Braiden
“You can stay here with Aliana. There is no reason to put yourself through this.” Green eyes look at me with the
same exasperated expression following the previous six times I have said the same words.
“You know I can’t, Braiden. I need to see the end of this. It is the only way we can continue and live happily. It has
to be me. After everything they have done to me, and you, since we were small, I cannot leave the revenge to you
alone. I know that makes me sound bad. That it may even sound crazy, but it’s not. This is what I need to finish
things for good. To set aside the past and move forward.”
While I understand this, I don’t like that we are using her as bait to draw out The Butcher. What if something went
wrong? I had just got her back again. I don’t think I would survive losing her another time.
“You won’t lose me. I promise.” She puts her hand against my chin, the stubble there an indicator of the stress over
the last couple of days since marking her. There wasn’t even time to shave. The feeling of the sparks between us
still gets me even now. While her touch eases me, I can tell that until this is over, she will not be able to rest.
Neither will I.
“It’s time, My King, My Queen.” Samuel and Nick's arrival signals the start of this plan as Ava drops her hand, the
loss of contact already spiking my anxiety.
Nick is worried. I can tell by the way he is nervously biting his lip.
“Are you—” Ava cuts him off before he can finish his sentence.
“Don’t ask me if I’m sure. I am.” He approaches her and then wraps her in a bear hug. They had been together
through everything. Everything exc ept the last four years, which was stolen from them. From all of us.
“Look after our daughter. Don’t let her worry.” He nods vigorously, and tears shine in both their eyes when they
pull apart.
Aliana was with her new friends at the school, unaware of what was happening. The last thing I wanted was for her
to worry. She had been through so much already. As far as she knew, we were going to an official function, which
wasn’t far from the truth. Ava recalled that Jerry had told her about a celebration they were holding at the main
Underground facility in the North. One happening in just a few hours. Everyone would be there.
All the senior members and also The Butcher. It was the best chance we had of getting revenge and taking down
the head of the snake.
I had already secured support from nearby packs, and their best warriors, along with the royal guard accompanying
us, were waiting at a small airport nearby. We would fly there shortly.
I just hoped that The Underground hadn’t somehow been tipped off. It didn’t seem like it. Not according to my
mother.
At Ava’s prompting to look at the bigger picture it would achieve, I allowed the woman responsible for much of
my anguish to live, albeit in the medium-level prison on the Eastern border. For life, she agreed to help us. I
doubted anything else would have moved her to help me. Not even just the fact that she would be helping her son.
The bitter taste it left in my mouth still bothered me. I wanted to feel nothing. I wanted to feel the same way she so
clearly felt about me. But it still stings. Still hurt as much as I tried burying the feeling.
She called The Butcher and arranged to meet him tonight with news on my mate's whereabouts and how to capture
her. It appeared the function was going ahead. And they were keen to have this information—so eager that mother
of the year had been given a special pass to enter the grounds at the rear of the building, reserved for the upper
echelon.
I look at her, and the disgust whenever I do now seems permanent. She is dressed to the nines, even wearing the
heavy gold necklace she always wears when she goes out—all to ke ep up with the ruse. The only difference
is that where heavy gold bracelets usually sit on her wrists, two silver cuffs r eplace them, the metal burning de ep
grooves into her skin.
My father stands close by, flinching as the smell of burning flesh permeates the air. While I no longer see her as my
mother and use the term merely out of habit, he is having a harder time detaching himself, even after knowing
everything. I was just grateful he wasn’t in volved. But looking at him, there would be no way he could be. He was
always so naïve and so... weak. Especially when it came to this woman. It is only now that I see it so clearly. The
manipulation on my mother's part. The way she used my father's power as her own. And yet, his hand rests on her
shoulder lovingly.
Ava’s tug on my hand draws my attention.
“Come. It’s time.” We head towards a black SUV while my mother heads to a s eparate car with Samuel.
Everyone is quiet on the way to the airport, lost in thoughts of what is to come.
When we arrive, we are quickly directed toward a small jet on the other side of the hangar.
Half an hour later, we land on a strip of tarmac about ten minutes from The Underground location where the event
is being held.
I hold my hand out to Ava, helping her as we st ep out into the darkness now around us. Her face is pale, and her
scent is tainted with anxiety.
Next is Samuel, followed by my mother and the rest of the royal guards.
Where is everyone? Alpha Darius was supposed to be meeting us here with an escort to the location. The hairs on
the back of my neck stand up.
Fuck, something doesn’t feel right. Before I can voice my concerns, my mother starts laughing, the sound eery in
the dead of night.
“Your escort is currently... held up. I’m afraid a r eplacement has been found. They will be here shortly.” She
laughs as she reaches up and flips the gold necklace around, a symbol engraved on the back. A triangle with three
dots around it and a swirl in the middle. The Underground. This fucking bitch. She was wearing a tracking device.
But how did they know our plan?
She had no contact with the outside world since her capture.
Off in the distance, I can hear men running toward us. Not our men.
Humans. The Underground.
A couple of shots have all of us ducking and moving to the other side of the jet, using it for cover. The royal guards
stick close, but we are
outnumbered.
Luckily, I had expected the worst from her, but not so soon.
“Backup is five minutes out coming from the West.” My mother is fighting against Samuel, and my wolf is on the
verge of ripping her head clean from her body. Even now, she would do something like this to us.
“What backup?” Ava asks, hunching down to look under the jet.
“Don’t shoot her! We need the girl alive!” We can hear someone shouting orders, and Ava stiffens.
“That’s Jerry.” Jerry. My blood boils, and my wolf pushes forward. The man who has been ke eping my girls
hostage. The man who brainwashed my Ava into thinking I would actually hurt her.
“Backup is nearly here.” Samuel's words are drowned out as my mother starts shouting.
“Hey! Here!” Before I can shut her up, Ava lunges, her fist connecting with the bitch’s face and knocking her clean
out.
“I'm sorry, not sorry. She will tell them backup is on the way. We need to ke ep them busy until then.” Samuel is
shocked, looking from my mother to Ava, while I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.
That smile drops when I hear a voice behind us, making us freeze.
“Ava. So nice to see you again.”
We turn around slowly, the man wearing a mask that has earned him the name The Butcher.
He is flanked by another man, no, a wolf, with brown hair and brown eyes. Something about him is familiar. And
his scent—I know it. It snaps into place. He is the wolf that was alone with Ava in the room during her heat, the one
that jumped out of the window, disappearing into the woods.
Men wearing The Underground uniform that I remember as a child and which have plagued my nightmares are all
around us, guns aimed in our direction.
The Butcher raises his hand, his palm covering the mask, which he slowly removes.
It was the man I suspected but could never find evidence to substantiate my suspicions.
“Sir Ravensborough.”