Chapter 4

Eloise

I woke up when I felt the cold water on my skin, soaking me completely and shaking me to my core. I opened my eyes abruptly and forcefully and then gasped at the cold sensation running through every inch of my skin.

When I focused my vision, the burning in my chest was so intense that I didn't know how to process it. But when I saw Giselle standing in front of me, her eyes red as if she had been crying and a murderous expression on her face, I knew that my decision had had serious consequences.

And I also knew everything I needed to know about her at that moment.

Giselle would attack me without hesitation, so I prepared myself for it.

“You damn bitch!” Giselle shouted. “You hurt Hall!”

I coughed hard, but then I laughed.

My last card had worked, the last move I had left to make in that horrible situation. And I thanked the Goddess for that.

“Is he dead?” I asked ironically, and she became even more enraged. “I meant to kill him.”

Giselle slapped me viciously.

“Undo what you did, bitch,” she said angrily, and I shook my head.

“I did you a favor... I broke the mate bond with Hall; now he and I are nothing,” I said firmly, and she gasped in horror and dismay, understanding the consequences of a broken bond. “You should thank me; I've cleared the way for him to mark you and make you completely his.”

I coughed again and spat blood.

Giselle froze, and at that moment Dinora entered the dungeon.

She looked at her daughter in surprise and then looked at me in disbelief. That was my cue to approach. I did so carefully, using what little strength I had left. I had nothing more to lose. At that moment, the situation was a disaster of epic proportions for the pack.

“Dinora, you have to help me,” I said calmly, and she looked at her daughter.

“What the hell is going on?” Dinora asked, and she saw my handcuffs. “Speak, Giselle.”

“She found out,” Giselle said, and I looked at Dinora in horror. “She knows what Hall intends to do, and she knows that he and I are lovers.”

Bile rose in my throat, and Dinora looked at me seriously, and then I knew.

She was part of the deception.

“It was all an orchestrated plan,” I said incredulously. “You sought asylum in the pack to get close to my father and charm him, then Hall came along... But it turned out I was his mate.”

Giselle growled, and Dinora took her by the shoulders.

“Follow the plan,” Dinora said firmly to her daughter. “Don't ruin our years of work, so go. Go with Hall, take care of him, and make sure his men don't do anything stupid.”

The way my father's wife spoke told me that she was no ordinary participant in the whole mess. She was actually at a high level of collusion with Hall.

My stomach immediately turned as I realized everything.

Giselle left, and Dinora stood firmly in front of me.

“Was it all a damn lie?” I asked in horror. “Did you even love my father?”

Dinora looked at me with an expression of annoyance that shook me.

“Your father is a good man, but he's not perfect, and he's made decisions that have hurt others,” Dinora said cryptically. “Someday you'll understand, but it won't be us who tells you anything.”

“That's bullshit,” I said angrily. “You know perfectly well that my father is good. He opened the doors of his home, his pack, his family, and his heart to you—”

“Marcus never loved me,” Dinora said angrily. “I lived in your mother's shadow, so don't talk nonsense.”

“Dad wouldn't have married you if he didn't love you,” I said immediately.

I knew my father.

He was a cunning, gentle man but direct and sincere with everyone.

He wouldn't have gotten involved with Dinora so easily if he didn't feel anything for her. Because of him, because of the love he had for my mother and the way he talked about the importance of love, I had a very important concept of it. I didn't believe he didn't love Dinora; he must have felt something for her.

“Your father married me out of pity,” Dinora said wearily. "He never loved me, not as a woman. He just wanted to protect me and my daughter, so he married me to shield us. And he got used to me being a friend, a companion who helped him deal with things, but he didn't make me his Luna; he didn't give me the place a wife deserved."

There was resentment in her voice, and I looked at her in surprise.

“You have feelings for my father,” I whispered, and she smiled sadly. "Why are you deceiving him like this? Why are you doing this? I don't understand."

“I had to do what I had to do,” Dinora said in a monotone voice that conveyed nothing to me. “It is what it is, Eloise. And that's exactly why, to prevent something worse from happening to Marcus and Emmett, I'm asking you to think clearly and give in to Hall's demands. It's the only way you can save yourself and your family.”

