CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The tension between Knox and me has stretched for days like a taut wire ready to snap.
Ever since I fled from Jax's story about the Haven Pack, Knox has been sleeping in his study, leaving our bed cold and empty.
During meals, he maintains polite distance—answering when spoken to, but never initiating conversation.
His green eyes, once warm with affection, now hold disappointment and growing suspicion.
I catch him watching me sometimes, his jaw clenched with frustration. He knows I'm hiding something massive, and my continued silence is eating away at whatever trust we've built.
Meanwhile, Jax and Nora have extended their stay at the castle, claiming they want to spend time with family before beginning their alliance tour. Nora radiates happiness, completely oblivious to the danger she's in, while Jax plays the devoted mate with sickening perfection.
I watch helplessly as she falls deeper under his spell, her amber eyes soft with adoration whenever she looks at him. The guilt gnaws at me constantly—I should warn her, but Jax's threats still echo in my mind.
Only Knox maintains his guard around Jax, which both relieves and terrifies me. Does he sense something wrong? If Knox suspects his brother, what happens when Jax's true plans are revealed?
One evening, I finally see my chance. Jax walks alone through the castle gardens, heading toward the forest edge where moonlight filters through the trees. My heart pounds as I follow, knowing this confrontation could change everything.
"You can drop the act when it's just us," I say, stepping into the moonlight. "I know this whole mating charade is fake."
Jax doesn't turn around, his hands gripping the stone railing. "Everything serves a purpose, Aubrey. You should understand that."
"Nora genuinely believes you're her mate," I press. "She's falling in love with a lie."
He finally faces me, his storm-gray eyes cold as winter. "Love is a luxury we can't afford. Her feelings are irrelevant compared to what her alliance provides."
"She's a person, not a resource to exploit."
"Everyone is a resource," he says matter-of-factly. "The only question is how best to use them. Sentiment clouds judgment."
The casual dismissal of human emotion makes my stomach turn. "What about those missing children? How do you justify torturing innocents?"
"Sometimes harsh lessons are necessary," he replies without a flicker of remorse. "Fear ensures compliance. Order requires sacrifice."
"Those are children, Jax. Babies who've done nothing wrong."
"Nothing is accomplished without cost," he says with chilling certainty. "You used to understand the price of justice."
"That's not justice—that's cruelty."
"Justice is whatever serves our cause," he snaps. "Your problem is you've grown soft, letting emotions dictate strategy instead of logic."
The fundamental difference between us crystallizes in that moment. Where I see innocent lives worth protecting, he sees acceptable casualties. Where I see love and compassion as strengths, he sees weaknesses to be eliminated.
"Your views on life and vengeance..." I shake my head in disgust. "We're fundamentally different, Jax. I can't be part of this anymore."
As I turn to leave, his hand shoots out, gripping my arm. Before I can react, he spins me around and crushes his lips against mine. The kiss is forceful and possessive.
Revulsion floods through me as I shove him away with all my strength. "Get off me!"
Jax's face twists with fury, his gray eyes blazing. "Isn't this what you always wanted? All those years of looking at me with longing, hanging on my every word?"
"That was before I knew who you really were," I say, my voice steady despite my racing heart. "Before I saw what you're capable of."
His expression darkens further. "So you prefer him? Your precious Knox who knows nothing about real sacrifice?"
"I'm done with your manipulation," I snap. "And I'm done with you."
Before I can react, Jax's hand shoots out and wraps around my throat, slamming me back against the stone wall. His grip is crushing, cutting off my air supply as my feet barely touch the ground. Black spots dance at the edges of my vision.
"I don't know what gave you the impression that you can just choose to be done with me before I am," he says, his voice deadly calm. His storm-gray eyes bore into mine as he leans closer. "You're mine, Aubrey. Body and soul. And right now, I need you to listen and listen well."
I claw at his hand, gasping for air, my lungs burning as he holds me pinned like a butterfly to a board.
"Sabotage the Awakening Ceremony," he commands, loosening his grip just enough for me to draw a ragged breath.
My blood turns to ice as oxygen floods back to my brain. "What?"
"It's our best chance to destroy the royal family," he says coldly, his grip still tight enough to bruise. "When the Alpha and Luna fail to gain the wolf spirits' approval, the kingdom will descend into chaos. In the aftermath, we can expose their crimes and take control."
"No." The word comes out as barely a whisper through my damaged throat. "I won't do it."
"You will," he snarls, his grip tightening until I see stars. "Because I gave you a second chance at life. Everything you are belongs to me."
Just as I feel consciousness starting to slip away, Knox's voice echoes through the forest beyond the balcony. "Aubrey? Are you out there?"
Jax's eyes flash with annoyance as he releases me. I collapse against the wall, gasping and clutching my throat, but his whispered threat follows me like poison: "You have until the ceremony to come to your senses. Remember what defying me costs."
Panic and disgust crash over me in waves. I can't breathe, can't think, can't stay here another second. Without conscious thought, I shift into my wolf form, bones cracking and reforming as silver light ripples across my body.
I bolt into the forest, desperate to escape the impossible choice he's forced on me. My paws pound against the earth as I race between towering trees, branches whipping past my silver fur. The night air burns in my lungs, but I don't slow down. I can't.
Jax's words echo in my mind with each stride: Sabotage the Awakening Ceremony.
The very thought makes my stomach churn.
How can he ask me to destroy something that protects innocent people?
But the memory of his grip around my throat, the way he nearly choked the life out of me, reminds me of the cost of defiance.
I run deeper into the forest, my wolf desperate to put distance between us and the man who once saved me but now terrifies me.
But no matter how far I run, I can't escape the impossible choice. Betray everything I've come to care about, or face Jax's wrath. Both paths lead to destruction.
My sides heave as exhaustion finally forces me to slow, my paws silent now on the moss-covered ground. That's when a scent stops me cold—honey and lilies, delicate and sweet. My mother's scent, unmistakable even after all these years.
My wolf whines with longing as I follow the trail deeper into the forest. The scent grows stronger, pulling me forward like a lifeline. I don't realize where I'm heading until the trees thin and I emerge into a clearing that makes my hackles rise.
The Ancient Heart stretches before me, but it's wrong. The usual ethereal blue glow of the fungi is dim, sickly. The air tastes of death and despair, cold enough to see my breath despite the warm night. This isn't the sacred grove I remember—it's become something twisted, corrupted.
But my mother's scent is strongest here, so pure and beautiful it makes my chest ache with grief.
Why is her scent here? My wolf whines with confusion and longing. Mom has been dead for years. How can her fragrance linger in this twisted place?
The wrongness of it all crashes over me - the corrupted Ancient Heart, the sickly magic that taints the air, and now my mother's impossible scent calling to me from this cursed ground.
Nothing makes sense. This feels like another trap, another manipulation, but the scent is so real, so achingly familiar.
I need to leave. Now.
Just as I decide to flee this cursed place, another familiar scent reaches me—cedar and storm rain. Knox.