Chapter 81: Bared To You: Part Nine

**** Content Warning ****

Please be aware there are themes of emotional and physical abuse and attempted suicide in the following chapters. Read at your own discretion.

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"Ethan killed the librarian, didn't he?" Gabriel questioned, interrupting the memory as they walked along the woods. 

Esme had been quieter since announcing she had died, and that was how she escaped. Though he didn't know the intricacies yet, he had a heart-wrenching feeling that it was not part of a plan. Gabriel had been listening to her, but at times she'd trail off, letting her memory speak for itself. The latest was of this librarian, Benjamin, who looked like a teacher in his late twenties. He was not threatening at all, and looking through her eyes, Esme was fond of their newly found friendship.

He could see how Ethan picked up on it. Even without the mate bond, which Gabriel knew the Alpha had blocked, anyone could see Esme was depressed. He only knew this through a few of her memories when she looked in the mirror and managed to barely brush her hair and get changed. The look in her eyes was dead. So, the smallest of changes no matter how much she tried to hide it would be noticeable. 

Gabriel stared after Esme, who had gone off the trail they walked on and returned with a yellow flower in her small hands. She still looked lost in thought, but he didn't want to probe as he could tell her story was nearing its end. His little she-wolf smiled gently, though it did not reach her eyes, then looked up from the petals and met his gaze before lifting onto her tiptoes and putting the flower behind his ear. "Now you look pretty," She whispered, and her smile broadened, revealing her teeth, and he knew it was genuine.

Gabriel chuckled and grabbed her hand before it fell to her side, kissing her knuckles and holding her gaze before smirking, "Was I not pretty before?" 

Esme shockingly shook her head, stunning him for a moment in bewilderment. She giggled at his reaction and kissed his cheek before turning away and speaking over her shoulder almost shyly, "You're more sexy and handsome. Pretty in some scenarios, I suppose."

Oh, he wanted to embrace her and take her right now in the woods, but there was a time and place, and Esme was just distracting him and herself before she unloaded more about this worthless maggot of a mate. This whole time of going through her past, he had ripped out two trees and crumbled many rocks in his hands like they were made out of clay. 

Gabriel caught up to her again, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. Her face had fallen, and within seconds, he could see the scene folding out before him. Gabriel was still very much aware of their surroundings, but it was like he was daydreaming and a video played before him. If they were at his place, like before, he would only focus on the memory and take in every detail, but they were out in the open where enemies could lurk and hide behind the shadows of trees.

He had noticed how Esme shifted her attention from time to time to specific areas in the woods. And because he was still in her mind, he knew she had a stalker, but she seemed too relaxed to believe they would cause her any harm or that she might know them and was waiting for them to reveal themselves. But as he started to think more about this person, his mind was clouded with his vision before him changing to Esme talking comfortably with Benjamin about a new book she started reading. 

Esme never realised the delights in reading books, and like Benjamin first told her, it was a way to escape from the real world. In those hours of reading, she was no longer Esme, the she-wolf whose mate abused her and whose mother and friend had died. Esme was just a spectator to an unfolding story to a character in her book, enjoying the author's descriptions and visualising the scenes before her. The current book she was reading was about a heroine princess and a handsome elven prince.

Just as she was losing herself into the fight scenes in the book, the double doors suddenly burst open, and the door fell off its hinges. Esme jumped up from her usual spot, dropping the book on the ground and peering over one of the bookcases. Her stomach dropped, and her face paled when she saw Ethan and Delta Bryant marching in, their bodies almost blocking the light from outside the door. 

Benjamin was in the storage room, she knew because he shouted it out to her as he passed by, excited in an almost childish, gleeful way about some new books he ordered and wanted to put them on the shelves. 

"Ethan?" Esme walked forwards, her legs barely moving, shaking by the growl resonating in the room, directed at her as she stared back at glowing amber eyes. Ethan wasn't in charge; it was his wolf. He was just as possessive, but somehow, Esme could reason with him more than Ethan. Esme sighed only slightly in relief as she blocked the Alpha's path. Unlike Ethan, Edric had not laid a hand on her, but that didn't mean he was innocent; if he genuinely wanted her safe, then Edric could take control like he was right now, but he hadn't. 

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"Edric," She mind-linked him softly. "Is everything okay?"

Edric growled again, his eyes swept the room, searching. Esme knew then he was looking for Benjamin. "I've been finding the house all too quiet recently. Bryant informed me that this is where you spend your days.. I wonder what it is you get up to in here.."

"This is a library. I am just reading. Nothing more," Esme replied bravely, her hands clenched into fists by her side. 

Her heart almost beat out of her chest when Edric grasped her chin in his large hand and tilted her head up so he could kiss her tenderly before whispering next to her ear, "You missed the part about your new friend Benjamin." Although his breath was warm, she went cold.

"He is nothing," Esme whispered. "Nothing but a nerd holed up in this shitty place." Her voice had become icy as she stared back into her mate's eyes, and she nearly sagged in relief when she saw Edric believed her. 

But her relief was short-lived. "Tell that to, Ethan." Edric kissed her cheek, and she wanted to scream for him to never go, he was the lesser of two evils, but his amber eyes swirled into bright emerald green. His eyes hardened, and he looked across the room to the new figure standing behind Esme. 

No, she hadn't calmed Ethan down yet. 

"Benji, leave!" She ordered the librarian through a mind-link. She used her Luna power, but Ethan smacked her out of the way just as Benjamin started to turn around. 

Ethan stormed towards him, "Stop right there!" He barked, his tone was deeper, his command much stronger than the Luna's, and Benjamin halted in his tracks. "Grab him," He snarled at Delta Bryant. The Delta pulled Benjamin's arms behind his back and Ethan punched him in the face so hard, bones crunched beneath his knuckles. 

Esme gasped as Benjamin's face flipped to the side, blood trickling down his cheek. She instantly pushed off the ground and ran towards them; just as Ethan raised his hand again, Esme grabbed his bulging arm. "Stop! Ethan! Please!" She cried before being backhanded; she flew across the floor and smacked into some bookshelves. Books fell over her as the shelves wobbled before tumbling backwards. 

Esme groaned, wincing as she felt the back of her head, warm liquid coated her hand, and when she looked at her hand, she didn't so much as flinch at seeing her blood. She was used to it. Esme raised her eyes from her hand and inhaled sharply after seeing Benjamin curled up on the floor being punched and kicked by Ethan and Bryant. 

"No!" She screamed and scrambled forwards again. Benjamin wasn't moving, and his face was bloodied and unrecognisable. Tears streamed down her face, and she acted before thinking, jumping onto Ethan's back to stop him. "You're killing him!"

"Continue!" Ethan barked at the Delta, who stopped after the Alpha halted from his mate jumping on his back, her arm almost strangling him. Bryant continued kicking Benjamin's face in and then his chest. Esme tore her eyes away as Ethan flew backwards to crush her under him, but after feeling nothing for so long and being a disgrace, Esme didn't take it and reacted in time to jump off him and roll to the side.

Ethan rolled to the opposite side in a lunge position as he stared at Esme in shock. She always put up with whatever he dealt her, yet now she not only stopped him but went to stop Bryant. Esme grabbed Bryant by the back of his shirt and threw him into the bookcase to the side. She was infuriated by the change in events and stared at the unbreathing werewolf lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"He was innocent," She said through clenched teeth, wiping away the tears on her face and looking back at Ethan defiantly. "HE WAS INNOCENT!"

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