Reveal

LAKE

My eyes open to the familiar scene of chains and a cell. My wrists are behind my back, and my legs are wrapped in silver chains. I can feel the pulsing bruise on my face.

My clothes are torn from the struggle last night. After Lucas threatened my bond with Derrick, Lynne came loose and rocked his shit.

She would’ve killed him if warriors hadn’t stormed the room. Lucas ordered me to be put down here as punishment until the witch comes for tonight.

I can smell Lucas’s blood in my hair, and I can’t help but smirk at the memory of his bloodied face.

“Love, you know it didn’t have to come to this.” Lucas leans on the bars of my cell. The silver doesn’t bother him through his long-sleeved shirt.

“Go roll on a Lincoln Log,” I spit.

I mean that wholeheartedly. When I was younger, the aunt of a human I knew was walking carelessly in her home. Her son’s Lincoln Log rolled her off her feet.

It caused a nasty tear in the tendon of her knee.

“You know, when we mark and mate each other, you won’t be able to escape or do anything you want to do independently.” Lucas smiles. “You’ll be mine.”

“That isn’t how a mate should act,” I state. “Delilah obviously—”

“Don’t you ever say that whore’s name in my presence again!” Lucas puts a foot against the bars, causing them to rattle.

I look at him, confused. Wasn’t he the one who wanted her? Not to mention, it seems as if he’s the only one who can talk about her.

“I see…” A light bulb goes off in my head, and I can’t help but laugh to myself. “Little Delilah left you for her true mate, didn’t she?”

To be honest, I’m surprised. Delilah seemed to be after the title of luna. I would have expected her to reject her mate in favor of Lucas.

“You don’t know what you’re—”

“Alpha Lucas, please,” a voice says. I turn to the doorway, where a woman’s figure stands.

“She will be yours soon enough.”

Lucas growls and stomps his way upstairs. The woman sighs and walks around my cell slowly.

“That alpha sure has one hell of a temper.”

I gaze over the woman’s figure. She’s wearing a formal pink dress that shows a little too much cleavage. Her blonde hair is curled, and her feet look as if they’re in pain from the six-inch heels.

“Morana…” I should’ve known.

“Oh, Lake, don’t be so mad all the time. It’s really bad for your skin.” Morana smiles and walks through the unlatched cell door. “Now, to get down to the nitty-gritty.”

“How did you get here?” I ask flatly. Anger is boiling inside me, but I won’t give this back-stabbing wench the satisfaction.

“It was simply that I packed up my things and left that awful group.” Morana sighs.

“I came across this territory. I was in the position you are now, but I was able to strike up a deal with your alpha.”

Before I open my mouth, Morana says, “I know, I know. Not your alpha. But Lucas does make a fine male, doesn’t he?”

“What are you getting at?” I narrow my eyes at Morana as she lights a cigarette and takes in a deep breath.

“I’ve never seen a grown male slaughter an innocent child so quickly before.” Morana lets out her smoky breath. “But, if I were to live, sacrifices had to be made.”

“You traded your son’s life for yours?” I ask in disbelief. “How could a mother do something like that?”

Lynne whimpers out of pain for our mate. It makes me wince at the reaction he would have to learn of this.

“Very simply, actually. They took the brat off my hands and gave me everything I could need.” Morana takes another puff. “In exchange, I would spread the word of the bounty for you.”

“Henry was your son!” I scream. “He was Derrick’s son!”

“Exactly why I did it!” Morana growls. “Derrick had everything. Me, a female devoted to only him. Henry, a son who was to lead after his father. Then you came along.”

Lynne is furiously trying to escape the chains around me, as am I. The second we’re able, this woman is dead.

“You were in the camp for what, a week?” Morana scoffs and puts out her cigarette by smudging it on the floor with her shoe.

“It took me an entire lifetime to achieve what you did in days. Another month, and I would have been the one he marked!”

Morana slaps the hell out of the same cheek Lucas hit last night. She pulls my face close to hers.

“I gave him everything, and yet I still wasn’t good enough!” Morana slams my head to the floor and smooths her dress.

“After your ties are severed, Derrick will be too heartbroken not to fall for me. If not, the White Witch will make sure of it.”