Chapter 20
SAPHIRA
Several members of my pack surged towards the open doors of the barn as I stared at Lucas in disbelief, struggling to stop myself from reeling as he barked orders at his wolves.
“Settle them back down!”
I blinked again.
New owner?
It still wasn’t sinking in.
Beside me, Morden had gone very still. I knew without looking that he was as shocked as I was by Lucas’s declaration.
He hadn’t been privy to this part of Lucas’s plan then.
I was glad of that as it reinforced the feeling that Morden was still my ally—and my friend.
I risked a glance at him. His face was stony and emotionless, but his eyes told me everything as he quickly met mine.
If he had known Lucas planned to hand me over to someone else, he wouldn’t have brought me here, and he never would have considered betraying me to save his sister.
He would have found another way to save her.
Too late for that. Things were in motion now.
All we could do was go with the flow and figure out a new plan as things happened.
I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder in Kaeleron’s direction.
I had to buy Malachi time to return with men from the Shadow Court, and then I would throw up a distress flare, sure Kaeleron would answer.
The mark on my chest beneath my blouse flickered with heat as if it were aware of my need, of my deepest desire.
I wanted Kaeleron here with me now. Any desire I had to summon him now, ahead of plan, was crushed as I watched Lucas’s wolves strike several of the males from my pack, dealing hard blows that split flesh as they drove them back into the barn under Lucas’s orders.
“Stop,” I pleaded and reached for Lucas, my hand shaking and stomach rebelling at just the thought of touching him.
He slid cold blue eyes to meet mine and slowly smiled. “If you want them to stop, make them stop.”
My eyes widened. “Make them stop?”
“You want to save your pack, make them behave.” His hand clamped down around my wrist, his touch sickening me, and he yanked me out of Morden’s grip and shoved me in the direction of the barn.
I stumbled into the back of several males, and hit the dirt when they moved aside before I could find my balance.
The sound of flesh striking flesh had my head jerking up and I shoved to my feet, my heart pounding as I launched at the males who were beating several of the younger members of my pack.
“Stop!” I seized hold of one male’s arm and grunted when he brought it back in a hard arc to dislodge me, slamming his elbow into the centre of my chest. I wheezed at the young male wolf he held by the throat in his other hand, “Stop.”
His bright amber eyes locked with mine.
I looked at my parents.
At that blade Braxton held to my father’s throat.
The young wolf looked there too and all the fight left him and the others.
They didn’t protest as Lucas’s men shoved them back into the barn, but I was too busy staring at the other members of my pack as I saw them for the first time since the night Lucas had betrayed me.
At the horror the barn had been hiding from view.
Oh my gods.
My trembling hand rose to my mouth as I stared wide eyed at the bodies lined up along the wall opposite me, the naked skin of the males and females littered with cuts and bruises, and dried blood.
Mates wept near several of the rotting corpses, uncaring of the stench that turned the air heavy in the barn.
I had thought Lucas a cold bastard, but I hadn’t believed him to be this cold.
To not allow the funeral rites. To keep their corpses on display like this.
Denying them their right to run with their ancestors.
Morden grabbed my arm.
And froze.
I looked at him through the tears that turned my vision watery. His shocked expression told me he hadn’t known about this either. How long had Lucas been keeping the bodies of those his pack had murdered on display? It had been months since Morden had set out to find me.
Months.
I swallowed the bile that rose up my throat and looked at the living members of my pack, my heart numb and mind emptying as the shock became too much for me to bear while Morden erased it from his face, donning a cold and empty expression.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to no one in particular. Or maybe that apology was for the fallen. For those who had lost their lives and had been denied a proper funeral, their souls trapped here on this wretched earth while their loved ones suffered.
“You don’t seem to give a shit they’re dead,” Lucas drawled and I turned to snap at him that I did care.
And found him closely watching Morden.
Morden snorted, no trace of feeling in his eyes as he shifted them to Lucas. “Why the fuck would I? The Harper wolves always treated me like shit.”
That was unfortunately true, and Lucas knew it.
Morden’s father hadn’t exactly hidden how much disdain he’d had for his own son, and Morden had been treated poorly by some of our pack, and he had left for a long time before appearing to reluctantly return to the pack.
