Chapter 21 ~ The Definition of Irony

After dinner, we bathed the boys and got them settled for the night.. before we headed to the cells to speak with Valerie. Axel was handling her this time.. and I admit to being interested in his methods.

She was left in her cell, while Cole dragged her mother past the gates. Her mother was acting like she was crying hysterically and begging him not to lock her up. He told her to shut up.. she was considered a traitor like her daughter.

Valerie started screaming “Let her go! She did nothing! She didn’t know! She didn’t know!” Axel sneers “Know what? One of you knows! You said YOU DIDN’T KNOW! So, we will just make sure she doesn’t know either!” He grabbed Valerie by her hair and dragged her into the interrogation room next to where her mother was taken.

I slipped into her mother’s room and handed her a cup of coffee. I asked her for her name, and she told me Agatha Hensley, but people call her Aggie. I smiled and asked if she wanted anything.. snacks.. something else to drink.. She shook her head no. Then she asked “What am I even doing here? Valerie and I are not on the best of terms. When she told me she was going to become Luna, three months ago. She and I had an awful row! She moved into the single woman’s quarters and we haven’t spoken much, since.”

I nodded and asked “You didn’t want her to be Luna?” She smiled and shook her head “I am a staunch believer in mates! I know he isn’t her mate.. I knew she wasn’t his mate! I told her she aims too high! An Alpha is always mated to another Alpha.. or at the very least, a high ranking bloodline. That’s just how the Goddess designed it. I am an Omega. My mate was a warrior! Valerie has the capability of being a warrior.. she just chose not to pursue it! She always has these “get rich” schemes that backfire on her every time. And I knew she was setting herself up for failure. It’s why we fought!”

I responded “You are here to make Valerie believe you are being tortured. We want her to think we are hurting her mother.. in the hopes she confesses to her involvement with the rogue.. and the extent of that involvement!”

Axel locked Valerie in a chair, cuffing her wrists to the table. He flicks her hard in the forehead and says “For every wrong answer you give.. your mother will receive two lashes of a silver dipped whip. Whether she survives this night… or if she dies.. is completely up to you.”

Cole set up the sound recording we had of a person being whipped.. and the screaming.. Goddess! The screams! I didn’t even ask how he got it or why they even have it! He just shrugged and said “ it’s proven to be an effective interrogation tactic.” Well.. goody!

At the first question.. and her I don’t know response.. the recording played on a loop. Valerie screamed “Stop hurting her! She doesn’t know anything!” Axel grinned and said “No.. but you do! Any harm being done to the woman who gave you birth.. is caused by you! The daughter she adored.. loved.. raised to be an upstanding woman. Tell me, Valerie.. what is it? Did Daddy not love you enough? Did Mommy not give you the right attention? Why would you betray your parents like this?”

She yelled “I didn’t betray anyone! I don’t know what you’re even talking about! I never gave that man any important information! Nothing was ever talked about.. except how many women Kieran fucked!”

I winced a little.. took a deep breath, and nodded at Cole to replay the recording. As he did, we hear Valerie say “Okay.. OKAY! His name is Ronald. I don’t know his last name. He works for some guy.. Eliot or Emory.. Elden? I don’t know.. An E name! He was to meet with him in SilverTree.. every two weeks with updates. He texts me every three days to see if I have anything for him. He’s probably texted by now! Check my phone! You’ll see!”

Axel asks “When was the last time you sent him any flash drives?” She says she can’t remember.. so we listen to the recording again. Valerie says “Stop! Just stop hurting her! I will tell you! The last recording I sent was when Cole said he would only protect the rightful Luna. I edited out the part about Calista being Kieran’s mate. I was afraid they would terminate my income.. and possibly kill me, if they knew!”

Axel asks “So, they know Peter was at death’s door.. and they know they brought in a healer. But they don’t know it is Calista?” She nods.. “in my room.. there is another flash drive ready to be mailed. I sliced my mattress and that’s where I hide everything pertaining to Ronald.”

Kieran asks “Tell me why, Valerie. Why would you do something so risky? You had to have known how dangerous the game you were playing was! What possessed you to even think to betray my pack, and still persuade me to choose you as my Luna? Help me understand!”

She snarls “Don’t act all sanctimonious! Always dangling the Luna card to any and every woman in the pack, just to get in their pants. You manipulated all of us.. and now you’re acting all butthurt because it was done to you! Boo Hoo!” Kieran snarled “Get this bitch out of my sight!”

Agatha looked at me and whispered “I am sorry, Luna! You should never have to hear such horrible things!” I smiled at the kind heart of this woman! I asked her “Aggie? Have you ever been a Nanny? I find myself in need of someone I can trust to help me with the twins.” She grinned great big and said “Are you sure? It would be such an honor.. Children are such a blessing.. My mate and I were only lucky enough to have Valerie. I would love to be around babies again and I find myself at loose ends most days now.” I took her hand in mine and said “Please? It would help us so much!” She nodded and I hugged her. I told her “We will start first thing in the morning, yeah?” She nodded again, and I smiled at her!

Axel stood up and undid Valerie’s shackles and led her back to her cell. As Cole and I walked Aggie out, she looked at Valerie with the saddest eyes I had ever seen and said “You are no daughter of mine! You chose to turn your back on me.. on your father’s good name… on your entire pack.. on our Alpha! For what? A little bit of money! But, even Judas could be persuaded to betray his King, for thirty pieces of silver, I guess! I hope it was worth it!” And we walked away.. to Valerie screaming we tricked her.. betrayed her trust.. took advantage of her love for her mother.. and from behind me, I hear Kieran say “That is the very definition of irony, Valerie!”