+8 Pearls
Third Person’s POV
–
The warning in Caden ckthorn’s re was unmistakable a silent threat that seemed to say: Speak one more lie, and I’ll make sure you never draw breath again.
But Theo Hale barely spared him a nce. Turning to Luna Zara, he said with an easy calm, “Luna Zara, let’s head inside.”
And so, the four of them crossed the threshold into the grand hall of the Duskgrave estate.
Alpha ric had rehearsed his opening words countless times before arriving.
Every sentence had been sharpened in his mind, ready to serve his purpose.
Yet the instant he stepped into the hall and saw who was inside, his pupils constricted violently, and a shock like a lightning strike roared through his mind, wiping it clean.
Tessa?
How could she be here? Hadn’t Ronan Duskcliff already sent her abroad?
A ripple of unease slid through him. His n had been simple once the ckmaw Pack’s little exile reached foreign soil, he would acquire a gun and arrange for Tessa’s “idental” death. No witnesses. No loose ends.
But she was here. Alive. Standing before him.
That bastard Ronan had sworn she was locked away in a fortified manor, guarded day and night, with no chance of escape.
Then his gaze shifted and when it fell upon the ckmaw Alpha pair, recognition struck. Of course. They must have brought her back themselves.
–
Now they stood across the room, their eyes burning with a hatred so pure it felt like ws raking down his spine.
His
gut
sank like a stone into dark waters.
Tessa had told them something. Something damning.
–
Sweat pricked along his brow, his wolf restless with unease. He could not meet their gaze instead, he wrenched his eyes away, searching for safer ground.
But when his focusnded on the two elder women present, the air seemed to thin, his bnce swaying.
What in the moon’s name…<b>? </b>
He knew those faces. When <b>Tessa </b>had awakened in <b>the </b>infirmary, these <b>two </b>had been there – siding with Riley against him. At the time, he’d dismissed them as harmless elders, mere household staff or idle visitors.
Now he saw clearly.
The one standing, dressed in the same uniform as Mia, was indeed <b>a </b>servant.
But the one seated in stately finery, her presencemanding the entire room…
Matriarch Duskgrave. Lucien Duskgrave’s grandmother.
The realization mmed into him like a hammer blow. He had insulted this elder Lucien’s blood- without knowing it.
–
If she remembered, if she decided to stand against him….
Scarlett’s release from the Stormridge Pack’s holding cells would be impossible.
And then his eyes fell upon Riley.
The little wretch sat beside Lucien Duskgrave as though she belonged there, the Alpha Prince’s dark aura wrapping around her like a mantle.
<b>12.25 </b><b>AM </b>P
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+8 Pearls
How? How had ite to this?
Unless… unless his earlier idea had been correct. When he’d first sought to tie Riley to Lucien for political gain, perhaps she’d already wormed her way into his favor.
Yes. That had to be it.
She was a climber, a gold–chasing she–wolf who knew exactly how to bare her throat to the right male.
Alpha ric’s thoughts spun with calcting speed, but outwardly, his mask slipped only for a heartbeat. Then he forced a genial smile.
“Well, Riley, you’re here too. You’ve been away from the Ebonw Pack for so long, not a word home… You’ve had your old man worried.”
–
The truth was, he had never cared for her an unwanted pup, useless in his eyes. But she had always craved family affection. And if she still did, he could use that weakness, twist it until she agreed to plead for Scarlett’s release.
But Riley’s answering gaze was pure ice, threaded through with hatred so sharp it could y skin from bone.
–
If she had wanted him dead after reading the truths Caelum Knox had unearthed, that was nothingpared to now not since Tessa had told her the full story.
She no longer wished for his death.
She wanted him alive… <b>so </b>she could drag him through every hell imaginable.
Yes. It was time for him to know. Time to watch his proud world copse when he learned that his most beloved pup was not of his blood, that every careful scheme had only served another’s gain.
Her smile was a de. “You… worried about me?”
“Of course,” Alpha ric replied, stili oozing false warmth. “I’m your father.”
The word father drew a collective sneer from the room.
Tessa’s father, voice like venom: “You call yourself a father? You breed a daughter for the sole purpose of cutting out her kidney to <b>save </b>your mistress’s brat?”
Tessa’s mother, eyes zing: “You slice open your own pup’s chest for her heart, gut her for her liver, strip her for every organ she can spare and
you think you deserve the title of father?”
–
Mia’s voice <b>was </b>cold steel: “And when there was nothing left, you offered her body to the healer’s college, so they could carve her apart in the name of science all to burnish your name and legacy. That’s what kind of father you are.”
–
Each usation struck like <b>a </bsh across his back, one after another.
Alpha ric staggered beneath the weight of their words, <b>his </b><b>face </b>draining of color. His gaze skittered <b>over </b>the assembly, searching desperately for an ally, but finding only condemnation.
For the first time, the unshakable Alpha of Ebonw Pack felt the sky falling in on him.
Send Gifts
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