Chapter 178
Chapter 178
“Your Grace.” Elder Baldr smiles at me and bows.
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It doesn’t go unnoticed by a single person. It warms something in me to see that I have his approval. He’ll never know just how much that means to me.
“It’s been a while, sir,” I say politely and hug him. He embraces me gently and takes a deep breath.
“Think I can question him without getting bitten?” he asks.
“Yes, sir. He won’t move an inch,” I promise.
“What’s your name, son?” he asks him. But the guy’s eyes are fixed on me. “Who sent you here?”
“If you don’t answer him, I’m going to do it again and again until everyone here gets the answers they want,” I warn him. He doesn’t move. I take a deep breath and look up at Elder Baldr. He gives me a nod, and I take a different approach. I slowed his heartbeat enough for him to fall on the floor, gasping for air. “I can slow your pulse down enough for you to suffocate slowly.” I speed it up again, and he cries out this time. I release him and take a step back as he tries to catch his breath. “What’s your name?”
“Benjamin Galloway,” he chokes out. “Please, stop.”
“Who sent you here?”
“I’m looking for my mother,” he answers the same way the other one did. When he looks at me, I immediately recognize the dark sneer in his expression. I smile, feeling the odd sting of fear in my chest.
“So, you thought that taking over the most powerful positions in the packlands would, what exactly?” I
scoff.
“She disappeared in Artume City,” he says. “This was the easiest way we could get in.”
“I regret to inform you that your mother is dead,” I say.
“You’re lying,” he bears his teeth at me. “There is no record of her ‘death.”
“I know. I’ve always found that strange myself. I guess, not that strange. The people working for her probably covered it up because she was just that big a bitch,” I sigh. He doesn’t like that. His eyes flicker between green and red. Then yellow and blue. I crouch down in front of him, watching how he’s battling with the blood in his system. “After all these years, why look for her now? How long has she been missing?”
His eyes search mine, probably wondering if I know more than I am letting on.
“I know you know her,” he states matter-of-factly.
“Oh, yeah. I know Dr Galloway very well. I guess not as well as I thought, because I didn’t know she had a family. She was always very friendly with her male nurses.”
He groans when he tries to come at me and is met with a rise in his pulse and then a quick drop.
“You’re lying,” he growls.
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Chapter 178
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“I might be,” I say, standing up. “I could be making this up to get what we need from you, but then again, you know why she came to Artume, don’t you? Who else knew about her malpractice methods?”
“You can say that when you’re standing here? You should have died a long time ago,” he growls this time. “My mother saved you.”
“I’m not arguing that. She did save me. But what of the others she killed? Did she do what she did to me or any of your siblings?” I ask. He stares at me blankly. “Of course not. You would have died. Your body is fragile.”
“Stop spinning my blood, freak, and I’ll show you just how fragile I am.”
“You are. I’d break you, and I’m not exactly the strongest of my kind. I can feel it in your bones. You’ muscles and your organs take a lot of damage when you shift into things too strong for your vessel to handle. Does your father know that, or is he like her?” he doesn’t answer me. “Your brother is also dead.
“You see, I don’t have full control of what I am yet. Maybe that’s not it. Maybe I don’t have control of who I am because if I’m being honest, I’ve had issues with my anger long before I became a Lycan. Hearing him say your mother’s name hurt. I lost control, and when you spin water as fast as I did, the thing holding it together explodes. Like a water balloon. I bet it hurt.
“It took a lot out of me to do it. I felt vulnerable after, but between you and me. Vulnerability is all I feel after taking a life. As if a piece of me is going with them. A piece I’m not often inclined to show anyone. I hate it.”
“You still killed him,” he shouts.
“Yeah, and if Elder Baldr here asks me to, I’ll kill you as well. Not so much because he ordered it, but because I want to. You took something that wasn’t yours to take. Xavier is an asshole, but he is still the
Rogue King and, surprisingly, my friend now. Courtesy of you and your family.
“The thing about having access to your entire body is that not only can I tell how sick you are, but I can feel your emotions. Not exactly, but I have a feeling of the chemical changes in your body. I am in complete control of it.”
I make him stand and put his hands out in a T formation. I turn him around and make him take big, clumsy steps before making him take a seat in the wheelchair he was brought in. He’s scared. A lot more than he had been at the start. I release him completely.
Regaining control is too much for him. He grips the armrests of the chair and begins to tremble and lets out an agonizing cry.
“Who sent you?” the Vampire King shouts. The other councilmen join in. Elder Baldr roars, shutting them. all up.
“I’m looking for my mom,” he shouts, and I realize that it’s something they’ve rehearsed.
I turn around to look at Ragnar, and he lets out a heavy sigh, meeting my gaze. He stands and comes over to us. I step aside, knowing that no matter what I do or say, I’m not the one who is going to get him to talk.
“My Queen has it out for your family,” he says, removing his jacket. I take it and drape it over my arm and watch as he unbuttons his cuffs and rolls up his sleeves. “She’s being cagey about it. I think you and everyone present can easily assume that she’s done exactly what is implied.
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Chapter 178
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“It’s strange for me to wrap my mind around that because Sophia is a very gentle person. Gives more than she should to the likes of you and others like you.” he reaches for his arm and raises his sleeve. He holds out his arm to show me the burn mark. “You’re very well trained, I give you that. We are all aware that you were raised in the covens.
“Why did you try to kill her? You could have gone after anyone, but you chose Sophia. Why? You already had her DNA. You could have just turned into her and walked right into my palace. Her palace,” he pauses and smiles at him. “Is that how you got it inside?”
“I can’t turn into her,” he answers. “I’d have to be a Lycan. We didn’t know she wasn’t a wolf when we took her DNA. She was supposed to be our way into your house. We researched her. She’s supposed to be some
omega.”
“Yeah,” he sighs. “She gets that a lot. You’re not the first idiot to be fooled by how small and cute she is.
Trust me.”
“I’m standing right here,” I laugh.
“I know,” he tips my chin. “I meant it as a compliment. I’ll take over from here, Soph. Take a seat, please.”
