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“Aw. You thought he was in love with you, didn’t you? Like anyone would love your pathetic self,” Lilith mocked, and my chest grew impossibly tight. I’d been a fool.

Victor let out a chuckle so dark it sent chills down my spine. Nothing about him felt like the man I used to know. His hold around me tightened as he dipped his head to my ears, his voice as sinister as evil. “Contrary to what you may think, I did love you. When I was informed of the current state of the court and decided to take matters into my own hands to fix things, I had no intention of dragging you into it, but my sources told me about you and how I could use you to weaken Griffin. So, I decided to take the chance.”

Disgust and anger churned inside me with every word he vomited, but I stuck to plan, letting him air his dirty laundry himself.

“When I saw you, I thought to myself, what a wonderful woman. Instead of using her, I could keep her for myself, but I saw how much you were still in love with him, and that hurt my ego. Luckily for me, I got word on how my beloved brother had not been treating his wife well, so I approached her with an offer: we’d get rid of the people in our way and seize the power we deserved. Despite still being in love with him, she was smart enough to come to her senses and realize what was better.”

“How was I so blind?” I mused, I already knew most of this but hearing him speak of how he fooled me like he was giving a Ted Talk tugged at every part of me, and I realized I wasn’t completely healed from the hurt of his betrayal.

“I wouldn’t say you were blind. There was that little friend of yours, the one you turned into your eyes and ears in the palace, poking her nose where it didn’t belong. She would’ve told you, but I had to take care of things.”

Pain slammed into me, and every resolution I had to stay still went to shit. I had planned to deliver the final blow and inform him it was for Mary, but he just had to say it with no level of humanity, like she was some annoying fly. I sank my claws into his arms, fighting and kicking to free myself. Plans be damned. I was going to kill him myself.

Victor’s arms wrapped around my neck, squeezing tightly to get me to stop fighting. The sound of my choked breath alerted Griffin to the struggle, and he charged toward Victor.

“Get him guards,” Lilith ordered, pointing at Griffin.

Just as soon as the orders left her mouth, I nodded at Lady Sheila, signaling for her to proceed with our plans. I was done listening. It was time to make them pay.

Lady Sheila snapped her fingers, and the guards rearranged themselves, taking a threatening stance against Lilith. Through the mindlink, I could hear her telling her personal troops to attack every rebel in sight. It was a war.

Lilith’s eyes widened in confusion, and I could see fear slowly creeping into them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Mira

When I found Victor’s button, I tried to convince myself it was a mistake. I tried to find reasons why this could be a setup. It seemed very unlikely to me that the same man who touched me like I was made of glass and came to my rescue at every point was guilty of such. Maybe Lilith didn’t want him on the throne in place of Griffin, but the more I tried, the clearer the pattern in front of me became.

I thought about how my car suddenly developed issues from nowhere, and how he was conveniently available despite the stormy weather, and how he was available whenever I was in danger and effortlessly emerged victorious at every point. Every experience I ever had with him seemed to have been perfectly curated to match the moment, and everything always turned out perfect, a bit too perfect.

Then, I started to pay attention to his movements and noticed how he was always absent. I noticed how some of the elders gravitated toward him and how he and Lilith seemed to avoid each other like they were scared someone would eventually see through them. Finally, I summoned the courage to follow him one night, and I saw a part of him I never knew existed. I watched him treat people like vermin and speak loudly about how it was taking too long to get rid of Griffin in a clean manner and how they might resort to extreme measures. I knew I had to seek help before it was too late.

What was more difficult was pretending to be all lovey-dovey around him and not slamming his face into the nearest wall and calling him out for who he was.

I didn’t want to marry him. I couldn’t stand him, but I knew the only way to force them out of hiding was to go through with the wedding. Lady Sheila’s informant suspected they might use the wedding as an avenue to strike and advised that we stay alert while he worked on confirming the information.

What I wasn’t expecting was the number of atrocities they were admitting to—from Lilith’s fake pregnancy to planning attacks on me to make Victor look like the good guy and planning a public wipeout during a wedding. It was horrible what the hunt for power could turn people into.

Had I known things would turn out this way, I would have kept Noah as far away from this gathering as possible. I had brought him with me because I didn’t trust anyone and wanted to keep an eye on him myself. I totally underestimated Lilith’s blood lust, which was a huge mistake on my part.

My wedding was merely a ploy for them to lure out the opposition and eliminate them. It was a good thing I came prepared.

At the snap of Lady Sheila’s fingers, everything took a different turn. I took advantage of the confusion to free myself from Victor’s grip, digging my elbows into his side and twisting out of his hold. Griffin wasted no time in attacking him, both of them shifting into their wolves and tackling each other to the ground.

Lilith, on the other hand, tightened her grip on Noah, shielding her body with his. “If you take a step closer, I’ll slit his throat.”

It was probably a reckless move on my end, but I knew Lilith wasn’t stupid. She was outnumbered, and she knew the only way to get outof here alive was through Noah. She wouldn’t kill him. To distract her, I needed to be closer, so I took a step closer, my eyes not leaving hers.

“I won’t warn you again. Stay away from me, else I’ll—”

From nowhere, a small knife wheezed past her, causing her to lose her footing. I turned to see Ella smiling at me, and I seized the opportunity to grab Noah from her arms.

“Mama,” he sobbed, clutching my dress, but there was no time for a happy reunion, not yet, so I handed him over to Lady Sheila and faced Lilith, who was currently seething with anger.

“I’m going to kill you,” she snarled before shifting and lunging at me. Fear and panic tightened my chest as I took in the size of her big, brown wolf. My white Omega was no match for her, but I had a better advantage on her in my wolf form than I did in my human form, so I shifted, dodging her attack by a hair’s breadth.

The dodge only seemed to annoy her more, and she charged at me in a flash. This time, she didn’t miss. Her fangs dug into my forelimb, tearing a pained howl from me. I struggled to push her off me, but she bit deeper until I could feel her teeth on my bone.