Chapter 11 #2
“He has everyone,” he repeated, his look defeated, his shoulders slumping as he relaxed beneath me. Blood trickled from the wound I had inflicted on his arm, the scent of it strong in the tense air, but he didn’t care. He just lay there, staring at me, his eyes hollow and empty.
As if he had just given up.
Given up on everything.
Everyone.
“My… my parents?” I knew there had been a chance Lucas would have them, but hearing Morden confirm it made it hit home, made my breaths shorten and pulse quicken, and my wolf side bayed, a mournful howl this time rather than one of rage.
I felt as defeated as Morden looked as my grip loosened and my ears rang.
He nodded, grimmer than I had ever seen him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “They came to the pack. Ambushed us there. Some of the pack sided with him and we couldn’t fight them all.
We tried. He’s holding everyone at the barn on the green.
Dragged me before him and beat the shit out of me with Braxton’s help, and then told me I had to track you down or they were all dead.
That it was your life for all of theirs. ”
I lifted my trembling hand to my mouth and pushed to my feet, stumbling to one of the logs and sinking onto it.
My wide eyes fell to the fire as I thought of them in Lucas’s hands, as I thought of the terrible things he might do to them, and feared how far he might go to strike back at me for a reason I didn’t even know.
He had rejected me. Had sold me. And now he wanted me back. None of this made any sense.
“Are my parents still alive?” My voice wobbled in my ears.
He swallowed hard as he picked himself up, his hand clamping down on his arm again.
“I think so. It’s why I want to get you to Lucas as soon as possible.
The longer we take… the more likely it is our pack will suffer.
People will die.” He sank onto the log opposite me, rested his elbows on his knees and bent forward, clasping the back of his head with both hands.
“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I should have told you.
I was going to tell you. I couldn’t do what he wanted.
It wasn’t you who made us end up in the middle of nowhere.
It was me. I thought of this place. I thought of mountains and Canada, and just somewhere on the west coast…
somewhere far from home… because I couldn’t do it.
I was going to tell you, and then you told me what he did to you, and I panicked.
I wanted to go along with your plan, but it was taking too long and my sister…
I figured I could go through with it… But I can’t.
Not even when I know what he might do to my sister. I can’t do it.”
His voice broke at the end.
He had tried to buy himself time to think, to come up with another plan.
“What does he want with me?” I wrapped my arms around myself, holding myself tightly as I thought of my fated mate, of what he might possibly want me for and couldn’t come up with anything good or remotely nice.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, still holding on to it.
“I swear. I don’t know. I thought he wanted to take you back from the fae.
I thought… I thought maybe he was saving you.
I didn’t know what really happened to you, I swear.
I just know what he told me. That I had to bring you back to him and if I failed, everyone was dead.
You have every right to be mad at me, to push me away.
I deserve it. I deserve it for what I intended to do.
” His grip on the back of his head tightened. “You must hate me.”
I should.
I wanted to.
But as I looked at him, as I thought of everything Lucas had put him through, I realised he was as much a victim as I was, and that I was glad of one thing. Lucas had picked the wrong wolf to betray me.
And also the right wolf.
The bastard had known I wouldn’t question the fact Morden had come to save me, because I expected it from him. Because he was loyal, and devoted, and he cared about me.
But what Lucas hadn’t known is that loyalty and devotion, that love Morden felt for me ran so deep it would never allow him to betray me.
But for Danica’s sake, Morden had tried.
And it had broken him.
He remained hunched over, holding his head, staring at his boots as blood trickled down his arm. Waiting. Waiting for me to say something, to voice my verdict and pass my judgement.
“I don’t hate you,” I whispered and he took a deep, shuddering breath. “I should. But I don’t.”
He lifted his head an inch, but not enough to look at me.
“But that doesn’t mean I trust you anymore. That doesn’t mean we’re friends. That doesn’t mean I forgive you for what you tried to do.”
His throat worked on a hard swallow and he nodded. “I get that. I deserve it.”
We would figure things out between us and find a way to save the whole pack.
That came later though. First, I needed to know what had happened.
Malachi had once told me that intelligence was just as important as weapons when it came to a fight.
You needed to know everything about your enemy and the situation you were heading into if you wanted to win a battle.
“If you weren’t planning to betray me, why didn’t you tell me the truth back at the Shadow Court? Why make out you came to save me? Why lie to me?”
Morden finally met my gaze. “Because I knew that rabid fae would kill me if I told you the truth in front of him. I said what I needed to say in order to get you away from him, so I could tell you without losing my head.”
“You might still lose your head.” I toyed with my dagger, my gaze lowering to it as I considered what he had told me, trying to figure out what was truth and what was lie before Kaeleron returned and unleashed hell on Morden. “You really didn’t know what Lucas did to me?”
