Hi guys!
Thank you so much for staying with me this far!! And thank you even more for all of your comments and votes. They mean so much to me and each new comment makes me want to to write even more! These chapters are definitely spurred on by your support <3
Can't wait to hear what you think of this one!
Molly :) xxx
I sickly clutched the hot cup of sweet tea Holly had just pressed into my hand. Watching numbly as she and Julian shared a concerned glance.
Life had stuttered past me since hearing Hazel had survived, but the good doctor who had assisted in her surgery had not. He had selflessly paid for Hazel's life with his own, allowing his life to slowly ebb away as he gave his blood for his Luna.
With silver poisoning, there is no time to lose. The tainted blood must be fully removed and replaced with fresh, corresponding blood immediately and entirely.
Hazel had lived, and was even already sitting up and talking. But I couldn't shake the responsibility of the doctor's death.
Why hadn't I listened to my gut? Followed the cues of my wolf?
She had been conspicuously absent since. I could still feel her presence, but she wouldn't speak.
I couldn't work out if she was angry or afraid, but whatever the reason, I was on my own with the horror of what I had done.
Julian had tried to comfort me, but his words did little to ease my guilt.
I knew the facts. That Perry wasn't here in anger because of me. That the doctor made his choice... Blood could have been brought in from the store, but he refused to risk the wait.
But the stupidity of my actions wouldn't leave me, and I was having a hard time coming back to reality.
Finally losing his patience, Julian grunted angrily. He marched over to me and pulled the cup from my hands, shoving it messily onto a nearby table.
"Come." He growled, the Alpha power in his voice pulling me to my feet. He jerked his chin at Holly, indicating for her to come too.
We scampered after him, almost jogging to keep pace with the swift stride of his long legs.
It wasn't long before we were back in front of Perry's cell. Jack eyeing me worriedly from his position beside the door.
Perry was laying on his back in the centre of the cell, still cradling his arm. He was humming almost cheerfully, the sound juxtaposing sharply with the dingy space. At the sound of our footsteps, he raised his head to grin at us. The emotion seeming especially obscene on his pain riddled face. "Ah. If it isn't the esteemed Alpha. Good and gracious and godlike... Irresistible enough to pry apart the thighs of even the most loyal lady."
Even in my foggy state, I found that particular comment about my father still made me want to puke.
Julian sighed, surprising me in his restraint. I had thought Perry would be a smear on the concrete already.
"You have every right to your anger." The Alpha spoke softly. Regret clear on his face. "But what you have done is even more unforgivable... Taking liberties with another's mate is repulsive, but taking a life can never be justified."
Perry's smile only slipped for a second. "And yet now you can taste a little of the pain I have lived with all these years."
"She's not even dead!" Holly blurted. Earning an exasperated look from the Alpha as Perry let his head drop back to the concrete with a dull thud.
"Of course she isn't." he muttered. "Heaven forbid that your precious Alpha be made to feel even a sliver of pain."
Perry finally pulled himself upright. "So, someone else took one for the team I assume? Only in a wolf-pack would you find so many willing volunteers to take another's grave."
His age showing on his face, he had the grace to at least look a little contrite. "I am sorry, for what it's worth. I guess I finally ran out of patience when I heard my original plan had failed."
Finally looking at me, Perry shook his head. "You were supposed to be the poison thorn... I couldn't bring myself to kill you, I had raised you for five years as my own after all. But I expected the benevolent Alpha to claim his orphan daughter. Ending up with a wolf-less, worthless creature as an heir."
Jack and Julian growled, the sound fizzing up my anxiety a little more as I felt my wolf shudder in my mind. I could feel her fear and anger still. But finally realised it wasn't aimed at me.
I stepped into the path of my father, preventing another loss of information as had happened with Luke. "Tell me what you did. I deserve to know."
I felt my wolf shudder. Her fear thickening and seeping into me like a poison.
Holly's gasp, Jack's snarl and the Alpha's growl seemed to fade into the background as if it was just Perry and I.
His lips twisted begrudgingly, and he sighed. "It never did sit right. You were as innocent as I was. But in the end... it didn't matter. And the funny thing is... It was Hazel that made me realise you weren't mine."
He took a moment, looking genuinely anguished. "I hadn't realised. For five years I didn't know... and it was such an easy comment. Such a light piece of conversation that revealed the truth to me. Hazel mentioned the length of wolf pregnancies... How much shorter they are than a human pregnancy."
A gasp behind me told me that Holly was particularly engrossed in the soap opera of my early life.
"The dates had never really made sense. But with that extra piece of information, I knew. It was easy then, to reach out and pique the interest of those human hating maniacs. I just needed to sneak in, whilst the confusion of the carnage was still in full swing and stage my death. Evie never even saw me coming." The hard glint in his eye showed his complete lack of remorse for robbing me of my mother.
He was responsible for so many deaths. For the worst raid we had ever encountered. He was the reason Holly, Kyle and so many others ended up in the orphanage with me.
I was trembling now. Anger threatening to overwhelm my need for answers. "So, you have half the pack killed... to satisfy your need for revenge... because my mum cheated on you?!" I could barely get the words past my lips as I struggled with the incredulity of the situation. "What kind of insecure, crazy-ass son of a bitch are you?!"
My body was shaking on the point of shifting, fuelled by fury. "And me? What of me? What do you mean I should have been the poison?"
A slow smirk blossomed across Perry's face. Clearly delighted to see us so shaken with his revelations. "Well now Charlie. Why don't you ask you wolf?"