Page 15 of Bound to the Dragon (Wild Fated Shifters #3)
MADISON
T here’s no easy way to explain this, not after all this time.
It was something that Blaze should have known before agreeing to be my mate, before our mate bond snapped into place, before the commitment ceremony, before Granger committed me to him in the first place.
But here we are, weeks in and two attacks later, and I have no choice but to confess the truth about my role in how all this has played out. Or rather, my family’s role.
None of this has to do with me, not really, except for the way my silence enhanced and enabled the trouble. And that’s just as bad as partaking in the event itself. Or at least Blaze might see it that way.
“Well?” Blaze is waiting for me to speak, and I’m doing my best to think of where to start as I pace around the suite, racking my brain for a good starting point. “What is going on?”
“It happened years ago.” I halt, trying to remember exactly how it had come about, but I don’t recall the specifics. I only came to learn about it afterward, after all, and I can’t be sure I even know the whole story, or the truth of it.
I’m stalling. I don’t want Blaze to look at me any differently than he’s been looking at me, but I can’t avoid this any longer. He’s getting angrier by the second.
“Madison!”
“This started a really long time ago. Maybe fifteen years ago. Something was happening between Silver Glade and another pack,” I blurt out. “War was about to break out, because Granger had infringed on their territory.”
I pause to take a breath, remembering the tensions of those days.
The shifters all remained fully in their animal forms, waiting for an attack.
Riots occurred every night with our rival pack, and Granger only seemed to relish in the drama, with my father, the Beta, in the center of it all.
I had been young, only ten or eleven, but the fear of the time still clings to me in the aftermath.
“I vaguely remember when that happened.” Blaze’s eyes bore into me, waiting for me to go on, his confusion palpable. “What does that have to do with what’s happening now?”
I swallow thickly and try my best to explain the atrocity Granger and my father had committed to save our pack. “We had a peace treaty with two other packs.”
I really don’t want to say the words aloud. Even hearing them in my head makes my stomach turn.
Perplexed, Blaze stares at me. “Okay?”
“We asked them to intervene, but they didn’t want to get involved, and rightfully so.
Granger created the mess, and they probably realized too late that they had gotten involved with a tyrant when they signed on with Silver Glade.
Our territory was in pure chaos. They wanted us to work it out amongst ourselves.
My father was Beta at the time, and Granger was pissed.
You know, Granger, he always thinks with emotion, not his head. ”
Blaze continues to stare at me, uncomprehendingly. “What did you do?”
“It wasn’t me!” I shake my head vehemently. “I didn’t know what transpired until a couple of years later. And I still am not entirely sure I know everything. I was still very young.”
“And by everything, what do you mean?” He sits on the wingchair and drapes his ankle over his knee, staring at me intently. “I don’t want to drag every detail out of you, Madison. Just tell me what happened, so we can figure out what to do.”
“My father was always trying to appease Granger’s whims.” I trail off and start again.
“He came up with the idea to betray one of our allied packs to get the rivals off our backs. He handed them and their territory directly to our enemies. The allied pack didn’t stand a chance against two powerful entities—their territory was absorbed and the survivors scattered, left homeless.
When word got out, it caused massive friction.
The displaced shifters formed a rogue faction, joined by members from several other packs disgusted by the betrayal—including some from Silver Glade. ”
Blaze’s jaw slacks. “Don’t you think this would have been useful information to have after the first attack?”
I part my lips to answer, but before I can defend myself, there’s a knock at the door, interrupting our heated conversation.
“Go away!” Blaze barks, but the knocking continues. “Dammit.” He stalks toward the door of the suite and throws it open to find one of the enforcers standing there, pale-faced.
“I’m in the middle of something. What is it?” Blaze demands.
“We can’t find the Beta anywhere.”
I tense as Blaze glances back at me. “Do you know where he is?”
“Me?” I’m offended by the question. “Why would I?”
