Chapter 21 – CAMILLE
CAMILLE
The lake stretches out behind me, still black water reflecting the moon’s silver light. The air is thick with tension, making each breath feel heavy. No insects chirp. No owls call. The unusual silence is oppressive.
My original stalker steps forward, boots crunching on the rocky shore. I recognise him immediately from the training ground and the dining hall. Tanner’s one of Ryan’s pack mates who was eliminated early on in the competition, but he stuck around to help him spar.
It looks like that’s not the only reason he didn’t return home immediately.
“You should have left it alone.” His voice cracks slightly on the last word, and I see the genuine pity in his eyes. He doesn’t want to do this, but he has no choice.
Through the mate bond, I feel Jax like a live wire against my consciousness. He’s close, maybe fifty feet away, in the trees. Our connection practically vibrates with his desire to protect. His wolf presses against his control, desperate for release.
But not yet. I need more time.
“I don’t understand.” I take a small step backward, letting my heel splash in the shallow water.
Both Alpha Williams and Tanner look down as the cold seeps through my shoe.
I take the opportunity to raise my hand to my ear, touching the tiny earpiece that will record our conversation.
“Whatever’s going on, we can talk about this.
There’s no need for anyone to get hurt.”
Anyone else, that is. They’ve hurt enough people already.
“No need?” Williams’s laugh is bitter, broken, while Tanner just looks like he wants to be anywhere else but here. “You’ll ruin everything. Ryan deserves to be an alpha. He shouldn’t even have to compete.”
Alpha Williams is here to support Ryan, by any means necessary, apparently.
I need him to say more and incriminate himself completely before I can call in the cavalry.
“If he’s such a good candidate, why are you helping him?” I let my voice rise, injecting a note of confusion. “Why not just let him win it by himself?”
As Alpha Williams’s temper rises, Tanner steps back, wanting to get out of the firing line. When he moves, the end of his sleeve rises, and I see an amulet fixed to a leather band around his wrist, his protection against the stone’s power.
“Ryan is the best fighter here. The strongest. But strength doesn’t always win these games, does it?
Not when they test stupid things like puzzle solving and cooperation.
” Williams clenches his jaw and presses his lips into a thin, determined line.
“And smart people don’t leave their success to chance. They make things happen.”
As he speaks, he waves the glowing rock in his hand, and each time it moves closer to me, a surge of nausea rises within me. The necklace is working, but it only dampens the effects, not block them entirely, and this close, I can feel it sapping my energy already.
“So, you and Ryan decided to stack the odds in his favour by weakening his competitors with dark magic? They’re hardly the actions of a future alpha.”
Williams scoffs, derision flashing in his eyes. He clearly doesn’t think I’m very bright. “You don’t think Ryan came up with this plan, do you?”
For a moment, I’m stunned into silence. Is he saying what I think he is?
“The Williams family has led packs for three generations.” His hands clench into fists at his sides. “I won’t let this chance pass Ryan by because some nobody gets lucky in a few tests.”
I, not we.
“You’re behind this? Not Ryan?”
His smile is cold and dangerous, the expression of a man who’s never been denied anything in his life.
“Behind it? You make it sound so tawdry.” He scans the forest around us and gazes out over the lake.
“I’m merely ensuring my family’s future is bright.
We’re born to be alphas. If we let just anyone have the role, what happens to my grandpups? They’re just out on the street?”
Edward Williams, now alpha of his pack, is a former head enforcer, a man whose reputation for ruthless efficiency is legendary among the elite warriors his son Zane now leads. He’s highly respected and trusted by many. This should go against everything he stands for.
“You were sworn to uphold our laws. How can you think this is right?” My voice rises with real indignation now.
He scowls, as if right and wrong are some insignificant details he doesn’t need to be bothered with.
“Laws that would see my sons, and their future heirs, passed over for someone unworthy.” Edward’s calm never wavers. “Zane will lead my pack when I step down, but Ryan is still an alpha by birth. He deserves to have that legacy too.”
Williams waves the stone, his agitation growing. Tanner shifts nervously beside his alpha.
“We didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt,” he says quietly. “Just... to get them out of the way. To level the playing field.”
Alpha Williams bristles at Tanner’s input. I have a feeling he may have told Tanner that to get him to cooperate more easily, but he has no qualms about doing whatever it takes.
“Level it?” I laugh, sharp and bitter, resting a hand on my stomach as a pain hits me in the gut. “You nearly killed someone. He’s still in the clinic, barely able to walk. Is that what Ryan would want?”
Williams’s eye twitches, and I get a blast of the anger he keeps hidden beneath his composed exterior.
“Ryan will be a good alpha! He just needs a chance to prove it. And the less he knows about how he got that opportunity, the better.”
I look back and forth between the two men, forgetting for a moment that they have me cornered.
“By cheating?” I shake my head, letting them see my disgust. “I don’t think even Ryan would want to win a pack that way.”
Alpha Williams steps forward, and through the bond, I feel Jax’s rage spike dangerously.
“When this comes out, when the Council learns what you’ve done, you’ll be ruined. Banished at best, executed at worst. If you come with me now, admit what you’ve all done, they’ll go easier on you.”
Edward’s expression flickers for just a moment. Beside him, Tanner looks away, unable to meet my eyes. Something about the way both men hesitate catches my attention.
