Chapter 45: Ada's Mate
Ada
People are scurrying around to get everything done for tonight’s meeting and do not take any notice of me as I walk to the dungeon.
“I hope you feel worse than you look,” I say when I stand in front of Clyde’s cell. He has already started to heal since our last conversation, and I wish he had not. I wish he were wolfless and had to suffer through the pain like me.
“Are you here for more torture?” He moans in pain as he sits up.
“No,” I pull a chair to his cell and take a seat. “I want answers.”
“Thought you had all the answers,” he sneers.
“How do you see this ending?” I sigh and cross my arms.
“It’s obvious,” he grunts. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Is that what you want?” I raise my eyebrows.
“That’s a f*cked-up question,” his face pulls in pain as he shifts into a more comfortable position. “Nobody wants to die.”
“Then what do you want?” I ask. “We are after all related. I cannot see why we can’t reach an agreement.”
“Are we playing good cop, bad cop now?” He asks suspiciously.
“I don’t have time for games, Clyde,” I roll my eyes. “I know what you’ve done, but I want to know why. I’ll even put it in writing that I won’t torture or kill you if you cooperate.”
“Are you serious?” He looks at me in disbelief.
“Yes, I am,” I smile and hold the document that I prepared earlier. “And you know me, you know I won’t go back on my word.”
He squints his eyes as he stands up and takes the papers from me. It is silent as he reads through it.
“And if I sign this, you’ll let me go?” He looks at me with hope.
“Yes,” I nod. “But only if I can verify that everything you said is the truth.”
“Give me a pen,” he holds his hand out and I give one to him.
He quickly signs and hands it back to me before he goes to sit down.
“How long have you known you’re not my cousin?” I ask as I put the papers in my pocket.
“Shortly after Mom and I arrived,” he replies and his face hardens. “I overheard them talking one night.”
“Help me understand,” I grind my teeth as I control my anger. “You start coming to my room after you learned you’re my brother?”
“Yes,” he shrugs nonchalantly.
It takes every bit of self-control not to completely lose my sh*t. But I have just rinsed his blood off me and I want answers. I must continue with this false sense of security and safety that I created with the document. At least until I can get the truth from him.
“Just why?” I sigh as I pinch my nose bridge.
“You think I’m sick for touching my sister,” he sneers, glaring at me with hatred. “But I’m not. That was the only way to restore balance.”
“Clyde,” I close my eyes and say a quick prayer. This nincompoop is not going to make it easy. Getting information or straight answers is like pulling teeth. “You need to explain to me what you’re talking about. What balance?”
“I’m his firstborn,” Clyde explodes, and I bite on my bottom lip to keep my mouth shut. That’s what you think, I think to myself. Wait till I tell him about Gregory.
“I should be the alpha,” he continues. “Mom wanted Theo to marry her and said I’m the rightful heir and he refused.”
“And finger-f*cking me is going to change his mind?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Yes,” he shouts angrily. “If you weren’t born, I would be alpha.”
“For f*ck’s sake, Clyde,” I lose my temper. “I’m a female and not even in line for the title. How could my birth change anything?”
“Because you’re perfect,” he yells. “That’s what Theo said. That day was the first day he knew unconditional love. You were perfect, pure and untouched. He even apologized for getting her pregnant. I was so angry.”
Clyde looks up at me with so much hatred and anger that my blood stills.
“He apologized for my existence,” he grunts. “Do you know how much that hurts? And it’s all your fault. You – the perfect female – turned him into the perfect gentleman, and I hate you for that. That’s when I started coming to your room. I figured if you’re no longer pure and perfect, he will acknowledge me as his son. But even after Mom told him about us having a relationship, he still looked at you like you’re perfect.”
“Then why did you keep on coming when you learned it’s not working?” I ask through clenched teeth. I am livid from listening to his confession and for the first time, I am grateful I do not have my wolf. There is no way in hell that I would be able to control her from taking over and ripping Clyde into pieces.
