CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY SEVEN
Jason’s POV
Maggie was kneeling in front of me with a dagger buried in her chest. She was looking up at me with her hands pressed over the wound. Her mouth was moving, but I could not hear what she was saying. The blood continued to pour from her chest. It pooled around her knees and kept spreading.
Then I could hear her.
“Save me,” she said. “Please, Mason. Save me.”
“Maggie!”
Pain radiated from my shoulder as I jerked awake. I gasped in pain and automatically reached for my shoulder. It was bandaged with blood seeping through. I turned my head and found my father in the chair beside the bed with his arms folded.
“You’re finally awake,” Father said. “Don’t try to move too quickly or you’ll rip your stitches. I put in a lot of work to keep you alive.”
“How long?” I asked. “How long have I been out?”
“Twb days. The arrow was deeper than it looked and you pulled it out yourself which cut an artery. You were lucky that they were focused on that girl instead of tracking you down. You would’ve died from the blood loss if we couldn’t go straight back to the safe house,” Father replied.
“Thanks,” I said.
My father scoffed. “I should have let you die. Do you know the problems you’ve caused?”
I couldn’t help but sneer. That was the Father I knew. He never did anything kind unless it benefited him.
“You nearly died because of a plan that should never have been attempted in the first place,” my father said with disdain as leaned forward in his chair. “I told you that using the girl was too much of a risk. You assured me you had it under control. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I did have it under control. I…”
“You did NOT have it under control, and the Rogue King is not a patient man,” my father snapped, interrupting me. “He wanted those tunnel locations, and you came back without them.”
“I got inside the pack, didn’t I?” I retorted.
“Watch your tone, boy,” my father growled.
“I had access that no external agent would have had. I was there for months without being detected. That is much more than what you have done in years.”
My father chuckled darkly. “And yet here you are empty handed and injured. You did not get the map. That was the only thing that mattered. It was better that you died than come back empty handed.”
“Then, why did you save me? You could’ve just left me there…”
“Because you’re more useful to me alive than dead.”
“The plan isn’t a complete failure. Maggie is in love with me. She’ll be upset with them for hurting me. She will get the map tor me,” I said.
My father laughed coldly and said, “That ship has sailed.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
1/3
“You killed that girl,” my father replied “Died in the dirt like the useless trash she was.”
+25 Bonus
‘He shouldn’t talk about her like that,’ my wolf growled. ‘She didn’t deserve this. I told you we shouldn’t have used her ‘
Hearing my father say Maggie died like it was an annoyance made me feel things that I had not expected. Anger. Grief. Regret. I had not loved Maggie, but I did like her. She had done everything I asked without question and took care of me in a way I had not felt since losing Talia. It was a shame that she had died.
“Don’t tell me you have gotten soft for that little stray,” my father taunted.
I bit my tongue and pushed down the emotions I was feeling. “What is next then?” I asked, ignoring his taunt.
“Since Bloodmoon was a colossal failure, we will move on to the next stage,” my father said as he stood and walked over to the window to peer out. “We are going after Silverfang.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“We will kill the Alpha King first,” my father replied.
My eyes widened. Had he lost his mind? Talia would have already reported to her father and Solon about what happened. There was no chance of infiltrating Silverfang either.
“I had been working on a project with our doctors. Before we were expelled from Shadowclaw, the project had been completed. They had created a poison as lethal as the mad rogue blood but more discreet,” my father said. “It is slower to kill, and it leaves no trace that a healer would recognize as anything other than organ failure.”
“You’re going to poison the Alpha King?”
“No, you are. When he dies, Solon loses his most powerful ally. The other packs will turn on him and Talia’s title as Princess will mean nothing.”
‘He is walking us to our death,’ my wolf whined. ‘He has gone insane.’
“There is a bounty on my head now. How would I even manage this?” I asked.
“You let me handle that,” my father replied.
“And if your plan fails? What then?”
“It will not fail. I allied myself with the Rogue King once before. I have never failed with him backing me.”
“You never told me that.”
“I provided the Rogue King with the intelligence he needed to kill Nolan’s father, but I had not accounted for that bastard Rudolf. He survived and became the Alpha King. That was my miscalculation,” my father explained. “I’ve taken years to get back to this point. I will not fail again.”
“But what about me? The Alpha King sent me out to kill his people. How could the Rogue King see me as an ally now?” I
exclaimed.
“The Rogue King has not forgotten that I helped him get revenge against Nolan’s father. He understands that we had to do things to not raise alarm with the Alpha King. An alliance with him still stands and with his backing you will have the leverage to take the throne.”
I thought about Talia’s face in Maggie’s doorway. The way she had looked at me with contempt. She looked at me like the years between us and everything I had done to try to get back to her meant nothing at all.
‘Why can’t you understand?! You betrayed her,’ my wolf snarled. ‘We did not deserve another chancel’
‘No! She betrayed us, tricked us. She should have given me another chance,’ I argued.
1 thug And every me Than you they dies she wished not beach, the hay bar t
day from 111 had om With
this madhe happiat
I was debelinda the Right King, Talis word wed to be with the cap the best m
and to beg for my forgiveness and come bar to the
I was going to take the throne thatter what the cost
Tell me what I need to do,” d
Comments
.
