head. The way Ari's face fell made his heart crumble to pieces. "Why? I just want to see her. I didn't do anything please believe me."

"I do believe you, son." The alpha sighed knowing that there was no way he could have crushed that alpha's spine. It was a coincidental fact, and it led to the assumption that the other alphas weren't his doing. Just like his mother. "Your mother is dead. She was killed."

There were no more tears as Ari leaned back in his chair with the room going deathly quiet. He stared at the alpha who returned that stare with a sympathetic look and placed a hand on his shoulder as a feeble attempt to comfort him.

"I am so sorry." He told him squeezing his shoulder. "So very sorry."

And Ari recoiled back with a sound akin to a sob as his face quickly hung down making the alpha stare at him with a grim face.

Ari almost let out a laugh.

It was too easy.