Chapter 3

I could not understand why he was here.

Rain continued to fall, and my body would not stop shaking. The coat he had placed over my shoulders did little to stop the cold from reaching the open wounds on my back. His hands remained firm on my upper arms, holding me upright when my legs refused to do the work on their own. I lifted my face and looked at him once again to be sure I wasn't imagining things.

Indeed, it was Felix Hendry, Gavriel’s younger brother. The one the pack spoke about in whispers and called a psychopath. The rival who had been kept away from pack politics for years.

He adjusted the coat higher around my neck and began walking, taking most of my weight with him. I had no strength to resist. My bare feet sank into the wet ground with every step. My wounds tugged and hurt each time I moved. My wolf couldn't heal me because the whips were made of silver.

I tried to speak as Felix led me away, but the sound that left my mouth was useless. And he told me to save whatever strength I had left.

I do not remember how long it took to reach his mansion. The building stood away from the main pack territory. Felix brought me inside a room and guided me to a chair. He placed a glass of water in my hands. My fingers shook so badly that water spilled over the rim, but I drank it. The liquid harmed my dry throat and still I finished all of it.

Felix didn't say a word to me, he pulled a robe from his closet, dropped it on the bed before stepping out of the room. 

I knew he wanted me to clean myself up.

I managed to force myself to the bathroom. The water pricked every place the whip had opened on my skin. I rested in the tub until the water turned crimson and my arms could no longer hold me up. When I came out tying a towel, a physician was already waiting. Felix had called him. The man examined my back and confirmed what I already knew. The lashes had been made with silver and had weakened my wolf. The healing process would be slow and painful.

I lay on my stomach while the physician cleaned and dressed the wounds. 

The door opened again and Felix stepped into the room. He dismissed the physician with a wave of fingers and remained standing near the bed.

I turned my head on the pillow and looked at him. “Why are you helping me?” My voice sounded strange to my own ears. “Everyone believes I tried to kill your mother.”

He stepped closer with his hands in his pockets, his eyes giving nothing away.

“I am not as stupid as my brother,” he said. “I know my family, especially my mother better than anyone in this pack.” He leaned in, staring right into my eyes. “You are a good woman who doesn’t deserve what was done  to you.”

I didn't trust the gentleness in those words. Men in this family did not offer help without a price, and Felix was the worst of them all.

“What do you want from me?”

Felix walked even closer and stopped at the side of the bed, but didn't sit.

“Are you going to let everything end here?” he asked. “Are you going to give up on your children and the place you’ve built?” He slanted in, asking in a cold voice, “Are you prepared to walk away with nothing?”

I stayed silent, waiting to understand him better even though I had decisions that ran in this direction when the warriors were dragging me to the boundary.

He continued, “You can’t let my brother win, Sparrow. I’ve never known you to be weak.”

Felix was right. I was calm and honorable, but I would never let anyone trample on me. If there was one thing I hated, I hated to lose to anyone—enemies, friends, or even families. 

“What do you want from me?” I tried to sit up a bit, but pain shot through my veins.

Felix reached for the night robe and covered me up. “The question should be what you want.”

“I want the truth to come to light.” And make everyone involved in hurting me pay. I couldn't say the last words to Felix. He was still a son of that household. 

“You want revenge, Sparrow. I could see it in your eyes,” he stated. “And I want the throne. Those two things can serve each other.” 

I wasn't surprised that he wanted the throne.

Felix moved toward his drawer. “To get your revenge, you need to be closer to the enemies,” he started. “And the only way you will ever step back into that packhouse with any power is through me.” He pulled the drawer and brought out a folder. “I hold the authority,” he finished, returning to my bedside.

“What. Do. You. Want?” My voice was stronger this time.

“Marry me,” he said the words like they were nothing.

I scoffed, trying to understand if he had gone insane.

“Nine months,” he added. “Nine months is what we need for you to take your revenge and for me to get the throne.” He placed the folded carrying a set of papers on the table beside the bed. “We present ourselves as a real couple. We take what we both want. When it is finished, we end it and go our separate ways.”