The desperation in her voice at the end of the sentence broke me.

“I shouldn't have to save my family,” I said angrily. “We were fine before you arrived, and now not only is my family in danger, but also the entire pack that my family has protected and guided for generations. You know perfectly well what a madman like Hall would do.”

Dinora looked at the floor before looking up and staring at me firmly again.

“I'm warning you, Eloise,” said Dinora. “I don't want you to die, not really.”

“Don't give me cheap excuses,” I said fearlessly. "Someday you'll pay for all this, and I assure you I'll enjoy seeing it happen. With the same sick pleasure with which your daughter detests me, with the same sense of indifference you show me today, and with the same cynicism with which Hall beguiled me."

Dinora trembled, shook her head, and left me alone in the dungeon.

At that moment, I sat down and couldn't hold back the tears I had been holding back.

The pain of deception finally blossomed, and I cried hard, as I had not done in years, since my mother's death.

It was a deferential, suffocating feeling, and I remembered the black wolf from my nightmares, so I closed my eyes tightly and begged the Luna for a chance.

“Please, Goddess, give me the chance to get out, to take care of my family,” I whispered in pain.

But no one answered.

Hours passed, and I was falling asleep when I heard someone open the door to the hallway. So I got on guard, but I was surprised to see that it was Claris, one of my old friends, approaching.

She was out of the pack, so seeing her was a surprise, especially since she had the keys to the dungeons in her hands.

“By the Goddess!” Claris said in horror when she saw me. “What the hell did they do to you, Eloise?”

I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face again.

“I need to get out of here,” I said painfully.

“I know,” said Claris, hugging me tightly before carefully removing my moonstone handcuffs. “Edna explained to me that something was going on, that there were search parties exploring the woods to track you down. Hall said you were lost, but I didn't believe him or Giselle.”

Claris had never liked Giselle; she had always warned me about my stepsister.

“How did you get here?” I asked, intrigued.

“Edna was very worried, but she realized something was going on in the dungeons,” Claris explained. “She told me she had a bad feeling, so I followed Hall and his men. I heard they had you here and stole the keys. So let's get out of here. We don't have much time before the new guard comes.”

“Hall wants to take over the pack,” I said in horror, and Claris cursed under her breath. “What about my father?”

Claris looked at me with such regret that I felt the abyss opening beneath my feet.

“I'm so sorry, Eloise, but Alpha Marcus was declared dead just over half an hour ago,” my friend said, and I screamed in pain. “I need you to take this news calmly, because we need to get to where Emmett is locked up and get them both out of the pack. They have to get away so they can survive and come back.”

“But—”

“We don't have time. Let's go,” Claris said.

I cried silently for my father's death.

I had many questions on the tip of my tongue, but I held back and thought about Emmett, about the fear my little brother was feeling, and about the anguish he was suffering with me missing. It was terrible, and I controlled my anger to find a way to save him.

When we left the dungeons, Claris gave me a robe to cover myself, and we skirted the forest to reach the house. The mansion was guarded by a wall of guards.

Claris looked at me seriously.

“I'll distract them,” said my friend. "The robe masks your scent, so use that to your advantage and then come back to this spot. It's the only way I can get you out of the pack without them noticing."

I looked at Claris seriously and nodded.

If anyone realized she was helping me, they would surely execute her, and I didn't want that. So I waited until she distracted a group of guards who scattered, and I sneaked into my house.

I looked for Edna in her room and didn't find her, so I went to Emmett's room, and what I saw made my blood run cold. Edna was dead on the floor, her eyes open and lifeless, and I stifled a cry of surprise.

Emmett was shaking with rage on his bed, and I approached him.

When I saw him, I checked the room and saw a vial that I immediately smelled.

The disgusting smell almost made me vomit, but I held it in, so I carried my brother as best I could, with what little strength I had, and carefully took him out of the house.

At that moment, the alarm went off, and I knew that if we didn't leave, we would die.