He scoffs and turns back to the enforcer. “Find him. He has to be around here somewhere. Maybe he’s injured or?—”
“We think one of the rogue shifters may have taken him,” the enforcer blurts out.
I gasp aloud. “What?”
Blaze’s hand tightens around the doorframe. “Why do you think that?”
“We’ve checked the entire estate, and now we’re going through the cameras. There seems to be someone dragging a cougar out into a van out back. We can’t be sure it’s him. Can you come and check and confirm?”
Blaze wastes no time following the enforcer out of the suite and into the hall, with me on his heels, but he doesn’t even cast me a look over his shoulder, as if he’s disgusted with me. My heart sinks. When he realizes I’m on his trail, he stops abruptly.
“No!” He whips his head at me. “You stay here. I don’t want you leaving the suite.”
My eyes widen in dismay. “You can’t keep me prisoner in my own home.”
“I’m not sure this is going to be your home after today.”
Shock overwhelms me at the answer. I never would have imagined that response for my honesty. But I hadn’t been completely honest with him. I had held back the truth as long as possible. Shame overtakes me as the burn of tears stings my throat.
“Blaze—”
He doesn’t let me speak as the door slams in his wake.
My pulse roars in my ears at his cold rebuttal, and dizziness overwhelms me.
I sink back into the settee and try to collect myself.
Not for the first time, I curse my late father and Granger for the decisions they made, the betrayals that cost not only me, but so many others.
How did I end up carrying the curse of their burden?
They hadn’t been thinking at all, just acting selfishly.
There has to be a way to fix this, not only for the packs, but between Blaze and me.
Ignoring his instructions to remain in the suite, I hastily dress and slip out the balcony window, sure that he has an enforcer guarding the door.
I will make this right, and to do that, I have to find Vigo.
I go to the only source I know for sure is involved, but it’s going to take some serious acting on my end to get Virginia to believe me.
Initially, she tries to close the door in my face, but I stick a foot in the threshold before she can manage. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were up to?”
She stares at me with disdain.
“Ha! It’s pretty clear whose side you’re on these days,” she scoffs, the wariness on her face palpable. “Are you here to have your enforcers bring me in?”
Nonchalantly, I try to look over her shoulder for signs of Vigo or any other captive they might have taken from the estate, but it’s oddly quiet in her small house.
“You took a big risk coming back home.”
She shrugs. “I didn’t really expect you or anyone else to come looking yet. I’m on my way out. I’m not going with you.”
“I’m here alone.”
She peers behind me suspiciously, her eyes opening when she recognizes I’m telling the truth.
“Well, that’s pretty ballsy, Luna ,” she mocks me. “Are you here to try to talk some sense into me?” Sarcasm drips from her words. “Are you hoping that I’ll run to your Alpha and beg him for mercy?”
I clear my throat and hope my expression doesn’t give me away. “No. I’m here to join the cause. I just wish you’d told me sooner. I shouldn’t have been blindsided like that. I could have been hurt, too, you know? What the hell, Virginia?”
Shock colors my friend’s face. “What? B-but the Alpha, he’s your mate!”
I raise my shoulders indifferently. “So what? Just because the fates have a plan doesn’t mean that’s what I want. I was always against what my father did. You know that. If I’d known you were with the rogues, I would have joined your cause a long time ago. How can I help?”
Our eyes meet, and I muster every ounce of sincerity I can to show her I’m with her, but I can still read the hesitation as she looks behind me.
“Did you really come alone?” she asks finally. “Or is this some kind of trap?”
“Blaze is trying to keep me trapped in the estate. He doesn’t trust me anymore.”
The confession relaxes my friend’s disposition if only slightly, and she steps back to let me into the house.
It’s not a big step, but it’s enough to show me a sense of acceptance.
This might take some time, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get me back in Blaze’s good graces and find Vigo—assuming he’s still alive.
I have to handle this carefully. One wrong move, and I’ll be as dead as half the bodies lying back in the estate.