Chapter 42

SARA 

Once the psychologist finally left, the door hissed open and Harlan slipped into the room. He looked exhausted, the sheer weight of the night’s events etched into the deep lines around his eyes and mouth.

"Harlan, you have to help me," I whispered, sitting up in the hospital bed and clutching the scratchy, hospital-grade sheets until my knuckles ached. "I can't stay here in the Twilight Zone anymore. I’ll do anything. Please, Harlan... help me escape."

Harlan let out a long, heavy sigh and leaned his back against the sterile wall. "Sara, I told you before. I am a High Commander of this pack. I took a sacred oath to the Alpha and the territory. I am not ready to commit treason. I’ll protect you from the shadows, and I’ll put my own neck on the line to keep you safe from the guards, but I cannot—and will not—lead you out of the front gate."

I knew I was making a massive demand. Harlan had already suffered for me; he had been sent to solitary confinement just for questioning Tristan’s treatment of me. Asking him to help me escape was asking him to throw away his entire life, his rank, and his honor. I knew he wouldn't accept, but I had to ask. I couldn't afford to assume anything anymore.

"Okay," I said, my voice cracking as I fought back a new wave of tears. "If you won't help me leave, then please... send a message. I know I’m supposed to hate him—I know he’s the one who killed my father—but he’s the only one who can end this. Can you get word to Alpha Rune? Tell him I’m alive. Tell him exactly where I am."

He slowly shook his head, his gaze saddening. "That is betrayal too, Sara," he said softly. "I like you, and I truly hate what is happening in this pack house, but I cannot turn on Tristan by inviting the Conqueror to our doorstep. Just... hang in there. Pray to the Moon Goddess. Maybe she’ll show us a way that doesn't involve a war."

"The Moon Goddess isn't listening to slaves, Harlan," I spat, the bitterness rising in my throat like bile. "Do you have any idea how long I laid in that damp cell and prayed for the Moon’s justice? What did I get in return? Silence. A deafening, mocking silence."

"The Moon Goddess answers, Sara, but often not in the ways we expect or demand," Harlan countered. "After you were captured, Tristan actually listened to me and spared your life when Yvonne had a much stronger argument for your execution. That was the Goddess looking out for you, even if you—"

He was still speaking when the door burst open with a crash. Yvonne marched in, her face twisted with a rage so potent and raw that I could practically feel the heat radiating off her skin.

"You miserable, prying, manipulative little bitch," she snarled, ignoring the blinking medical monitors and the nurses in the hall. "You ruined it. You ruined my special moment with him! You did it on purpose!"

Harlan stepped instantly between us, his hand raised in a silent command. "Yvonne, stand down. She’s in the medical wing. She is a patient under the Alpha’s protection. Back off."

"I will not back off!" Yvonne shouted, her voice firm and echoing, setting the tone for a final showdown.

"No, Harlan," I said, my own voice surprisingly steady. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, the white tunic hanging loosely around my frame. "Back off. I can handle this."

Harlan turned to me, his eyes wide with genuine shock. "Sara, what are you doing? You’re exhausted. You’ve been through enough tonight. You can't possibly go toe-to-toe with her when she’s in this state."

I ignored him and looked directly into Yvonne’s bloodshot eyes. I felt a cold, sharp power rising in my chest—the only power I had left in this world: the brutal, unvarnished truth. I let a slow, mocking smile spread across my face.

"How was it, Yvonne? Your five minutes of fame with Tristan? Did it feel as desperate and pathetic as it looked from the doorway?"

Harlan's eyes darted between the two of us, his expression a chaotic mix of confusion and dawning horror.

"Oh, you should have seen them, Harlan," I continued, my voice dripping with the kind of venom that only a woman with nothing left to lose can produce. "I walked in and there was the Great Alpha Tristan—his zipper down, his cock hanging out and half-erect like a common stray dog’s. And there was his 'loyal' Right Hand, her dress hitched up to her waist like a tavern wench, her breasts hanging out in the open for the world to see."

I turned my gaze back to Yvonne, watching her flinch. "You had to blackmail him just to get him to touch you, didn't you? That’s why you’re so angry I interrupted. You know the trick won’t work a second time. He won't fall for that pity trap again. You weren't a lover, Yvonne. You were just a pity-fuck he couldn't even bring himself to finish."

Yvonne let out a guttural, animalistic scream and lunged. Her palm connected with my face with a sickening, wet crack. I tumbled back onto the bed, my ears ringing and the world spinning.

"Yvonne! ENOUGH!" Harlan roared, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her back with enough force to make her stumble. "She is a captive! You are a High Commander, and you’re acting like a feral omega in a gutter!"

"She can't handle the truth, Harlan!" I yelled through the metallic taste of blood in my mouth, laughing even as my cheek throbbed with white-hot pain. "She’s a shadow! A placeholder! I told you, Yvonne... Alpha Tristan would rather bed a mere kitchen maid before he ever sees you as a woman worthy of his mark."

Harlan stared at me, his mouth agape. I think he was genuinely surprised that I could be so vocal, so vicious.

Yvonne stopped struggling against Harlan’s grip. She went deathly, terrifyingly still. Her eyes narrowed into thin, lethal slits.

"You think you're so clever, Sara Lockwood. But remember this: the whole world believes you're already dead. Rune thinks you’re nothing but ash in a car wreck. It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to make that lie a permanent reality. One little 'accident' here in the medical wing. One 'complication' in your sleep while the guards aren't looking."

The laughter died instantly in my throat. The cold, hard reality of my situation crashed back down on me like a ton of bricks.

"Go ahead," Yvonne dared, her voice dropping to a low, lethal whisper. "Keep badmouthing me. See what happens when I finally stop caring about Tristan's 'leverage' or his plans for you. You aren't even a wolf anymore, Sara. You lost your spark. You couldn't even stand against the weakest, most sickly omega in this pack in a real fight, let alone me."

She was right. I felt the absence of my wolf like a physical, hollow ache in the center of my chest. Without her, I was just a human girl trapped in a den of monsters.

Yvonne straightened her disheveled dress, smoothed her hair back into place, and gave me one last look of pure, triumphant contempt. She turned on her heel and strolled out of the room with her head held high—the undisputed victor of the exchange.

Harlan let out a long, shaky breath, looking at me with a mixture of awe and genuine terror. "Sara... you need to be so careful. Picking a fight with a woman who has nothing left to lose but her pride is the most dangerous game you can play. She will kill you, and in his current state, Tristan might just let her do it."

I lay back on the thin, flat pillow and stared up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. "She already killed me, Harlan. I'm just waiting for my body to catch up to the fact."