Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Somehow they contrived a way to get Rici and his guards alone, and then they killed them all. With Nia and her freaky wolf tranquilizer powers in the room, they couldn’t shift. Dagem and Sunella ripped them apart, and as a result, killed the only other person they believed knew about Destiny.” I sniffed, throat thickening. “Nia was just a pawn, Badr. I saw in her eyes she was sick about what they made her do.
“But it was after Castor learned his friend was dead that he got suspicious about his mysterious stomach bug that wouldn’t go away. When he found out he’d been poisoned, he knew two things—Dagem betrayed him, and he got one of his closest friends murdered.
“After that, all he cared about was protecting me, our children, and you from the horrible, bloody future coming our way.”
“Okay, okay,” he breathed, pacing back and forth. “Let’s say all of this is true and I believe you. How does brutally killing him in public save any of us?”
“Because he was going to die, and I’d be all alone. All because of the final and seventh person on my list—the shadow. Castor never figured out who it was. He couldn’t finish the fight, and he hated that he was leaving me to fight them alone. I was the only one left who knew about Destiny and actually wanted to stop it, but because of who I was, I didn’t have any friends,” I cried, throwing up my hands.
“I’ve been isolated and under guard my entire life. I had no friends, no allies, and no family other than my father. Who was going to help me after he was gone? Answer—no one. That’s why Castor came up with a plan. I had to go to the people who had the most to lose, people who were enemies of Wolf Nation, people who wanted to tear the alpha council down and build a new empire on their ashes,” I told him. “You’re not going to want to believe this, but it was Castor who found Lucia and bought me a place in her safe haven.
“It was Castor who searched the council records on every wolf that’s had their ear cut and were thrown out of Wolf Nation. He gave me the leads I needed to track down the lost packs and get their help. It was Castor who transferred the remains of his trust fund into an offshore account that only I had access to.
“And it was Castor who said I had to kill him during the ceremony. They were going to kidnap us all that night. Waiting wasn’t an option. Plus, it was the only way to make the epsilons, omegas, and lost packs trust me. With one horrible act, I made myself an outcast, fugitive, and enemy of the alpha council. Castor said they wouldn’t doubt me when I told them I wanted every single member of the council dead, and he was right—they didn’t. They joined me immediately. I honestly didn’t have to do that much convincing.”
“But why like this?” Badr burst out. “Why all this undercover revolution shit? Why didn’t he just tell me? Why didn’t you both tell everyone! Blast the truth on Loop-Garou for all of Wolf Nation to see.”
I was shaking my head before he finished. “Because knowing about it didn’t stop it, Badr. I just told you that in the vision everyone finds out. Everyone knows! And what happens? It becomes law.
“No.” I sliced the air. “The only way to make sure the war never happens is take away all the shadow’s puppets, and then crush the shadow.”
“And you don’t think Edric, Nyx, Paxton, Orion, and I would’ve helped you?” he flung. “If you’d been honest about all of this from the beginning, we would’ve been right by your side making everyone on your list pay, but no.” Accusation hung heavy in his words. “Instead, you made us your enemies. You made everyone except for your little allies your enemies!”
“You are my enemies!” I screamed. “Everyone who’d stand in my way is my enemy.”
“Why would we stand in your way!”
“Because I’m not following Castor’s plan anymore,” I hissed. “I’ve got my fucking own now. You see around the fifth time I played the vision of my dying boyfriend begging me to kill him—it hit me. Wolf Nation is over. Now it’s nothing but a diseased, cancerous boil that should’ve been sliced off centuries ago. How else do you explain our society becoming so cancerous and rotten they actually make rape and murder legal?
“How dare they?” I pushed through clenched teeth. “How dare they think they can breed me like a fucking dog? How dare they plot and plan to take my babies away from me? How dare they sit upon a throne made of the corpses of everyone I love and call themselves heroes.