Morden released me and jammed his hands into his pockets. “I don’t give a fuck what happens to them. I only give a fuck what happens to my sister. I brought Saphira like you wanted. It’s time you held up your end of the bargain.”
Lucas’s glacial eyes slowly narrowed on Morden, and the air grew tense as they stared at each other, my pulse hammering loudly enough that it filled the silence as I waited to see how Lucas would handle being told what to do.
And just as I thought he might lash out at Morden and put him in his place, he clapped a hand down on Morden’s shoulder and grinned at him.
“I always did like you. Ruthless to the end.” Lucas slowly shook his head. “That’s why I knew you’d deliver with the right motivation.” He turned away from the barn. “Come.”
Morden gripped my arm again but I refused to move as I looked at the occupants of the barn, my feet rooted to the dirt floor. I couldn’t leave them.
Several of the females were wounded, their throats bearing bruises distinctly shaped like fingers and scratches on their arms and grazes on their knees.
Their haunted eyes seemed to look straight through me as they lingered near the right wall of the barn, other members of my pack forming a barrier between Lucas’s wolves and them.
Many of the males had been beaten, and I knew with sickening clarity they had tried to protect the females, and had paid for it.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, unsure why I was apologising. Kaeleron was right, I wasn’t responsible for what had happened to them, but I still felt guilty. This was my pack. My people. Lucas and his wolves had harmed them—abused and killed them—because of me. “I’m so sorry.”
One of the older females shook her head, her gaze soft on mine.
Several of the males wore the same look, one that told me not to blame myself, but beneath that look was a shadow of another, a vestige of darkness that silently told me that if I made a move against Lucas, I wouldn’t be alone. My pack would have my back, and they were waiting for my orders.
I stiffened as Lucas came up beside me and drawled, “So well behaved when their little princess is present.”
A shudder wracked me as he stroked the backs of his fingers down my cheek.
His breath on my neck made my skin crawl as he leaned in close.
“We should celebrate your return… and my new fortune. Be a good girl and keep your pack in line, and I won’t have to hurt them.”
I slid a look in the direction of my parents. “You won’t have to hurt them either?”
He chuckled, breath rasping against my right ear, sending another sickening shiver down my spine. “I’m not sure about that.”
His hand cupped my left cheek, gently turning my face towards him, and it took all my will to resist shrinking from his touch and lashing out at him.
Too many of his pack were within striking distance.
If I tried anything, I would be dead before Lucas breathed his last and they would turn their wrath on my pack.
Lucas’s easy smile turned my stomach when once it had warmed my heart.
I fisted my hands, fighting the urge to shove him away as he turned on the charm, stroking my cheek as he held my gaze and whispered.
“Keep them in line, princess, and your parents will live.”
I refused to believe there was any truth in those words, ones that would have been a promise coming from someone else’s tongue but meant nothing from this male before me. He meant only to placate me and keep me in line, just as he was trying to make me keep my pack in line. He was manipulating me.
Playing with me.
Amusing himself as he feathered his fingers down my cheek and smiled a smile that reached his eyes, thawing some of the ice in them.
“I swear you’re even more beautiful now.”
I just stared at him, feeling nothing.
Funny.
I had feared coming here because I had thought I might get confused, that I might still want him because he was my fated one and my instincts as his destined mate were strong, liable to drive me into desiring him again.
I had thought I might have to fight my wolf side, that it would push me to try to get his attention and would forget how badly he had hurt me with his rejection and betrayal.
I had thought those shallow feelings I had felt for him might blind me again.
Might make me want him.
But all I could think about was Kaeleron, and how if he had told me I was beautiful, I would have softened and blushed, would have warmed and felt light inside.
And rather than having to fight my wolf instincts to stop myself from courting Lucas’s attention, I had to fight to hold myself back from retaliating and ripping his throat out with my fangs.
“I can’t say the same thing about you,” I bit out and looked over my shoulder, into the barn, before glaring at him. “You’re a monster. Murdering your parents. Murdering members of my pack. Letting them rot in there. Give them a proper funeral. You managed to do that for your parents.”