“To make you feel,” he shouts at me. “I wanted you to feel the hurt and humiliation that I was feeling. But you,” he points a finger accusingly as he glares at me with hatred. “You didn’t cry or looked at me with fear or anger. During the day and amongst other people, you show emotion. I could see how much you despise me, but never at night. You always had this blank stare and it drove me insane.”
I inhale deeply through my nose and look at the floor. I cannot believe what I am hearing. My survival mechanism during those horrid visits became why he kept coming to my room.
“Is that also the reason why you frame me for the fire?” I look up once I am certain I have my emotions under control.
“Honestly, that was dumb luck,” he smirks just to winch in pain. “I was fooling around with Lucy when the fire started, and I panicked. I knew people would come running and would immediately assume that Lucy and I had something to do with it. I gave her the hoody and told her what to do with it.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that?” I sneer. “You just happen to have my top.”
“Nope,” he grins and reaches into his back pocket. “I always have a souvenir as a reminder for my cause and it keeps me going.”
“That day I couldn’t find of these,” he dangles a thong of mine on his finger. “And an Omega was coming, I grabbed what I could, and the top worked out perfectly.”
“You son of a b*tch,” I jump up, but he starts laughing.
“Remember your promise, Ada. No more torture,” he laughs victoriously and puts my underwear back in his pocket.
“Tell me about Killian and the bomb,” I grunt. The sooner he confesses, the sooner I can get rid of him.
“Killian blames you for his mate’s death,” he smiles. “If you didn’t start the fire, Gregory wouldn’t have killed his mate.”
“I know that part already, Clyde,” I say with irritation. “I want to know why the drama with a fake wedding if he wants to kill me.”
“Oh, the wedding isn’t fake,” Clyde grins as he stretches his legs out in front of him. “Killian wants to marry you. Once you give him his legitimate son, he’s going to have tons of fun with you that would make you wish it were me visiting.”
“His plan was working,” I point out. “I agreed to marry him. Why risk everything with a bomb?”
“That was for my pleasure,” he chuckles. “An experiment if you will. After all, I do need to get Tyler and Zayne out of the way to become alpha.”
“It’s so sad,” I pout at him as I get up. “All this scheming just to fail.”
“I didn’t fail,” he says indignantly. “I don’t care if you kill Killian. I will still get rid of you and your brothers and become alpha. We have an agreement, remember, you must let me go.”
“Trust me,” I smile wickedly. “I’m going to unlock this gate myself and I will not touch you. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Gregory. Imagine how upset he’s going to be when he learns you’re the one that set the fire.”
“I did no such thing,” he bellows as his blood drains from his face.
“I know,” I nod. “And I don’t care. Here’s the thing, Gregory doesn’t like you, but he likes me. You should’ve known better than to trust Killian.”
“You’re wrong,” he shouts. “Killian is using Gregory. He’s using the rogues to thin out the pack to force you to marry him. He promised Gregory that once you’re his bride, he will help him take over Moon Shadow and Gregory can become alpha.”
“You are such a fool,” I laugh at him. “Killian doesn’t care about who’s alpha. He only wants me. He is using both you and Gregory to get to me. Gregory is installing fear and death and you experiment with his bombs. Think for yourself, what is stopping Killian to set off bombs all over the place and taking over the rogues and Moon Shadow?”
“Killian won’t do that,” Clyde looks and sounds certain of himself.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I look at him suspiciously.
“Nothing,” he shrugs. “You know everything.”
“Okay,” I nod, but I do not believe him. “In that case, goodbye. This is the last time you and I will see each other.”
“But you promised,” he yells as he rushes to the gate. “We signed an agreement.”
“And I will honour my part,” I smile sweetly. “But I must tell you that I promised Dad that he could kill you. He didn’t like it at all that you touched his daughter.”
“He won’t do it,” Clyde says a little less secure than a moment ago. “I am still his son.”
“If you say so,” I shout over my shoulder as I walk away.