“No. Fuck no,” he snapped, the dark slashes of his eyebrows meeting hard above eyes that glowed with his wolf side.
“If I had… shit… maybe I would have lied to him, pretended to be his ally or something, so he would give up where you were and I could find you. I swear, he told me the fae had taken you from him and I thought he was just lashing out, using the pack as leverage to make me find you and bring you back to him.”
“How did Lucas know where to find me?” I doubted Kaeleron had offered him the address of the Shadow Court or even told him where he was from.
“Some fae Lucas captured near our pack. He tortured the poor son of a bitch until he talked. Used a witch to hold him.” Morden let his hands fall to his lap, his gaze bleak.
Haunted. “Guy screamed all day and night for days before he broke. He told Lucas about the Shadow Court, and how to get to Lucia, and then it was my turn.”
My wolf side snarled at the fact he hadn’t told me or Kaeleron about what had happened to his messenger—that the male was in grave danger and had been captured and abused. Or worse.
“Is he still alive?” I hoped he was, even when that hope felt futile.
“I don’t know.”
I needed to tell Kael, because he needed to know, but I feared how he would react—feared he would level the blame on Morden. He would be justified in his anger if he did. Morden should have told him. He could have at least made up some story that would point Kaeleron at Lucas.
No. He should have told us. Just flat out fucking told us.
I could have convinced Kaeleron to spare him.
Now, I wasn’t sure I could save him.
I looked at the sky that was still growing dark. It would be hours before Kaeleron returned, but when he did, I wouldn’t lie to him. I wouldn’t cover anything. He deserved to know what had happened to his man, and what Morden had planned.
I wasn’t sure what would happen, but in Kael’s immortal words…
There would be a reckoning.
I would try my hardest to stop him from killing Morden.
“We have a few hours before Kaeleron returns. When he does, you’re in for a fight. He won’t be as understanding. You should have told him about his man. You should have told us what Lucas had done. You should have been honest with me from the start.”
He averted his gaze, lowering it to the fire.
“I would have helped, Morden. I will help. It’s my pack in danger. My parents. My family. My friends. Did you really think I wouldn’t help if you had just told me everything?”
“I don’t know.” He shoved his hands through his hair, clawing it back as he sat up, his eyes wild.
“It took me so long to find you, and then I was tossed in a dungeon, and when I was dragged out again, I saw how that fae looked at you. I knew he’d kill me if I spoke a word of truth.
And then there’s Lucas… He threatened to kill everyone if I told you…
starting with your parents. I was afraid…
I was afraid he would know or find out somehow.
I was afraid he would kill them and you would blame me. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed you, Morden. I blame you for not telling me. For lying to me.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and ran a hand down his face, over his eyes as they closed.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. I don’t know what to say to make you believe me now.
When I first saw you… I intended to tell you everything.
And then the fae took you away and I ended up in that dungeon, and some other fae bastard came to me and threatened me.
He told me if I hurt you or Kaeleron, that he would do far worse things to me.
But then I was brought before the king again and he pushed you away, hurt you, and I saw my chance to get you away from him.
I was going to figure out a new plan. A way to tell you. ”
“Rewind. Who threatened you?” I frowned across the fire at him.
“I didn’t catch his name. He was too busy making me carve this into my chest.” He lifted his shirt, flashing a scar on his left pectoral that I hadn’t noticed in all the times he had shifted around me.
Because he had kept his back to me, showing me those scars instead.
Concealing this one.
I went to him, kneeled on the dirt beside him and inspected the intricate healing marks that were still pink. A stag. But it was different to the mark Kaeleron had put on me. There was a dragon too.
I knew that mark.
My eyes widened.
The Stygian Isles.
“Oberon,” I snarled and my eyebrows knitted hard as I thought of him harming Morden like that, making him do this to himself. “Bastard.”
“I kept trying to stop myself, but I couldn’t.” Morden shoved his shirt back down, covering his torso, his hand shaking. “Was it your boyfriend’s idea?”
“No.” I shook my head, sure of that. “He said you wouldn’t be harmed, and he has a habit of keeping his word. I’m sorry Oberon did that to you. I’m going to murder him when I next see him. He shouldn’t have hurt you.”
I wasn’t even sure how Oberon had done it, but my blood chilled as I tried to reconcile this version of him with the one I had met, who had been so charming and kind, and recalled what Kaeleron and Jenavyr, and even Riordan had told me.
Oberon had a darker side, a violent side.
I believed them now.
I placed my hand on Morden’s knee.
“We’ll find a way to save our pack.”
I sobered as one way dawned on me.
“Even if it means betraying me.”