Chapter 257: Gut feeling 2
PAULINE
Sleep didn’t co.
I lay flat on my back, staring at the ceiling because there really was nothing better to do at this point. The sheets tangled around my legs. I kicked them off. Then pulled them back up. Then kicked them off again.
Aldric’s voice kept replaying in my head. That smooth, condescending tone. The way he’d spoken to
like I was a child who’d gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Don’t ever move without my permission again."
Who the fuck did he think he was? I only had Valentine to bla for this.
My fingers curled into the sheets. I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw sothing. I wanted to reach through ti and space and wrap my hands around his throat until that smug superiority drained out of his eyes.
But I couldn’t do any of those things.
I was his piece. His fucking chess piece on a board I didn’t even fully understand.
The thought made my stomach turn.
I rolled onto my side and stared at the wall. Ti stopped making sense.
The healer had failed.
That single thought circled my mind like a vulture over carrion. The healer had failed. After all the money I paid for her to exist. After that giant ball of risk...
The Oga girl had walked away without a scratch.
Oh. The truth it was tornted . I had orchestrated for a clean, and simple car accident that would look like nothing more than bad luck and mortal error. For fuck sake. Even Aldric had said two sentinels had died from it. The Oga should have been crushed in the wreckage. She should have been mangled beyond recognition. She should have been a closed casket funeral that her loved ones—if she had any left—would weep upon.
But no.
She’d walked away perfectly fine with not even a bruise.
And worse than that, she’d probably walked away with that face still looking exactly like her.
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached.
It wasn’t the first ti I’d used my healer. It wasn’t the second or third either. We’d worked together for almost four years now. She’d handled things for
back in Nocturne territory. Sotis small things. Sotis necessary things. Problems that needed to disappear without raising questions.
She’d never failed before. Not once.
But this ti. With this girl. With this fucking Oga who had the audacity to wear Athena’s face...
It had been a failure.
A complete and utter failure.
I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My bare feet touched the cold floor and I welcod the shock of it. Anything to ground
in the present instead of the spiral my thoughts kept trying to pull
into.
Divine mockery. That’s what it was. The universe or the Moon Goddess or whatever cosmic force controlled fate had decided to play a joke on . A cruel, pointed joke that said no matter how far I ran, no matter how many bodies I buried, the past would always find a way to resurface.
And it would always sohow wear Athena’s face.
I stood up and walked to the window. The curtains hung limp and heavy. I pushed them aside and looked out at Silver Creek in the dawn faded glory. The territory stretched out before . Trees and buildings and sleeping wolves who had no idea what moved in the shadows around them.
My hand pressed against the glass. It was cool against my palm.
I’d thought about it constantly since that first eting. The way the girl had looked at . Those eyes. That face. The tilt of her head when she’d spoken. Every detail had been wrong and right at the sa ti. Wrong because it wasn’t Athena. Right because it could have been.
The mory rose up unbidden. Sharp and clear despite the years that had passed since.
***
Two sentinels flanked her. One on each side with hands gripping her arms tight enough to leave bruises. She had a bag over her head. So rough canvas thing they’d probably found in the storage shed. Her voice ca through muffled but still intelligible.
"You fuckers!" She thrashed between them but they held firm. "Do you know who I am?"
I watched them drag her across the clearing. We were deep in the woods. Far enough from pack grounds that no one would hear. Far enough that even if soone ca looking, they’d never find this place.
"Do you have any idea what he’ll do to you when my Alpha finds out what you are doing?" Her voice pitched higher. Panic creeping in around the edges of the bravado. "He’ll kill you. Both of you. He’ll tear you apart."
The sentinels didn’t respond. They’d been paid well for their silence. Paid well and threatened thoroughly. They knew what would happen if they spoke. They knew what I was capable of.
They stopped in front of . One of them looked at
and gave a small nod.
I reached forward and yanked the bag off her head.
Athena blinked in the sudden light. Her hair was a ss. Her eyes were wild. She looked between the sentinels and then at
and I watched the recognition slam into her like a physical blow.
I smiled.
"Who are you exactly?" I asked. My voice ca out light. Almost conversational. Like we were old friends eting for tea instead of what this actually was. "Tell , I want to know."
She stared at . Her mouth opened and closed. No words ca out.
I stepped closer. Close enough that I could sll the fear on her. Sharp and sour and intoxicating.
"Were you really about to use the fact that you’re fucking my husband to sohow wriggle your way out of this?" I tilted my head. "Is that what you thought would save you?"
"Luna Pauline." Her voice ca out small. So much smaller than it had been monts ago. "No. Forgive ."
The words hung in the air between us. Pathetic and weak. Exactly what I’d expected.
"For which one?" I asked. I folded my arms across my chest. "For seducing my husband? No? Fucking him? For letting rumors spread that there’s a chance you’d be a second wife? Or just existing? Which one?"
She looked at the sentinels. Then back at . Her throat worked as she swallowed.
"He ca for ." The words tumbled out fast. Desperate. "I had no choice. I didn’t want him. But I cannot deny him. He is Alpha. What he wants is mine to obey."
I laughed. The sound ca out cold and sharp. It echoed through the trees around us.
"In the past," I said, "Ogas loyal to their Luna’s social standing would mutilate and scar their bodies or take their lives so their Alpha’s wandering eyes would stop. It’s sothing you could have done."
"What?" Her eyes went wide.
"Did I say sothing wrong?" I examined my nails. They were perfectly manicured. Deep red polish that looked like dried blood in the dim light. "I’m sure I didn’t. Or is that too big an ask?"
Her spine straightened. So spark of defiance flared to life in her eyes.
"I might have been born designated a runt." Her voice ca out stronger now. Steadier. "But that doesn’t an I have to spend all my life making up for it. Ogas are not just your slaves. There’s a reason the goddess made us the way we were. For a pack to work, everyone needs a role."
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