Chapter 37: Chapter Thirty-Six

DAX

Savannah’s wolf was restless, her anxiety palpable as we descended the stairs, navigating the labyrinthine corridors leading to the dungeon. The scent of Trent’s fear grew stronger with each step we took.

She halted before a barred cell, her gaze fixed on Trent, who was huddled in the corner, his head buried between his knees.

A tiny part of me felt a pang of sympathy for him, but my wolf quickly squashed that sentiment, reminding me of the harm he’d inflicted on my mate.

When Trent finally noticed Savannah, he jumped, then visibly relaxed, relief washing over him. “Savannah,” he breathed. “Thank God.”

My wolf chuckled internally. ~“This guy’s going to be praying for mercy soon. Look at our mate’s face. She’s furious.”~

He was right. Savannah’s expression was one I’d never seen before, and I silently prayed I’d never be on the receiving end of it.

She cleared her throat and began to approach the cell door, her fingers lightly grazing the metal bars, creating a rhythmic thump as she moved from one to the next. “Trent. I’m glad you’re excited to see me.”

Trent wasn’t as clueless as he appeared, because he seemed to pick up on the hostility lacing Savannah’s voice. He’d known her longer than I had, and likely knew when she was angry.

But this was a different kind of anger, one I hadn’t witnessed before. It was a calm fury, reminiscent of the lycan king. Serene yet seething.

Trent scrambled to his knees. “Savannah, I’m so sorry this all happened. My cousin Hansel put me up to it.”

She paused in front of the cell door and fished a key from her jeans pocket. She inserted the key and unlocked the door with deliberate slowness. The door creaked and groaned as she pushed it open and stepped inside the cell.

Moonlight streamed in from a small window near the ceiling, illuminating her face. It was the only source of light, apart from the solitary bulb she’d switched on as we’d descended the stairs.

Savannah handed me the key, our eyes meeting briefly as I took it from her. I couldn’t read her expression. I didn’t expect her to kill Trent, even though a part of me felt he deserved it.

“When did you know about me?” Savannah asked. “Seventh grade? When you first asked me to the Homecoming Dance?”

Trent’s gaze flickered to mine, and I could smell his fear seeping out, like air from a punctured balloon.

“Don’t look at him, look at me.”

Trent swallowed nervously. “Yes. Hansel came to visit me the summer before, said he needed a favor from me. I knew about lycans and werewolves.

He told me that he knew of a girl named Savannah who would be his queen. He needed me to keep you away from other guys and do whatever I had to do to make sure you didn’t stray.”

“So, my entire junior and senior high school years were a lie?”

Trent slowly rose to his feet. “At first I was just doing what Hansel wanted, but then I liked you, Savannah. I couldn’t have faked all those years…”

“But you did,” she snapped. “You let me fall for you. I lost my virginity to you, and you didn’t seem to mind that, did you?”

Trent clamped his mouth shut. “I’m sorry—”

“Yeah, I know you are,” she said, taking a step toward him. “You’re a sorry excuse for a person, Trent. And you’re going to regret it.

Now I don’t know what to do with you. I could kill you, but since your family knows about the lycans, I can’t imagine that will go over well. But then, I don’t really trust you,” she said, shifting her weight.

Trent glanced at the cell door behind her, and she chuckled. “You could try to run, but my wolf is telling me some pretty… gruesome things right about now. I wouldn’t try it.”

She glanced back at me, a spark in her eyes, before she pulled her T-shirt over her head.

It took me only a few seconds to realize she was about to shift, but Trent stood there, bewildered, looking at me with fear as my mate undressed in front of him.

“Savannah—” Trent began, but it was too late.

She leapt and shifted mid-air, landing above him as he crumpled to the floor, sprawled out like a ragdoll.

Her bared teeth dripped saliva onto his face, her red eyes gleaming fiercely, and I could feel the bone-chilling fear that consumed him from where I stood.

The scent of urine filled the dungeon, and I realized Trent had wet himself. Savannah snapped her jaws close to his face then pulled back. She paced the cell, clearly wrestling with her wolf.

