17| Game of Hope

CEDAR BLAKE

"Sammy Porter."

“What?” I choked, holding my breath as Klaus’s voice crackled through the phone.

Klaus was the private investigator I had secretly hired to look into my parents’ framing and execution. He hadn’t found anything solid yet, and worse, Dominus had cut off all my communication with the outside world. No visits. No phone. No freedom.

He wanted me to depend on him for everything. And like a fool, I’d let it happen.

The only reason I was able to reach Klaus now was thanks to the new kitchen maid, a timid girl who’d slipped me her phone when no one was looking. Klaus had given me his contact card, just in case something like this ever happened. Maybe he'd known. Maybe he'd suspected Dominus was capable of this kind of control.

But what he just told me?

Sammy, Dominus’s rejected mate, had been at my house. My childhood home. Rummaging through what was left of it.

“I don’t know what she was looking for,” Klaus said. “But from what I overheard between her and the man she came with, she’s desperate. It sounds like she’s trying to destroy you and reclaim her place at Dominus’s side. She’s obsessed with him, she won’t let anyone else have him.”

My fingers curled tightly around the phone. “Thank you, Klaus. Please… keep watching her. Report anything you find to me. But don’t call this phone again except I did. I’ll find a way to contact you.”

I ended the call and quickly handed the phone back to the maid with a silent thank-you. She nodded and scurried off like a frightened mouse, probably worried she’d already gotten herself in trouble. Goddess help her if there were cameras in the hallway. If Dominus found out, it wouldn’t just be my life in danger, it would be hers too.

Time was running out. The blood-binding ritual was tomorrow. And I still hadn’t figured out a way to escape.

I had to try getting into Dominus’s room. I spent all of last night watching a pirated movie scene on a hidden screen just to learn how to loop a camera feed. I hadn’t figured it out yet, not completely, but if I wanted any chance of getting out tonight, I had to act now.

What he called a “ritual” could very well be a trap. Some twisted, ancient rite to strip me of my powers and bind me to him forever. Powers I still didn’t understand. Powers I couldn’t even control.

I made my way through the corridor, heart pounding in my chest as I reached his bedroom door.

Nothing.

No sound.

No light from under the door.

I reached out and pressed gently. Locked, of course. He’d never be that careless. He didn’t even trust himself.

There was a small keypad beside the door. I tried typing in a guess. A sharp beep and red letters flashed: Wrong credentials. I tried again. Another rejection. I stepped away quickly before anyone caught me snooping.

Back in my room, I slammed the door behind me and paced.

“That’s why he doesn’t need guards,” I muttered, glaring at the wall. “Everything’s coded. The bastard doesn’t even sleep like a normal person.”

I dropped onto the bed, staring at the blinking light on the camera in the corner of the room. How come I didn't notice it before? Maybe it wasn't always there.

I had mapped every hidden surveillance device in this place. The only blind spots were the bathroom and the closet, two places he considered too impractical for escape. The bathroom window was far too small and dangerously high. And the closet? No window, no vent. He’d know exactly how long I was inside.

But if I could loop the hallway camera feed, I might be able to slip out undetected. That was the only real shot I had.

Darkness. That was the answer.

If I shut the blinds, turned off the lights, and made the room pitch black, it wouldn’t look like I was escaping. I could say I needed the darkness for recovery, after all, I was still “healing.” Dominus already thought I was weak. Let him keep thinking that.

“Yes… yes, that might work,” I whispered, rolling over on the bed.

He’ll check, of course. He always does. But if I can convince him I need the dark for the blood ritual… maybe he won’t suspect a thing.

I could almost smile at the plan forming in my head.

I still didn’t know what I would do after escaping, where I’d go or who I’d become. But I knew one thing for certain: I couldn’t stay. Not here. Not with him. Not with someone who wanted to control every part of me, including the parts I didn’t yet understand.

These powers… they were more than just a curse. They’d silenced my wolf since birth, weakened my human form, and drawn the worst kind of monsters to my doorstep. I had to figure out where they came from, what they truly meant.

And I had to learn more about Sammy.

Why was she still so stuck on Dominus? Why hadn’t she moved on?

If I were her, I’d have thrown a damn party thanking the moon goddess he rejected me.

What kind of bond could be so powerful that it made her risk everything just to have him back? And why didn’t it seem to affect Dominus at all?

I sighed, rubbing my temples.

None of this made sense. Not the power, not the ritual, not Sammy, not him.

And then—

“Cedar!”

His scent reached me before his voice. That sharp, cold presence filled the room like ice water rushing into my veins.

I sprang to my feet.

Deklan.

He stumbled into the room and collapsed face-first onto the floor. Blood soaked his arms. His body trembled, his breathing shallow.

“Deklan!” I dropped to my knees beside him. “What happened to you?”

His lips moved, barely a whisper as he rolled over and pushed his hand aside when I tried to inspect the wounded arm.

“Fucking… wolfsbane…”