Chapter 37
Rhea
I keep still.
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My voice refuses to come out. And all I can do is keep my eyes on her–on them. They want to poison the Alpha. They want to kill him. They’ve been planning for this. And now, they are going to force me.
“I–won’t-”
“You will,” She draws her hand away from my face but I can still feel the marks she left with her nails. “You won’t have a choice, Rhea. You’ll do as I tell you to do, or I’ll make sure you’ll regret it. I’ll kill you if I need to.”
“Or I’ll do it myself,” Ezra speaks, and our attention shifts to him.
“No,” Catelyn snaps at him. “We have a plan. Remember that.”
“What if the runt can’t do it properly?”
They whisper to each other as if I can’t hear them. They are right in front of me, planning to kill Alpha Elias.
“She can and she will. Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure that she does it properly,” She says before turning to me. “Unless you want to die, or worse, be banished. One word from me and Elias will banish you to the depths of this world, somewhere so far away where the rogues live. And what will happen there? Oh, you’ll be ripped open, torn apart piece by piece until there’s nothing left of you.”
I take a step back. My heart feels at my throat right now. I can feel the sweat forming on my back and my forehead. I’m worried. I don’t know what to say or do.
She grabs my wrist before I can go anymore back. “If you do this, I’ll ensure you will never be troubled. Once he is dead, I’ll become the true Luna. There’s no other high wolf than myself. And I’ll ensure that you get everything that you want.”
“That’s not–that’s not right. I can’t do it. I won’t.”
“It’s this or your life, Rhea. Make the smart decision.”
My chest tightens, and there’s a heaviness in my limbs that makes me weak in the knees. “That’s–not right. No. I won’t do it. I can’t-”
“Enough with this nonsense,” She clutches my hand tightly, pulling me close to her face. “You will. The only thing you’ve to do is drop the powder into his morning tea. After that, I’ll do the rest once his wolf is dead.”
Her eyes peer into me.
My breath rushes up my chest. I shake my head, pull my hand away from her grip, and stumble backward towards the door.
“I don’t–I won’t.”
“I told you. She’s way too difficult,” Ezra inserts himself before stepping forward in front of Catelyn. “We need to change the approach.”
He says something, and I block out what Catelyn says. My legs move themselves, trying to get me to run. Panic seizes my mind. I turn around quickly and move toward the stairs to leave from here. If I can get to the Alpha in time, I can tell him everything, and then, I don’t have to do anything they want me to do. And Catelyn will get what’s coming for her.
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Chapter 37
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But I don’t make it far before a hand grabs a fistful of my hair and drags me back down the two stairs I managed to climb. I stumble over on my foot, but Ezra’s solid grip prevents me from falling.
He pulls me toward him and turns around before pushing me down onto the ground. The breath is knocked out of my lungs, my vision blurs before returning, and there’s an acute pain coming from my arms where the surface scrapes my skin.
Ezra holds me on the ground with all his weight on my back. I barely breathe. My cheek presses against the cold surface at ! scream and thrash, struggling to get out of his hold. He wraps his hand around the back of my neck, preventing me from going any further.
Catelyn walks closer to me and kneels down.
“Here, I’m telling you this for one last time,” She talks slowly and clearly, making sure that I can understand her every word. “You will do as I say. You will poison Elias and kill him. And if you don’t, I will put this very poison down your throat, and whatever remains you have of your wolf will be gone forever.”
“No,” I scream, dragging my body forward. My cheeks burn as tears spring from the corner of my eyes. “No!” I heave through the anger and tears, “I’m not going to do it.”
Ezra presses his hand harder on my throat, making me choke on my
words.
Catelyn lowers herself closer to me and whispers into my ear, “You will, or it will be your life that will be lost,” She brings the vial that she has in her hands closer to my mouth. “Do you want that, Rhea? Do you want your wolf dead? Do you want that useless runt inside you to die forever?”
More tears spill out of me as I choke, gasping for my breath. The vial presses against my mouth, and its coolness makes me flinch and stops me from thrashing.
I sob into the floor, into the wood. I can no longer cry out. I give up on that. Instead, I breathe hard as the fear clouds me. They will do it. They will force it down throat.
my
“I’m–I’m sorry. I–please,”
“What?” She pulls the vial away from my mouth and stares down at me.
I heave a shuddering breath and lie still. “-please. Please, I’ll do it. I’ll do as you say.”
Ezra’s on top of me, unrelenting. I just want him gone. I want him off of me. He doesn’t move from my back until Catelyn finally calls out his name. I gasp, desperately breathing in.
I pull my hands up to my face and stifle my whimper behind them. My knees feel raw, and the front of my stomach aches.
“You’ll remain here for the night in the pack house. And when morning comes, you will put this in the tea for Elias,” Catelyn bends down on her knees, picks up my right hand, and forces a bottle, the vial I’m supposed to poison the Alpha with, in my hand and closes it, covering my fingers over it. “I’ll give you the other vial after that, which you will use to kill him. You got it, Rhea? Do you understand what you have to do?”
I don’t move. I don’t even breathe.
Ezra comes closer and pushes his booted foot on my shoulder, roughly shoving me into the ground. “Answer her, runt.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Good. If everything goes properly, he’ll be dead in an hour at most. And don’t worry, no one will know it was you. As long as you keep your mouth shut, I’ll ensure your safety,” She promises, but I know it’s all one–sided. They’re fooling me. They are lying to me.
They’ll kill me after they kill the Alpha.
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Chapner 37
I don’t believe her words or anything she promises.
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“But if you don’t do it by morning. Ezra will hunt you down, and we both will kill you, she warns before finally getting up from the ground. “No one’s going to care if a runt dies or not. No one’s going to bat an eye on your death. And no one will believe you if you decide to tell someone about this. So, do what you’re told, and everything will be fine;
The cellar goes silent,
Not a word or a sound is heard as seconds and minutes drag. I can barely recognize the moment when I’m left completely alone down here. I feel like minutes are turning into hours. And every time I think about what I have to do, a painful constriction appears at my neck.
I force myself off the ground. The vial is still in my hand. I tuck it inside my coat pocket, wanting to get rid of its mere existence, but at the same time, I’ll be dead if I do so.
With that, I leave the cellar, not knowing what morning will bring me.
B
