Chapter 10
Liam
Every moment, I was regretting my actions. I’d royally fucked up, and my mate, my true scent match, was now in danger. And I couldn’t do anything about it, because she hated me.
Celeste was many things, but she wasn’t a cold, heartless killer by proxy.
She didn’t have it in her. We’d been so certain she was the mastermind behind the massacre at Arkala, the one who’d been behind the atrocities at Harringday once she took over.
But in the end, all it took was a single scrap of paper to unravel everything we thought we knew.
Someone was behind the horrible things at Harringday, but it wasn’t her.
And the more we pieced things together, the more we realized how much she had been used as a scapegoat.
She was being set up as the perfect pawn while others pulled the strings.
All signs pointed to this plan leading up to an end, one which was coming sooner than anyone realized.
But what I couldn't figure out was why, and who was behind it.
Was it her whole board? If that was the case, they could have voted her out ages ago.
It had to be something more hidden, more sinister.
I was determined to find out, even if it killed me.
I had other problems too - Dante had lied about his part in her kidnapping, effectively ruining her trust in us and going behind our backs.
I never thought he’d lie to us. I should have felt it through the bond.
Even now, I sought out his emotions through our pack bond, trying to feel for him.
But all I could feel was a closed wall, and the echo of pain.
I knew he had only done what he thought was right, but it stung that he kept us out of everything.
How could our pack function without trust?
I couldn’t trust anyone right now. Everything I thought was true was a lie, and our entire plan was a mess.
We were supposed to get proof of Celeste’s misdeeds and out her for the criminal we thought she was.
With sufficient evidence, Reginald, the board member we’d reached out to earlier, would be able to tip the scales and give a vote of no confidence and appoint a new board member to take over.
A new member who would be a neutral player, once who was friendly to Reginald and would have worked with us in a symbiotic relationship to improve Harringday Industries and clean up the mess that we thought Celeste had made.
But what if that was a lie too? Was Reginald really our ally, or had we been pawns just as much as Celeste had been? Elijah was the one who had been building that relationship with Reginald.
I Dante to update me on what he found out from Elijah. I needed answers. Because everything was bigger than we’d imagined, and I was starting to see just how deep the rot went.
But all of that was dwarfed by the pain in my chest, the growing ache of what I was now missing.
Because now I could finally see the one thing I knew was true.
Celeste was my mate, and always had been.
She was the one person I was meant to protect above all else.
And instead of protecting her, we’d destroyed her.
We’d made her life here with us a living hell, forcing her to pretend to be in a relationship with us at the expense of her own reputation.
And the whole time, she’d known we were her scent matches, dealing with our cruelty with a strength that I didn’t have.
It was torture knowing she was gone, that after all the work we’d done to gain her trust, she found out in the worst way that we were playing her.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We were falling for her, hard.
And all the while, we’d still planned on her downfall.
Now, we’d broken her trust, ruining the delicate bond we’d been building all these months.
I looked down at my phone. I’d tried calling and messaging her nonstop since everything happened. I needed to tell her she was in danger, to offer her our hell. She hadn’t answered, except to tell us it was over. But I couldn’t stop. Not when she was out there, not when I didn’t know who had her.
I typed with shaking hands.
Celeste, please respond. You’re in danger, and we want to help. We will do anything!
This time, she finally replied. My heart raced as I read her message.
Celeste: I need to talk to you too. It’s important. But only business. And on my terms.
I was thrilled that she finally replied. At least she hadn’t completely ghosted us. My thumbs moved quickly, trying to show an effort to help her in any way I could, to try to salvage this disaster.
Yes! Anything you want. Celeste, you’re everything to us. We fucked up. I know that now. We were wrong, and I think you know why. I need to know you’re safe. You can’t trust anyone right now.
Her response hit harder than the first.
Celeste: I’m in the safest place in the world.
My pulse roared in my ears.
Where? With who?
The three dots blinked for what felt like an eternity before her final text came through.
Celeste: Pack Valence.
I stared at the screen, my stomach dropping like a stone.
She was with another pack. Our mate, our scent match, was safe in the arms of her exes, where she should’ve been safe in ours.
Right before her heat. And despite my astonishment, anger and jealousy, I knew deep down that she was making the right choice given what we’d done.
And I wasn’t sure if we’d ever get her back.