Chapter Thirteen: The Mask Slips
NATHAN
“The former Alpha was poisoned. The dosage was subtle, administered over time. He should’ve had at least a month left. Someone wanted him gone sooner.”
The healer’s words hit me like a thunderclap. First, there was shock. Then, a wave of anger so consuming it made my chest ache. I’d been in denial. I didn‘ t want to accept that my father was dying, so I avoided him–avoided the truth–and now he was gone. No final words. No goodbye.
Someone had stolen that chance from me, and I’d made it my mission to find out who. It didn’t take long. The healer who administered the poison confessed under pressure, but what stunned me more was his revelation: Nicole had ordered him to
do it.
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Chapter Thirteen: The Mask Slips
Nicole.
The woman I’d once trusted. The woman I’d started to remember why I fell for in the first place.
Now her screams echoed in my mind, tormenting me like a haunting melody. “I didn’t do anything! Why won‘ t anyone believe me? Nathan, you have to stop this! I didn’t do anything. You can’t take me away from my son. You cannot do this!”
Her words clawed at something inside me, but I forced myself to remain stoic as my men dragged her to the cells. I couldn’t let her see my turmoil. For the second time in my life, she had betrayed me, and this time, there would be no going back.
The council had made their decision: Nicole would stand trial at sunrise alongside her accomplice. Blood for blood.
Execution was the only outcome.
And yet, sleep eluded me. I couldn’t stop replaying everything–her protests, her
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desperation, the way her eyes had searched mine as though I could save her. I needed answers. I needed to ask her why.
The hallways were silent as I made my way to the cells. A gnawing unease crept over me when I noticed the absence of guards at the entrance. My senses sharpened, the wolf inside me stirring with warning.
Something wasn‘ t right.
I entered cautiously, my eyes scanning the dim corridor. Still no guards. My first instinct was to raise the alarm, but then I
heard voices.
Nadia’s voice.
It was a tone I’d never heard from her before–low, venomous, and laced with malice. I froze, my wolf urging me to
listen.
“No one is going to believe you,” she
spat.
Nicole’s voice followed, quiet but filled
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with exhaustion. “Why would you kill a
man who took you in?”
“Took me in?” Nadia‘ s laugh was hollow, bitter. “He gave the order that slaughtered my family. The only reason he took me in was out of guilt. I’ve spent years pretending, smiling at him, enduring Nathan, when I hate them both so much.” I felt the air leave my lungs.
“But now Darien is gone,” Nadia continued, her voice dripping with satisfaction. “Nathan will pay for what his father did to me. And the best part? He won’t even see it coming. He’s so obsessed with me, so eager to believe I’m the best thing that ever happened to him. He doesn’t realize how deep I’ve sunk my claws into his pack. Once he’s gone, no one will question my place when I take over. I’m a Cross, after all.”
The words cut deeper than I thought possible. My mind screamed at me to
move, to act, but my feet felt like lead. The
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betrayal was suffocating, wrapping around me like chains.
Nicole‘ s voice broke through my haze.
“So why frame me?”
“Because you‘ re the reason Nathan is happy,” Nadia snarled. “And he doesn’t deserve happiness–not after what his family did to me. Besides, it’s not the first time I’ve ruined him. Poor Nathan, so desperate to believe that all women destroy, betray, and leave. It wasn’t hard to make him think you cheated. I knew he’d fall for it because of what his mother
did. And you? You played right into my hands when you left.”
Her voice turned cold. “You should‘
ve
stayed away. But now you‘ re going to die for coming back into his life. Don’t worry -I’ll try not to make your son miserable. Too miserable, anyway.”
That was the final blow.
The chains of shock shattered, and fury
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took its place. I stepped out of the shadows,
my every nerve ablaze.
Nadia froze, her face going pale. Nicole’s eyes widened in disbelief, and for a moment, all I could hear was the thunderous pounding of my heart.
I fixed my gaze on Nadia, the woman I thought I knew. But the person before me was a stranger.
“The only execution being announced at sunrise,” I said, my voice cold and final,
“is yours.”