Edward reaches into his suit jacket with deliberate calm, confident that he has me completely cornered. I move my body, shifting my weight, so I’m ready for any attack, keeping Tanner in my line of sight.
But I’m not ready for this.
He produces a tiny vial with a swirling purple liquid inside. “It won’t come out. Because you’re not going to get the chance to tell anyone.”
Looking smug, he opens his palm to show me the glittering liquid before popping the lid off and letting the plumes of purple gas float up into the air between us. “You might think that necklace is going to keep you safe, but not against this.”
Without hesitation, I reach into my pocket and pull out my knife, the glowing gems the signal for Dean to move in. And Jax? I don’t even need to tell him to come for me. I know he’s already on his way.
Williams’s smile is wicked as he waves the vial between us and blows the mist toward me. Immediately, I feel dizzy and unsteady on my feet. I attempt not to breathe it in, taking an involuntary step back. The water is knee-deep now and soaking through my pants.
I cough, covering my mouth, attempting to suck in a lungful of air through my sleeve to try to lessen the impact.
The two wolves across from me show no ill-effects from their exposure, and then I see why: nose-clips.
Staggering, I edge sideways toward the direction Jax is coming from, but I need to do something to stop Williams before everyone succumbs to the fumes. With one eye closed, I get Williams in my sights and change my grip on the knife in my hand.
“Quite clever, isn’t it?” Edward admires the swirling, shimmering cloud that’s spreading further and further around us like a proud parent. “Completely untraceable once the magic dissipates, leaving no evidence.”
My vision wavers, and the world tilts slightly to the left. I lock my knees, refusing to show weakness, even as my stomach churns. It’s now or never. I raise my arm, pulling it back, ready to let the blade fly.
“Camille? What the hell…?”
Off to the side, Raven races into the clearing, too slow to realise something is seriously wrong before the force of both the stone and the potion take him to his knees. Right as Tanner appears behind him, hands raised, claws unsheathed and ready to slit his throat.
In a heartbeat, my decision is made. I adjust my angle just as the knife leaves my fingertips. It flies through the air, spinning at speed, before it embeds itself deep into Tanner’s chest, and he stumbles back, giving Raven enough time to crawl away.
I curse as my chance to take out Williams slips through my fingers.
The alpha growls, enraged that I was about to bury that knife right between his eyes, and steps forward menacingly, too worked up to hear something barrelling through the undergrowth behind him.
“You’re a sick fuck,” I mumble, struggling to stay conscious as he looms over me.
“My son is destined to be an alpha,” Edward says proudly, chest puffed up like he thinks there’s something noble in what he’s doing. “He’ll lead with clean hands because I was willing to dirty mine. A father’s sacrifice.”
This guy thinks he’s a hero. He’s fucking delusional.
“You think he’ll thank you?” I scoff, fighting to stay upright as another wave of dizziness crashes over me. “When he finds out his victory was bought with blood? Because it’s going to come out.”
Edward laughs and makes a show of looking around him, as if to ask who’s going to stop him.
He’s right. There’s no sign of Dean or Callum. I’m too weak to fight back, and Raven, well, with absolutely no protection against the stone, he’s already slipping into unconsciousness.
“No, Miss Black. It won’t.” A pained groan echoes from the forest. Dean. Then another. Callum. “Did you think we didn’t plan for your backup?”
The magic presses harder, making thoughts scatter like startled birds.
“Such a shame,” Edward continues conversationally, taking a slow step forward, forcing me to scramble backward, deeper into the icy water to stay out of reach. “Young enforcer out alone at night. Attacked savagely.”
Tanner yanks out my knife, looking royally pissed off, and stalks forward, both men closing in with the patience of hunters who know their prey is trapped.
“And when they find out it was that crazy brother of Dean’s… enraged because he was denied the chance to enter because of his feral state, well, it was only a matter of time before he snapped.”
No, he can’t drag Jax into this.
Alpha Williams leans closer. “He’s been stalking you.” With a chuckle, he turns to the forest where Jax’s approach grows louder with each pounding of his footsteps. “And now, he’s doing us the courtesy of creating a scent trail, following you all the way to the water’s edge.”
He holds up the glowing artifact like a shield as Jax’s growls and snarls get closer.
“No… Jax… run.” My words are barely a whisper. The world tilts violently. I’m on both knees now in the water, hands pressing into the rocky bottom, fighting to stay conscious.
Jax’s footsteps are so close now. Ten feet. Maybe less. He’s going to run straight into their trap.
“Halt.” Alpha Williams’s order booms out through the quiet forest, the alpha command jarring as it blasts across my chilled skin.
Tanner steps in front of me, guarding his catch and sticking close to the stone.
“Stop right there, Jax, unless you want me to finish her off right in front of you.” The alpha’s tone is smug, gleeful almost, as Jax bursts from the trees, massive and magnificent, his wolf completely in charge.
His gaze immediately goes to me, lying prone on the ground, and as I fight to get up, his eyes glow gold in the dark shadows of the forest, peering at me over the colourful scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth.
“Shit,” Williams hisses, as Jax picks up speed, diverting his course to head straight for the stunned-looking men, who immediately understand they’ve made a grave miscalculation by underestimating him. And for trying to frame a dangerous beast with nothing to lose but his mate.
Unaffected by the potion, and seemingly immune to the stone, Jax is a large ball of fury, and nothing will stop him until I’m safe.