Her wolf wanted to kill him, but Savannah didn’t. And I understood it. As an alpha, we learned how to deal with death. Who we should kill. Why. When. Where.

As a lycan queen, Savannah would have to make similar decisions.

We never sought death, unless we had no other choice. Trent began to mumble prayers and backed into the corner of the cell, his head pressed into his knees.

Savannah’s presence diminished, and she stood naked in the cell, retrieving the clothes she’d discarded and pulling them back on. Slowly, she approached Trent, who still had his head down.

“You see what I am, Trent?” she whispered.

He nodded but didn’t look up. Only the top of his head was visible to us.

“I will rip your throat from your body and eat it,” she said sweetly. “I know where your parents live. Your sister.

I will hunt each one of them down if you ever come back here. If you ever tell anyone what you saw, or even think about me again. Do you understand?”

Trent let out a choked sob and nodded his head.

Savannah rose and sauntered back to the cell, securing the door behind her. She paused in front of me. “Wesley will take care of him tomorrow,” she said.

I reached out, gripping her forearm. “You don’t think he’ll spill the beans?”

She cast a glance back at his trembling form. “Trent’s always been a coward. I was just too blind to see it.”

***

The following morning, Savannah was already up and about when I woke. The spot where she’d slept was cool to the touch. I shuffled around the room, dressing and noticing the balcony door slightly ajar.

The humid Louisiana air wafted in, caressing my skin like warm silk. “Good morning,” I greeted, finding her on the balcony, knees drawn up to her chest, a piece of paper clutched in her hands.

Savannah swiveled to look at me, and I was struck by the sadness etched on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, crouching down beside her.

She glanced at the handwritten note, which I recognized as a page from her mother’s diary. She didn’t answer, simply handed me the paper and resumed her gaze over the balcony’s edge.

The sounds from the courtyard were cheerful and lively, a stark contrast to the heavy melancholy radiating from Savannah.

I settled next to her and began to read the note.

~Something isn’t right. I can’t put my finger on it, but I have this feeling that I’m being watched. These past few weeks have been bittersweet since leaving Liam.~

~My heart aches from his loss, but at the same time, it’s brimming with love for my newfound mate.~

~The pack has been warm and welcoming. But I can’t shake off the feeling that someone’s lurking in the shadows.~

~I haven’t told anyone about Savannah yet. I’m waiting for the right moment. I found something in Liam’s belongings before I left that left me puzzled.~

~We’d discussed being cautious to avoid pregnancy, and even though I’m thrilled about Savannah, she wasn’t part of the plan.~

~And neither were the tampered condoms I found in his desk. I expected them, but they seemed to have been deliberately punctured.~

~I can’t make sense of it, unless he wanted me to get pregnant, which doesn’t add up.~

~I haven’t told him about Savannah because I’m afraid it was part of a scheme. A scheme he concocted for his own benefit. But why? Why would he be so desperate to have a child?~

~I’m at a loss, but I’m keeping my guard up. Something’s off here.~

I leaned back in the chair, the letter still in my hands. “So she thinks Liam intentionally got her pregnant? Maybe he thought it would prevent her from accepting a second mate, if she found one. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“Turn the page over,” she murmured.

I flipped the page and read the sentence written in a different colored ink, clearly added at a later time.

~Don’t trust your father.~

A shiver ran down my spine. I looked at Savannah’s face and set the diary entry down. “What do you think she meant by that?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure, Daxton, but I think he wanted my mother pregnant to produce a hybrid.”

I glanced over the balcony, ensuring no one was within earshot. “But didn’t he claim his mother was a hybrid?”

“So he says,” Savannah whispered. “No one else has ever mentioned that. And he’s the one who claims that Grammy slaughtered the pack…

But this last sentence she ever wrote makes me question that.”

“Why wouldn’t he have turned on us before now? He helped… he helped overthrow the Kingdom. You think he wants the Kingdom for himself? And why wouldn’t he have killed me? Or the wolves?”

“Because he needed your help to bring down the Kingdom. I don’t think rescuing me was his primary objective. It was eliminating all the lycans and letting me clear his path to the Kingdom.”

Savannah squared her shoulders. “And I’ve just handed it to him on a silver platter.”