“You must be out of your mind.”

“I know you will say that.” He smiled, the same evil smile his mother wore before she destroyed my life. “I will give you time to think. If you agree,” he said, cocking his head in the direction of the folder. “…sign it.” And with that, he left the room.

I lay there after the door closed, staring at the contract. My body hurt in places I could not ignore. My mind kept returning to my children, and the way Gavriel had looked at me when he ordered the warriors to take me away. He had chosen his mother. He had chosen to believe her over the woman who had shared his bed and given him children for nine years.

I had nothing left.

Nine months of pretending cost me little when I already stood at zero. Access to the pack and packhouse meant access to my children. It meant a path to make my ex-husband and his mother, if she was still alive, pay.

Without hesitation, I signed the papers.

I forced myself out of bed with the signed papers in hand. When I walked into the sitting room, Felix was there. He sat with one leg crossed over the other, a cigarette between his fingers, smoke rising slowly around his face. The tattoos on his neck showed above the collar of his black shirt. He looked up when I entered and stared at me without speaking.

I held the signed contract out to him.

He took it, tapped the paper once with his finger, and nodded. “Deal.” Then he set the papers aside. “Go have a rest, eat, and sleep. You look terrible.”

                    __

Sitting in the passenger seat of Felix’s car, and catching my reflection in the window, I couldn't recognize what I looked like now. It has been four weeks since I signed the contract. I had tinted my hair a deeper, richer red. My makeup was so bold that anyone could see it from afar. I wore a structured black dress that fit close to the body and left my shoulders bare. The neckline cut downward perfectly to show the line of my collarbones. I wore red heels and lipstick, everything chosen as part of my new identity.

This was the first time I had seen Felix since the night I signed the contract. During the weeks in between, only staff had come to the room with food, clean dressings, and written messages. He had not appeared in person once.

Felix glanced at me in his car, but said nothing about the change. He had sent a message through a servant earlier for me to get ready that we had somewhere to go. But he never expected me to look this way. 

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“There is an event at the packhouse tonight. We will use it as our first couple appearance.”

I scoffed, throwing my face at the window. “Packhouse? What kind of event?”

He knew we would be visiting the packhouse today, and didn't bother to inform me. Well, it wasn't a big deal. From the moment I signed that contract, I was always ready, waiting for the opportunity.

“You will see when we arrive,” he responded, hitting the gas.

The packhouse was filled with people when we arrived. Music and voices echoed through the air as Felix pulled up to a nice space. My hands began to shake against my side. I closed my fingers into fists and forced them still. The anger of the memory of the dungeon and the whip was painful in my chest, but I had not come here to show any of it.

Felix stepped out first, walked around, and opened my door for me to step out. He took my hand and placed it firmly over his arm. We walked toward the entrance together. His pace was steady and unhurried. I matched it.

Conversations faded as we stepped inside. Heads turned. I felt the weight of the guests’ eyes on my face, dress, and the fact that I stood beside Felix Hendry instead of lying broken at the boundary where they had dumped me. I kept my shoulders high and my chin level.

My gaze moved across the large hall and stopped on the banner hung above the main table.

I read the words once and then again: Gavriel’s engagement celebration to Suvi.

My blood ran cold, but I did not allow my expression to change.

Felix obtained two glasses of wine from a passing tray and held one out to me as if he knew what was happening to me.

“You look extremely great tonight,” he said.

I took the glass. Before I could answer, a familiar scent caught me through the crowd. My head turned toward it without conscious decision, and I found Gavriel. 

He stood near the far side of the room, staring directly at me. His eyes moved over my face, hair, dress, and the man beside me. The look he wore held too many deadly things at once. 

I could not separate them.

While Gavriel's eyes remained on me, Felix wrapped his hand around my waist. He pulled me closer against his side gently and pressed a kiss to my cheek in full view of the entire hall.