Chapter 202 Caught
Chapter 202 Caught
UNKNOWN
* Free Coins
“I think I saw someone who wields the power that we need in order <i>to </i>finally overthrow Fenra.”
The words tasted sharp on my tongue. I wanted them to cut through the stale air and prove I was worth listening to.
My mother’s gaze snapped to me. It was a gaze that could crush, a look that had once turned generals into stammering fools. Now, it was turned on me–the one still wing for her approval. I swallowed, straightened, and ced the heads of the humans I had captured from rc onto the table before her.
They rolled across the wood with dull thuds, the stench of iron and rot filling the chamber. Blood trickled into the grooves of the carved table where generations before us had made the same offerings. The sight thrilled me. Would it thrill her even after all this time?
“How sure are you?” she asked, voice cold, but edged with a hunger that never slept.
I bit my lip. The words tangled in my throat, not out of fear, but out of doubt.
“There was something about that woman on the boat,” I murmured, narrowing my eyes as though I could still see her there before me. “I can’t pinpoint it. She looked like a wolf, moved like one, but… something beneath her was the same as we are. I believe the power she carries isn’t ordinary.”
I let my voice drop on that word.
My mother, however, was unimpressed with half–answers.
Her sigh was long, heavy with a disappointment I had known since childhood. She clicked her tongue, reached forward, and grabbed one of the heads by its hair.
With one swift motion, she mmed it against the table.
The skull cracked. Flesh burst. The brain sttered across the wood and dripped onto the floor.
<b>11:16 </b><b>Tue</b><b>, </b>2 Sept
Chapter 202 Caught
I flinched only because it was expected of me, not because the sight unsettled <b>me</b>. If anything, it excited me to see how little life was worth in her hands.
“We are getting our dark magic from humans this time,” she said, shaking gore from her fingers. “Not from old relics, not from broken promises. From humans. Their fear, their deaths, their essence–it will build our power of maniption.”
She turned her gaze to me again. “But it’s been a battle for years. Four years too many.”
Her words shed at me, though I forced my face into a mask of obedient focus.
“So,” she continued, “give me a good reason to trust you.”
The silence made it hard to breathe. I could hear the drip, drip, drip of blood sliding from the edge of the table.
“If you are not sure,” she said, leaning forward, her shadow stretching over me, “then make sure of it. I am tired of waiting around for nothing. Do you hear me?”
“Our country is not going tost long because of these damn resources. We are starving while Fenra grows fat. We are bleeding while they thrive. We need to take over Fenra.”
Her lips curled, revealing the sharp white of her teeth.
“And when we do, we will use those dogs as what they were always meant to be- our workers. Our ves. Our fodder. You get me?”
My heart raced–not with fear, but with the thrill of her vision. I wanted that future. I wanted it with every inch of my being. And most of all, I wanted to prove to her that I could do it on my own. Not that damn girl she keeps thinking about even though she was unsure if she was even alive.
“Yes, mother.”
***
TESSA
“Oh,e on. You’re still not over it?” Noelle eximed, her hands flying up dramatically as I red at her from across the small table.
Chapter 202 Caught
My patience was already wearing thin, but the way her voice bounced around the space made it worse. I pressed my lips together, trying to keep my temper in check.
“Ca pestered me for three full days, Noelle,” I said. “Three! All three days, she was asking for her dad and a baby brother.”
I folded my arms over my chest and sighed. “It already kills me knowing she doesn’t have one. The worst part was I couldn’t say anything to her.”
Noelle bit her lip, the usual teasing smile faltering. Her eyes softened, but only for a moment. “How about showing her to Rowan?” she suggested, carefully, testing the waters. “You met in Fenrast week, right?”
I froze, a lump forming in my throat at the sound of his name. Then I scoffed and shook my head, as stubborn as ever. “We aren’t going to meet again,” I said firmly. “It was a one–time thing for Arden, and unless circumstances dictate, I’m not going back.”
My tone left no room for argument.
Noelle sighed like I was the most exasperating person in the world. “Then, how about Owen?”
My head snapped toward her. “What about him?”
Her lips curved into a sly smirk. “Make him Ca’s daddy.”
I clicked my tongue, shaking my head quickly. “I can’t do that. He’s already done so much for me.”
“Exactly!” Noelle eximed, throwing her hands up. “He’s already done so much for you. What’s stopping you from making it official with him?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I couldn’t find an answer.
“Oh, I know,” Noelle said suddenly, her grin returning with full force. “It must be Rowan. You’re still thinking about him, huh? That dick must be good.”
I red at her so hard she should havebusted on the spot. My cheeks burned with her words.
<b>11:16 </b>Tue, 2 Sept
Chapter 202 Caught
“Seriously? This is why I prefer Sol. In fact, I miss him right now,” <b>I </b>shot back, trying to divert the topic. “Why did he have to go with the hunters this time around?<b>” </b>
The mention of Sol quieted Noelle. She sighed, finally letting go of the Rowan
What he subject–for now. “I know, right? But I get it. He’s a smart one,
that guy. doesn’t have in vision, he makes up for with his brain. The hunters need him, definitely. Besides, their numbers are inadequate because of the recent attacks.”
Her eyes flickered around the open space, her restlessness creeping into her movements. She drummed her fingers against the table. “They should be here around now, though. It’s time they’re back.”
I leaned back in my chair, pressing a hand against my chest. A strange, unsettled feeling was gnawing at me.
Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps crashed through my thoughts. The door mmed open, and I instinctively shot to my feet.
Marcus stumbled in first, his face drenched in sweat, his clothes torn, appearing like he’d been running for miles.
“Noelle?” he croaked, his voice hoarse.
Noelle eximed, “Marcus? What the hell–what happened?” She rushed to his side immediately, her hands gripping his arms, steadying him.
The rest of the hunters spilled into the room behind him, their faces drawn with exhaustion and fear..
My heartbeat quickened. Something was very, very wrong.
“What happened?” Noelle pressed again, her voice rising with panic.
I frowned, my senses prickling. I could feel the dread clinging to their bodies and the stink of failure radiating off them. My chest tightened until it was hard to breathe. “Where’s Sol?” I asked, stepping closer.
Marcus lifted his head toward me. His lips parted, but for a moment nothing came out. He caught his breath like he was dragging it up from the pit of his stomach.
“Caught,” he finally rasped.
11:16 <b>Tue</b>, 2 Sept 1
Chapter 202 Caught
The single word mmed into me like a de.
Noelle gasped beside me. “Caught? By rogues?”
Marcus shook his head slowly, each movement heavy with despair. His breath came ragged, his throat straining. “No…” He swallowed hard.
Then his gaze locked on mine, and my blood ran cold.
“By the Alpha of the South.”